Asia Pacific Safety Relays and Timers Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecast(2022 - 2027)

The Asia Pacific Safety Relays and Timers Market is expected to register a CAGR of 6.2% during the forecast period (2021-2026). The need for flexible modular designs with integrated functional requirements is driving market growth.

Key Highlights

• Safety relays are electromechanical switching devices used to prevent failures during critical switching operations. Relays are designed to isolate circuits or control high-powered circuits with a low-power signal. A magnetic core encased in a wire coil, a movable armature attached to an iron yoke, and at least one set of contacts comprise a simple relay. When an electric current passes through the coil, it creates a magnetic field that activates the armature, causing the contacts to move to make or break a connection.
• A normal relay switches the load on and off using a wire coil and the mechanical movement of the metal contacts. After several operation cycles, the metal contacts may weld shut. If this happens, the machine will continue running if the operator presses the emergency stop pushbutton, which would be dangerous for the operator. As a result, many national and international norms and safety standards prohibit using simple relays or contactors on hazardous machines.
• Whereas safety relays have coils and contacts that are designed to be positively driven. A positively driven contact system ensures that the normally open (NO) and normally closed (NC) contacts can never be opened or closed simultaneously, eliminating the possibility of faulty operation. Some safety relays include built-in monitoring equipment to detect faults before they occur.
• Due to these characteristics, safety relays are appropriate for use in critical switching applications such as an emergency machine stop (E-stop). Mechanical or physical human damage could occur if a switch or relay fails to operate in one of these applications. The other applications for safety relays also include safety gates, two-hand control, light curtains, safety mats, etc.
• However, designing and manufacturing safety relays is could be expensive due to the fluctuations in prices of raw materials. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the supply chains globally, contributing to the volatility in raw materials prices.

Key Market Trends

Increasing Power Consumption to Drive the Market Growth

• With the energy usage in the Asia Pacific region rising steadily, power distribution networks continue to grow in size and complexity. Electricity demand has soared, particularly in the industrial sector. With the rising influence of industrialization across many countries in the region, improving the existing electrical setup has gained considerable traction.
• In response, in May 2021, ABB is launched REX610, a new addition to its Relion product family designed to support safe, smart, and sustainable electrification. REX610 makes protecting grids, industrial processes, and people more effortless as it draws on ABB's heritage of configurable multifunctional relays and protection algorithms to create a solution that provides optimal protection for all basic power distribution applications. It is also futureproofed for an evolving grid. As the market shifts and requirements change, the modules can be easily added, removed, or replaced without changing the entire relay.
• Further, the shift of manufacturing industries to Asia, the growing dispensable income among the middle class, and the developments in South East Asia, including the 'Make in India' campaign by the Indian government, are bound to increase the power consumption of the region considerably. Further, the Indian government's aim of achieving 'Power for All' has sped up capacity addition in the country.
• According to the data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme (MoSPI), India's index of industrial production (IIP) grew by 3.2% in October 2021, as compared to the previous year. The manufacturing sector output jumped 2% y-o-y, and electricity generation grew 3.1% y-o-y in October 2021.
• The increasing manufacturing, construction, and mining activities, coupled with rising power generation and consumption in the region, are expected to provide lucrative opportunities for the safety relays and timers market.

The Rising Demand in Various End-user Industries to Drive the Market

• Automotive relays are used in harnesses and box modules throughout a vehicle, including rear and front, passenger and engine areas, body control, powertrain, roof, seat, door, and fan modules. The automotive relay types include plug-in, PCB, high-current, and high-voltage, including automotive contactors. With the increase in automotive production in the Asia Pacific region, the demand for safety relays is expected to rise.
• According to The International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA), China produced 19.99 million passenger cars in 2020, followed by Japan with 6.96 million. Further, the number of passenger cars sold in the Asia Pacific region totaled 35.36 million in 2019 and 32 million in 2020. Also, the rising demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, and technological advancements in-vehicle electronics, are driving the demand for safety relays in automobiles.
• Further, safety relays and timers are used in controlling, starting, and protecting circuits in the oil and gas sector. The industrial timers are suitable for material handling, machine tools, and process control in various process machines.
• Due to the significant expansion in offshore oil and gas exploration activities, the deployment of process equipment has significantly increased in the region. According to Baker Hughes, the Asia Pacific region had 190 oil and gas rigs as of October 2021, of which 70 were offshore rigs.
• Safety relays are increasingly being used during pumping and storage in the chemical and petrochemical industries. Increasing chemical and petrochemical plants boosts the safety relays and timers market.

Competitive Landscape

The Asia Pacific Safety Relays and Timers Market is moderately competitive and consists of prominent players like Rockwell Automation, OMRON Industrial Automation, SICK AG, Eaton Corp., Siemens AG, Etc. Technological advancements and innovations, coupled with strategic collaborations and expansions, are expected to drive the studied market.

• October 2021 - Schneider Electric announced a partnership with Savant Power to develop a remote-controlled connected relay to enable homeowners better manage their residential energy use. When connected to a circuit breaker, the relay would provide control of residential power loads, including configurations to maximize backup power in the event of an outage. By constructing a virtual configurable critical load panel for each backup power source (battery, solar, etc.), available power can be maximized by sending it to only crucial circuits until the utility power is restored.
• March 2021 - IDEC Corporation launched the HR5S safety relay module, a new addition to IDEC’s family of safety devices that offers designers and OEMs more options to provide better end-user safety while cutting costs and improving productivity of machines and equipment. The HR5S safety relay module is explicitly designed to meet ISO 13849 Category 2 requirements.

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