Middle East and Africa Safety Motion Control Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The Middle East and Africa Safety Motion Control Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3% over the forecast period (2021 - 2026). The growing trend of automation, increasing adoption of digital technologies, and stringent government regulation regarding industry safety are major factors driving the investment in the safety motion control market.

Key Highlights

• Major motion control products for automation solutions are motion controllers, drives, motors, and robotics. Motion control systems are being used to automate processes, and more companies are turning to robotics and conveyor systems to achieve higher efficiency margins in assembly and production. Therefore, various motors are used in these applications to control the process.
• The ongoing trend in industrial automation and rules and regulations regarding energy reserves demands more safety motion control products. Vendors witnessed increasing investments in this arena via multiple product launches, acquiring IIoT software-based companies, and collaborations.
• The increasing adoption of Industrial IoT(IIoT) and the growing number of smart factories further expand the market's growth. Smart factories are becoming a significant adopter of safety motion control products, as safety products are the principal architect of smart factories. Besides, the industrial IoT further increased the need and demand for connected machines in the industries. These connected machines alone are not enough to accomplish pure digital transformation; hence, organizations are developing a seamless ecosystem of humans and machines, performing optimized, end-to-end processes.
• Additionally, The increasing trend of warehouse automation and growth in trends, such as digital twin, edge computing, and predictive manufacturing, is also developing space for advanced safety motion control devices. Robots have become a significant automation trend across the world. In advanced automotive manufacturing, robots have become a significant component. Companies like Amazon are also heavily increasing, and robots, like collaborative robots and AGVs, are also becoming the center of attraction in the manufacturing industry.
• COVID-19 pandemic has created economic turmoil for small, medium, and large-scale industries worldwide. Additionally, the country-wise lockdown has further hit many manufacturing industries. This has fluctuated the demand for safety motion control devices across some sectors. However, the impact of the COVID-19 crisis forced businesses to adhere to strict requirements to ensure the ongoing safety of their employees and their machines. As a result, the need for automation witnessed a sudden spike.

Key Market Trends

Automotive Industry to Witness Huge Demand

• The demand for safety motion control systems in the automotive industry has seen a marked increase due to the developments in the manufacturing and assembly processes of HCV's and high-end motor vehicles.
• High-end motion controllers are used in the automotive industry to control mechanical parts' movements in the production process. Safety motion control systems are extensively used to manufacture significant components, like engines and driver assistance systems.
• All the essential automotive suppliers rely on motion control systems to optimize their production chains through actuators and robotic arms. Furthermore, assembling and maintenance processes are also witnessing increased adoption of safety motion control systems.
• For instance, vehicle assembly (an exhaustive process requiring high precision and throughput) has been using safety control systems widely for performing repetitive tasks using minimal resources.
• The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) automotive market is one of the primary sectors of the region. It has achieved sustainable growth over the years. The region's primary market is Saudi Arabia, with the most significant new car sales and auto parts segment. The region is heavily dependent on Japanese and Korean automakers, but it is also a promising market for luxury car brands. Luxury car brands such as Mercedes, Range Rover, and Porsche have begun to gain popularity in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) due to rising consumer disposable income. Meanwhile, the market for used and aftermarket vehicles is also expanding, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led people to rethink their spending due to increased uncertainty in the global economy.
• In early 2020, the United Arab Emirates explored the possibility of importing luxury sports cars and considered establishing itself as a production base for luxury sports cars shortly. Like the other subregions of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the United Arab Emirates is considering ventures to diversify its economy and reduce its oil and gas revenues.

Increasing adoption of industrial automation to contribute to market demand.

• Due to the growing adoption of automation across the various end-user industries in the region, the Middle East and Africa is emerging as one of the most significant safety motion control devices. The energy concern in the region is also increasing the adoption of advanced tools and motivating many companies to invest in machine safety devices, further driving the growth market.
• Following the global economic recession led by COVID-19, the Middle Eastern and African factory automation and industrial control system market have witnessed positive impact from the demand side and mixed impact from the supply side in the first half of 2020. Smart factory initiatives have helped manufacturers overcome COVID-19 challenges and address issues such as workforce reductions, drops in sales for some specific products, social distancing, and extreme pressure to cut operational costs since most enterprises operating in the end-user industries (majorly manufacturing, automotive) had shuttered down their production sites due to lockdown restrictions.
• Saudi Arabia initiated USD 7 billion of renewable energy projects in 2018, with solar plants being the frontrunner. It is part of its plan to install 9.5 gigawatts of solar and wind capacity by 2023. such infrastructural developments are likely to provide for industrial controls and factory automation solutions.

Competitive Landscape

The safety motion control market is highly fragmented. The increasing number of players are boosting their share of the motion control drive market through strategic mergers and acquisitions and partnerships with several small players. Some of the recent developments include:

• Jan 2020 - Rockwell Inc announced the launch of new motor protection circuit breakers that offer space, time, and cost savings. The circuit breakers are enabled by UL approval for use in group installation. This type of installation can reduce panel space, installation and wiring time, and overall costs, by eliminating the need for individual branch shortcircuit protective devices for each motor circuit.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
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