Bishop and Associates, Inc. has just released a new 10 chapter research report providing a complete analysis of The World Industrial Market For Connectors. This new report details 30 specific categories of industrial controls, and 8 categories of production equipment. Connector values are provided for each category for the years 2005, 2006, and 2010, as well as each region of the world.

In 2005, the world demand for connectors in the industrial achieved a year-over-year growth rate of 8.5%.  We believe that this growth is sustainable over the next five years, making the connector demand in the industrial market $6.0 billion by the year 2010, for a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.0%. 

The industrial market encompasses all products used in manufacturing the equipment and  the products they produce.  This report seeks to identify the larger segments of the market where a focus may result in a new opportunity.  These are the segments that represent the largest potential consumers of connectors.  Volume manufacturers usually employ automated equipment, which typically uses a greater amount of electronics, and connectors.  There are areas like Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), industrial buses, robotics, and assembly lines that are generic and cut across industries in the industrial segment.  In addition, this study will address segments such as those that meet the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. There is also the industry around pharmaceuticals. All of these industries are large because of the scope of their mission. 

In addition, Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment and PCB Manufacturing Equipment will be reviewed because of the pervasiveness of these products in all segments, and the size of the market for products to construct these basic building blocks used in so many equipments.

Industrial Market Definition

The industrial market, as defined by Bishop and Associates, includes industrial equipment, production equipment, production support and services, environmental systems and “other” industrial products.  A more detailed segmentation of the industrial market follows:

Segmentation Of The Industrial Market

Product Use by the Industrial Market

The industrial market uses a broad range of connector types. This report will identify the connector market by the following categories:

The products of the industrial market, like most products today, often have some form of controller built into the system.  Sometimes these are full industrial computers; other times they are firmware-based controllers.  These control boards and other PCBs are incorporated into the much of the industrial market. This results in a large number of PCB style connectors being used.

Naturally, there’s a need for robust power connectors to meet the voltage and current requirements of the machines built for the industrial environment. However, when standard connectors fail to meet the need, it is not uncommon for application specific and custom connectors to be developed to meet size or other parameters not met by existing connectors.