Industrial automation refers to an operational method that applies automation technology to the manufacturing process of the machinery industry. It enables automatic processing and continuous production, improves the efficiency and quality of mechanical production, and releases productivity.
Industrial automation involves a wide range of technologies, covering multidisciplinary knowledge such as control engineering, ergonomics, computer software, embedded software, electronics, electric power, mechatronics, and network communication.
With the development of intelligence, industrial automation has integrated new technologies like image processing, pattern recognition, artificial intelligence, and signal processing.
After long-term development, the industrial automation industry has achieved continuous technological innovation and expanding downstream application fields, and now has formed a relatively mature industry competition pattern.
Multinational enterprises such as Yaskawa Electric, Panasonic Electric, Mitsubishi Group, and Siemens hold leading positions globally. In the domestic market, European, American, Japanese, and South Korean enterprises dominate. However, local enterprises are gradually seizing market share by virtue of cost-effectiveness and rapid service capabilities, with a prominent trend of domestic substitution. Against the backdrop of the global entry into the Industry 4.0 era and China’s vigorous development of "Intelligent Manufacturing in China", the demand for industrial automation equipment in application fields such as manufacturing, transportation, energy, and environmental protection has further increased.
According to forecasts by Frost & Sullivan and the China Commercial Industry Research Institute, the global and China’s industrial automation market sizes will reach USD 509.59 billion and RMB 353.1 billion respectively in 2024, with year-on-year growth rates of approximately 6.0% and 13.4% compared to 2023.
There is a wide variety of industrial automation products, including core components such as Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), Distributed Control Systems (DCS), motion controllers, Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines, frequency converters, servo systems, pneumatic components, and sensors. These products not only cover key links in industrial production such as control, execution, and monitoring, but also realize seamless collaboration between equipment through integration and communication technologies, serving as an important foundation for achieving intelligent manufacturing.
According to statistics from Rui Industry, motion control products and drive system products have declined slightly, while segmented products such as CNC machines and high-voltage frequency converters have grown. In 2024, the market size of PLCs was approximately RMB 13.01 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 18.9%; the market size of general servo systems was about RMB 20.55 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 3.8%; the market size of low-voltage frequency converters reached around RMB 28.28 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 7.0%; and the market size of medium and high-voltage frequency converters was roughly RMB 5.89 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5.0%.
Downstream customers in the industrial automation industry are divided into OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) type and project type. The OEM market mainly targets customers who produce automated and intelligent manufacturing equipment in batches; the project market refers to the design and implementation of overall engineering automation systems.
According to statistics from Rui Industry, in the past 9 quarters, China’s automation market achieved slight positive growth in only one quarter. Among them, OEM automation has seen negative growth for 11 consecutive quarters, and project automation has shown a downward trend since the second quarter of 2024.
From the perspective of the downstream industrial automation market, the project-based market performed better than the OEM market, with a year-on-year growth of 0.1%. Among them, industries such as petroleum, refining, chemicals, mining, thermal power, and water conservancy remained prosperous due to policies like equipment renewal. However, industries such as iron and steel underperformed, as overcapacity and fluctuations in steel prices reduced manufacturers’ willingness to invest and upgrade.
The OEM market fell by 5% year-on-year. Among them, industries such as packaging machinery, plastic machinery, and textile machinery achieved growth, while demand in industries such as lithium battery equipment, photovoltaic equipment, and hoisting machinery remained sluggish. In 2024, among the three major types of knitting machinery, the flat knitting machine industry recovered and improved, the circular knitting machine industry operated under pressure, and the warp knitting machine industry maintained steady growth overall.
In 2024, the economic operation of China’s sewing machinery industry showed a trend of recovery and growth. Backed by policy support and warming market demand, the industry’s economic benefits rebounded significantly. In 2024, domestic and foreign market demand was gradually released, and the accelerated intelligent transformation and upgrading of equipment in downstream industries such as clothing, shoes, and hats drove a rapid recovery in the production and sales scale of the sewing machinery industry, with a marked improvement in corporate quality and efficiency.
With the continuous expansion of the downstream industrial automation market and the accelerated iteration of core technologies, the industrial sector is undergoing an all-round transformation. In key links such as production control and drive execution, automation technology is deeply penetrating traditional industries like automobiles, electronics, and chemicals, and rapidly extending to strategic emerging fields such as new energy and biomedicine.
The large-scale application of intelligent equipment such as new sensors, intelligent control systems, and industrial robots is driving automation equipment to evolve toward greater intelligence, precision, and reliability, and continuously expanding the application boundaries of new scenarios such as intelligent warehousing and unmanned workshops. In the process of China’s manufacturing industry moving toward high-end development, the level of automated production continues to improve, increasingly becoming a key variable reshaping the global manufacturing competition pattern.
پیام شما باید بین 20 تا 3000 کاراکتر باشد!
