Alternative energy and the testing required are still very active areas with solar and wind power leading the way. Also, electric vehicles and battery technology are very active and are now including commercial power generation.
Many industries, such as electric utilities, mining and water/waste water processing, are expanding their control systems via ethernet-based I/O products. With the increasing price of gold and silver, many mines are requesting capital funds for plant upgrades and expansion. Even titanium processing plants are upgrading their facilities in anticipation of future increased prices. Ethernet and wireless I/O are very cost effective methods of adding to existing legacy control networks.
Throughout many plants, especially in the food and beverage industry, there is an increase in the number of parameters that are being measured. In food and beverage, the use of individual ingredients is being monitored very precisely to maintain individual recipes. There are two reasons for this – the accuracy of the batch for the recipe and to eliminate waste of materials.
Sensor calibration hardware sales are on the increase. The main reasons for this rise are to ensure accuracy of the measurements in the field and because of increased agency regulations. Documenting calibrators are leading the way in calibrator sales. These types of calibrators store the measured values automatically which eliminates the human error aspect of measurement.
The market for sensors and instrumentation is flat or on a very slight increase. As companies try to increase efficiencies of their products, the more testing they are doing, and this is the main driver for sensors and instrumentation.
Copied from: http://www.era.org/aa_representor/W2012mgd.shtml