Photoelectric Sensor Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The photoelectric sensor market is expected to register a CAGR of 7.2% during the forecast period of 2021-2026. There is a significant increase in the trend of automation. As sensors play the most critical role in every aspect of automation, the photoelectric sensor market is expected to witness growth during the forecast period.

Key Highlights

• Photoelectric sensors are used for contour and edge detection, film thickness detection, anti-collision, safety, and people detection, height and level measurement, orientation, and position detection, and counting in various industries in order to increase efficiency and accuracy across industries.
• The reflective photoelectric sensor is the fastest-growing segment as they offer the cheapest sensing solution among all other categories of photoelectric sensors. Growing demand for industrial automation and increased adoption of nanotechnology are also some of the growth drivers for retroactive photoelectric sensors in the market. However, competent alternative technologies such as inductive, capacitive, ultrasonic, which serve the relatively same purpose, can hinder the growth of the market.
• Due to the recent shut down of businesses across the world, owing to the influence of COVID-19 is expected to influence the photoelectric sensor market negatively due to a decline in demand from various industries and disrupted supply chain as production came to a halt from February and March. This is also expected to impact prices over time. With the increasing number of cases in the United States, the North American electronics industry is under pressure due to the lack of supply of raw materials and products as the global supply chain is disrupted.

Key Market Trends

Industrial Automation to Drive the Growth of The Market

• The photoelectric sensors have a wide range of applications in several industry verticals, such as consumer electronics, automotive and transportation, building automation, food and beverages, pharmaceuticals and medical, packaging, and industrial manufacturing to ensure accuracy, shorter and consistent cycles, and faster time-to-market. For instance, in the parking assistance system, these sensors can detect the presence of objects in the pathway of the reversing vehicle and can raise the alarm to warn the driver.
• Rising penetration of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is further expected to enhance market growth attributed to numerous benefits, including maximizing asset utilization, improving productivity, and enhancing worker safety in developed, as well as emerging economies, such as India and China.
• Favorable government policies promoting the manufacturing industry, coupled with the rising adoption of IIoT solutions, are the major factors driving the demand for photoelectric sensors. In addition, growing year-on-year automotive production and booming demand for processed food will further boost the demand for these sensors.
• However, the availability of competent alternative technologies restrains the growth of the market. Also, an increase in the digitization and connected industries provide lucrative growth opportunities for the photoelectric sensors market.

Asia Pacific To Witness the Highest Growth

• The increasing use of enhanced technology, growing adoption of IIoT across various industrial facilities, rising safety mandates in developing countries, like India, Japan, and China, is driving the growth of photoelectric sensors in the region.
• Rapid Expansion of the end-user industries, like consumer electronics, industrial, automobile, and textile, are contributing significantly to the growth of the photoelectric sensors market as these sensors themselves are used to improve the productivity of manufacturing set-ups as the data gathered by the sensors can be collated and acted upon immediately.
• Other factors that are expected to drive the market growth are reduced downtime, lower cost, adaptability for self-calibration and compensation, fewer interconnections between multiple sensors and control systems, lower weight, and higher reliability. Nanotechnology has also created new opportunities for the photoelectric sensor market in the Asia-Pacific region.
• These sensors usually have high maintenance costs restraining the growth of the market. For instance, automobiles are required to work in varying atmospheric conditions, which can vary from altitude difference, coast to desert area, cold and summer climatic condition, and varying humidity, thus, further adding the cost of maintaining the usability in different conditions.​

Competitive Landscape

The availability of several players providing photoelectric sensors has intensified the competition in the market. Therefore, the market is fragmented, with many companies developing expansion strategies.

• October 2019 - Omron released E3AS Series TOF Photoelectric Sensors with compact size and 1,500 mm sensing distance. Its cutting-edge E3AS photoelectric sensors employ time-of-flight (TOF) detection and an antifouling coating to provide exceptional performance in the toughest environments.
• April 2019 - SICK AG partnered with a software solution provider, AutoCoding Systems (ACS). This partnership may enable SICK to provide customers with a combined package of SICK’s sensor technology and ACS’s software platform.

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