28 n PRECISION GEARBOXES July/August 2024 www.drivesncontrols.com Mobile robots help to drive the precision gearbox market This year, the global market for precision gearboxes and geared motors is likely to generate revenues of $3.4bn, which is 2.9% more than it did in 2023. However, over the coming ve years, we, at Interact, are predicting a steady growth rate of 7.9%, with 2025 expected to deliver a strong rebound, achieving a growth rate of 10.2%. This is expected to drive an expansion in global sales of precision gearboxes, which we forecast will rise from $3.3bn in 2023 to $4.8bn by 2028 – a CAGR of 7.9%. The biggest growth will be in the planetary precision gearboxes and geared motors sector, where we anticipate a CAGR of 10.2%, taking revenues from $1bn in 2023 to nearly $1.8bn by 2028. Two of the key planetary technologies are: n Coaxial planetary precision gearboxes These comprise a sun gear, planetary gears and carrier, as well as a satellite gear. Examples include Wittenstein’s CP series and Stober’s P series. n Coaxial planetary precision geared motors These combine planetary gearboxes with servomotors. Examples include SEW Eurodrive’s PS.F series and Siemens’ Simotics 1FK2. Planetary gearboxes may not oer the extremely high levels of precision found in devices such as strainwave and cycloidal precision gearboxes (which usually have a backlash of less than 1 arc-minute). However, they still have low backlash ratings, making them a cheaper and ecient alternative, especially in mobile robots where the “smoothness” of their acceleration and motion can be a benet. Sales of mobile robots have continued to outperform most other sectors in recent years and the appetite for them does not seem to have been aected much by slowdowns felt in other industries. Although our growth forecast for the mobile robot market is slightly down on previous years, but we still expect to see consistent annual expansion of 30–50% in the period to 2028. Sales of planetary gearboxes and geared motors will continue to benet from this substantial growth. Although all major regions will demonstrate signicant growth in the period to 2028, we predict that Japan will deliver the highest CAGR (of 60.2%), followed by the Americas (49.5%), AsiaPacic (44.3%) and the EMEA region (42.3%). We expect the global market for precision gearboxes and geared motors for use in mobile robots to expand from $129m in 2023 to more than $850m by 2028. Dominant sectors While mobile robots oer by far the strongest growth potential for sales of precision gearboxes and geared motors, it would be remiss not to discuss the industrial robots industry, because this is by far the most important user of precision gearboxes. Before the slowdown which occurred in 2022 and 2023, industrial robots and collaborative robots delivered strong growth and this, in turn, led to strong demand for precision gearboxes and geared motors. Just over $1bn-worth of precision gearboxes were used in industrial robots in 2023, and we predict that this gure will rise to more than $1.3bn by 2028, demonstrating a CAGR of 5.5% over this period. Once one of the biggest growth sectors for precision geared products, the global market for industrial robots and cobots has slowed considerably since 2022. Most industrial robots incorporate about half-a-dozen precision gearboxes, with larger axes that handle bigger payloads generally using cycloidal gearboxes, while The global market for precision gearboxes and geared motors used in mobile robots is predicted to expand with an impressive CAGR of 45.9% in the period to 2028. As Jonathan Sparkes, a research analyst with Interact Analysis, explains, this growth will far outperform that of the wider automation market, with planetary gearboxes and geared motors being the fastest–growing segments. The global market for precision gearboxes and geared motors is expected to demonstrate a growth rate of 7.9% over the coming ve years. Graphs: Interact Analysis
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