Emerging Markets Push Ahead with Fieldbus Growth
Driven by the need for knowledge of the manufacturing process, asset optimization is critical to the performance-driven enterprise. Smart devices coupled with remote monitoring capabilities collect data that can be used to detect, identify, and prompt corrective measures or actions to be taken to eliminate the causes of deviation from optimal performance. Used as a means to gather real-time information on which to base operational decisions, fieldbus provides visibility and accountability for performance that can positively impact processes and operations while improving equipment availability and reliability.
The basis for this report is revenues generated from field devices, unbundled services in the form of plant asset management (PAM) solutions, and distributed control systems (DCS) as used in a fieldbus environment.
The process automation industries have been waiting for over twenty years for the promise of a single standardized fieldbus solution to be fulfilled, which still has not materialized and at this point, it is doubtful that it ever will. This report examines the market for open fieldbus systems and more specifically those protocols compliant with IEC 61158 which defines digital data communications for measurement and control in industrial control systems. In the process industries, Foundation Fieldbus and Profibus PA have emerged as dominant and as such will be the primary focus of this study in terms of their use as part of a DCS, field measurement devices, and plant asset management solutions.
Strategic Issues
Some key strategic issues covered in this report include:
- What is the size of the worldwide market for fieldbus solutions in the process industries?
- Who are the leading suppliers and what are their market shares?
- What are the major inhibitors of fieldbus growth?
- Which industries and regions offer the greatest growth potential for fieldbus?
- How will the fieldbus market evolve over next five years?
- What are the key elements for success in the fieldbus market?
- How will fieldbus standards affect adoption?
