Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and PLC-based Programmable Automation Controllers (PACs)

Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and PLC-based PAC Market Research delivers current market analysis plus a five year market and technology forecast. It is available in multiple editions including worldwide, all regions, and most major countries.

PLC and PLC-based PAC Market Grows and Adapts to Industrial IoT

The worldwide Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) and PLC-based PACs market returned to a reliable, mid-single-digit growth in 2022. However, this growth behavior masks a combination of market dynamics of price hikes, currency fluctuations, and large backorders. Much of the growth was due to inflation-induced price hikes imposed by suppliers in 2021 and 2022, as well as to the enormous backlogs accrued by suppliers due to chip shortages. ARC's PLC research tracks shipments and not orders, and many suppliers shipped PLC systems in 2022 that had been ordered the previous year with long lead times. Finally, currency fluctuations played an outsized role in stymieing market growth measured in US dollars.

Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) Strategic Issues 

Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) Market TrendsIn addition to providing a five-year market forecast, the PLC and PLC-based PACs market research provides detailed quantitative current market data and addresses key strategic issues as follows.

Embrace Open Standards

Open standards help end users free themselves from the grip of proprietary technologies, paving the way for greater choice. Standards reduce engineering time when users apply pre-engineered templates to integrated products or design processes. End users should familiarize themselves with current and emerging standards and decide how these can be applied to improve efficiency and cut the costs of future projects.

OPC UA Is the Universal Language of Automation

OPC UA is more than just an open protocol for machine-to-machine communication. The complete specification contains protocols for both peer-to-peer and master-slave communication (the latter is the new Publish/Subscribe model that allows controllers to communicate deterministically with field devices). OPC UA also includes a growing number of companion specifications that are essentially information models that standardize semantics for devices and applications. End users should understand the value of using OPC UA for integrating systems and devices from different suppliers.

Explore Modular Production    

Thanks to Industrial IoT, future automation architectures will support modular machine construction and distributed control, fulfilling a dream of distributed architectures that dates back to the 1990s. In the process industries, consortia are developing specifications for machine type packages (MTP) that support standardization of modular architectures, most of which are based on PLCs. The success of standardized modular architectures will likely spill over to most other industries when the business benefits become clear.

Market Data Research Available Datasets

This in-depth market data research is split into two key modules: Market Growth Outlook and Competitive Analysis.  Each of these modules is further configured into several sub-modules to meet the needs of executives as well as marketing, sales, and product development managers.  All of these modules and sub-modules may be purchased as a bundle or separately.  A brief description of these modules, sub-modules, and their use cases is included below.

Market Growth Outlook

ARC’s market growth outlook service delivers an in-depth market opportunity analysis including five-year market and technology forecasts and 3-year history trend lines where available. Besides providing an in-depth analysis of the market opportunity provided by each technology, this service allows technology suppliers to analyze their own customized markets consisting of multiple technologies. For example, customers can view different market scenarios by adding or removing technology markets from the analysis, providing them a Total Available Market (TAM) view of their own served market. A list of the available market growth outlook services can be seen in the list below.  

This service is designed to help accelerate your organization's ability to understand an up-to-date view of the market opportunity provided by your current product portfolio and analyze how your company’s market opportunity would change if you were to acquire or divest a particular product line. The service will also help you identify and capitalize on emerging markets, whether these markets are based on an emerging technology, region, vertical industry, or application. Built upon a proprietary market model and ARC’s field proven primary research, this service helps product and marketing managers optimize their business plans by identifying the opportunities provided by emerging trends. ARC’s reputation as the preeminent independent provider of market growth opportunity analyses for nearly four decades also provides greater weight to your business plans. ARC’s market growth outlook services are available in a variety of formats depending on whether you view your market opportunities via different technologies, industries, or world regions.  

In addition, ARC has a strong history of providing customized market opportunity reports and services to meet your specific needs.  For example, you may sell your products only to specific industries and/or in only one or two regions. You tell us your served markets and ARC can quickly configure a report or service designed to best serve your served market.

ARC provides several versions of these reports and services depending on your role in the organization. Executive Views are high level market opportunities designed to help executives quickly identify key trends and market opportunities around the world.  In-depth market opportunity analyses provide marketing and product managers more detailed technology specific market information to plan marketing and product development strategies.  The following table shows more specific information included in each version.

Market Growth Outlook AnalysisUse CasesTarget Role
Worldwide Market Growth Outlook by Industry & Region with 3-year history where availableIn-depth technology-specific strategic growth planning across multiple technologies, applications, regions, and industriesProduct & Marketing Managers
Worldwide Industry Growth Outlook by Region with 3-year history where availableStrategic technology growth planning for markets defined by a single or multiple vertical industriesIndustry Managers
Regional/Country Market Growth Outlook by Technology & Industry with 3-year history where available (includes country data)Strategic technology growth planning for markets defined by a single or multiple world regionsRegional & Country Sales Managers
Market Growth Outlook Executive ViewStrategic Total Available Market (TAM) growth planning dashboard covering multiple vertical industries, technologies, and world regionsExecutives
Market Competitive Analysis

ARC’s Competitive Analysis services deliver in depth competitive analyses across multiple technologies, applications, regions, and industries.  Besides providing an in-depth analysis of the market opportunity provided by each technology, this service allows technology suppliers to analyze their own customized markets consisting of multiple technologies. For example, customers can view different market scenarios by adding or removing technology markets from the analysis, providing them a Total Available Market (TAM) view of their own served market. A list of the available market growth outlook services can be seen in the list below.  

This service is designed to help product and marketing managers identify their company’s market positioning across multiple views within their Serviceable Available Market (SAM). Built upon a proprietary market model and ARC’s field proven primary research, this service helps product and marketing managers optimize their business plans by identifying how their company’s market position would change if the company were to acquire or divest a particular product line or technology. ARC’s reputation as the preeminent independent provider of competitive market benchmarking for nearly four decades lends greater weight to your business plans. ARC’s market competitive services are available in a variety of formats depending on whether you view your market opportunities via different technologies, industries, or world regions.  

In addition, ARC has a strong history of providing customized market opportunity reports and services to meet the specific needs of our clients.  For example, you may sell your products only to specific industries and/or in only one or two regions. You tell us your served markets and ARC can quickly configure a report or service designed to best serve your served market.

ARC provides several versions of these reports and services depending on your role in the organization. Executive Views are high level market competitive analyses designed to help executives quickly assess their SAM by world region, technology, or vertical industry. In-depth competitive market analyses provide marketing and product managers more detailed technology specific benchmarking information to plan marketing and product development strategies.  The following table shows more specific information included in each version. 

Competitive AnalysisUse CasesTarget Role
Worldwide Competitive Analysis by TechnologyIn-depth competitive market analysis that quantifies how your company’s market position has changed over time across multiple technologies, applications, regions, and industriesProduct & Marketing Managers
Worldwide Competitive Analysis by IndustryStrategic technology-based competitive analyses for markets defined by a single or multiple vertical industriesIndustry Managers
Regional/Country Competitive Analysis by IndustryStrategic technology-based competitive analyses for markets defined by a single or multiple world regionsRegional Sales Managers
Competitive Analysis Executive ViewStrategic Serviceable Available Market (SAM) analysis dashboard covering multiple vertical industries, technologies, and world regionsExecutives

Worldwide Market Research Focus Areas

Strategic Analysis

  • Executive Overview
  • Market Trends
  • Buyer Strategies
  • Supplier Strategies
  • Growth Contributors and Inhibitors

Competitive Analysis

  • Market Shares for Leading Suppliers
  • Market Shares by Region
    • North America
    • Europe, Middle East, Africa
    • Asia
    • Latin America
  • Market Shares by Revenue Category
    • Hardware
    • Software
    • Services
  • Market Shares by Hardware Type
    • Operator Interface
    • Nano Controller
    • Micro Controller
    • Small Controller
    • Large Controller
    • Other Controller
    • Unbundled I/O
  • Market Shares by Software Type
    • Programming
    • Templates and Libraries
  • Market Shares by Service Type
    • Automation Training
    • Spare Part Contracts
    • Maintenance Contracts
    • Software Updates
  • Market Shares by Industry
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Automotive
    • Buildings
    • Cement & Glass
    • Chemical
    • Electric Power Generation
    • Electric Power T&D
    • Electronics & Electrical
    • Fabricated Metals
    • Food & Beverage
    • Machinery
    • Metals
    • Mining
    • Oil & Gas
    • Pharmaceutical & Biotech
    • Pulp & Paper
    • Refining
    • Semiconductors
    • Water & Wastewater
  • Market Shares by Machinery Segment
  • Market Shares by PAC and Standard PLCs 
  • Market Shares by Sales Channel
  • Market Shares by Customer Type

Market Forecasts & Histories

  • Total PLC and PLC-based PAC Business Including Hardware, Software, and Services
  • Shipments by Region
    • North America
    • Europe, Middle East, Africa
    • Asia
    • Latin America
  • Shipments by Revenue Category
    • Hardware
    • Software
    • Services
  • Shipments by Hardware Type
    • Operator Interface
    • Nano Controller
    • Micro Controller
    • Small Controller
    • Large Controller
    • Other Controller
    • Unbundled I/O
  • Shipments by Software Type
    • Programming
    • Templates and Libraries
  • Shipments by Service Type
    • Automation Training
    • Spare Part Contracts
    • Maintenance Contracts
    • Software Updates
  • Shipments by Industry
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Automotive
    • Building Automation
    • Cement & Glass
    • Chemical
    • Electronics & Electrical
    • Electric Power Generation
    • Electric Power T&D
    • Fabricated Metals
    • Food & Beverage
    • Machinery
    • Metals
    • Mining
    • Oil & Gas
    • Pharmaceutical & Biotech
    • Pulp & Paper
    • Refining
    • Semiconductor
    • Water & Wastewater
  • Shipments by Machinery Segment
  • Shipments by PAC and Standard PLCs
  • Shipments by Sales Channel
  • Shipments by Customer Type

Industry Participants

The research identifies all relevant suppliers serving this market. 

Regional Market Research Focus Areas

Strategic Analysis

Competitive Analysis

  • Leading Suppliers in Region
  • Industry Shares in Region
  • Country Shares in Region
  • Leading Suppliers by Industry

Market History & Forecast Analysis 

  • Market History & Forecast by Country
  • Market History & Forecast by Industry

Industry Participants

List of countries & currencies included in each region: MIRA-Country

For More Information

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