Technavio’s latest report on the global industrial gearbox market provides an analysis on the most important trends expected to impact the market outlook from 2016-2020. Technavio defines an emerging trend as a factor that has the potential to significantly impact the market and contribute to its growth or decline.
| The global industrial gearbox market is expected to reach USD 28.49 billion by 2020 at a CAGR of 4.40 percent. Geographically, APAC will dominate the market, followed by EMEA and the Americas. |
A gearbox is a mechanical device that transmits energy from one device to another to reduce speed and generate torque. A gearbox assembly includes assorted components like gears, shafts, bearing covers, bearing keys, oil rings, and oil seals. Among all the industrial gearboxes available, the planetary gearbox segment is witnessing highest demand due to increasing awareness of alternate sources of energy. Due to this demand, many vendors are investing heavily in R&D to provide efficient gearbox systems to end-users.
Vendors focusing on APAC
“Industrial gearboxes find broad application in the infrastructure sector, ranging from the cement industry to manufacturing industry. Emerging economies such as China, India, and Indonesia are seeing a surge in the rate of urbanization as more people move from rural to urban areas. India alone will witness tremendous growth in urban population and is expected to add 500 million to its urban population over the next four decades,” said Likhitha Bandla, one of the lead analysts at Technavio for engineering tools research.
Such infrastructure development leads to an increase in manufacturing activities to refine oil and gas along with the manufacture of the necessary metals. To meet this demand, the manufacturing sector will need to provide consumer goods at a faster rate, which is possible only with energy efficient and value products from the gearbox industry.
Planetary gearboxes to gain prominence
With crude oil deposits quickly running out, it is imperative for governments to come up with alternative sources of energy. To this end, European countries are increasingly shifting to the use of renewable energy sources, especially wind energy. Planetary gearboxes are a major component in wind turbines as they provide high torque value to wind turbines and account for almost 40 percent of the industrial gearbox market in EMEA. In wind turbines, the compact and lightweight character of planetary gearboxes ensures that they require a smaller installation space.
The gears in planetary gearboxes help in the delivery of high reduction ratios, with up to 98% efficiency. With wind energy emerging as a major alternative to fossil fuels to supply power, the demand for planetary gearboxes is expected to get a boost during the forecast period.
Faster digitalized automation in industries
“The world is increasingly becoming aware of artificial intelligence, from driverless cars to mini drones that provide virtual assistance, which is expected to bring forth a large scale industrial revolution. Industries aim for the conversion of their facilities into “smart factories” where processes will be automated and the system will be in continuous sync with people, sensors, and devices via the Internet of Things,” said Likhitha.
These factors are expected to boost the adoption of automated processes and hence, the use of automated equipment. Also, the adoption of automated processes will enable the industry to work on better-developed gears and equipment.
