Surface Inspection Market - Forecasts from 2022 to 2027

The surface inspection market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.55% during the forecast period to reach US$5.911 billion by 2027, from US$3.792 billion in 2020. Surface inspection is the process of surface examination, to find potential defects, flaws, or irregularities. A surface inspection is done to assure a long service life for a product or commodity. It uses directional lighting, smart cameras, software, and equipment to detect and correct surface defects. It is usually used in the automotive industry to detect body or paint defects, and also in the electronics segment to correct surface defects.

Market Trends:

The global surface inspection market is expected to grow at a steady rate, mainly due to the increasing relevance of the automotive sector. Moreover, the stricter government regulations implemented in the automotive and healthcare industries are expected to drive up the market demand for the Surface Inspection market. The North American region has been reported to have the largest market share, due to the increasing advancements in automotive technology and the increasing electronics industry, and is expected to continue leading the market in the forecasted period.

Growth Factors

Pothole damage

The increasing prevalence of potholes on roads has been irritating drivers all around the world. Pothole damage can create a variety of wheel and tire issues. The initial impact on a car might result in buckling wheels, cracks on the body, tyre lumps, fractured alloys, suspension issues, tracking and wheel balancing issues, and a lot more problems. According to the American Automobile Association, 10% of drivers in the US face significant vehicle damage after encountering a pothole. The average repair cost of such damages reached US$600 in the year 2021, amounting to a total of US$ 26.5 billion being spent by drivers on repairs in the US alone. The surface inspection market is expected to rise substantially with the announcement of upcoming developments in the automotive sector and the increasing pothole problem.

Last year, Chromasens released the 3DPIXA RI stereo line-scan camera with the idea of making road surface inspection easy and efficient. When fitted on a typical vehicle, it can acquire high-resolution inline photographs of continuous road surfaces as broad as 14.4 feet in one pass because of its tri-linear CCD line-sensor and enormous field of view (4400mm). The 3DPIXA RI can identify not only the width but also the depth of a pothole by creating a 3D model with a point cloud of the hole. By detecting height fluctuations in the road, it may also be possible to determine whether an existing asphalt repair is in fair condition. This technology would be significantly beneficial since manual road surface inspection is expensive and very time-consuming. It requires professional workers to visually detect and record the location and severity of potholes and cracks, and then report them to the maintenance department to fix them; which is a very long and tedious process. Hence, the development of technologies like these help in reducing the workload of employees and accelerating the process.

Developments in the automotive industry

The demand for the automotive industry is expected to increase with the increasing developments in the automotive sector and the expanding adoption of electric vehicles. According to OICA, worldwide vehicle sales in 2021 were more than 82 million units, a 4 million unit increase over the previous year. Over 56 million passenger automobiles were sold in 2021. Owing to the advancements in the automotive industry, the surface inspection market is also expected to increase. Surface inspection is used in the automotive sector to diagnose and repair paint and surface cracks or defects.

ISRA recently announced an automated paint repair system for plastic and metal body parts. The completely automated SSP system (Scan, Sand, Polish) developed by Accell GmbH, a partner company of ISRA, combines optical inspection with sanding and polishing operations all in one unit, employing ISRA's new PAINTSCAN compact sensor's cutting-edge multi-mode LED technology. Even on a moving production line, the ISRA PaintScan surface inspection system consistently inspects painted components for all important paint defects and classifies them. The technology identifies a wide range of surface defects such as dents, scratches, and defects using a unique camera/lighting combination. After successful identification, PaintScan uses pre-tested algorithms to classify all quality-related paint flaws, preventing faulty items from entering downstream operations. Existing production lines can also be upgraded using PaintScan.

The COVID-19 outbreak resulted in the implementation of strict lockdown measures in most countries, to limit the number of increasing infection cases. This led to the halt of several major industries, leading to a global economic slowdown. Industries like automotive and electronics, which were some of the major players in the surface inspection market, were forced to close down, resulting in a loss of huge sums of revenue in the market. However, as countries have started to lift their COVID-19 regulations, the market has started to recover and is expected to increase in demand.

Market Segmentation:

• By Component

Camera

Optics

Processor

Software

Others

• By Surface Type

2D

3D

• By Industry

Automotive

Consumer Electronics

Healthcare

Travel and Transport/Logistics

Others

• By Geography

North America

• USA
• Canada
• Mexico

South America

• Brazil
• Argentina
• Others

Europe

• Germany
• France
• United Kingdom
• Spain
• Others

Middle East and Africa

• Saudi Arabia
• Israel
• South Africa
• Others

Asia Pacific

• China
• Japan
• South Korea
• India
• Others