Calibrator Market Expecting Accelerated Growth

Article By : Martin Rowe

Aerospace/defense, pharmaceuticals, process industries, and electronics constantly need higher-quality measurements

From fruits and vegetables to semiconductors, we’d have no idea what we’re buying without calibrated scales, meters, and probes. The ever-increasing need for quality pushes measurement equipment manufacturers for more accurate measurements, and that, in turn, leads to an increasing market for calibration equipment. That’s the result of a market report, “Instrument Calibrator Market: Integration Emerging as the Future: Global Industry Analysis (2013 – 2018) and Forecast (2019 – 2027),” by U.K.-based Future Market Insights (FMI).

While all engineers need better measurements, certain industries drive the calibration equipment market — heavily regulated industries such as medical, pharmaceuticals, aerospace/defense, automotive, and food drive calibration. In 2018, EE Times reported on how pharmaceutical and medical industries drive calibration when we visited a calibration lab.

While not as heavily regulated, electronics and semiconductors also need verifiable measurements that are traceable to national and international standards. In electronics, electrical measurements include voltage, current, resistance, power, and frequency. Physical measurements include temperature, pressure, flow, and weight. Temperature is, by far, the most common measurement.

FMI reports that the market value for calibration equipment was US$833.1 million in 2018. According to the report, the market value will grow with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.2% over the period from 2019 to 2027. While temperature, pressure, and electrical calibration equipment continue to be the most popular, pressure calibrators make up the largest segment by dollar value.

The report breaks down the calibration equipment market by region and industry. That breaks down to North America, Europe, the Middle East, Japan, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.

According to the report, the top companies in calibration equipment are Fluke Calibration, Yokogawa, AMETEK, and General Electric. There are a host of other players such as Beamex and Extech. For a comprehensive list, see the NCSL International Symposium exhibitor list.