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European drives-makers will see material benefits

01 July, 2002

Europe`s materials-handling industry is going on a drives-buying spree that will result in its drives purchases growing from $169m last year to more than $214m by 2008. This is the conclusion of a survey* of drives users in the handling sector, conducted by Frost & Sullivan.

The survey reveals that 43.2% of those questioned expect to increase their spending on drives in the coming year, and that more than half buy a drive at least once a month. But most purchases are for just one drive, and more than 20% of orders are for drives smaller than 2.2kW.

Pricing is of paramount importance for the drives specifiers, and 94% of them rate product reliability as a crucial criterion when buying drives.

Most of those questioned by F&S agree that ABB dominates the market, but Siemens has the highest level of brand recognition and is praised for its "mind share", according to the report. But the market is characterised by low brand loyalty with just 27.5% of the respondents saying that they would not consider changing suppliers.

• F&S has presented Siemens Automation & Drives with a Market Engineering Leadership Award for its "outstanding performance in the European electric drives market". The award is based on an analysis of revenues and markets shares of European drives-makers, combined with interviews and secondary research.

* Report 6635. Price €4,000. Details on (44) 020 7343 8376