Business models
learning and artificial intelligence, it’s a case of almost pointing [the camera] at the product and the system learning the spectral signature. Suddenly, you don’t need spectroscopists to do it anymore. Now a machine vision person can do it.’ But that’s not to say that the high-end
offering will disappear – far from it. Williamson believes instead that other things will replace it. ‘Tat high-end is still there,’ he stated, ‘except the simpler applications now are becoming mainstream commodities and becoming cheaper.’ Tat market will grow, according to Williamson, but the vision aspect will be less expensive and easier to use. ‘Tere will still be a high-end vision system,
but it will do different things,’ Williamson continued. Hyperspectral is a good example, but even here there are developments in the most expensive part of the system, the shortwave infrared camera, which can cost up to £13,000, noted Williamson. ‘I expect, with new technologies in the next few years, that will halve,’ he said. ‘Eventually, we will get to the stage where we will have a smart, hyperspectral camera. Te technology is complicated, but there’s massive work on simplification.’ However, while for many that simplicity
extends to the purchasing process, Williamson urges caution when choosing to go down the route of a business model based on online machine vision stores. Machine vision requires a lot of knowledge to select the right products, which is still going to be important. ‘Amazon for machine vision isn’t going to happen any time soon because, yes, some people will buy, but – and we had an independent survey done by the UK Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN)
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– customers that are most happy engage more with the consultancy, advisors and services, than those just buying a product,’ he said.
Geographical impact Aside from technological developments, the machine vision industry will almost certainly have to consider geography going forward. ‘Countries like China have the capability to make new companies and the volumes are so large that they could just run the whole
industry,’ said van Kuijk. ‘People making standard products see it as a threat, but I see it as an opportunity, because you have to define your own company – so what are you good at and how do you differentiate? I see it [China] as a market where I can send my intellectual property.’ Arguably, as with any industry more than 30
years old, consolidation is also creeping into play. ‘If we just look at the cameras,’ explained van Kuijk, ‘there are 150 different industrial
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