CAM market grew 6.9% in 2016.

CIMdata, Inc., the leading global PLM strategic management consulting and research firm has announced the release of the 2017 CIMdata CAM Market Analysis Report (MAR), the 26th annual study of the global Computer-Aided Machining (CAM) market.

CIMdata estimates that based on end-user payments, the worldwide CAM software and related services market grew by 6.9% in calendar year 2016. The estimated end-user payments grew from US $1.81 billion in 2015 to US $1.94 billion in 2016.

According to Stan Przybylinski, CIMdata’s VP of Research, “The CAM results were solid in 2016, with few of the currency effects that impacted the results CIMdata reported last year. Even in the face of slower machine tool consumption, companies still continue to invest in new CAM software.”

CIMdata projects that in 2017 growth in manufacturing will continue and end-user payments for CAM software will increase by 6.4% to US $2.06 billion.

Since 2002, the CAM software market has shown modest but steady growth as global economies generally improved. There has been worldwide growth in the sale of machine tools and manufacturing output, greater emphasis has been placed on the efficient operation of machine tools as manufacturing firms have strengthened their competitive positions and the overall Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) market, of which CAM software is a component, has continued on a strong growth path during this period. CAM software purchases are related to all of these factors, particularly machine tool sales.

According to Mike Fry, the director of CIMdata’s Manufacturing Systems Engineering Practice, “The CAM market had solid growth in 2016, but it will be interesting to watch the adoption of additive manufacturing technology into the mainstream manufacturing process. There will be significant changes in how additive manufacturing is incorporated into the PLM digital thread and its effects on the market. We are seeing the emergence of specialised functionality for additive manufacturing, in combination with subtractive manufacturing, from the software providers and machine tool manufactures.”

He continued: “We are also seeing substantial interest in the adoption of the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0 across the manufacturing value chain. This, added with predictive analytics should accelerate the manufacturing market in the near term.”

The 2017 CIMdata CAM Market Analysis Report is available for purchase at: http://www.cimdata.com/en/research/plm-market-analysis-report-series