The fieldbus slipped again

The number of traditional serial fieldbus installations began to decline. While fieldbus installations still account for a significant portion of new node additions, the share of newly installed nodes is expected to decline by 2% in 2024. PROFIBUS topped the fieldbus ranking with a 7% market share, followed by an even distribution of other well-known fieldbus protocols.

By 2024, fieldbuses will account for 22% of the market. Despite the decrease in the number of new fieldbus nodes, many devices, machines, and plants will continue to rely on these well-functioning and proven fieldbuses for years to come.

Wireless technology is growing steadily

2711P-T7C21D8S-B Wireless technology has grown steadily in recent years, although the rate of growth has decreased slightly according to the report. By network type, wireless solutions still account for 7% of the total. The market continues to introduce more products that support industrial wireless, and the acceptance of wireless solutions in the factory environment is increasing. Typical use cases include cable replacement applications, wireless machine access, and connectivity to mobile industrial equipment.

Industrial networks are promoting manufacturing productivity

And the key to sustainability

“Connectivity is now the standard for factory automation, with Industrial Ethernet leading the way. Looking ahead, however, we expect a dynamic trend and technology to emerge. While Industrial Ethernet dominates today, we will witness exciting changes and innovations that will shape the future of industrial networking.”

Magnus Jansson, Product Marketing Director, Anybus Business Unit, HMS Networks

HMS China Perspective

2711P-T7C21D8S-B The distribution of HMS’s sales in China partly supports this share forecast. Although fieldbus is still widely used in process automation, power automation and other industries, the market share of industrial EtherNet dominated by PROFINET, EtherCAT and EtherNet/IP has far exceeded fieldbus, especially the new speed of PROFINET and EtherCAT nodes. The performance of the Chinese market significantly exceeds the global average.

In addition, although the overall market is relatively small at present, the demand for wireless networks for OT-level applications is rising, driven by logistics warehousing, smart factories, intelligent manufacturing and other related drivers. Traditional wireless solutions such as WiFi and Bluetooth are expected to be gradually replaced by increasingly mature 5G solutions.

In addition to the new market, the maintenance and upgrading of the existing fieldbus that has been running for many years, and the network management problems of industrial Ethernet brought about by the improvement of the degree of networking, are also the topic of increasing attention of many customers, especially the end customers.