Global shipments for motion control products increased by 10.3% to $3.3 billion in 2016, according to new statistics released by the Motion Control & Motor Association (MCMA), the industry’s trade group.

“New opportunities in automation for motion control and motors help drive this growth,” said Dana Whalls, Vice President of MCMA. “Automation technologies are enabling rapid growth in the manufacturing industry. We see this trend continuing through 2017.”

“In 2016 the motion control market rebounded considerably over 2015, which was a down year. The manufacturing sector expanded for most of the year, and demand rose for each product category,” said Alex Shikany, MCMA Director of Market Analysis. “The top three largest segments in this market, Motors (9.6% to $1.2b), Electronic Drives (10.5% to $603.1m), and Actuators & Mechanical Systems (19.5% to $572.1m) increased on a year over year basis, helping drive the overall growth. The smaller AC Motors segment grew the fastest at 24.3% to $34.3m.”

Individually, the fourth quarter of 2016 also increased on a year over year basis by 15.3% to $841.7 million. Growth rates were positive in each product category MCMA tracks.

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