DISTRIBUTED CONTROL SYSTEMS MARKET ANALYSIS

The global distributed control systems market size was valued at US$ 35.24 billion in 2022 and is anticipated to witness a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.1% from 2022 to 2030. The global distributed control systems market is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period owing to various factors. These include growing adoption of automation in industrial sectors, increasing demand for power, and rising investments in the power generation sector. Moreover, increased adoption of internet-based DCS is anticipated to accelerate the market growth. 

Global Distributed Control Systems Market: Regional Insights

The global distributed control systems market is regionally divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa.

Among regions, North America is projected to show strong growth in the global distributed control systems market over the forecast period. The key driver for this growth is rapid growth of shale gas industry across the region. As per the Coherent Market Insights, the percentage of shale gas increased from 1% in 2000 to 20% in 2010, and it is likely to grow to 45% by 2035. This in turn is expected to drive growth of the tightly integrated distributed control systems market that offers sustainability of the process through controls in high-risk environments.

Moreover, Asia Pacific is also forecasted to exhibit substantial growth in the global distributed control systems market during the forecast period, owing to rapidly growing industrial sector in the region. Due to availability of huge reserves of raw materials, lucrative government policies, large population base, and cheap labor, the industrial sector is rapidly growing in the region. This in turn is driving the increasing adoption of automation, reduction in production times, and higher production volumes, in the industrial sector of the region. These factors in turn are likely to support the demand for DCS, which is expected to boost growth of the global distributed control systems market over the forecast period.

Figure 1: Global Distributed Control Systems Market Share (%), By Region, 2022

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Global Distributed Control Systems Market Drivers:

Rise in demand for energy across developing countries to boost the market growth

The demand for energy from emerging economies, especially from the BRICS countries is likely to fuel the expansion of oil and gas, power, and related sectors that are one of the major end user industries of distributed control systems. BRICS countries that are Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are culturally as well as economically diverse countries; however, all these countries have a common aim that the rapid growth and development of energy industry. These nations are known to be among the top energy-consuming countries accounting currently for nearly 35% of the overall energy consumption. Thus, growing demand for energy in these countries is likely to fuel the need for DCSs, which is further anticipated to drive the market growth over the forecast future.

Increasing adoption for smart applications to fuel the market pace

In recent years, manufacturing facilities and factories around the world are gradually adopting automation equipment to enable high level efficiency and performance. With the emergence of smart-field devices as well as analysis tools, the process automation sector is witnessing a paradigm shift in the sector. The smart field devices are capable of automating some testing protocols. Thus, adoption of smart applications is growing across these industries, which in turn is creating demand for distributed control systems. These factor are further expected to drive growth of the global distributed control systems market during the forecast period.

Global Distributed Control Systems Market Opportunities:

Rise in investment in processing and manufacturing industry is likely to bring multiple growth opportunities in the global distributed control systems market during the forecast period. The adoption of DCS systems is growing rapidly due to rise in investments from industrial sectors such as mining and metal, metallurgy, electronics, and food and beverage industry in emerging economies. The distributed control systems have networking capabilities that can be used in process management and the inputs or outputs can be discrete or analog signal in the processing and manufacturing industries further enhancing the operational efficiency. This in turn will drive the demand for distributed control systems across these industries, which is expected to provide market players with several opportunities.

Use of IoT in oil and gas industry for real-time decision making is expected to provide market players with major business opportunities in the global distributed control systems market during the forecast period. Industries such as power, metal and mining, chemicals, and oil and gas are old industries and with technological development, the manufacturing processes among these industries are improved with advent of systems such as PLC, DCS, and SCADA. The oil and gas industry can redefine its coverage through adoption of automation equipment. The adoption of distributed control systems is growing among manufacturers in oil and gas industry to accelerate the production and exploration processes. Thus, the global distributed control systems market is likely to witness major opportunities in the near future.

Global Distributed Control Systems Market Trends:

The services segment among components is gaining traction in the market

Key players in the market are increasingly emphasizing on expansion of capabilities for both project services and maintenance and operation services to continue their market expansion. The services segment of distributed control systems include project management services, retrofits, non-contract maintenance, and upgrades. With increasing number of providers of distributed antenna systems services, the service segment is gaining traction in the market. This in turn is likely to drive the demand for the segment in the market over the forecast future.

Growing clean energy and renewable power generation demand is a recent trend in the market

The urbanization and industrialization is rapidly growing all over the world, along with it the demand for energy. The production of renewable power has now been enabled at large scale all over the world in order to cater the rising demand for energy, and increasingly depleting fossil fuel. Solar and wind plants in number are growing in several regions. Thus, the use of distributed control system in solar field with local controller panels offers strong and highly reliable solutions. As a result, the demand for DCS systems is likely to increase in the near future.

Global Distributed Control Systems Market Restraints:

Availability of alternative technologies in the process automation field to hinder the market growth

The end users in major verticals are debating over the efficiency of SCADA/PLC vs DCS. The competition in the overall control systems market has increased in recent years, as several manufacturers are entering the market. PLC/SCADA applications are gradually replacing their DCS counterparts in simple and low-cost applications where product can be seen during the process. Other cases, where the configurations of the systems can be performed later, owing to the application’s generic nature shows that, PLC systems can also be successful in replication of the performance of DCS solutions. Thus, this factor is expected to hinder growth of the global distributed control systems market during the forecast period.

Increasing concerns regarding security and rise in cost competition to hamper the market pace

With increasing technological innovations, the shift of DCS solutions to open-source tools relying on communication on the internet to offer efficient performance, from proprietary-based architecture is growing. DCS solutions are increasingly becoming vulnerable to cyber-attacks due to the lack of credible industry standards focusing on handling of information transfer and rise in adoption of windows-based solutions. This factor in turn is expected to hamper growth of the global distributed control systems market during the forecast period. However, the market is likely to see growth due to growing focus of market players on the development more efficient solutions that offer data safety and security.

Figure 2: Global Distributed Control Systems Share (%), By Component, 2022

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Global Distributed Control Systems Market Segmentation:

The global distributed control systems market report is segmented into Component and End User Vertical.

Based on Component, the market is segmented into Hardware, Software, and Services. Out of which, Hardware is expected to dominate the global market over the forecast period and this is attributed to the growing importance of hardware components and rise in size of industrial units. Hardware components in the DCS are integral for the overall functioning of the system. Thus, demand for hardware components is high in the industry, which further drives growth of the segment.

Software segment is also expected to witness significant growth in the near future and this is owing to the various benefits of software components in distributed control systems. The standalone software is an important asset for a manufacturing unit or a company that is utilized as an efficient tool for curtailing costs. The standalone software is used for efficiently linking different pan-enterprise software packages and it offers a stable level of user interface. Due to its multiple benefits, demand for this segment continues to grow, which in turn is likely to propel the market growth.

Based on End User Vertical, the market is segmented into Power Generation, Oil & Gas, Chemicals, Refining, Mining and Metals, Paper and Pulp, and Others. Out of which, Power Generation is expected to dominate the global market over the forecast period and this is attributed to the growing demand for energy across the globe leading to increasing emphasis on renewable energy. This is further driving the use of distributed control systems in the power plants at a bigger scale. Thus, the segment is likely to witness strong growth in the market.

Oil and Gas segment is also expected to witness significant growth in the near future and this is owing to the growing adoption of automation technology in oil and gas industry. Due to rapidly growing demand for energy in emerging countries is driving the growth of oil & gas as well as electric power industry. The demand for distributed control systems in the industry is thus continues to grow across several regions.

Global Distributed Control Systems Market: Key Developments

In May 2022, ABB announced to have received a novel contract from DS Smith for fulfilling a vision of highly connected, automated, and secure operations at the Kimsley Mill in the U.K.

In July 2022, Emerson revealed that it is validating the Dragos Platform in its DeltaVTM distributed control system that provides companies with highly improved ICS/OT cyber security.

In April 2021, ABB and Tempered Networks announced partnership with Nozomi Networks, as ABB is using Nozomi’s technology in its distributed control system for catering the increasing demand for enhanced operational technology.

In January 2021, Tenova, chose ABB Automation for supply and installment of a compressive drive and automation package in its novel tinning plant in Asia. This project includes the Ability system 800xA distributed control systems of ABB equipped with electrical, control, and communication system for stable manufacturing and proper use of energy and raw material.

Global Distributed Control Systems Market: Key Companies Insights

The global distributed control systems market is highly competitive. This is attributed to continuous launch of new technologies due to ongoing R&D and efforts by value chain participants. Moreover, key players are adopting various business growth strategies in order to expand their presence on regional as well as global basis.

Some of the key players in the global distributed control systems market are ABB Group, Yokogawa Electric Company, Honeywell International Inc., Toshiba, Siemens AG, Azbil Corporation, Schneider Electric, Novatech LLC, Mitsubishi Electric, Omron Corporation, Rockwell Automation, METSO, and Emerson Electric Company.

*Definition: A distributed control system (DCS) is a type of industrial automation that is used to manage all the components in a plant. This is a powerful tool that consists of a centralized control center and a network of automated local controllers that connect to it via high-speed communication networks. It is also very reliable and provides a safe operating environment for everyone in the plant.