PI Technologies Hold Their Ground in the Current Economic Situation
The annual survey of newly installed nodes conducted by PI (PROFIBUS & PROFINET International) shows moderate growth for its technologies compared to previous years. Even in times of economic and structural change, PI technologies are experiencing solid growth for use in machines and systems across the globe. Economic uncertainties and the impact of supply issues on inventories naturally affect products with PI technologies as well, and this is reflected in device numbers accordingly - in particular in Europe and China. Despite this, products based on PI technologies were able to hold their ground well in the marketplace, which was impressively demonstrated by the number of newly installed nodes, though it was not possible to repeat or exceed the record numbers seen in previous years.
In 2022, disruptions in the supply chain led to material shortages and significant delivery bottlenecks. These limitations were more than compensated for in 2023 thanks to the supply of a very large number of IO-Link devices, which led to an anticipated normalization in 2024 with an additional 9.7 million new nodes having been put on the market. IO-Link remains stable and has been growing continually for years, with 61 million nodes at last count. IO-Link continues to successfully establish itself as a global standard.
“We see the trend in automation technology as positive, and we are ideally equipped for the future thanks to the continuous development of our technologies as the digital transformation progresses. The economic outlook is set to improve, and that includes international markets. Our globally distributed organizational form reinforces the market success of products with PI technologies. The demand for more data can be satisfied easily and consistently thanks to the PROFINET architecture and thanks to the extensive standardization of data structures and the consistent integration of IO-Link.
[published on 28.03.2025]
