Welding Equipment and Supplies: The Global Market

Use this report to:
- Analyze the market dynamics of various types of welding equipment and consumables, their present and future market scenario.
- Gain insight into recent advanced technologies involving welding equipment and consumables, along with complete product and technology life cycle.
- Assess the global market for welding related products and equipment by technology, region, end-user application, and type of equipment used.
- Identify major manufacturers, their sales data and evaluate foreseeable future developments in the welding equipment and supplies market.


Highlights
- The global market for welding products reached $23.0 billion in 2015. The market should reach $24.2 billion in 2016 and $31.8 billion by 2021, demonstrating a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.6% from 2016 to 2021.
- The welding equipment and consumables market reached $15.2 billion in 2015. The market should reach nearly $16.0 billion in 2016 and $20.1 billion by 2021, growing at a CAGR of 5.4% from 2016 to 2021.
- The global automated/robotic welding accessories market reached $1.9 billion in 2015. The market should reach over $2.0 billion in 2016 and $2.8 billion by 2021, growing at a CAGR of 6.9% from 2016 to 2021.


INTRODUCTION
Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermo-plastics, by fusion, which is distinct from lower temperature metal joining techniques such as brazing and soldering that do not melt the base metal. In addition to melting the base metal, a filler material is often added to the joint to form a pool of molten material that cools to form a joint that can be as strong, or even stronger, than the base material.

Pressure may also be used in conjunction with heat, or by itself, to produce a weld. The process is an efficient, economical and dependable means of joining metals. No other technique is as widely used by manufacturers to join metals and alloys efficiently and to add value to their products. Welding is used as a fabrication process in every industry large or small and is a principal means of fabricating and repairing metal products.

Welding has been used in space and also finds applications in the air and underwater. Most of the familiar objects in modern society, from buildings and bridges, to vehicles, computers, and medical devices, could not be produced without the use of welding.

Welding goes well beyond the bounds of its simple description. Welding today is applied to a wide variety of materials and products, using such advanced technologies as lasers and plasma arcs. The future of welding holds even greater promise as methods are devised for joining dissimilar and nonmetallic materials, and for creating products of innovative shape and design.

The true impact of welding on the metalworking industry can be gauged by the total value of the parts produced by welding, the money saved by using welding over other metal fabrication processes such as soldering and brazing and the value of products made by welding.

Welding finds application in the automobile industry, and in the construction of buildings; bridges; ships; submarines; pressure vessels; offshore structures; storage tanks; oil, gas and water pipelines; girders; press frames; and water turbines. A major contribution that welding has made to society is the manufacture of household products such as refrigerators, kitchen cabinets, dishwashers and other similar products.

The various welding technologies available allow a great deal of flexibility in the design of the components to be welded. Welding and joining technologies are pervasive in commercial and defense manufacturing, and are a significant value-added source in the manufacturing process. The role of welding and joining in the repair and life extension of manufactured products is even more critical since these processes are frequently used to repair structures and components which were not originally welded.



STUDY GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The welding industry constitutes the workforce that uses welding technologies to perform welding operations; the welding supply industry that provides the equipment, products, consumables, and services needed by the workforce; and the end users in the larger national and international industrial sector who rely on welding and joining processes to manufacture their products. This report concentrates on the manufacturers and end users of various types of welding equipment and consumables. Machinery, filler materials, and accessories for the various welding processes are manufactured and supplied by a few large companies whose sales exceed $100 million.

Several hundred much smaller companies specialize in items such as welding torches, welders’ helmets, hammers, marking equipment, welding screens and special fluxes. The value of shipments at the manufacturing level fluctuates with the volume of metals consumed in the global industry and there have been pronounced upward and downward movements in these figures over the years.

This report will discuss the sales figures of major manufacturers, their respective positions in the market, competition involved in the field and the future outlook for these companies. The report will concentrate on the types of welding applications used in various industries and the future prospects of these technologies given the fact that new technologies and methods are being introduced into the market at a very fast rate.

Manufacturers have requirements in at least three areas: meeting the changing demands of their customers, competing with other manufacturers, and complying with government regulations. This means they must continually concentrate on developing a new generation of improved, high-value-added products. Joining technologies that have evolved to meet new industrial needs include specific arc welding techniques for the shipbuilding, aerospace and oil and gas industries, and advanced resistance welding, which has been driven by the automotive and appliance industries. This report will concentrate on research and development by manufacturers for improving welding technologies and relevant consumables. The report will also discuss the technology life cycle costs of the technologies involved as well as the product life cycle of equipment and consumables involved in the processes.

Materials of the future will be designed to be capable of welding as part of the total integration of welding into the manufacturing cycle. The materials must be energy efficient, environmentally benign, and help reprocessing at any point in the life cycle of the component. Welding technologies will be developed along with these new materials so that practical fabrication methods are available for all engineering applications.

Other areas in need of further research are the joining of dissimilar materials by welding, polymer joining by welding and joining coated high-strength steels. The report will explore the research and development programs of various manufacturers and organizations and evaluate foreseeable future developments in the these fields.



REASONS FOR DOING THE STUDY
For an organization to succeed in a competitive market, product opportunities must be identified from the viewpoint of the organization’s strengths. For this, it is necessary to understand the size and growth rate of any opportunity and the competitive atmosphere in which an organization exists. This report presents the ideal medium to understand the exciting and growing opportunities in the field of welding and consumables and will help any prospective manufacturer, distributor or even user to understand and succeed in this growing field.


INTENDED AUDIENCE
This report is intended to help:
- Marketing managers to identify newer market opportunities and develop targeted promotion plans for appropriate welding equipment and consumables.
- Research and development professionals to stay apprised of competitor initiatives and explore the demand for welding equipment in new applications in order to develop new technologies, equipment and consumables.
- Advertising agencies working with clients in the welding industry to understand the products and to develop messages and images that will influence consumers to purchase these products.
- Business development executives to understand the dynamics of the market and identify possible new markets.
- Information and research center librarians to provide market researchers and brand and product managers with the information they need to do their jobs more effectively.



SCOPE OF REPORT
The report has been prepared in a simple, easy-to-understand format. A number of tables and charts/figures are included to illustrate current and future market scenarios. The report includes a detailed study of global and regional markets for various types of welding equipment and consumables, including shielding gases, safety and protective equipment and automated welding equipment and accessories, with reasons given for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.


INFORMATION SOURCES
The primary information sources include manufacturers and distributors of welding equipment and consumables around the world, major users of this equipment, research organizations, government agencies, and trade associations. The report includes market projections by experts in the welding industry. The report also includes the developments, trends, and activities in the welding industry as reported in trade magazines. Additional secondary sources such as databases, trade literature, specialized journals and government statistics have been researched while compiling this report.



ANALYST'S CREDENTIALS
Srinivasa Rajaram is a mechanical engineer with more than 40 years of experience in designing factory layouts and setting up factories. He has set up factories for the production of weighing machines and dynamic balancing machines in India and has experience in designing, producing and servicing this equipment. He was senior vice president of M/S Schenck Avery Ltd., an Indo-German joint venture producing balancing and diagnostic equipment, and has set up heavy fabrication shops for various weighing and dynamic balancing equipment.