Middle East and Africa Process Automation Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Middle East and Africa Process Automation Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The Middle East and Africa Process Automation Market is expected to register a CAGR of 5.21% during the forecast period. Automation has become an essential part of modern manufacturing and industrial processes. It helps enterprises to realize the priorities above. Companies in the region are automating their operations with the help of different technologies like SCADA, DCS, MES, and PLC. The demand for these technologies is escalating, and many vendors are manufacturing solutions to help enterprises achieve higher efficiency in their manufacturing processes.

Key Highlights

• Automation of manufacturing processes offers various benefits, such as effortless monitoring, reduction of waste, and production speed. This technology provides customers an improved quality with standardization and dependable products within time and at a much lower cost.
• Further, connecting the industrial machinery and equipment and obtaining real-time data have played a vital role in the adoption of SCADA, HMI, PLC systems, and software that offer visualization; thus enables reducing the faults in the product, reducing downtime, scheduling maintenance, and switching from being in the reactive state to predictive and prescriptive stages for decision-making.
• The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and the Industrial 4.0 are at the center of new technological approaches for the development, production, and management of the entire logistics chain, otherwise known as smart factory automation, and are dominating trends in the industrial sector, with machinery and devices being connected via the internet.
• Further, modernizing internal processes with automation and better access to information about operations and maintenance will help the industry streamline production and distribution and allow for a higher yield in the region.
• Increased government spending on new technologies is expected to make Saudi Arabia one of the major countries in the Middle East in the factory Automation and industrial control system industry. As a result, industry 4.0 is important for the future of national automation and manufacturing.
• Saudi Arabia's 2030 vision aims for a new phase of industry and automation by exploiting the kingdom's position, strategic partnerships, energy resources, and logistics. It also seeks to automate the kingdom's renewable energy and industrial manufacturing sectors by 2030 and manufacture 50% of the kingdom's needs within the kingdom.
• Due to COVID-19, the country-wide lockdown inflicted by the governments to minimize the spread of the virus impacted the growth of industries.​ The pandemic forced businesses to adhere to strict requirements to ensure the ongoing safety of their employees and customers. As a result, the need for automation witnessed a sudden spike. This is expected to be observed as a notable trend in the foreseeable future, as automation could become the new normal.​

Key Market TrendsOil and Gas Industry is Expected to Hold Significant Market Share

• Automation is a significant driver and trend in the oil and gas industry. Digitization, automation, and advanced technologies give operators and technicians immediate access to critical performance, asset conditions, and technical information. Oil and Gas companies in the region are increasingly adopting process automation tools to enhance decision-making, troubleshooting, and performance efficiency.
• According to the International Trade Administration, in July 2022, Saudi Arabia had the second-largest proven oil reserves in the world. Saudi Aramco, one of the world’s largest integrated energy and chemicals companies, operates along two major segments: Upstream and Downstream.
• Additionally, the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry involves several drilling activities that need to meet stringent government regulations and require intense planning, to cut down operational costs. Often, the industry deals with vast sets of spatial data to make several decisions. Several process automation tools and analytical engines are employed to harness the full power of spatial data.
• The Middle East Oil and Gas companies often face challenges transitioning to more renewable sources. To meet the demand in diverse situations, energy companies must focus on innovative technologies like process automation within their business models to embrace innovation and increase efficiency.
• Moreover, there is surging demand for safety and reliability in the oil and gas industry processes. The industry's supply chain creates a significant demand for automation, industry expertise, and an extensive partner network. Process automation helps oil and gas producers integrate information, control power, and provide safety solutions to respond to the dynamic global demand.
• With the fluctuation in crude oil prices, several oil and gas companies focus on minimizing costs and maximizing efficiency throughout the distribution chain. To sustain in the rising competitive environment and decrease the retail margins, they need to optimize several processes in multiple sectors.

United Arab Emirates is Expected to Account For Significant Market Share

• Fuelled by Industry 4.0, UAE continues to innovate and consolidate its position in the global market in the factory automation and industrial control systems industry. The embracing of smart technologies in the studied market has also positively impacted the national economy.
• In the United Arab Emirates, the construction industry plays an essential role in the economic upliftment and development of the country. SCADA is being increasingly used in the construction industry. Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) allows the users to control the industrial operation on-site and remotely. The advantage of SCADA being used in the construction industry lies in the ability to monitor and gather data in real time and then process it for industrial usage.
• Increased global manufacturing integration is raising the pressure for automation investment, as cost minimization with quality maximization looms ever more significantly as an operating paradigm for Arab manufacturers.
• With cyber-attacks increasing in smart factories in UAE, there is growing concern about using Industrial Control Systems. The government also has plans to curb the rise of such crimes. This aligns with the growing trend of industrial control systems manufactured in the country for smart factories to avoid the risk of cybersecurity breaches.
• Further, technologies such as process discovery, process optimization, process intelligence, and process orchestration are becoming a more significant part of Robotic Process Automation (RPA). There is an ongoing trend of increasing a closer relationship between business process management (BPM) and RPA in the future.
• Moreover, with investment roll-outs by the government to revive the pandemic that hit the UAE economy, infrastructure and the electronics industry are marked as the primary beneficiaries, alongside the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises. The infrastructure and electronics industry are heavy users of industrial control systems' hardware products and software solutions and are expected to have a direct positive effect.

Competitive Landscape

The Middle East and Africa Process Automation Market is very competitive in nature. The market is highly concentrated due to the presence of various small and large players. All the major players are focusing on expanding their consumer base across the world. Some of the significant players in the market are ABB Ltd, Siemens AG, Schneider Electric, Emerson Electric Co., Honeywell International Inc., General Electric Co., Mitsubishi Electric, Fuji Electric, and many more. The companies are increasing the market share by forming multiple partnerships and investing in introducing new solutions to earn a competitive edge during the forecast period.

• June 2022 - Emerson, a global provider of industrial automation technology and software, announced an association with Jotun to automate and digitalize global manufacturing facilities. This will enable Jotun to implement Emerson's digital technologies to enhance all aspects of manufacturing automation in new factories and for selected upgrades in some of the 39 existing factories worldwide.
• February 2022 - ABB partnered with INTECH Process Automation. ABB named system integrator and automation solution provider INTECH Process Automation UAE as ABB Value Provider (AVP) for the United Arab Emirates and Iraq. INTECH Process Automation Inc. is a system integrator and industrial automation company. The ABB's Value Provider program ensures that the services customers receive from AVPs meet the high-quality standards of ABB products both globally and locally.

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