Global Market Outlook on Lab Equipment and Supplies

The lab equipment industry has performed well in 2017, with a growth rate of 3.7 percent, and reached an annual revenue of $51.9. Growth will be strong in emerging markets, like China and India

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Industry Growth Drivers

  • Continuous demand from pharma industry for high throughput, portable, and cost-effective research procedures and equipment
  • Focus on food and environment safety in developing nations, such as India and China
  • Stable demand in North America especially from the public sector

Industry Growth Constraints

  • Slowing demand from China, which used to be the growth house of the industry until 2014
  • Both public and private funding delays in Japan and Europe
  • Adverse effect of currency fluctuations in Europe, Japan, and emerging countries such as India, Brazil, and Mexico

Lab Equipment Maintenance: Regional/Site-wise Sourcing

  • Buyers prefer strong in-house maintenance team, engaging along with OEMs or MVS model Characteristics:
  • Decrease in downtime and reduction in service time
  • Quality service at optimal cost
  • Reduction in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Industry Growth Drivers

  • Continuous demand from pharma industry for high throughput, portable, and cost-effective research procedures and equipment
  • Focus on food and environment safety in developing nations, such as India and China
  • Stable demand in North America especially from the public sector

 
 Industry Growth Constraints

  • Slowing demand from China, which used to be the growth house of the industry until 2014
  • Both public and private funding delays in Japan and Europe
  • Adverse effect of currency fluctuations in Europe, Japan, and emerging countries such as India, Brazil, and Mexico

The lab supplies global market has witnessed a stable growth, due to continuous demand from diversified end-user segment.

Economic Stagnancy in Established Markets

  • In 2016, the US and Europe contributed 48 percent and 32 percent respectively to the global lab supplies and equipment market
  • Moderate speed of economic recovery of the US would continue to influence the lab supplies purchases by academic, research, and federal institutions

Economic Slowdown in Emerging Markets

  • During 2011–2014, the lab products industry (consumables, chemicals, and equipment) has performed well in India and China and has witnessed yearly growth of around 12 percent and 9 percent respectively
  • During 2015 - 16, the economic slowdown in China and India impacted the growth rate of lab consumables industry

End-user Segmentation

Pharmaceutical companies constitute 38 percent of the overall demand for lab equipment and supplies. Suppliers view the pharmaceutical industry buyers as core accounts with whom they are willing to engage in a strategic partnership and offer better options for technology updates and equipment replacement

Buyer Segment Trends

  • Pharmaceutical companies are primary buyers of lab equipment and the suppliers are keen on meeting buyer’s interest
  • Pharmaceutical end-user often look up for new hybrid technologies, such as UHPLC, HILIC, SFC, LC-MS, LC-NMR, and LC-FTIR
  • High growth potential of demand from CROs make them an attractive buyer for suppliers along with biotechnology and food and beverage industry
  • Financial crisis and high acquisition cost has decelerated the adoption rate of advanced technology and automation

Regional Demand 

  • In 2016, stronger dollar has negated the growth of many regional markets. Suppliers have reported double digit negative effects on revenue post the currency conversion from European and LATAM markets
  • In 2017, it is expected that stronger dollar would be a challenge for suppliers, as most of them are based out of the US
  • Rebalancing of Indian and Chinese economy along with stabilizing the US economy would drive the growth in market

Technology Trends

Sustainability

  • Energy efficiency, minimizing operating cost, increasing researchers’ productivity and decreasing waste productions, would continue as focus points of lab equipment buyers in future

IP Protection

  • Increasing popularity of cloud computing and mobiles in analytical and quality laboratories is demanding the organizations to redefine the information access protocols

Automation

  • Lab equipment automation would be more focused towards enabling the continuous flow and decreasing the batching requirements during experiments

Focus on High Resolution

  • Super resolution is the focus of imaging equipment future, which would be more living-cell-friendly and allow the researchers to image whole organisms through development

3-D Printing

  • 3-D printers are expected to provide cost-effective ways to customize costly equipment in future

Integrated Systems

  • Waters introduced ionkey/MS system. This device integrates the UPLC separation into the source of a mass spectrometer and delivered enhanced sensitivity, performance, and ease of use

Portability of Devices

  • Suppliers are focusing on developing the portable equipment, which can work as a supplement to the primary lab equipment that makes things easier for field scientists. It is cost-effective, as all samples would not be required to send to labs

Increased Focus on Data Integrity

  • Demand for efficient software for managing clinical workflow, in terms of regulatory compliance and data security, is increasing. Life science, healthcare industry contributed to the major share in the overall laboratory informatics (LIMS, CDS and others) market. TetraScience has developed a data-integration platform that connects disparate types of lab equipment and software systems, in-house and at outsourced drug developers and manufacturers. It then unites the data from all these sources in the cloud for speeder and more accurate research, cost savings, and other benifits