Thermal Scanners Market Analysis
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread use of the thermal scanners throughout several public areas. Thermal scanners can provide a more accurate, secure, and reliable means of detecting individuals with virus-specific testing. Thermal scanning equipment is used by hospitals, including transportation departments, manufacturers, companies, and government facilities, as part of Employee Health and Screening (EH&S) and an Elevated Body Temperature (EBT) detection process. The immediate necessity has generated the unbalance in demand and supply, triggering a rise in mass manufacturing including the higher commodity prices. Main players namely FLIR Systems, Inc. and Seek Thermal Inc. are expected to meet the grown demand by changing their emphasis from industrial to commercial thermal scanning devices that target hospitals and healthcare systems.
High adoption of the fixed thermal scanner in the industrial and healthcare sector has led to over 60% revenue share of the global thermal scanner market in 2019. Fixed thermal scanners provide a flexible, precise, and effective scanning solution in the ceramics, steel, and other manufacturing industries for constant temperature measurement applications. Fixed thermal scanners decrease human interaction and can be integrated with established systems such as a security gateway or biometric entry.
Thermal Scanners in Public Area
Factoring the global impacts of COVID-19 automatic temperature monitoring is expected to become normal practice in public places. Those are the fixed systems that provide accurate and real-time measurement of temperature for large crowds. Handheld thermal scanners are expected to experience rapid growth due to fast commercial adoption. The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in a substantial need for handheld scanners across various community places such as airports, metro stations, warehouses, and commercial buildings. It also helps the social distancing intent as it helps the user to take temperature readings from a safe distance.
Thermal Scanners in Aerospace
Aerospace and Defense sector has accounted for revenue by around 21% in 2019. Thermal scanning is a bonus for defense applications due to the potential to operate in all weather conditions. The technology is commonly used in aircraft avoidance and guidance systems for ship accidents, border control, law enforcement, and structural safety monitoring. Thermal cameras have been more integrated with other technologies including radar to enhance reliability, warning monitoring, and long-range monitoring for airports and other large areas. Long-width Infrared (LWIR) has played a vital role in the defense market over the decades as it can identify artifacts independent of ambient lighting. LWIR provides many advantages such as low strength, weight, and scale, and has accounted for a revenue of around 70% by wavelength segment for the global thermal scanner market in 2019.
Thermal Scanners in Automotive Industry
The use of thermal scanners in the automotive industry has seen growth. The technology was available in a limited number of high-end automotive models, due to the high cost initially. Risky driving factors such as haze, fog, animal crossing at night, and densely populated areas, can be minimized with the aid of thermal scanners thus simultaneously increasing highway safety and driver consciousness. Such scanners can be conveniently incorporated with existing automotive systems making the application easier to implement at a market-leading price range.
Benefits of thermal Scanners
Application low cost has created a whole new opportunity for thermal imaging systems in mainstream applications. Thermal scanning technology is not only restricted to the application of defense and security but is also used for predictive maintenance across multiple platforms in the industry. Manufacturing plants, refineries, and substations use thermal scanners to monitor the machinery remotely, detect components that are at risk of overheating, and respond before a failure occurs. Industries such as food processing and the production of carpets where heat is used for manufacturing will benefit from the technology to improve and automate fire and safety regulation.
North America is expected to see substantial growth due to its advanced defense industry. The active participation of industry leaders such as FLIR Systems, Inc.; Fluke Corporation; and L3Harris Technologies, Inc. is fueling demand in the US market. The rising growth in Canada's industrial applications is also expected to drive the regional market. British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. (BC Ferries) recently mounted thermal scanners to track endangered marine mammals in August 2019.
The growth of the thermal scanner market in China is due to numerous vendors providing low-cost solutions which are expected to fuel demand in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in effect. The outbreak in China has contributed to the increasing demand for thermal scanners that have driven companies to mass production. Research and development efforts are being brought into the area to tackle the outbreak. As a result, Wuhan Guide Infrared Co., Ltd. announced that a thermal scanner device powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) facial recognition technology would be deployed in Chinese public transportation infrastructure.
Considering that many businesses are on the verge of reopening amid lockdown, precautionary steps are being taken using thermal scanners to track workers. Governments in many areas have also mandated the use of these systems in residential and business complexes. This rising demand is expected to rapidly fuel business growth over the next few years. Scanners are strategically positioned near building entrances through which workers, tourists, contractors, or customers will move. Based on the user's choice when a higher than normal temperature is detected an audio or visual warning is activated. A warning is sent to the appointed supervisor via a cell phone or computer device saving the expense of making an employee manually test temperatures.
The e-commerce giant Amazon has started the use of thermal scanning systems in its warehouses to track their employees. The business exports critical products worldwide and has also set up thermal scanners outside of Los Angeles and Seattle in at least six warehouses. The U.S. based international supermarket chain ‘Whole Foods Market Inc.’ has already begun using these tools in their shops. General Motors Company and Wynn Resorts Ltd. announced that thermal scanners have been used for screening purposes. Tyson Foods Inc. and Intel Corp. are other companies that are experimenting with the use of the after-pandemic thermal scanning solution.
The onset of COVID has pushed the thermal scanning technology to new level by transforming it from an industrial product to a consumer durable. These are now used at homes, malls and residential complexes to control the spread of COVID.
