The laboratory automation market accounts for approximately 7% of the analytical and life sciences instrumentation market. It consists of four technology categories, which are liquid handling, microplate readers, robotics and management informatics. It is a medium-size market that encompasses technologies designed to automate repetitive laboratory procedures to increase the speed, efficiency and accuracy of the work done in the lab. It helps organize and govern the workflow for increased overall productivity.

The laboratory automation market is driven by initial systems sales and service, which accounted for 55% and 20% of the market in 2012, respectively. Demand for the overall market increased 3.6% in 2012 to total $3.0 billion. Growth was fueled by robust demand in Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The mainstream markets, including the US, Europe and Japan, are somewhat mature, driven mainly by replacement systems.

The pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries account for the largest end-market shares of the market. Drug discovery is the most significant market. However, demand from drug development labs has become an important segment of the market, particularly for electronic lab notebooks (ELNs). Clinical and diagnostic research labs also represent a large segment of the market, mainly for liquid handling. Demand from CROs continues to drive growth in the market.

For 2013, the market is forecast to increase 4.2% to $3.1 billion, buoyed by solid sales growth for management informatics. Workflow solutions are becoming increasingly defined, allowing for efficient analysis. However, users are requiring better solutions for sample preparation and backend work, such as data analysis and information management.

The liquid handling market, which includes manual/handheld pipettes and automated workstations, accounted for 41.2% of the lab automation market in 2012. Eppendorf and Mettler-Toledo lead the handheld pipette market, which is fueled by continued expansion in Asia-Pacific. Tecan and Beckman Coulter (Danaher) lead the automated workstation market. IBO forecasts the liquid handling market to increase 3.9% in 2013, driven by demand from clinical diagnostics and sequencing applications.

The microplate readers market, which includes high-throughput screening readers, multimode systems, single-detection systems and microplate washers, accounted for about 28.9% of the lab automation market in 2012. The market is forecast to increase 3.3% this year, driven by the aftermarket, which includes components, consumables, kits and reagents. Multimode readers account for the largest segment of the market, which is led by Perkin­Elmer and Molecular Devices (Danaher).

The market for robotics accounted for 11.2% of the lab automation market last year and is forecast to increase 4.6% for 2013 due to strong demand from the clinical/diagnostics and pharmaceutical industries. The robotics market consists of automated workcells/platforms, sample storage systems, and arms/stackers. While workcells account for the largest segment of the market, demand for automated sample storage systems continues to be a key driver for growth, particularly for applications in biobanking. Overall, the demand for components and service is relatively high in robotics compared with other lab automation technologies due to the requirement for increased uptime and overall productivity.

Management informatics software includes laboratory information management systems (LIMS), ELNs, laboratory execution systems (LES) and scientific data management systems (SDMS). This market is expected to be the fastest growing lab automation segment, increasing 5.9% in 2013, fueled by solid demand for ELN and LES. The leading vendors for this segment are LabWare and Thermo Fisher Scientific, mainly for their involvement in the LIMS market.

The automation market is a fragmented market with the top five companies accounting for half of the market. Tecan leads the market with approximately 14% share. PerkinElmer and Thermo each account for 10% of the market, while Danaher and Eppendorf each have 8%.

 Laboratory Automation Market Leaders

 Microplate Readers    PerkinElmer, Molecular Devices (Danaher) 

 Liquid Handling   

    Automatic          Tecan, Danaher

    Manual             Eppendorf, Mettler-Toledo

 Robotics              Tecan, Freeslate

 LIMS, ELN, SDMS       LabWare, Thermo Fisher Scientific

 Pie Chart: 2012 Lab Automation Market by Product Type

 Initial Systems  55%

 Aftermarket      25%

 Service          20%

 Pie Chart: 2012 Lab Automation Suppliers’ Market Shares

 Tecan          14%

 Thermo         10%

 PerkinElmer    10%

 Danaher         8%

 Eppendorf       8%

 Mettler-Toledo  4%

 Other          46%

 Lab Automation 2012–2013 

                 2012 Market Share    2013 Growth Rate

 Liquid Handling       41.2%                3.9%

 Microplate Readers    28.9%                3.3%

 LIMS, ELN, SDMS       18.7%                5.9%

 Robotics              11.2%                4.6%

 Total                100.0%                4.2%

 Bar Graph: 2011–2014 Total Laboratory Automation Market

              2011    2012    2013    2014

 $ Millions  2,877   2,980   3,104   3,223