STUTTGART, GERMANY - During the Vision trade show in Stuttgart, Germany, leaders from the Automated Imaging Association (AIA), European Machine Vision Association (EMVA) and Japan Industrial Imaging Association (JIIA) signed an agreement to cooperatively develop and promote global machine vision standards.

Up to this point, each association has developed industry standards on its own; these legacy standards will remain in place. Going forward, if the associations agree on an issue needing standardization, a lead association will develop the standard and then the group will mutually promote the result as a global industry standard. If there is no consensus on the global need of a standard, each association retains the right to develop standards outside the cooperative group.

“This accord will benefit machine vision users and suppliers alike by accelerating the pace of standards development, avoiding overlapping efforts, and creating more awareness of new standards,” says Jeff Burnstein, president of AIA.

"This new cooperation in the field of machine vision standards development will play a decisive role in promoting machine vision technology in all markets. It will increase the global information flow during the standards development process and help the standards to become established internationally," says Patrick Schwarzkopf, EMVA general secretary.

“We’ve worked diligently since JIIA first proposed this idea to prepare a global standardization process that will benefit the industry. It is especially rewarding that this agreement is now signed. We congratulate all of the machine vision players and look forward to further cooperation,” says Shigeo Oka, chairman of JIIA.

Machine vision, which accounts for more than $5 billion in annual sales worldwide, is a critical technology for users in industries such as automotive, electronics, food and beverage, lab automation, pharmaceuticals and security. New markets are rapidly developing in areas such as medical imaging, energy, entertainment, and other nonmanufacturing sectors. AIA, EMVA and JIIA believe that new standards can help stimulate the growth of machine vision sales.

Representatives from the three trade groups said they hope to add leaders from other associations in the future as new groups emerge to represent the growing machine vision industry in countries like China and India.

For more information, visitwww.machinevisiononline.org ,www.emva.orgorwww.jiia.org.