The European bearings market is enjoying steady growth, thanks to the trend of using more sophisticated bearings with improved performance and demands for bearings with longer service life, greater load capacities, higher efficiency, and lower maintenance requirements, according to a market research report from Frost & Sullivan.

On the other hand, higher adoption of smart bearings is expected to reduce replacement frequency, as smart bearings will be replaced due to actual bearing conditions rather than on predetermined replacement schedules. Smart bearings are expected to significantly increase in several industries, including aerospace, defense, railways, and automobiles.

“The adoption of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)-based smart bearings, which can self-diagnose impending faults and failures, is expected to significantly increase in aerospace and defense, wind turbines, railway, and automotive,” says Frost & Sullivan Automation & Process Control Research Analyst Krishna Raman. “This will let bearing manufacturers enhance their bearings by developing smart bearings through partnerships with IIoT firms as well as by providing predictive maintenance services.”

Demand for more traditional bearings will grow among auto companies with the expected increase in production of cars and trucks. There will also be increased demand for these bearings from the food processing, material handling, packaging, and water and wastewater industries.

There will also be a rapid growth in the demand for electrically insulated bearings for use in electric traction motors, which are widely used in hybrid and electric vehicles.

According to Frost & Sullivan, bearing companies looking to grow their European sales should:

• Establish close working relationships with customers during the bearing design phase.
• Develop bearings to suit the specific customer needs.
• Create bearings and accessories that meet stringent road vehicle efficiency norms and emission standards.
• Develop testing that validates the performance of special bearings, such as wash-down and heat-resistant versions of bearings.

“In the renewable energy segment, spherical bearings for wind-turbine rotor blades and insulated ball and cylindrical roller bearings for generators are expected to be the differentiating product segments that offer opportunities for high-quality bearing suppliers,” notes Raman.

The report, “European Bearings Market, Forecast to 2021,” is part of Frost & Sullivan’s Industrial Automation and Process Control Growth Partnership Service program. Products included in the research are ball bearings, roller bearings, cylindrical roller bearings, tapered roller bearings, spherical roller bearings, and needle roller bearings.

Regions include Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Benelux, Iberia, the rest of Western Europe, and Central and Eastern Europe. End users include industrial (energy, heavy industries, general manufacturing, and others) and mobile (automobile, aerospace and defense, off-highway and construction equipment, and railway).

The research provides the European bearings market size estimSate for 2016, historic data from 2013 to 2015, and a market forecast for 2017 through 2021.

The European bearings market is dominated by six major global brands that have significant presence across all major end-user segments and regional segments.