While camera manufacturers and distributors across Europe are plagued by supply issues, Scorpion Vision Ltd has unfettered access to immediate stock, thanks to its relationship with HIKROBOT – part of the world’s largest camera manufacturing company. Logistics operators, manufacturers and systems integrators who choose to work with Scorpion can progress inspection, robotic and other vision-assisted automation projects secure in the knowledge that they won’t encounter hold-ups or delays with sourcing industrial cameras or optics.
The stock issue has reached a critical level in the industrial camera industry, with suppliers of cameras and optics quoting lead times of anywhere from 5 to 20 weeks. The delays are due to a global shortage of components, primarily the semiconductors or chips that are used in imaging sensors and LCD screens.
Fortunately, Scorpion Vision, via its relationship with Chinese machine vision and robotics manufacturer HIKROBOT, is insulated against these shortages. With distribution rights for the HIKROBOT range in the UK and Ireland, Scorpion can source machine vision area scan and linescan cameras, machine vision lenses and embedded control system PCs within 3-4 weeks. It can either supply these as components to OEMs and system integrators or design and build application-specific vision-driven automation solutions to processing, warehousing and logisticsproblems.
HIKROBOT benefits from the purchasing might that comes from being part of the largest camera manufacturer in the world and a major player in surveillance cameras. The group is a large buyer of imaging sensors – components that are common to both surveillance cameras and industrial applications. In addition, having both its manufacturing and its supply base concentrated in China gives HIKROBOT complete control over its supply chain.This in turn minimises its vulnerability to freight issues, supply chain disruption, political instability and market forces in other parts of the world.
“We’ve been a distributor for HIKROBOT since 2017. At that time, there was some resistance to using cameras and optics manufactured in Asia, due to perceptions of inferior quality and ‘copycat’ design. However, because we are experts in imaging we know exactly what we are looking for when selecting hardware partners, and we knew that we had hit on a gem when we found HIKROBOT,” says Paul Wilson, Managing Director of Scorpion Vision.
He continues: “Since then, HIKROBOT has emerged as an innovation powerhouse on the global stage; 800 of its 1,000 employees are R&D engineers, and the company has product development capabilities that are unrivalled in the field of machine vision. It is no coincidence that it has 487 patents to its name and has won multiple awards for its advancements. I think this has helped to change the market view and businesses are recognising that in these uncertain times, supply chain security is king, whether that means sourcing cameras from Europe or the Far East.”
