Who is merging and why

Nov. 13, 2015
Find out what automation leaders merged this month and what their new offerings are
  • Rotork plc reports it's acquired Bifold Group Ltd. for about £125 million in cash. Rotork is a leading manufacturer of actuators and flow controls, while Bifold makes pneumatic and hydraulic instrument valves and components, solenoid valves and ultra-low-power devices, and has expertise in niche areas like subsea and wellhead control.
  • Weidmuller is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its operations in North America, which covers the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Its North American headquarters in Richmond, Va., marked the anniversary with a 20,000-sq.-ft. expansion.
  • Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) reports that the ICL Brasil chemical plant in Cajati, near Sao Paulo, will be the world's first to use Honeywell's Experion Orion console. ICL Brasil will also use Honeywell's Universal I/O technology to modernize its production facility.
  • Schneider Electric has received an ISASecure Security Development Lifecycle Assurance (SDLA) conformance certificate from exida LLC, an ISASecure ISO 17065 accredited certification body. This first-of-its-kind certificate applies to Schneider Electric Process Automation development centers in Foxboro, Mass., Worthing, U.K., and Hyderabad, India.
  • B&R Automation reports it can connect pneumatic valve terminals from Festo, ASCO, Numatics and Aventics to its solutions using Ethernet Powerlink. These valve terminals can be easily integrated into B&R's engineering environment using a device description file.
  • ABB has integrated KEPServerEX software from Kepware Technologies with its Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) solution, Decathlon for Data Centers. ABB uses the Kepware communications platform to expand connectivity to increase data visibility to data center assets, including legacy devices and IT equipment. This enables users to see one data set from multiple sources.