Is service and solutions the boost Rockwell Automation’s process automation business needs to take off? Talk on the street has it that the product side of the process automation business has not been as robust as it once thought. Meanwhile I’ve also been told that solutions and services, not products, has been the driver for growth in the Connected Enterprise initiative.
Then this announcement that Rockwell has acquired Maverick Technologies fits in all categories. Maverick is a major systems integration player. This following the acquisition of Automation Control Products, although both relatively small acquisitions, may show Rockwell Automation’s charted path to growth.
Two side notes in this announcement. First, this press release introduces Ken Champa as the new Sr. VP of the Control Products and Solutions business replacing Blake Moret in that role. The only mention I could find of him even on the Rockwell website is in Chinese. The second interesting thing (not mentioned in the press release) is that Maverick has become a major supporter of both ISA and MESA International over the past few years. Wonder if that will continue.
From the press release, “Rockwell Automation Inc. has acquired leading systems integrator Maverick Technologies to expand domain knowledge and help deliver innovative control and information solutions to customers in industries, such as chemical, food and beverage, and oil and gas. The acquisition significantly strengthens Rockwell Automation’s expertise in key process and batch applications to help its customers realize greater productivity and improved global competitiveness through process control and information management solutions”
“Industrial control and information solutions are most effective when they result from close collaboration between a knowledgeable supplier and the user,” said Ken Champa, Rockwell Automation senior vice president of Control Products and Solutions. “The combination of our global industrial automation leadership with MAVERICK’s platform-independent domain expertise will help our customers reduce complexity and realize unprecedented productivity.”
“We will continue to deliver our domain expertise, now with the power of a Fortune 500 industrial automation leader at our side,” said Paul Galeski, MAVERICK founder and CEO. “This creates the best combination available to help uncover the benefits of information that drives performance in process industries.”
