On August 5, 2021, East Coast Metrology, LLC. (ECM Global Measurement Solutions) announced a partnership with TECMED-3D, a dimensional measurement and metrology equipment rental company based in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

“Our partnership with TECMED-3D expands on our ability to offer customers in Latin America an ISO/IEC 17025 Accredited Calibration Certification for all portable new or pre-owned measuring instruments including laser trackers, laser scanners and portable CMM arms,” states Gary Confalone, president/CEO - ECM Global. Customers within the Latin American market will all reap the benefits of a convenient metrology service solution and support while eliminating the challenges often seen when parts and equipment cross the border.

In an effort to expand visibility for the metrology lab within the South and Central American borders, ECM announces the launch of their dedicated Latin American website focused on portable measuring equipment calibrations, and equipment rentals.

For more information, visit https://EastCoastMetrology.mx.

AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology and Gardner Business Media (GBM) announced the launch of MT United, a joint venture of the two leading organizations to empower North American manufacturers with data, analysis, and strategic information for accelerated growth, innovation, and global competitiveness. MT United encompasses the entirety of manufacturing technology (MT) through industry-focused events, expansive media content, data and market intelligence products, coverage of IMTS – The International Technology Show, and public/private investment opportunities.

“MT United immediately creates the largest integrated print, digital, and in-person network platform in the manufacturing technology ecosystem,” said AMT president Doug Woods. “Our combined expertise, industry knowledge, and resources generate a powerful synergy of comprehensive market access and industry intelligence for the MT community to meet its strategic business and information needs.”

“We are thrilled to incorporate the AMT and IMTS brand offerings with GBM’s portfolio. The prospect of year-round engagement with the MT community is exciting,” said GBM President Rick Kline Jr. “Through our collective resources, we will develop strategic new products and services to meet business needs as new technologies are embraced by the industry.”

AMT and GBM have a relationship advocating for the MT industry that goes back over 30 years. AMT engaged GBM in 1988 as one of the official media partners of IMTS, codeveloping numerous products, including the IMTS Exhibitor Directory, the IMTS Show Daily, and most recently, the online digital platform IMTS spark. As the industry continues its technological transformation, the two organizations are in the best position to educate, inform, and support North American manufacturers on this journey.

“As our community increasingly adopts digital manufacturing, MT United is dedicated to helping thousands of companies navigate the future,” said Peter Eelman, AMT vice president and chief experience officer. “AMT and Gardner are deeply committed to the MT industry, and we are truly excited to have GBM by our side as we continue to grow IMTS.”

“The MT United collaboration offers a tremendous opportunity to support the readers, advertisers, and existing partners Gardner serves,” said Melissa Kline Skavlem, Gardner chief marketing officer. “By developing, collaborating, and bettering a wide range of existing products as well as products in development, we can more nimbly and successfully support the manufacturing technology industry together. While our organizations remain independent, a united approach to critical issues related to our mutually served and rapidly changing industries makes sense.”

“This bold move significantly expands the events, media content, and research capabilities of both organizations and will be a resource for the MT community beyond anything that's previously existed,” said Travis Egan, AMT vice president and chief revenue officer. “Having been a part of both organizations’ leadership teams, I have a unique understanding of the complementary product synergies and shared cultural values that will ensure the success of MT United.”

At a time when technology is shifting business models, the MT United joint venture partnership intends to drive and strengthen the manufacturing community.

For more information, visit www.AMTonline.org or www.GardnerWeb.com.

TestEquity announced its acquisition of MCS Test, a leading UK-based test and measurement solutions provider. This acquisition is a natural extension of the TestEquity mission to provide unrivaled test and measurement expertise coupled with specialized products and services that meet the demanding needs of the electronic engineering market.

MCS Test has built a highly successful business in the UK serving the needs of electronics design and manufacturing customers through a highly technical workforce and solutions portfolio. By providing solutions to support new, used, and rental equipment along with calibration services through a UKAS accredited lab, MCS Test has established themselves as a trusted and specialized partner to both customers and suppliers.   

TestEquity’s acquisition of MCS will enable expansion to serve the UK market and will accelerate the already impressive progress MCS Test has made in the region. Their dedicated and scalable customer-focused solutions continue to shape customer expectations, driving progressive experiences that create customers for life.

“I am proud to partner with the MCS team and continue building on the strong foundation they have created,” said Steve Newland, CEO of TestEquity. “MCS brings a specialized business model, a very talented and technical team, and personal values that are very complementary to our own. Together, we will be able to serve the growing needs of our customers and supplier partners even better than we do today.”

“We are very excited to become part of TestEquity, a leader in our field. This transaction creates a unique strategic opportunity as we combine our expertise and our specialized services,” commented Bill Beck, CEO of MCS Test. “As part of TestEquity, we will deliver even greater value as we remain focused on our strengths and customers.”

The acquisition unites two test and measurement leading experts with complementary capabilities, cultures and relationships, resulting in a differentiated, end-to-end value proposition for customers including an enhanced platform for sustainable, profitable growth. The transaction combines both companies’ superior technical expertise and selection of product offerings to result in an excellent customer experience.

For more information, visit https://www.testequity.com or https://mcs-testequipment.com.

Aerotech Inc. announced the launch of Peak Metrology, an Aerotech company dedicated entirely to designing and building capital equipment for surface metrology processes. Led by RJ Hardt, a 10-year Aerotech veteran, Peak Metrology leverages Aerotech’s extensive positioning system expertise, state-of-the-art facilities and financial resources while being solely focused on helping customers solve surface metrology challenges.

“We saw impressive success while Peak Metrology operated as an internal division,” said Mark Botos, Aerotech’s CEO, “and we know the Peak Metrology team is on a course for rapid growth evolving into a partnership was the natural next step. Most importantly, we are excited about the ways both Aerotech and Peak Metrology customers are already benefiting from this partnership’s technological and financial resources, competitive price points and lead times.”

Peak Metrology offers product development, engineering, installation and training services. Co-located with Aerotech’s world headquarters in Pittsburgh, Peak Metrology is fully staffed with dedicated engineering, sales and support teams. Selling its standard and custom precision surface metrology solutions, the company started building its customer base while still a division of Aerotech.

“We have the knowledge, experience and equipment to take on and solve customers’ complex surface metrology challenges, freeing them up to focus on other important work,” said Hardt, Peak Metrology’s president. “What might be a measurement equipment burden for customers who don’t specialize in surface metrology fits perfectly within our scope.”

For more information, visit www.peakmetrology.com.

Covalent Metrology, an analytical services provider offering one of the largest portfolios of characterization techniques in North America, is working with Digital Surf, a global leader in analytical software development, to offer software tools for data processing and visualization to its range of clients. The collaboration will also allow both companies to pool customer insights in the aim of providing better services and more powerful analysis tools.

Together, the two organizations possess unmatched experience and breadth of understanding in the analytical services business. Digital Surf has partnered with renowned surface profiler and microscope manufacturers for more than 30 years, supplying them with software tools that accompany their instruments to empower robust imaging analysis. To complement Digital Surf’s extensive software expertise, Covalent Metrology brings deep and diverse metrology and material characterization experience across an expanding portfolio of cutting-edge instruments and industry application areas. Active feedback and collaboration between the two organizations will fuel faster development of more effective solutions for analytical software and services.

“This partnership will help bring tailored, automated analytical software solutions for a wide range of techniques and applications,” says Christophe Mignot, CEO of Digital Surf. “We are also excited to work with the Covalent team to identify new features that could help scientists and engineers access improved analytical insight and guide more effective decision making.”

Digital Surf’s Mountains® analysis software package recently deployed its 9th version and now supports specialized solutions for several imaging techniques as well as multi-instrument data confluence. Covalent is implementing Mountains® 9 software with its scanning probe microscopy (SPM) team and will soon expand the software across other advanced imaging analysis groups.

“We are thrilled to partner with Digital Surf and are excited about the innovative software and service enhancements the relationship will inspire. Powerful analytical software is absolutely necessary for engineers and scientists to produce the most impactful results possible. It complements cutting-edge instrumentation and expertise with the tools needed to transform raw data into meaningful conclusions,” says Craig Hunter, CEO of Covalent. “By expanding the use of Mountains® analysis software alongside our range of instrument technologies, we can help clients access substantially deeper insights.”

For more information, visit www.covalentmetrology.com or www.digitalsurf.com.

In-Place Machining Company LLC (“IPM”), a globally recognized high acuity field machining company focused on providing highly technical, precision on-site machining, diamond wire cutting and measurement services to customers, announced that it has acquired Exact Metrology as of July 2, 2021.  As part of the In-Place Machining Company long term growth strategy, this acquisition will expand In-Place Machining Company’s service offerings to include 3D scanning, industrial CT scanning, metrology equipment sales, and software solutions. This addition provides In-Place Machining Company a strategic resource to bolster their growing measurement and alignment business. When talking about the benefits of acquiring Exact Metrology, President and CEO of IPM Dean Flint said, “In-Place Machining could not be more excited about the strategic potential resulting from the combination of these two great organizations. Both have been built on solving their customer’s most challenging technical problems.”

Commenting on this new partnership, Dean Solberg, vice president of metrology sales/services, states, “This opportunity to join forces with In-Place Machining Company is exactly what we were looking for. The ability to combine our metrology expertise and IPM’s expertise with on-site machining will push barriers in every industry. We look forward to combining our collective synergy as one team and taking on high-precision projects together, anywhere in the world.”

With Exact Metrology holding offices throughout the Midwest in states including Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin, In-Place Machining company will expand their reach and provide the best possible service, sales and technical support across the country.

Flint noted, “We look forward to our company’s customers, employees and their families, and stakeholders all enjoying the benefit of the bright future resulting from this strategic partnership.”

For more information, visit www.inplace.com or www.exactmetrology.com.

ABB announced it will acquire ASTI Mobile Robotics Group (ASTI), a global autonomous mobile robot (AMR) manufacturer with a broad portfolio across all major applications enabled by the company’s software suite. This will expand ABB’s robotics and automation offering.

The acquisition, a key part of ABB’s external growth strategy, was signed on July 19 and is expected to close in mid-summer 2021. Both parties agreed not to disclose any details regarding the purchase price.

,Founded in 1982, ASTI is headquartered in Burgos, Spain, and employs over 300 people in Spain, France and Germany. It is majority owned by Veronica Pascual Boé, who is also CEO. Other shareholders include European Growth Buyout investor Keensight Capital. Today it supports one of Europe’s largest installed fleets of AMRs and has a broad customer base in automotive, logistics, food & beverage and pharmaceuticals in 20 countries. Since 2015, the company has enjoyed close to 30 percent growth on an annual basis and is targeting approximately $50 million in revenue in 2021.

“With their industry-leading portfolio, comprehensive suite of software and deep domain expertise across growth segments, ASTI is the perfect choice for us as we support our customers with the next generation of flexible automation,” said Sami Atiya, president of ABB’s Robotics & Discrete Automation business. “With this acquisition, ABB will be the only company to offer a full automation portfolio of AMRs, robots and machine automation solutions, from production to logistics to point of consumption. This is a gamechanger for our customers as they adapt to the individualized consumer and seize opportunities presented by significant changes in consumer demand.”

AMRs will support an unprecedented degree of flexibility, from production, logistics, intralogistics and fulfillment through to retail and healthcare environments. This will enable ABB’s and ASTI’s common vision to help customers replace today’s linear production lines with fully flexible networks, where intelligent AMRs autonomously navigate materials, parts and finished products between smart connected workstations, in factories, logistics centers, laboratories, shops or hospitals.

Veronica Pascual Boé, ASTI CEO, said, “ABB’s vision is a perfect match for us, as we both support our customers’ flexibility and competitiveness through accelerating automation in the workplace. This is the next exciting stage of our journey and together we will accelerate our innovation plans, expand our global customer service, partner network, production and execution capacity and leverage ABB’s market access globally and particularly in China. I am delighted to join the extended Robotics management team and lead the AMR business to deliver this ambitious growth plan.”

ASTI’s industry-leading AMR portfolio includes autonomous towing vehicles, goods-to-person solutions, unit carriers and box movers as well as a comprehensive software offering, ranging from vehicle navigation and control, fleet and order management and cloud-based traceability systems.

These will be integrated with ABB’s portfolio of robots, machine automation, modular solutions and software suite including RobotStudio®, ABB Robotics’ simulation and programming tool, creating a comprehensive automation portfolio for ABB’s customers.

ABB and ASTI offer deep domain expertise in manufacturing industries including automotive, food & beverage and consumer packaged goods, as well as in new growth segments including logistics, e-commerce, retail and healthcare.

With global AMR sales expected to reach approximately $14 billion by 2025 with a CAGR of approximately 20 percent, ABB plans to expand AMR sales and service support globally to 53 countries.

ASTI’s headquarters in Burgos, Spain, will become ABB’s AMR business headquarters, led by Pascual Boé, with core functions, including R&D, engineering, product and project value chain, continuing at ASTI’s facilities. ABB will significantly expand production capacity at the AMR business headquarters to support the planned sales expansion in Europe and the Americas. To facilitate the growth potential for AMRs in China and Asia, ABB will also establish an Asia AMR hub, including full value chain and manufacturing, at its new robotics factory, which will open in Shanghai in 2022. China, the world’s largest robotics market, is projected to account for $1.8 billion of AMR sales annually by 2025.

ABB Robotics’ acquisition comes shortly after the company’s announcements to expand robotics automation for new sectors and first-time users, including the launch of its new GoFa™ and SWIFTI™ collaborative robot families and its announcement that it will advance automation in the construction industry.

For more information, visit www.abb.com or www.keensightcapital.com.