July News in Brief
º The Belgian-based gear-maker Hansen Transmissions is investing €170m in a plant to make gearboxes for megawatt-scale wind turbines, near Coimbatore, India. The plant is due to start operating by the end of 2008, and to reach its full capacity of 1,500–2,000 gearboxes per year by 2010, when it will employ more than 600 people. Some of the boxes will go to Hansen’s parent, the Indian wind turbine producer, Suzlon Energy.
º The US sensors and controls specialist Sensata Technologies is buying the sensing, control and power protection manufacturer, Airpax Holdings, for $276m. Airpax, which employs some 2,800 people, has production facilities in the US, Mexico, China and Japan.
º Invensys has bought the US-based MES (manufacturing execution system) software specialist Cimnet and is integrating it into its Wonderware business.
º Two people have pleaded guilty in the US to selling counterfeit Rockwell Automation software with a retail value of almost $6m, via the Internet. They face up to five years in prison and will be sentenced later this year along with four others who pleaded guilty of similar crimes in April. Nine people have now been prosecuted for selling around $30m-worth of Rockwell software via eBay.
º Eaton is buying the small UPS (uninterruptible power supply) systems business of Schneider Electric’s MGE UPS Systems for €425m. The business, with sales worth €163m, will plug gaps in Eaton’s single-phase UPS portfolio. The sale was demanded by the European Commission following Schneider’s $6.1bn acquisition of APC.
º Europe’s largest manufacturer of DIN-rail power supplies, Puls, has invested €17m in a new "green" factory in the Czech Republic. The 6,200m2 plant, which will eventually employ 350 people, is solar heated, and conduction cooled by the material of the building combined with automatic venting.
