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19 March, 2024

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Now Amazon wants to monitor your industrial equipment

03 December, 2020

Amazon has announced five machine-learning technologies and services designed to help industrial and manufacturing users to embed intelligence into their production processes to improve efficiency, quality control, security, and workplace safety. The services combine machine learning, sensor analysis, and computer vision capabilities to address common technical challenges faced by industry, and are claimed to be the most comprehensive suite of cloud-to-edge industrial machine learning services available.


$45m injection will see Spot the robot dog inspecting sites

01 December, 2020

An Israeli specialist in autonomous inspection technologies has secured a $45m investment from US-based Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT) to launch a “transformative” system for remote, autonomous inspection and monitoring of assets at industrial sites. The company, Percepto, has also reached an agreement with Boston Robotics to integrate its dog-shaped robot Spot with its own drone technology to perform coordinated inspections on the ground and from the air. The KDT injection brings bringing the total invested in the company so far to $72.5m.


Rockwell buys Fiix to boost its maintenance services

23 November, 2020

Rockwell Automation is buying the Canadian computerised maintenance management system (CMMS) provider, Fiix, for an undisclosed sum. Fiix’s cloud-based CMMS creates workflows for scheduling, organising and tracking equipment maintenance.


ABB plans to sell its Dodge power transmission arm

19 November, 2020

ABB has announced plans to sell off its Dodge mechanical power transmission division following a strategic review of its portfolio. It is also planning to dispose of its Turbocharging and Power Conversion divisions. Together the three divisions represent about $1.75bn of combined annual revenues, or about 6% of ABB’s total revenues.


Siemens gives every worker a Covid bonus of up to €1,000

06 November, 2020

Siemens is giving all of its employees around the world, except for its senior managers, a special Covid-19 bonus of up to €1,000 to honour their “extraordinary performance during the pandemic”. The company says it is also making the payments – which will cost it about €200m – to live up to its role as a responsible employer “during these special times”.


Nidec is 'planning a $1.9bn EV motor plant for Serbia'

05 November, 2020

A report from the Nikkei news service suggests that the Japanese motor manufacturer Nidec is planning to build a $1.9bn factory in Serbia to produce motors for the European electric vehicle market. The company is said to be in the final stage of negotiations for the plant, which would include a research centre and could be producing up to 300,000 motors per year by 2023.


It could take 3 years for gears market to recover from 7% fall

04 November, 2020

The global market for industrial gearboxes and geared motors has dropped by more than 7% this year as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, and it could take until 2022 for sales to recover to their 2019 levels, according to a new report from Interact Analysis.


Ocado buys two robotics companies for $287m

03 November, 2020

The British online supermarket and technology group Ocado is buying two North American robotics companies – Kindred Systems and Haddington Dynamics – for a total of $287m to enhance its robotic manipulation capabilities and to accelerate the delivery of robotic picking technologies to its Ocado Smart Platform (OSP) customers. Ocado has also acquired a minority stake in materials-handling robotics start-up called Myrmex, which has operations in the US and Greece.


Siemens sells Flender gears business to Carlyle for €2bn

30 October, 2020

Siemens is selling its Flender mechanical and electrical drives business to the global investment firm, The Carlyle Group, for €2.02bn. Further details of the transaction have not been disclosed.


VW orders more than 2,200 robots in bid to become EV leader

27 October, 2020

Volkswagen has ordered more than 2,200 industrial robots from two different suppliers, to be installed at plants in Germany and the US. The Japanese robot manufacturer Fanuc will supply more than 1,400 machines for VW production facilities at Chattanooga in the US and Emden in Germany, while ABB will provide a further 800 for Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ factory in Hanover, which is being modernised to manufacture the new ID. Buzz electric van due to enter production in 2022.


WEG completes multimillion Euro expansion in Austria

21 October, 2020

WEG has completed a multimillion Euro expansion of its Centre of Excellence for Drive Development at its Watt Drive geared motor subsidiary in Austria. Watt Drive now has more than 10,000m2 of floor space, with 60% more space than before devoted to CNC production and 20% more to storage. A further six-figure investment is planned for the site’s machine pool in the period to 2023.


Rockwell reverses pay cuts and restores retirement matches

16 October, 2020

Rockwell Automation has announced that the temporary salary reductions that it implemented on its US employees in May in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, will be reversed at the end of November 2020. It will also reinstate its match for US employees participating in 401(k) retirement savings plans at the same time.


Schneider calls for an automation revolution

09 October, 2020

Schneider Electric is calling for a revolution in automation technologies, based on open standards, that, it says, will “unleash innovation and boost efficiency, resilience, productivity, agility and sustainability”. It has unveiled what it describes as “the world’s first software-centric automation system” and says the time is right for a bold move in industrial automation. It is urging industrial users, vendors, OEMs, systems integrators to embrace what it calls “universal automation”.


Rockwell and Microsoft expand partnership

07 October, 2020

Rockwell Automation and Microsoft have announced a five-year expansion of their existing partnership, aimed at empowering manufacturers with the agility, intelligence, and scale to deliver digital transformation initiatives from the cloud to the edge.


Lika’s acquisition of encoder-maker Bogen is made to measure

05 October, 2020

The Italian optical and magnetic measurement specialist Lika Electronic has acquired the German encoder manufacturer, Bogen Electronic, for an undisclosed sum.


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