Sequencia sells automation business to Rockwell Automation
Rockwell's purchase of Sequencia's Responsive Process Manufacturing Series (rpmSeries) products and supporting engineering services group increases the breadth of Rockwell's process automation business and enhances its RSBizware solution. Included in the transaction are oBatch, mTrack, sProduction, and eProcedure.
RSBizWare is a suite of tools and services that can increase plant floor effectiveness with solutions for scheduling, performance analysis and improvement, data acquisition and integration, and standards compliance. It is designed to tie the control level to enterprise systems like ERP and SCM (Supply Chain Management).
"Sequencia's technology and industry leading expertise further strengthen our ability to better serve customers by adding world-class batch control capabilities along with enterprise-wide connectivity to those batch applications," says Ron Wichter, senior VP, Rockwell Automation Software and Services Group.
The transaction allows Sequencia to focus on its processPoint virtual manufacturing e-business including its product knowledge and General Recipe management technology.
The rpmSeries is an open, configurable suite of products that define, manage, monitor, and control manufacturing in specialty chemical, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and consumer packaged goods industries.
The rpmSeries builds on oBatch - the leading batch automation software as ranked by independent analyst groups, including AMR Research, ARC Advisory Group, and the Gartner Group.
"Acquisition of Sequencia's software and services assets will solidify Rockwell's leadership in the batch automation marketplace," says Asish Ghosh, VP of ARC Advisory Group. "Rockwell is now well positioned to develop comprehensive batch control solutions for today's market needs."
sProduction delivers area management through connectivity between plant level and business systems. eProcedure offers Web-centric procedure automation and manual data collection. With eProcedure, Rockwell's production execution solution now extends throughout manual, semi-automated, and fully automated manufacturing. mTrack provides real-time, plant-level material management and tracking that can be tied to corporate material management systems. rpmSeries products have been installed in over 350 sites around the world.
"This transaction allows Sequencia to focus exclusively on the dynamic opportunity of processPoint," says Bob Pape, president and CEO of Sequencia. "We will continue to deliver a full solution for product collaboration and virtual manufacturing going all the way to the plant floor-only now with Rockwell Automation as a partner."
Sequencia will continue operations in the United States and Europe with major offices in Phoenix, Chicago, Philadelphia, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
Edited by Jim Lardear
Managing Editor, PlantAutomation.com