Accenture Buying Eclipse Automation To Reinvent Manufacturing With Robots – CRN

Managed services News C.J. Fairfield July 22, 2022, 02:08 PM EDT

Digitizing engineering and manufacturing is our clients next digital frontier, says Aaron Saint, North America lead for Industry X at Accenture. Accenture has deep digital expertise, Eclipse Automation is a leader in advanced automation capabilities, and combining these two capabilities will position Accenture better than ever to achieve this digital frontier.

Mammoth solutions provider Accenture will acquire Ontario, Canada-based Eclipse Automation to help clients build factories of the future by further enhancing robotics solutions and digital technologies.

Eclipse Automation specializes in manufacturing automation and robotics solutions for products in life sciences, industrial equipment, automotive, energy and consumer goods companies, such as electric vehicle batteries and wearable blood-glucose monitors. Their solutions include automation control systems and production machines and robots.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Digitizing engineering and manufacturing is our clients next digital frontier, Aaron Saint, North America lead for Industry X at Accenture, told CRN. Accenture has deep digital expertise, Eclipse Automation is a leader in advanced automation capabilities, and combining these two capabilities will position Accenture better than ever to achieve this digital frontier.

[Related: THE 9 BIGGEST ACCENTURE ACQUISITIONS OF 2022 (SO FAR)]

He said Accenture has recently seen many companies bring production of goods back to local markets to combat supply chain shortages.

Accenture and Eclipse Automation together have the technology and training capabilities these companies need to develop a digital industrial workforce in markets where manufacturing skills are already scarce, he said.

Eclipse Automation was founded in 2001 and has offices in Canada, the U.S., Hungary, Germany, Switzerland and Malaysia. About 800 employees will come over in the acquisition.

For two decades, we have been leaders in delivering advanced automation solutions and high-tech manufacturing know-how to clients across multiple industries, said Steve Mai, CEO of Eclipse Automation, in a statement. By joining Accenture, we can also bring the advantages of data, AI and the cloud to our clients facilities at a scale that no other company can offer them.

The company will join Accenture Industry X, which will allow Accenture to offer automated production lines that leverage the cloud, data and artificial intelligence, making factories and plants more productive, sustainable and safe.

The acquisition is about scaling Accentures existing manufacturing automation and robotics capabilities, Saint said. Accenture started to build these capabilities with Pollux in Brazil, which engineers and deploys materials handling and autonomous mobile robots. Pollux has paved our way into autonomous robotics systems. In combination with all the capabilities Accenture has been building organically and through acquisitions, we will be able to offer a full turnkey end-to-end manufacturing solution for our clients at scale.

CJ Fairfield is an associate editor at CRN covering solution providers, MSPs and distributors. Prior to joining CRN, she worked at daily newspapers, including The Press of Atlantic City in New Jersey and The Frederick News-Post in Maryland. She can be reached at cfairfield@thechannelcompany.com.

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Accenture Buying Eclipse Automation To Reinvent Manufacturing With Robots - CRN