Pepperl+Fuchs acquires intrinsic safety instrumentation business

-- Control Engineering, 8/1/2006

Twinsburg, OH—Pepperl+Fuchs extends its reach into the intrinsic safety market with its acquisition of the Intrinsic Safety Instrumentation business (ISB) from Cooper Crouse-Hinds, a division of Cooper Industries. ISB is located in Buehl, Germany. Purchase price was not disclosed.

“With this acquisition, Pepperl+Fuchs has further underlined its ambition to maintain and extend its leading position in the international market of fieldbus connectivity and intrinsic safety protection technology for process automation industries, said Jim Bolin, P+F corporate operations officer. P+F is involved in the design, manufacture, and application of process automation products and services, including hazardous area technology from intrinsic safety and purge and pressurization to on-line corrosion monitoring and fieldbus.

Cooper Industries, a $5 billion operation with headquarters in Houston, TX, that deals with electrical products and tools, acquired ISB in 1995 as part of its purchase of CEAG. ISB manufactures remote I/O and DIN rail devices and Zener diode barriers, which are said to fit well into P+F’s process automation division and make the acquisition an attractive extension for its components+technology and systems+solutions business units.

P+F reports that ISB’s hazardous location remote I/O system and Ex-Hub fieldbus interface device will fill gaps in its current portfolio and strengthen its position in new technologies. Production will continue in Buehl, and all employees are being retained.

—Control Engineering Daily News Desk