Rockwell to acquire Incuity Software; research shows how it could help
-- Control Engineering, 4/22/2008
Milwaukee, WI – Rockwell Automation has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Incuity Software Inc., a privately held company and supplier of enterprise manufacturing intelligence (EMI) software. Incuity’s software provides real-time intelligence for business decision support. The Incuity Software management team and their employees will become part of Rockwell Automations Architecture & Software operating segment. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. As recent Control Engineering research and article suggest, the move is likely to help manufacturing with better information integration; read more in MES Closes Information Gap.“Incuity Software products don't just provide visibility. They deliver enterprise-level insight by combining operations data with ERP and other IT applications. They make it possible to find the valuable insight hidden between disconnected information sources,” said Steve Eisenbrown, senior vice president of Rockwell’s Architecture & Software segment.
Kevin Roach, vice president of Rockwell Software, said, “This acquisition is a key milestone in the continued expansion of our FactoryTalk software suite. Their newest software, IncuityEMI 2.6, easily integrates many disparate information sources from production operations and other enterprise systems. IncuityEMI 2.6 delivers unique insights into enterprise performance and key operational metrics, and empowers personnel to drill down and analyze the root causes associated with manufacturing problems. Combining Incuity’s capabilities with the FactoryTalk integrated production management and performance suite will create tremendous value for our customers.”
Incuity Software currently has more than 45,000 seats of its products installed in more than 40 countries in 13 languages. Headquarters are in Mission Viejo, CA, with regional offices in the U.S., Canada and South Africa. Getting enterprise manufacturing information into the hands of decision-makers now is a vital business need,” said Incuity Software CEO Doug Lawson. “This acquisition combines our business with the resources, technology, customer base and global delivery capabilities of Rockwell Automation and will be good for our customers.”
"IncuityEMI gives Rockwell Automation the vital top layer in the information chain where the roles of the ERP vendor and Industrial Automation vendor meet,” Roach added. "This allows us to simplify the typically heterogeneous world of systems generating information and is a platform to build diverse solutions. Our strategy is to let customers simplify and rationalize by providing a single source for all their process information needs. This is a big step to meeting that goal."
According to Greg Gorbach, ARC Advisory Group, EMI real-time visibility and performance management software is part of the fastest-growing segment of production management software. By collecting real-time data at the plant floor, establishing operational context, and revealing manufacturing information to the rest of the enterprise, it enables a higher level of performance at the plant level and throughout the distributed manufacturing enterprise and supply network.
“Incuity Software is a pioneer in this market space,” said Gorbach. “Their team understands the value and flexibility of enterprise visibility built on the foundation of a strong data model, which is a key differentiator from many other providers. This acquisition gives Rockwell Software an excellent way to meet their customers’ business need to leverage real-time manufacturing information.”
IncuityEMI coexists with existing control systems and business applications and makes data in these systems visible and actionable by presenting a coherent picture of a company's manufacturing business through familiar Internet browser and Microsoft Office interfaces, the companies said. IncuityEMI provides the foundation for a range of manufacturing analytics, including real-time executive dashboards; automated production reports; key performance indicator (KPI) monitoring and alerts; downtime analysis and reports; and process verification and optimization. These analytics have a wide range of applications from facility production to campus energy management.
Alison Smith of AMR Research said, “Rockwell Automation's FactoryTalk software team is amassing some very impressive capabilities. The Pavilion Technologies acquisition bolstered the company’s process industry position by elevating Rockwell Automation’s software profile well above the level of process control. The acquisition of Incuity gives Rockwell Automation enterprise manufacturing intelligence capability that rivals — even surpasses — the likes of SAP’s MII on many measures, and potentially positions Rockwell Automation to commoditize many of its traditional controls platform competitors by providing a control-platform-agnostic intelligence layer.
– Edited by Renee Robbins, senior editor
Control Engineering News Desk
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