E Tech Group, 2025 System Integrator of the Year: New digital twins

2025 System Integrator of the Year, over $50 million in system integration revenue category insights

• E Tech Group is the 2025 System Integrator of the Year award winner in the over $50 million in system integration revenue category, from Control Engineering and Plant Engineering publications, WTWH Media.
• E Tech Group answered questions about automation and control system integration achievements, projects, engineering development and metrics, among others.

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E Tech Group is the 2025 System Integrator of the Year award winner in the over $50 million in system integration revenue category. The company discussed automation and control system integration achievements, projects, engineering development and metrics, among other topics.

In your 2025 System Integrator of the Year application, what were you particularly proud of?

It’s a great honor to have been selected as the 2025 recipient of the System Integrator of the Year award. Our submission outlines our strong mission and purpose statement, which guides our company’s focus and our long-term vision for the future.

At E Tech Group, we are particularly proud of our team whose immense and diverse talent, collective energy, commitment and excitement, is foundational to our ability to identify, design and deliver innovative solutions achieving excellence in every project (see Figure 1). Our company fosters a culture for team members to thrive, which results in outstanding service for all of our clients.

Describe one or more system integration projects

A recent digital twin project completed for a prominent manufacturer highlights E Tech Group’s commitment to designing innovative, effective solutions for our clients. This project makes us particularly proud.

When a prominent manufacturer wanted to upgrade its production line’s digital twin, E Tech Group software developers delivered an innovative solution using a 3D video game development platform. The twin mimics the behavior of its real-life counterpart in real time and is visible in a 3D environment via web interface.

The digital twin has significantly improved production line operation and troubleshooting, saving our client an estimated $5 million annually in reduced downtime and travel costs. The project is ongoing as our client continues to request additional digital twins of new production lines.

One of the key features of this project is its configurability and control system agnosticism. This means that the digital twin can be adapted to various systems and configurations, making it a versatile tool for different manufacturing environments.

The success of this project can be attributed to our team’s diverse technical background, which extends outside of the manufacturing industry. For this specific project, this expertise allowed us to confidently select a 3D video game development platform –– an innovative selection that ultimately incorporated the functionality required to better meet our client’s needs.

What system integration project methodologies do you use and why?

Our fundamental methodologies stem from adherence to the Control System Integrator Association’s (CSIA) Best Practices & Benchmarks Manual. We believe that these best practices ensure that our projects are managed efficiently, risks are mitigated and quality is maintained throughout a project’s lifecycle. Our commitment to CSIA best practices has led to multiple E Tech Group locations undergoing and passing the required rigorous third-party audits, achieving consecutive certifications (see Figure 2). We are currently pursuing a groundbreaking initiative to achieve CSIA certification across all our offices, setting us apart from other large integrators who typically certify only one or a few locations.

E Tech Group’s company culture fosters strong support for inquisitiveness, innovation and perseverance, with an underlying deep commitment to excellence for every project and every customer. We continue to keep pace with the rapid advancements in technology and the changing needs of our clients. For example, we have hired and trained engineers for emerging roles in cybersecurity, industrial IT, advanced software and data analytics to support clients as they adopt Industry 4.0 digital transformation.

We embrace a company-wide focus on continuous improvement and innovation. Our unified Quality Management System (QMS) called Playbook 2.0, is designed to standardize project execution across the entire company. This system encourages regular review and refinement of our processes, products and services.

How have customer expectations for system integration projects changed?

As manufacturers strive for complete digitalization of their operations, clients are increasingly relying on system integrators for long-term strategic guidance and planning. At E Tech Group, our wide-ranging capabilities and expertise allows us to embrace this opportunity as we strive to become trusted advisers to all of our clients.

How important is developing long-term customer relationships and why?

At E Tech Group, we believe that building long-term, trust-based relationships with our customers is foundational to the success of both our businesses (see Figure 3).

E Tech Group’s extensive capabilities and vast experience in automation and information solutions uniquely position us to nurture long-term relationships, serving as our clients’ main automation partner. In this role, we collaborate closely with a client to develop a strategic roadmap aligned with their long-term goals, laying a foundation that supports and fuels their growth. As main automation partner, we gain a comprehensive understanding of a client’s processes and facilities, which deepens our insight into their pain points. As a result, we can provide more effective, comprehensive solutions that not only protect and update their systems but also eliminate inefficiencies. These tailored, forward-thinking strategies help our clients maintain and grow their competitive edge.

Are supply chain issues affected projects in any way?

We are not being impacted by any supply chain issues at this time. We are observing a trend where clients are increasingly favoring onshoring practices.

How are you helping younger engineers with automation and control system integration?

E Tech Group’s learning management system, called E Tech University, is a well-established internal educational tool integral to both our onboarding process and a resource that supports ongoing internal education. It offers a variety of technical courses, including control systems, networking basics, industry overviews and product-specific training. These courses are designed to help engineers gain valuable experience and develop new skills.

As part of our E Tech University, our onboarding training process for engineers focuses on E Tech Group’s standards and best practices. The training culminates with a comprehensive project where the engineer must program a complete programmable logic controller/human-machine interface (PLC/HMI) system in compliance with E Tech Group standards. The project is mentored and judged by a senior member of the engineering team. This training is completed before a new engineer is assigned to their first project.

Please share a long-term goal for the company

One of E Tech Group’s long-term goals is to continue expanding our global footprint. We currently have offices throughout the United States, as well as in Canada and Mexico, and we have conducted business in 12 countries. Our next strategic move involves expanding our office and resource availability to continue meeting the growing needs of our international clients.

Please provide a few metrics

Three metrics show growth over a relatively short period of time:

• We look at growth over the past seven years, compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of revenue at 36%.
• We expanded from one office in Cincinnati to 25 offices over seven years.
• Our headcount is now over 600.

 

Matt Wise is chief executive officer of E Tech Group. Edited by Mark T. Hoske, editor-in-chief, Control Engineering, www.controleng.com, WTWH Media, mhoske@wtwhmedia.com Amanda Pelliccione, marketing research manager, WTWH Media, administers the System Integrator of the Year program. Learn more about past winners, as well as this year’s winners in other categories, including the under $20 million in system integration revenue category and the $20 to $50 million in system integration revenue category.

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For more, see the E Tech Group entry in the Global System Integrator Database.

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