Accenture is acquiring Cambridge’s Eclipse Automation, a provider of manufacturing automation and robotics systems.
Accenture, a global consulting company, says the purchase of Eclipse “marks the next milestone in Accenture’s expansion of its digital engineering and manufacturing capabilities.” Eclipse automation control systems, production machines and robots are used to produce complex devices such as electric vehicle batteries and wearable blood-glucose monitors.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Eclipse partnered with Chinese company Harmontronics to design and produce N95-equivalent respirator and procedure mask assembly machines. Eclipse also sells respirators produced on the new machines.
Financial terms of the deal, which is subject to standard closing conditions and regulatory approvals, were not disclosed.
The acquisition will allow Accenture to offer automated production lines that leverage the cloud, data and artificial intelligence (AI), making factories and plants smarter
“Technology, data and AI are fundamentally transforming every part of a company. This includes engineering and manufacturing, our clients’ next digital frontier. With Eclipse Automation, we will combine advanced automation capabilities with our deep digital expertise. This will position Accenture better than ever to help our clients reimagine their products and how they make them,” Aaron Saint, North America lead for Industry X, Accenture’s digital engineering and manufacturing services arm, said in a release.
Jeffrey Russell, President of Accenture in Canada, said: “Many companies are bringing production back home to Canada and the US due to global supply chain disruptions. This gives them a unique opportunity to reinvent manufacturing with digital technologies and advanced automation. With Eclipse Automation, Accenture will provide technology and training capabilities that our clients need to develop a digital
industrial workforce in markets where manufacturing skills are scarce.”
Founded in 2001 by Steve Mai, Todd Ronald and Richard Bula, Eclipse employs about 800 people at locations in Canada, the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary and Malaysia; its employees will join Industry X.
The acquisition marks the next milestone in Accenture’s expansion of its digital engineering and manufacturing capabilities. In 2020, Accenture bought Myrtle ConsultingMyrtle Consulting (US, Canada), a consultancy for strategic advisory on industrial operations, and Callisto Integration (Canada), a provider of manufacturing execution and shopfloor control systems. In 2021, Accenture added Pollux (Brazil), which engineers and deploys materials handling and autonomous mobile robots, paving its way into autonomous robotics systems. Later that year, Accenture made one of its largest acquisitions ever with international engineering services provider umlaut,headquartered in Germany, and strengthened its asset management and performance capabilities with Advoco (US) and T.A. Cook (Germany).
