Honeywell buys paperless recorder pioneer, TrendView

Honeywell has bought TrendView Instrumentation, the Dorset-based manufacturer of chart recorders, pressure transducers, radio telemetry systems, and data acquisition products. The business will be integrated into the Honeywell`s Sensing and Control division.

"We see this as a tremendous opportunity for us to increase our business in the fast-growing instrumentation and data acquisition marketplace," says Ron Sieck, vice-president and general manager of Honeywell Sensing and Control.

TrendView`s managing director Charlie White says the deal "creates a huge opportunity to introduce new data acquisition technologies throughout the world".

TrendView, formed in 1997 by a management buyout of Penny + Giles` instrumentation business, claims to have introduced the world`s first paperless chart recorder (followed by the world`s first circular paperless recorder). Last year, it introduced a version that links into the Internet. In addition to a manufacturing plant in Christchurch, TrendView has sales offices in the US and India.

Wil Chin, a senior analyst with ARC, says that TrendView`s chart recorders fill a deficiency in Honeywell`s product line. The Web-enabled products using open Ethernet communications will integrate easily into Honeywell`s portfolio, he adds.

• Honeywell has sold its hydraulic pumps, motors and power transfer business to the US-based Triumph Group. The business, which designs, manufactures and services hydraulic equipment principally for aviation applications, will be transferred from Honeywell`s North Carolina site to Triumph`s Frisby Aerospace operation in the same state.