ABB has launched a free service for users and servicers of its low-voltage AC variable-speed drives. It allows them to register their drives online or via a smartphone app. In return, ABB will offer recommendations about maintenance and upgrade services that will help to extend the lifetime of the equipment.
Many thousands of industrial users of the Windows XP operating system could be vulnerable to cyber-attacks following Microsoft’s decision to end official support for the system from April 8, 2014. Since that date, the company has stopped issuing security updates and providing technical support for the 12 year-old operating system.
The global market for industrial machinery will expand by 6.3% this year – more than twice as fast as the 2.9% achieved in 2013 – according to a new report from IHS Technology, which predicts that total revenues will rise from $1.5 trillion in 2013 to $1.6 trillion this year.
After performing weakly for the past two years, the global market for industrial automation equipment (IAE) is poised for stronger growth in 2014, according to a new report from IHS Technology.
The Swiss EMC specialist Schaffner has acquired has acquired the US businesses Transformer Engineering (Trenco), Magnetics Technologies and Transformer Real Estate. It is paying their parent, Transformer Holding, around CHF9m ($10.1m) for the operations.
The Gates Corporation, whose products include industrial belts and fluid power products, has been bought by the private equity group Blackstone for $5.4bn. Gates’ previous owners were the Canadian private equity firm Onex and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which acquired it as part of the Tomkins conglomerate, for which they paid $5bn in 2010.
Schneider Electric has formally announced that it has entered into exclusive negotiations with two private equity groups, The Carlyle Group and PAI Partners, to buy its Custom Sensors & Technologies (CST) business, based on a $900m valuation for the operation.
The US manufacturing sector grew “solidly” during March, with output levels and new business volumes both rising sharply, according to the latest Manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) survey. Although the increase in new work was slower than in the previous month, it was still the second-fastest since May 2010, and the rate of production growth was little-changed from the near three-year high recorded in February.
The Scottish engineering company, the Weir Group, is reported to have made an offer worth more than €4bn for Metso, the Finnish automation, and mining & construction, business.
Following Bosch Rexroth’s sale last year of its pneumatics activities to the German-Scandinavian investor, Triton, the now standalone business has been renamed Aventics.
GE, Cisco, Intel, IBM and AT&T have formed a consortium that they hope will break down technology barriers to allow better access to big data, with improved integration of the physical and digital worlds. The open-membership Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) will help organisations to connect and optimise their assets, operations and data, to drive agility and to unlock business value across all sectors of industry.
Global sales of belt and chain drives were worth $8.8bn in 2013 and will climb to $10.57bn by 2018, according to a new analysis by Frost & Sullivan.
ABB is selling its Thomas & Betts’ HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) business to US-based Nortek for $260m in cash. ABB says it is divesting the business – which it acquired when it bought Thomas & Betts for $3.9bn in 2012 – because of limited synergies with its core portfolio. ABB will continue to supply motors, drives and LV products to the HVAC industry.
GE (General Electric) has formed a partnership with a US-based open-source hardware innovator called Local Motors, to launch a new model for manufacturing.
The Brazilian motor manufacturer WEG has acquired a German electric motor and gearbox company called Württembergische Elektromotoren. Württembergische manufactures three-phase, single-phase and DC motors up to 1kW as well as gearboxes and fractional servomotors.
