Schneider to acquire Citect MES developer

SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) software and MESs (manufacturing executions systems) developer Citect is being acquired by automation giant Schneider Electric’s Australian subsidiary. Citect, which had not long completed a world tour re-launching its former ‘Plant to Business’ MES suite expanded under the name Ampla, is being bought for around $80m – a 42% premium on its share price. Citect is based in Australia, and the two companies have a long-standing relationship, which has resulted in some joint hardware and software solutions. The question now is to what extent Schneider will want to absorb its target – and its products and its people. And that’s not as simple as it may seem: it’s not just about economies of scale. On the one hand it makes sense to go the whole hog, enabling Schneider to offer everything from automation kit to full blown systems. But on the other, if it does it will face the classic problems of culture, with very different sales approaches required. The most recent similar acquisition involved that of Intellution, sold by Emerson a couple of years ago to GE Fanuc. Since that time, rivals Iconics and Wonderware have risen to some prominence. Jeremy Bolton, Citect sales and marketing manager, makes the case for keeping MES separate. “MESs have got to provide information to ERP at the business level to deliver value add,” he says. It’s a rather different business pitch to automation components sales. Bolton also suggests that primary beneficiaries of next generation MES include improving all-important OEE (operational equipment effectiveness), conformance and ERP interoperability, with lean and Six Sigma initiatives also demonstrating a requirement. “People don’t realise how much some of their machines are under-performing. OEE is a really important measure: the difference getting it right makes using MES can be phenomenal.” He also talks of significant deals for the new Ampla range, moving on from Citect’s substantial Nissan Sunderland implementation – with names like Rio Tinto, Sara Lee and Amcor. If Schneider gets this right, and manufacturers continue to focus more on combined plant and business improvement investments, MES could finally emerge from the shadows – and both users and Schneider could be beneficiaries.