Hitachi Ltd. has completed the acquisition of JR Automation Technologies LLC, a robotic SI business mainly operated by JR Automation from funds managed by Crestview Partners. The agreement was first announced last April.
The deal is expected to pair Holland-based JR Automation's global strengths in robotic system integration with Hitachi's deep skillsets in artificial intelligence and IoT solutions for manufacturing.
"It's uplifting to see how closely our two companies are aligned and I'm excited about what the opportunities are going forward," JR Automation CEO Bryan Jones said in a statement. "As we look to the future, we see the opportunity that exists in bringing the cyber world to the physical world and integrating Hitachi's digital solutions into the systems that we produce. Our partnership with Hitachi is going to allow us to do considerably more for our customers. However, as excited as we are about our future we also want to be mindful about our past and on behalf of everyone at JR Automation, I would like to thank the team at Crestview and outgoing Chairman Mike DuBose for their outstanding partnership during a period of dramatic global growth and evolution for JR Automation."
Hitachi Ltd. Executive Vice President and Executive Officer Masakazu Aoki added: "With JR Automation's robotic system integration capabilities, combined with Hitachi's digital solutions and technologies, we can provide customers with new, unparalleled value by connecting the whole process. We can now provide our customers with seamless solutions, connecting the entire value chain with data to achieve total optimization.
