Accenture to acquire Eclipse Automation to help clients build smart factories

Accenture is set to acquire Cambridge-based Eclipse Automation, a provider of customized manufacturing automation and robotics solutions. Eclipse Automation’s 800 professionals will join Accenture’s digital engineering and manufacturing service, Industry X.

“For two decades, we have been leaders in delivering advanced automation solutions and high-tech manufacturing know-how to clients across multiple industries. By joining Accenture, we can also bring the advantages of data, AI and the cloud to our clients’ facilities at a scale that no other company can offer them,” said Steve Mai, CEO of Eclipse Automation.

With this acquisition, Accenture will offer automated production lines that leverage the cloud, data and artificial intelligence for smart and connected factories.

Founded in 2001, Eclipse Automation has offices in Canada, the US, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland and Malaysia. The company makes automated manufacturing systems to produce sophisticated products for life sciences, industrial equipment, automotive, energy and consumer goods companies. Its technologists and engineers design, build, integrate and service advanced automation solutions for producing components and devices such as electric vehicle batteries and wearable blood-glucose monitors.

Eclipse Automation’s product offerings include automation control systems, production machines and robots,  with critical customized tooling manufactured in-house.

“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,” said Jeffrey Russell, president of Accenture in Canada.

The acquisition marks the next milestone in Accenture’s expansion of its digital engineering and manufacturing capabilities. In 2020, Accenture bought Myrtle Consulting (US, Canada), a consultancy for strategic advisory on industrial operations, and Callisto Integration (Canada), a provider of manufacturing execution and shop-floor 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 acquired engineering services provider umlaut, headquartered in Germany, and strengthened its asset management and performance capabilities with Advoco (US) and T.A. Cook (Germany).