Accenture expands Industry X offering with Eclipse deal
Global consultancy Accenture has added more than 800 staff to its digital engineering and manufacturing service line with the acquisition of Eclipse Automation. The Canada-headquartered firm becomes part of Accenture Industry X for an undisclosed fee, boosting its offerings across Europe, North America and Asia.
Founded in 2001, Eclipse Automation has spent more than 20 years working with leading manufacturers to deploy solutions within the life sciences, transport, consumer products, nuclear energy, and electronics industries. In that time, the firm has built complex automated systems for products such as medical devices, clean energy initiatives, electrical vehicles.
Eclipse Automation’s acquisition by Accenture – which is Dublin-listed for tax reasons – is designed to help clients build factories of the future, while offering automated production lines that leverage the cloud, data and artificial intelligence (AI), making factories and plants smarter. The deal which will conclude for an unspecified fee – pending customary closing conditions, including receipt of applicable regulatory approvals – will see Eclipse Automation’s approximately 800 professionals join Accenture’s digital engineering and manufacturing service, Industry X.
Steve Mai, CEO of Eclipse Automation, commented, “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.”
Eclipse Automation has offices in Canada, the US, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland and Malaysia. This addition will also position Accenture better to help clients across multiple geographies reimagine products and production.
Aaron Saint, North America lead for Industry X at Accenture, noted, “Technology, data and AI are fundamentally transforming every part of a company. This includes engineering and manufacturing, our clients’ next digital frontier. With Eclipse Automation, we will combine advanced automation capabilities with our deep digital expertise. This will position Accenture better than ever to help our clients reimagine their products and how they make them.”
The move is the latest in a hefty acquisition drive to beef up Accenture’s digital engineering and manufacturing capabilities. In 2020, this saw the firm add North American firm Myrtle Consulting to its ranks, helping with strategic advisory on industrial operations, as well as Canadian firm Callisto Integration, which provides manufacturing execution and shop-floor control systems. In 2021, Accenture also purchased Pollux in Brazil, which engineers and deploys materials handling and autonomous mobile robots, before also snapping up international engineering services provider umlaut, headquartered in Germany. It has since also strengthened its asset management capabilities with US firm Advoco and Germany’s T.A. Cook.
