Speaking at PI North America’s General Assembly Meeting last week in Phoenix, Keith Jones, president of system integrator Prism Systems, insisted that there’s a growing need for tighter integration between automation vendors and integrators. We’re seeing it across all industries—the growing level of complexity in automation systems means increased demand for the combination of technical and domain expertise. The integrators need the technical expertise from the automation suppliers, and the vendors need help executing projects for their customers.
Rockwell Automation emphasized that point this week as it scooped up the largest independent system integrator in North America, Maverick Technologies. Rockwell cited its motivation to expand domain knowledge and also to help deliver complete solutions to customers in several different industries, including chemical, food and beverage, and oil and gas. The acquisition significantly strengthens Rockwell’s expertise in key process and batch applications, the company said.
“Industrial control and information solutions are most effective when they result from close collaboration between a knowledgeable supplier and the user,” said Ken Champa, senior vice president of control products and solutions for Rockwell. “The combination of our global industrial automation leadership with Maverick’s platform-independent domain expertise will help our customers reduce complexity and realize unprecedented productivity.”
