December 2020

NEWS 8 HYDRAULICS & PNEUMATICS November/December 2020 www.hpmag.co.uk Rockwell Automation has entered into an agreement to acquire Fiix Inc., a privately held, AI-enabled computerised maintenance management system (CMMS) company. Fiix, founded in 2008, is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. As the number of industrial connected assets multiplies, the ability to gain insights from maintenance operations is becoming increasingly important to a manufacturer’s ability to gain competitive advantage. This insight enables another level of productivity in addition to the core automation. Fiix’s cloud-native CMMS creates workflows for the scheduling, organising, and tracking of equipment maintenance. It connects seamlessly to business systems and drives data-driven decisions. The company’s revenue grew 70% in 2019 with more than 85% recurring revenue. Fiix has more than 2 million assets under management and creates more than 6 million work orders a year. 360-degree view “We believe that the future of industrial asset management is performance-based,” says Tessa Myers, vice president, product management, Software & Control, for Rockwell Automation. “With the addition of the Fiix platform and expertise, our customers will benefit from a 360-degree view of integrated data across automation, production, and maintenance, helping them to monitor and improve the performance of their assets and optimise how maintenance work is done.” James Novak, Fiix CEO, comments: “From the beginning, Fiix has been on a mission to connect maintenance and operations teams to the tools, resources, and technology they need to modernise and join the future of maintenance. Joining Rockwell Automation will allow us to help even more companies modernise maintenance and increase asset performance by connecting to industry-leading data, automation, and production systems.” Strategy alignment The addition of Fiix directly aligns with Rockwell Automation’s software strategy. It also enhances Rockwell Automation’s capabilities in its Lifecycle Services business, which provides a full range of industrial automation services to help customers maximise the value of their production assets, systems, plants, and processes. Additionally, it illustrates Rockwell Automation’s focus on helping customers be more sustainable. Through a CMMS, businesses can operate more efficiently, reducing waste and energy use while also saving money. Fiix will be reported as part of Rockwell Automation’s Software & Control operating segment. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the 2020 calendar year, subject to customary approvals and conditions. Rockwell Automation acquires Fiix Inc. Alfa Laval, the heat transfer, centrifugal separation and fluid handling solutions provider, is opening a state-of-the-art Application & Innovation Centre in Kolding, Denmark. The centre will reinforce the company’s technology knowhow within hygienic fluid handling and help to further enhance the company’s customer engagement, product innovation and customer optimisation processes. Investing in the new 1600-sq-m Application & Innovation Centre supports Alfa Laval’s strategic focus of accelerating product development and driving customer preference for Alfa Laval pumps, valves, and cleaning and mixing equipment used in the food and pharmaceutical industries. “It’s all about taking our customers’ production to the next level,” says Mikkel Nordkvist, vice president, hygienic fluid handling, head of industry management. “Customers can see – either in person or by live link – how Alfa Laval equipment performs under their actual operating conditions. Conducting trials with Alfa Laval industry experts provides verification of higher yield, improved hygiene, and sustainable cost reductions by saving energy, water and cleaning media. It’s a golden opportunity to validate overall performance.” Driving innovation “The centre provides a unique environment to develop tomorrow’s fluid handling technologies and equipment. Multiple testbeds with advanced hardware and software enable us to drive innovation by conducting rigorous proof-of-concept experiments on new equipment for the food and pharma industries at many duty points under close-to-actual conditions,” says Rikke Kau Breinholt, vice president, hygienic fluid handling, and head of research & development, Alfa Laval. “Moreover, with insights from customer trials, we can further refine our equipment and are able to introduce new customer- centric products and product enhancements to the market faster than before. Accelerating product development and innovation, in turn, means that we can deliver more value to our customers.” New Alfa Laval Fluid Handling Application & Innovation Centre opens in Denmark