Industrial Manufacturing Automation Equipment sector
Strategic acquirers, private equity (buyout funds and growth funds) firms, and valuation benchmarks for Industrial Manufacturing Automation Equipment
1.1 - About Industrial Manufacturing Automation Equipment sector
Companies in the Industrial Manufacturing Automation Equipment category design and integrate hardware, software, and consumables that automate production lines and process plants. They deliver control systems, motion platforms, industrial networking, and smart fluid handling to boost throughput, reliability, and energy efficiency while cutting downtime and lifecycle costs. Strategic buyers in industrial automation equipment typically offer end‑to‑end factory automation and digitalization across discrete and process industries.
These companies supply PLCs and open automation platforms with digital twins, distributed I/O architectures, and industrial Ethernet switches with Quality of Service for resilient control networks. They provide servo drives, eMotors, and precision motion stages, plus pneumatic and electric actuators and severe‑service valves for process safety. Offerings extend to compressed air and vacuum systems, bearings, seals, and smart lubricators, as well as IoT monitoring suites and analytics that enable condition‑based maintenance and remote support.
They primarily serve discrete manufacturing plants, process industries, machine builders, and metals and foundry operations. Customers achieve higher overall equipment effectiveness, improved product quality and safety compliance, reduced energy consumption and compressed air costs, and lower maintenance downtime. The solutions also accelerate commissioning and changeovers, enhance network reliability for industrial control, and support data‑driven operations through edge computing and IoT connectivity.
2. Buyers in the Industrial Manufacturing Automation Equipment sector
2.1 Top strategic acquirers of Industrial Manufacturing Automation Equipment companies
Rockwell Automation
- Description: Provider of industrial automation hardware and software enabling digital transformation; offerings span analytics, design, HMI, MES and distributed control solutions that connect devices and sensors, contextualize data, optimize production, reduce downtime and support energy-sustainability goals.
- Key Products:
- Stratix 2100 Unmanaged Industrial Ethernet Switch: Provides increased network reliability and stability with built-in Quality of Service to ensure strong, dependable connectivity for industrial control systems
- PointMax I/O System: Offers an extensive range of I/O modules giving maximum design freedom and flexibility to serve discrete, hybrid and process applications, elevating automation efficiency
- OptixEdge Advanced Edge Gateway: Uses a wizard-based setup and Docker container support to quickly configure applications and process machine-level data, delivering operational insights and engineering time savings
- PlantPAx Distributed Control System & FactoryTalk Historian: Integrated process control and data historian platform that supplies real-time production data with built-in OT cybersecurity, enabling optimization, reduced waste and uninterrupted operations.
- Rationale: Provider of PlantPAx DCS & FactoryTalk Historian integrated control, Stratix 2100 industrial Ethernet switching, and OptixEdge edge gateway for automation.
- Company type: Private company
- Employees: ●●●●●
- Total funding raised: $●●●m
- Backers: ●●●●●●●●●●
- Acquisitions: ●●
2.2 - Strategic buyer groups for Industrial Manufacturing Automation Equipment sector
M&A buyer group 1: Industrial Robotics
Cognex
- Type: N/A
- Employees: ●●●●●
- Description: Provider of machine vision systems, vision sensors, 3D vision technology and industrial barcode readers, backed by hot-swap, repair and extended warranty programs that keep manufacturing and logistics equipment running with minimal downtime.
- Key Products:
- DataMan 70 Series: Advanced image-formation fixed-mount reader that decodes label-based codes quickly, improving accuracy for packaging and assembly lines
- DataMan 150/260 Series: High-speed barcode readers that reliably capture the most challenging 1D and 2D codes in demanding industrial environments
- DataMan 370 Series: Fixed-mount readers delivering superior read performance across a broad range of applications, enhancing throughput and traceability
- DataMan 470 Series: Powerful barcode readers engineered to solve complex, high-throughput manufacturing and logistics tasks with ease, ensuring fast, dependable code capture.
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●● companies3. Investors and private equity firms in Industrial Manufacturing Automation Equipment sector
3.1 - Buyout funds in the Industrial Manufacturing Automation Equipment sector
2.2 - Strategic buyer groups for Industrial Manufacturing Automation Equipment sector
4 - Top valuation comps for Industrial Manufacturing Automation Equipment companies
4.2 - Public trading comparable groups for Industrial Manufacturing Automation Equipment sector
Valuation benchmark group 1: Industrial Automation and Control Companies
ABB Group
- Enterprise value: $●●●m
- Market Cap: $●●●m
- EV/Revenue: ●.●x
- EV/EBITDA: ●●.●x
- Description: Provider of robotics, automation, electrification, and motion solutions, offering industry-specific integrated automation, control technologies, software, advanced services, and measurement and analytics for various sectors including utilities, industry, transportation, and infrastructure.
- Key Products:
- Robotics and Automation: Integrated automation solutions for robotics and factory automation
- Electrification Solutions: Electrical products and solutions for smart and sustainable electrification
- Motors and Drives: Complete range of electrical motors, generators, and drives
- Process Automation: Industry-specific control and automation technologies
- Measurement and Analytics: Advanced measurement and analytics solutions for various industries.