Accenture has agreed to acquire Eclipse Automation a provider of customized manufacturing automation and robotics solutions headquartered in Ontario, Canada. The acquisition will allow Accenture to offer automated production lines that leverage the cloud, data and artificial intelligence (AI). In particular, it would make factories and plants smarter and thus, more productive, sustainable and safe. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Eclipse Automation creates 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. Among them include electric vehicle batteries and wearable blood-glucose monitors.

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

Founded in 2001, Eclipse Automation has offices in Canada, the U.S., Hungary, Germany, Switzerland and Malaysia. Its approximately 800 professionals will join Accenture’s digital engineering and manufacturing service, Industry X.

Aaron Saint, North America lead for Industry X at Accenture, said: “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.”

Jeffrey Russell, President of Accenture in Canada, said: “Many companies are bringing production back home to Canada and the U.S. 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.”

Steve Mai, CEO of Eclipse Automation, added: “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.”

Expansion in Digital Engineering, Manufacturing

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 shopfloor 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 made one of its largest acquisitions ever with international engineering services provider umlaut, headquartered in Germany, and strengthened its asset management and performance capabilities with Advoco (US) and T.A. Cook (Germany).