Mitsubishi Electric acquires Iconics to advance IIoT offerings

Manufacturing, building automation products strengthened by deal, company officials say.

By Bob Vavra May 17, 2019

Mitsubishi Electric Corp. announced May 17 its acquisition of Foxborough, Massachusetts-based Iconics Inc., which Mitsubishi officials said in a press release would “strengthen Mitsubishi’s software portfolio and technology for the manufacturing, industrial, and building automation markets.”

It also is an opportunity for Iconics to make a stronger play in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). “We are most excited about the recent acquisition of Iconics,” said Yoshikazu Miyata, executive officer and group president of factory automation systems at Mitsubishi Electric, “so that Mitsubishi can accelerate its global software strategy as importance for software is increasing for factory automation business. Our vision is to continuously invest in the field of IoT and software.”

“We look forward to our partnership with Mitsubishi,” said Russ Agrusa, CEO of Iconics, “A $40 billion-dollar world leader in markets across many industries, to pioneer a new Software Center of Excellence in Foxborough and to accelerate the development of advanced factory and building automation software.”

Iconics has developed software products for the manufacturing, industrial and building automation sectors. These products are expected to integrate with Mitsubishi Electric’s e-F@ctory concept and its Edgecross platform to enhance solutions for edge computing and the cloud.

“With the addition of Iconics software, product development, and technology capabilities,” said Satoshi Takeda, senior deputy general manager of Nagoya Works, Mitsubishi Electric, “this will allow Mitsubishi to accelerate its e-F@ctory and edge computing solutions.”

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions.

Terms were not disclosed.


Author Bio: Bob is the Content Manager for Plant Engineering.