Siemens adds Camstar to its digital enterprise vision

Siemens announced yesterday that it is acquiring Camstar Systems, a provider of manufacturing execution systems (MES) to the electronics, semiconductor and medical device industries. Camstar is a privately owned company of 230 people, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. According to Camstar, it had been experiencing phenomenal, 100% year/year growth and seeks to boost this under the Siemens banner.

Siemens says that Camstar has 210,000 users in 18 countries, and that it fits into Siemens’ strategy of the digital enterprise, where each physical object has a digital twin. It furthers the concept laid out at the annual analyst event in Boston a few weeks ago, where Siemens PLM is taking on an increased role within Siemens AG, as it assumes  responsibility for the Siemens SIMATIC IT, IBS, Preactor, and WinCC products in addition to the traditional Teamcenter, NX, Solid Edge, Tecnomatix, NX Nastran, et al. brands. Siemens’ Helmuth Ludwig, EVP, Digital Enterprise Realization, explained it this was: Siemens PLM is now responsible for Siemens’ digitalization strategy for manufacturing operations. To him, this means a focus on the “seamless integration of the product and production lifecycles, from the perspective of production execution — which brings together and builds on Siemens’ expertise with automation, manufacturing operations management and PLM.

The transaction is expected to close in November and terms of the acquisition will not be disclosed.

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I’m jetlagged, in a grey-skeyed Berlin, but ready for several action-packed days at the 2014 AVEVA World Summit (#AVEVAWorld, if you’re following along on Twitter). More on the Camstar acquisition soon. Now, coffee. A lot of coffee.