April News in Brief
º Mechan Controls, the Skelmersdale-based manufacturer of safety switches, expects to treble its turnover to almost £3m by buying a Staffordshire-based producer of battery racks, Nirvana Engineering, for £1m. "Our strategy is to grow the business organically and also by acquiring well-established companies operating in complementary markets," says Mechan MD, Wilf Boardman. "Nirvana Engineering fits these criteria and the acquisition gives us the scope to move into a different area of the safety/security market, both in terms of the product and the geographic areas covered."
º Lenze has opened a systems house in St Helens to provide automation and panel-building support for customers across the UK. The operation, bringing together expertise in automation, drives and panel-building, mirrors similar services in Germany and Austria. It will evaluate projects, offer technical advice, customise software and build panels.
º Digi International has paid $30.5m to acquire Sarian Systems, a UK company specialising in wireless routers for critical applications, including remote monitoring and telemetry. Digi expects Sarian to contribute $23–27m in revenue in the next fiscal year.
º The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is establishing a panel of experts to identify technologies likely to have a global impact over the coming five to ten years, and to help the IET to provide comment and input to consultations and Government policy on issues relating to innovation and research.
