Nematron Corporation acquires Universal Automation, Inc.; Nematron becomes leading supplier of soft logic control software.ANN ARBOR Ann Arbor, city (1990 pop. 109,592), seat of Washtenaw co., S Mich., on the Huron River; inc. 1851. It is a research and educational center, with a large number of government and industrial research and development firms, many in high-technology fields such as , Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 21, 1995--Nematron Corporation announced that it has completed the acquisition of Universal Automation, Inc. of Hudson, NH. Universal Automation (UA) is the owner of patent No. 4,852,047 for continuous flow chart, improved data format, and debugging system for programming and operation of machines. UA is also the developer of FloPro; a soft logic program for machine control that executes on Intel based See Intel-based system. personal computers. UA's FloPro product, which is based on the patent mentioned previously, is the leading flowchart-based soft logic program and is currently used extensively by General Motors Corporation. FloPro soft logic running on industrial PCs has eliminated the need for Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) in several GM Powertrain GM Powertrain Europe is a company created by General Motors to develop engines and transmission for the GM group. It was known as Fiat-GM Powertrain until the termination of the GM and Fiat merger talks, and earlier as Opel Powertrain. sites in connection with North American operations North American operation Surgical oncology Radical surgery of a 'frozen pelvis', consisting of radical en bloc resection of the uterus and urinary bladder. See 'Frozen pelvis.'. Cf 'All-American' and 'South American' operations. . FloPro is controlling complete on-line factories such as General Motors' Windsor, Ontario Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and lies at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Windsor is located directly south of Detroit and is separated from that city by the Detroit River. The city has views of the Detroit skyline. transmission plant. Frank G. Logan, III, President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Nematron said, "This acquisition is of strategic importance to Nematron. Through this merger we became a leading supplier of soft logic software for PCs. The controls market is at a turning point in shifting away from proprietary closed architecture PLCs to open architecture PC based controls and intelligent I/O Intelligent I/O - Intelligent Input/Output systems. We gain an important ally in General Motors North America Operations where our FloPro software is the standard for their PC based `Lean Controls' concept. I do not think any other company has the overall combination of operator interface hardware and software products, control software, installed base and application experience of Nematron and UA in this market. I believe this acquisition will lead to a breakthrough of new products to address the future of industrial and discrete control application requirements." Nematron will take steps to enhance the current FloPro product architecture with the addition of Windows 95 and Windows NT development environments. Windows NT based software has been an increasingly important part of Nematron's strategy and a Windows NT run time is planned for release in 1996. UA has begun validation testing of FloPro 32, a 32-bit version of the current product. Strong emphasis will be placed on a strategic partnership with GM in further architecting the future of software-based control products. In addition to General Motors' use of FloPro, the flowcharting patent is licensed to EDS (Electronic Data Systems, Plano, TX, www.eds.com) Founded in 1962 by H. Ross Perot (independent candidate for the President of the U.S. in 1992), EDS is the largest outsourcing and data processing services organization in the country. , Hughes, and several private software companies. FloPro currently supports intelligent I/O from several major suppliers including GE Fanuc, Allen-Bradley, Siemens, and Phoenix Contact. Nematron is planning support for other distributed sensor systems. Nematron acquired UA through a merger of UA into NemaSoft, Inc., a newly formed and wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Nematron. Nematron also plans to integrate certain operations of their Imagination Systems division, which was acquired in March 1995, into the new NemaSoft subsidiary. Imagination Systems is responsible for the software-based operator interface, networking, and data acquisition product lines within Nematron. The result of the integration of these two software companies will be to produce the next generation of integrated operator interface and control software products for personal computer platforms. NemaSoft will leverage Nematron's 60,000 plus units of worldwide hardware-based operator interface experience to include these state-of-the-art software products. Nematron designs and develops software and hardware products for the industrial controls market. Their products range from low-end operator interface workstations to Windows-based operator interface and control software. Nematron is a technological leader and innovator of the first industrially hardened terminal and PC workstation products. Nematron is traded on the OTC bulletin board OTC Bulletin Board An electronic quotation listing of the bid and asked prices of OTC stocks that do not meet the requirements to be listed on the NASDAQ stock-listing system. system under the symbol of NEMA NEMA National Electrical Manufacturers Association NEMA National Emergency Management Agency NEMA National Emergency Management Association NEMA Nottingham East Midlands Airport (UK) U. CONTACT: Nematron Corporation, Ann Arbor Frank G. Logan, III, 313/994-0591 ext. 444 |
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