Engineering USA buys track and trace player Movilitas

There's an ongoing trend towards consolidation in the track and trace category that continued this week with the news that Movilitas has been acquired by Engineering USA, bolstering the group's industrial digitisation division.

The acquisition strengthens Engineering's position in life sciences in particular, an industry where Movilitas has been active in the last few years developing track and trace platforms for pharmaceuticals and other medicinal products.

Along with product tracking and tracing, Movilitas also offers digital twinning – the creation of a digital representation of a physical object – as well as supply chain security, asset performance management and warehouse management services.

Engineering USA – the North American unit of Italy's Engineering Group – focuses on digitising the lifecycle of industrial products and processes.

The company said the Movilitas takeover would boost its position in Industry 4.0 technologies – the continuous automation of manufacturing and industry practices using digital technologies like machine learning, big data analytics and Internet of Things (IoT) – as well as its presence in key markets including North and South America, Europe and Asia.

The acquisition was in part driven by the ongoing disruptions hitting global supply chains as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, with knock-on effects on the supply of a broad range of products and particularly semiconductors, according to Engineering.

That disruption has prompted companies large and small to look into strategies to keep supply chains flowing, including logistical considerations like bolstering inventory, diversifying suppliers and finding substitute materials and processes, as well as technological tools like digitisation to create smart and efficient supply chain ecosystems.

The last few years have seen a string of acquisitions taking place in the traceability category, with notable examples including Markem-Imaje's buyouts of Blue Bite and Systech, Antares Vision's acquisitions of rfXcel and the assets of Adents after it went into administration, and Optel Vision's takeovers of GeoTraceability and Verify brand.