ARCwire -- In a deal that consolidates Siemens' position in China and strengthens its global position in process automation, it has signed an agreement with Eastime Automation Engineering of Shanghai, China, whereby Siemens is to acquire the business activities of the company.
Eastime is a leading company in China for engineering and project management in process analytics. It is active in the chemicals, petrochemicals, and iron and steel sectors. The takeover occurred in August 2006, when the company changed its name to Siemens Process Analytics, Shanghai (SPAS), and became integrated into the Automation and Drives Group of the regional company Siemens in China.
As a global leader in the manufacture of process analytics devices, Siemens already occupies a favorable market position in China and has implemented a host of larger-scale projects there in recent years. With the acquisition of Eastime, Siemens will consolidate its position in China with a company that possesses especially good local know-how and sound technical knowledge in the system integration of process analytics devices into overall solutions and plants. The activities of SPAS are expected to be concentrated initially on the Asia/Pacific region, especially China, where many new plants are currently appearing on greenfield sites. The company will then expand to cover Europe and the U.S.