Siemens to Acquire Controlotron

Siemens (www.siemens.com), a worldwide provider of process control and industrial automation equipment, signed an agreement to acquire Controlotron (www.controlotron.com), a provider of ultrasonic flowmetering technology. The official transfer of business activities is expected to occur in May 2006.

Controlotron was founded in 1962 by Joe Baumoel, who still remains active in the company. In 1972, Controlotron became the first U.S. company to introduce ultrasonic clamp-on, transit-time technology to the industrial market. The company also introduced the first clamp-on ultrasonic hybrid flowmeter, which combines transit-time and Doppler technology. Controlotron began selling its products internationally in 1975. It currently has 120 employees.

Controlotron is best known for its 1010 Series transit-time, clamp-on ultrasonic flowmeters. In addition to traditional clamp-on technology, Controlotron sells a fixed clamp-on and a clamp-on spoolpiece ultrasonic flowmeter. Other types include a group of energy meters, leak detection systems, and a variety of ultrasonic flowmeters for specific applications. Examples of these applications include natural gas flow, aerospace, and interface detection.

Siemens ranks among the largest companies in the world. Siemens reported sales of $96 billion for fiscal 2005. In the United States, Siemens has sales of $18.8 billion and employs 70,000 people in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Worldwide, Siemens and its subsidiaries employ 460,000 people in 190 countries.

Siemens has grown its instrumentation business primarily through acquisition. In February 2000, Siemens purchased the outstanding common stock of Moore Process Automation, spending $170 million. Later that year, in August 2000, Siemens acquired Milltronics, a manufacturer of ultrasonic level equipment, in a deal valued at $355 million. Prior to these two acquisitions, Siemens added two other companies to its portfolio in 1999. One was Applied Automation (USA), and the other was Turbo Werk (Germany). Turbo Werk is a supplier of magnetic flowmeters. Siemens is now marketing the Turbo Werk magnetic flowmeter as the Sitrans FM magnetic flowmeter.

In September 2003, Siemens further enhanced its instrumentation portfolio by completing the purchase of the Flow Division of Danfoss. This division is a supplier of magnetic, ultrasonic, and Coriolis flowmeters, with headquarters in Denmark. In 2002, before the deal was completed, Danfoss had sales of $73 million, with 450 employees.

Siemens’ flow, pressure, and temperature products are all considered part of the Sitrans family, and they are distinguished with a letter or abbreviation that designates their technology. Siemens sells magnetic flowmeters (Sitrans FM), ultrasonic flowmeters (Sitrans FUS), differential pressure (Sitrans FO), rotary-piston meters (Sitrans FR), variable-area meters (Sitrans FVA), pressure transmitters (Sitrans P), and temperature transmitters (Sitrans T).


Information for this article was abstracted from the Worldflow Monitoring Service by Flow Research. Worldflow is a continually updated report, covering the worldwide flow control market. For more information, please visit www.flowresearch.com.