YASKAWA acquires Factory Automation business unit of ZF Italia s.r.l.

YASKAWA Europe GmbH, headquartered in Eschborn, Germany, acquires the Factory Automation business unit of ZF Italia s.r.l. In Assago (Milan). The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

ZF Italia s.r.l., the Italian branch of the international ZF Friedrichshafen AG Group, and YASKAWA Europe, European subsidiary of the Japanese technology corporation YASKAWA Electric, have been strategically associated for 25 years in the areas of automation technology component sales in Italy. With this now concluded acquisition, YASKAWA is set to continue the successful collaboration in a new format and strengthen its presence on the Italian market, which is the second-largest in Europe.

"By combining each of our characteristic strengths as manufacturers, we will be able to support our customers even better at implementing their automation projects and give them decisive competitive advantages”, is how Manfred Stern, CEO of YASKAWA Europe GmbH and Executive Officer of the Japanese parent company YASKAWA Electric, describes the strategic background. “By integrating our product lines Drives, Motion and Controls and Robotics we can better exploit the potential of our overall portfolio for industrial automation and offer Italian customers improved support”, says Norbert Gauß, President Drives Motion Controls Division of YASKAWA Europe GmbH.

“We are pleased to be preserving continuity and to be carrying on the successful quarter-century partnership with the same experienced team, simply under a new owner structure from now on”, says Business Unit Manager Drives Motion Controls Division Marco Civinini, now at Yaskawa heading the team of almost 20 people together with Andrea Marchese. Italian customers from engineering, automation and manufacturing will also profit from the new structure by the even more extensive service network. Apart from the areas Drives, Motion and Controls, Yaskawa has been represented by a national subsidiary for many years in the area of Robotics. For the products and system solutions in the area of Drives, Motion and Controls Division (DMC) as well as the Robotics Division (RD), four locations are available now in the Turin, Milan, Modena and Brescia conurbations. Operations will begin on 1 March 2019.