Siemens acquires Agilion to boost share of real-time location systems

German industrial giant Siemens said today it has acquired Agilion GmbH, a Chemnitz, Germany-based supplier of industrial real-time locating systems (RTLS) focusing on applications in production, logistics, and maintenance. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

According to Siemens, the RTLS technology enables companies to execute precise localization functions, which facilitates the tracking of a large number of different assets. "This represents a significant addition to our extensive offering in the field of industrial identification, and so to our Digital Enterprise portfolio," said Herbert Wegmann, head of Siemens' industrial communication and identification unit, in a statement announcing the deal. RTLS is an "essential key technology and a new step on the road towards flexible automation" in production, Wegmann said. Real-time locating also improves the safe and efficient operation of collaborative mobile robots, he said.

Andreas Werner, an Agilion director, said the combination will Agilion's RTLS expertise with Siemens' strong position in digitization and automation.

According to Siemens, RTLS provides the foundation for new workflow models in production, material flow control, and logistics, including the deployment of automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) and mobile robots.