PAUL ADAIR, STAFF WRITER AT CTMA
4 minutes read time
HEADQUARTERED IN CAMBRIDGE, ONT., Eclipse Automation, part of Accenture, is a global success story in the world of automation. Founded by Steve Mai and his partners in 2001, the company came out of the tooling industry to become a trusted leader in delivering engineering precision-led manufacturing automation solutions to meet their clients’ specific needs. “Our vision and goal with Eclipse is to show that automation can have a tremendous impact across a multitude of industries and help engineers and plant executives rethink automation from the physical asset on the plant floor,” said Eclipse Automation CEO/Accenture Industry X, managing director, Steve Mai.
The Eclipse Moment
Eclipse provides precision-led robotics, vision, sim-ready, and digital twin automated systems that bring its customers’ products to life by helping them reinvent what and how they produce goods. The company’s network of Eclipse facilities in Canada, the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, and Malaysia provides nearly one million square feet of manufacturing space—ready for every client’s manufacturing journey into the future.
Serving a diverse range of industries, Eclipse creates trusted, precision-led automation solutions for the life sciences, transportation, consumer and industrial, and nuclear energy markets. With a culture centred around an entrepreneurial mindset, the company prides itself on an unwavering commitment to revolutionize smart automation solutions and propel businesses into the future of digital manufacturing.
The company’s smart manufacturing automation solutions leverage the latest advancements in industrial digitalization, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning to optimize processes, increase productivity, and drive cost efficiencies.
“Eclipse has a team of over 300 engineers who possess a broad spectrum of expertise in the markets we serve, and are involved in the design through to the engineering, to the manufacturing, to delivery, and then post-service,” said Mai. “This gives us the ability to manage all of that in-house and work with the client if any adjustments need to happen.”
Accenture & The Future of Factory
In 2022, Eclipse was acquired by Accenture, a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, organizations, and governments build their digital core, optimize operations, accelerate revenue growth, and enhance citizen services to create tangible value at speed and scale.
Recognizing that manufacturing will be spending more than a trillion dollars in digital transformation technologies to bring itself into the digital space and move data from the shop floor to the top floor, Accenture’s Industry X group saw an opportunity in Eclipse to help drive the future of manufacturing—from the physical asset on the plant floor to the top floor—with flexibility, speed, and agility through real-time data analysis and generative AI, driving faster decisions.
“This acquisition gives our customers the confidence that the tenets of Industry 4.0 can be fully realized while getting ready for the journey ahead to Industry 5.0, with Accenture’s market footprint, expertise, and partnerships,” said Mai. “Under Accenture’s Industry X, we’re able to reinvent manufacturing by combining physical and digital components, creating a digital thread connecting simulation-ready machines to manufacturing execution systems and enterprise resource planning solutions to deliver autonomous manufacturing in the future.”
The Workforce of The Future Is Here
Eclipse Automation employs just under 1,000 employees globally, with just over half of them working across nine facilities in Cambridge, Ont.
The ability of companies like Eclipse Automation to attract talent is challenging, given many people have outdated perceptions of the manufacturing sector. In reality, manufacturing today has rapidly evolved; mature industrialization in Canada, advancements in technology, and automation are completely changing the workforce.
While Eclipse works with local educational institutions, more work needs to be done in the public and private sectors to train, upskill, reskill, and ready workers for the dynamic needs and blended workforce of the future.
The Value Of Membership
Eclipse views the Canadian Tooling & Machining Association (CTMA) as an important resource for networking with industry and espousing the benefits of a career in the trades, which is something that Eclipse also works hard at.
“We want to be able to help the market itself understand where the industry is headed and what they should be thinking about today to ensure the investments they select prepare them to realize the benefits of the factory of the future,” said Mai. “But more than that, we also want to partner with CTMA to help them stay abreast of workforce challenges and showcase to young people how manufacturing is still an attractive industry to work in.”
Curious to learn more about how to navigate your factory’s technology evolution? Contact Eclipse Automation to discover how our industrial automation solutions can help you build a resilient, future-ready smart manufacturing operation.
