WIKA Group to acquire Hirschmann MCS

Following successful negotiations between WIKA and Belden Inc. Hirschmann MCS will be detached from Hirschmann Automation and Control GmbH to join and strategically bolster the WIKA Group. With effect on January 1, 2018, Hirschmann Mobile Machine Control Solutions (MCS) will assume the new name of WIKA Mobile Control GmbH & Co. KG.

The new WIKA Mobile Control business unit will include Hirschmann MCS in Ettlingen, Germany and Chambersburg, PA as well as a 50 percent share of a joint venture in Xuzhou, China. All existing production sites and other facilities will continue to operate.

“We greatly value the experience and expertise of our employees, and are therefore going to retain all 373 of them: 98 in Ettlingen, 27 in Chambersburg and 246 in China,” explained Axel Kaltofen, executive vice president, WIKA. “By acquiring Hirschmann MCS we are adding both technologically sophisticated products to our portfolio and many highly qualified and motivated staff to our team.”

The establishment of the new WIKA Mobile Control business unit will make it possible to offer a much broader and more flexible range of tailored application solutions for mobile machines from one source.

WIKA’s product and application competence in pressure, temperature and force measurement will be supplemented by the experience and know-how of Hirschmann MCS in system integration and safety applications in the demanding arena of mobile machinery.

Thanks to this combination of system and components under one roof, customers will derive enormous benefits from a flexible portfolio of quickly provided, future-proof, targeted safety and end-to-end solutions. International collaboration will enhance the new organization’s innovativeness while facilitating access to markets and opening up fresh growth opportunities.

“WIKA and Hirschmann MCS are an excellent fit,” said Kaltofen. “Within the context of this repositioning, we are going to leverage the synergies from merging solution-oriented and component activities to drive the long-term expansion of our system business and strengthen our international market position.”

The WIKA Group ― a family-run global enterprise with more than 9,300 highly qualified employees ― is the world’s leading manufacturer of pressure and temperature measurement instrumentation. It also sets standards in level, flow and calibration technology. Founded in 1946, today WIKA reliably meets all industrial measurement and instrumentation requirements with its large portfolio of high-precision equipment and services.

“WIKA Mobile Control will operate as an independent organization within the WIKA family,” explains Alexander Wiegand, Managing Director: “We have the vision it takes to draw on the united competencies of both organizations and offer our customers an optimal automation platform for mobile machinery. They can obtain complete safety systems from us that are perfectly tailored to their particular requirements.”

Building on decades of experience, WIKA and Hirschmann MCS are looking forward with confidence. “This strategic move will strengthen our hand and excellently position us for the future,” says Kaltofen. “It will enable us to continue growing while also providing opportunities for our employees to extend and hone their skills.”