November 14, 2019
Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) announced today that it has completed the acquisition of AutoGuide Mobile Robots, a leading supplier of high payload autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). With the completion of this acquisition, Teradyne fills in its product lineup with a high payload, pallet moving AMR product line. Teradyne is paying $165 million for AutoGuide. The deal is for $58 million in cash, plus $107 million if certain performance targets are met, extending potentially through 2022.
“AutoGuide’s safe, high-payload AMRs for the global forklift market provide a powerful, additional growth engine to Teradyne’s Industrial Automation group,” said Mark Jagiela, President and CEO of Teradyne. “We are happy to welcome AutoGuide to Teradyne and look forward to helping expand their product lineup and accelerate their global growth plans.”
Why this is significant
AutoGuide joins its new sibling Mobile Industrial Robotics (MiR) in the Teradyne family. MiR’s product line starts with the MiR100, a 100 kg carrying vehicle. MiR has built its business primarily around smaller manufacturers who can afford the the low cost MiR100 and MiR200 machines. AutoGuide brings a larger capacity AMR product line to the portfolio and enables the Teradyne (and MiR and AutoGuide) sales team to sell into applications covering everything from small parts replenishment and final goods inventory movement, all the way up to large unit load pallet handling (with the AutoGuide machines). When combined with UR cobots (the other automation sibling in the Teradyne family), Teradyne is building out a significant and cohesive channel strategy, which will enable cross selling of a variety of solutions for a buyers needs.
Rob Sullivan, President and CEO of AutoGuide, said, “Joining Teradyne gives us the resources and support to both strengthen our capabilities in North America and expand our reach globally to assist customers who need safe, productive and high-payload material-handling products. Since announcing the acquisition in October, we’ve heard from many potential customers who recognize the flexibility, ease of deployment and superior ROI of our AMRs compared with other options and are eager to engage with AutoGuide to learn more.”
The Bottom Line
We expect that Teradyne isn’t done with its acquisition march. They have demonstrated the ability to acquire relevant and growing businesses, all of which share common market segments. In the world of manufacturing/automation sales, arming your sales team with a deep line card is a great way to optimize your channel strategy, and with this acquisition, Teradyne once again demostrates their prowess in closing important deals.
