Nematron Completes Privatization, Appoints New CEO

Ann Arbor MI — Nematron Corporation has completed its return to private ownership and has initiated several plans designed to better serve its customers and improve its financial performance.

David Hicks, Managing Director of Nematron’s successful international business group for the past seven years, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer with a mandate to review and improve worldwide operations. The steady progress made in the international automation markets in recent years, particularly Asia-Pacific, places an emphasis on a more globally oriented operational structure for the Ann Arbor-based industrial automation supplier, now in its 21st year. David Hicks stated, “While I envision the US domestic market will remain our number one market in terms of revenue for the foreseeable future, we must also prepare the organization to take advantage of the exciting growth potential for our products in the international markets. This restructuring will include expanding Nematron’s International Headquarters in Europe. Nematron will also continue to build on its US operations in order to service and develop its home market.”

The announcement also signals a complete review of Nematron’s product strategy following encouraging performance with its recent entry into the PAC (Programmable Automation Controller) market. With markets showing renewed interest in PC-based control solutions, Nematron has introduced ‘the Pointe Controller Product Line’. The PTC-5800, a communications and control-intensive PAC System employing Industrial Ethernet I/O, is the first in a line of products to be co-developed at Ann Arbor, MI, and Huntsville, AL, location of Nematron’s wholly-owned subsidiary Optimation, Inc. Significant new software developments to support the PTC-5800 family are currently well advanced by way of a completely new Integrated Development Framework (IDF). The IDF development is part of a series of ongoing activities adding depth to the Nematron Open Automation Suite. The new IDF features an application-centric resource view, setting the stage for multi-node applications. This further develops some of the concepts first advanced with the Pointe Controller Framework and represents a distinct departure from the single-node focus of OpenControl. Other enhanced features include a consistent look-and-feel across all Tag database editors and enhanced validity checking and error reporting. Significant new features such as Deployable System Architecture and Online functions for network configuration offer customers tangible benefits during application development and maintenance.

In addition to reaffirming its commitment to leverage its core competencies, other strategic initiatives being announced include the decision to relocate the Ann Arbor, MI, operations and staff to a more suitable facility within the Ann Arbor area and implementing a series of plans designed to increase operating efficiencies throughout the entire organization in order to improve the company’s overall financial performance and strength.

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