Swisslog, Newport News, Va., acquired Power Automation Systems (PAS), a leader in pallet shuttle automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS).
 
“The acquisition of PAS allows Swisslog to expand our product portfolio and offerings with focus to the North American and APAC markets,” says Christian Baur, chief executive officer of Swisslog. “As the leader in logistics automation, our goal was to offer our clients a new dimension of speed and storage density for pallet warehouses that handle a confined number of SKUs with high volume, not only in the Greenfield, but also for existing buildings.”

PAS and Swisslog customers will remain top priority throughout the acquisition and leadership change.

“The combination of Swisslog and PAS will deliver benefits to our customers greater than the sum of our parts,” says Markus Schmidt, senior vice president, Swisslog. “Furthermore, Swisslog offers its world-class service with our customer support team consisting of 24/7 help desk, remote system monitoring, on-site support, spare parts and system retrofit expansions and modernizations, which will be of great benefit to PAS’s existing customers.”

Headquartered in Lathrop, Calif., the PAS office will immediately serve as the Swisslog Americas West Coast location. In addition, the acquisition is designed to further develop and expand Swisslog’s reach in North America, South America, Asia and Australia toward end of production line AS/RS applications for fast moving goods.

“Swisslog and PAS have partnered in the past to provide top-notch automation solutions for clients such as Coca-Cola and Sutter Home (Trinchero Family Estates). I am proud that we have attracted Swisslog, a company with a great reputation and global size, so that the PAS solutions can grow to their full potential and expand on the leadership we’ve created,” says Pat Mitchell, inventor, founder and previous owner of PAS.

Michael Felbinger was appointed as general manager of the PAS business, tasked with ensuring seamless integration into Swisslog.