Aspen Technology Inc. shares fell 52percentt yesterday after the company, a maker of automation software for oil and chemical companies, said it had a fiscal fourth-quarter loss.
Mr. Lachman, the chairman of Schneider Electric, a maker of automation devices and switches, is viewed as a power broker with close ties to President Jacques Chirac -- something Mr. Messier famously did not have.
He developed the original commercial robot, the programmable universal machine for assembly, known as PUMA, and was a founder of Automatix, a maker of robotic automation and artificial-vision systems that was in Billerica, Mass.
TAKEMITSU TAKIZAKI Japan $1.5 billion u Age: 54 Takizaki's Keyence, a maker of factory automation equipment, is forecasting a 31% gain in group net profit next year to about $150 million.
Keyence Corporation, a Japanese maker of automation devices for factories, requires its salespeople to spend hours watching its customers' production lines.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company, a private equity firm, and Wendel Investissement, a French conglomerate, said they had entered into exclusive negotiations to buy Legrand for 3.7 billion euros ($3.6 billion) from Schneider Electric, a French maker of automation and control devices.
CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS INC., San Jose, Calif., a maker of electronic design automation products, said it would acquire privately held rival Verplex Systems Inc., Milpitas, Calif.
4.2.1 Market Needs The market, whether it is a maker of telecommunication switches, industrial automation equipment, or a VAR with a time and money-saving idea for a specific industry, wants to concentrate on its special product and bring it to the market place as soon as possible--hopefully ahead of the competition.
ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL CORP., Milwaukee, which makes electronic controls and communications products for industrial automation, avionics and communications, agreed with OmronCorp, Tokyo, a maker of control equipment, on an alliance in the factory automation business.
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO., Fairfield, Conn., which last year began selling security equipment, said it had acquired Monitoring Automation Systems, Irvine, Calif., a maker of software used to run surveillance and monitoring systems for businesses.
His father does research on electronic design automation at Cadence Design Systems in San Jose, Calif., a maker of software used to design computer chips.
