MILAN, Feb. 22 (Class Editori) — The Swiss company BlueBotics — which was recently acquired by ZAPI Group, based in Reggio Emilia with firm roots in the Emilian Motor Valley — has entered into an agreement with the Thai company Planet T&S Co., specialized in factory automation, with the aim to expand the ASEAN market, in addition to the Chinese one in which ZAPI Group has been dominating for twenty years. BlueBotics will bring a substantial acceleration of solutions customized for the Asian market, particularly China, to the Group.
"Our natural ANT-enabled navigation continues to grow in popularity across Asia, so by strengthening our relationship with Planet T&S Co. we expect to continue this growth trend, thanks to its strong customer network and direct experience in AGV development," Nicola Tomatis, robotics expert who has been leading BlueBotics since 2003, explained. "I am confident that Planet T&S Co. is the right partner to help us expand the implementation of ANT across Thailand's growing ecosystem of automated vehicle manufacturers".
Planet T&S Co., which was founded in 1997 in Bangkok, has five years of experience in laser guided cargo handling vehicles, having sold about 80 of them in the country. The agreement with Planet T&S Co. is the fourth one BlueBotics signed in the past three years, preceded by distribution agreements with MacPion in Korea, Altech Co. in Japan and Tongpu Electronics (Shanghai) Co. in China.
BlueBotics, which was founded in 2001 and is based in the canton of Vaud with a turnover of around 10 million euros and 65 employees, is a global benchmark in natural navigation of automated guided vehicles and guided mobile robots and world leader in a segment including more than 3,000 ANT-guided vehicles active worldwide.
"Becoming part of ZAPI Group, with its global presence and market reach, will help us expand more around the world, allowing us to relate to new potential partners while providing more comprehensive support to our customers," Tomatis pointed out. "Our team's knowledge, values and customer focus are perfectly in line with the principles of ZAPI Group. In terms of products, our technologies are a perfect match".
"The acquisition of BlueBotics is a strategic move for ZAPI Group to further strengthen our position in the rapidly growing autonomous vehicle sector. As a supplier of components for automated guided vehicles, BlueBotics allows us to move up the value chain in vehicle navigation and fleet management, expanding the range of solutions we can offer our customers," Giannino Zanichelli, President of ZAPI Group, at the helm along with General Manager Federico Gatti, pointed out.
The complete acquisition of BlueBotics, also taking over the shares of the Forestay Capital fund, is just the latest in the exceptionally long series of "pioneer" intuitions focused on electric mobility that led Reggio Emilia entrepreneur Giannino Zanichelli to create ZAPI Group.
From its headquarters in Poviglio, today ZAPI Group controls a network of companies in the US (Garner, North Carolina), UK (Shropshire), China (Shanghai/Beijing), South Korea (Changwon), Brazil (Sao Paulo), India and Japan (Tokyo), worth over 550 million euros in turnover (400 million euros in 2020) in strong and constant increase year on year together with the number of employees, currently over 1,600 from 1,400 in 2020. The last acquisition, in 2016, brought the Canadian Delta-Q Technologies into the Group.
In China, ZAPI Group is active in Beijing with its factory of high voltage motors and generators and low voltage inverters for material handling applications, while its sales offices are based in Shanghai, which is being upgraded to coincide with its relocation to the prestigious Jing'an Temple area, the city's business hub.
ZAPI Group has been assisted by law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer with a team led by partner Luigi Verga, who has taken care of the corporate/M&A aspects of the operation, supported by Counsel Alessandro Di Giò and Associate Luca Feltrin for the antitrust/FDI aspects.
(Source:Class Editori)
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