Top Automation Companies to Watch in 2024 and Why

ABB

ABB is one of the top industrial automation companies in 2022 to work for in the world, focusing on providing a wide variety of automation solutions. The Swiss-Swedish multinational company is headquartered in Västerås, Sweden, and Zürich, Switzerland.

ABB has 105,600 employees in over 100 countries. ABB was named one of the world’s most innovative companies in 2021 by Clarivate, a global leader in analytics.

Innovations in Industrial Automation:

• ABB Ability™ Manufacturing Operations Management – Offers end-to-end orchestration, control, and visibility of the entire manufacturing process.
• ABB Ability™ Smart Sensor – Transforms traditional bearings, motors, and pumps into smart connected devices.
• YuMi – A human-friendly, two-armed innovative robot with advanced functionalities, designed to add tremendous automation capabilities to production facilities. 

Since its launch in 1988, ABB successfully held a significant share of the global industrial automation market because of its cutting-edge R&D and breakthrough innovations. In 2020, the company reported a net profit of $5.146 billion.

Yokogawa Electric

Yokogawa Electric Corporation, a Japanese multinational, is a software and electrical engineering company operating in information technologies, industrial automation, test, control, and measurement.

Yokogawa Electric Corporation offers smart control systems, such as PLC (programmable logic controller), DCS (distributed control system), and SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition), which facilitate hassle-free automation.

Innovations in the Field of Industrial Automation:

• Synaptic business automation – Allows organizations to automate industrial processes and factory management using state-of-the-art information technology, improving efficiency, and optimizing profitability.
• OpreX - Includes a comprehensive portfolio of automation solutions, services, and control products that enable customers to transform and digitalize their businesses in an evolving technology landscape.
• CENTUM VP - A factory automation security architecture incorporating field control stations, a control network, and human-machine interfaces.

Yokogawa Electric Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo, has 17,715 employees. It has 118 companies and 84 subsidiaries operating in 61 countries.

Siemens

Siemens is the biggest industrial manufacturing organization in Europe with offices in over 100 countries. A technological pioneer, Siemens specializes in electrification, digitalization, and automation, besides having a strong presence in other industrial domains, including infrastructure, healthcare, energy, and manufacturing.

Siemens links its in-depth automation knowledge to emerging technologies, such as AI (Artificial Intelligence), ML (Machine Learning), and IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things), which facilitate cloud-based systems, autonomous automation, and smart behavior of manufacturing infrastructures.

Innovations in the Field of Industrial Automation:

• SIMATIC PCS 7 V 9.0 – With PROFINET-based hardware, version 9 of SIMATIC PCS 7 sets the stage for digital transformation, offering increased agility in manufacturing process automation.
  
  
• SIMATIC PCS neo – A web-based software, SIMATIC PCS neo provides device-independent, direct, and secure system access with high data consistency and intuitive usability, opening up endless possibilities for automation in this era of digitalization.

One of the top automation companies to work for in 2021, Siemens, as of 2020, had 293,000 employees, registered a net income of €4.2 billion, and garnered revenues worth €57.138 billion. Its headquarters is in Berlin. 

Honeywell

Honeywell International Inc. manufactures avionics, aircraft engines, auxiliary power units, and critical aviation products under its flagship company, Honeywell Aerospace. It is a Fortune 100 company that also operates in home and building technologies (HBT), performance materials and technologies (PMT), safety and productivity solutions (SPS). It is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina and employs 110,000 workers.

In 2019, Honeywell announced the launch of Honeywell Robotics to provide companies with automated distribution solutions that deliver increased throughput, speed, and accuracy in large material handling facilities.

Certified by the Robotic Industries Association, Honeywell Robotics is one of the top automation companies to watch out for in 2022. As computer vision, artificial intelligence, and machine learning become mainstream, Honeywell Robotics will increasingly create breakthrough, innovative technologies to transform traditional distribution centers and warehouses into smart infrastructures.

Mitsubishi Electric

Mitsubishi Electric, a core company of the Japanese multinational Mitsubishi Group, is a global leader in electrical and electronics manufacturing. The company is headquartered in Tokyo and has 145,650 employees. 

Japan has a rich portfolio of innovative products, including smart automation solutions, which substantially contribute to the growth of the international automation market.

Among the top automation companies in the world, Mitsubishi Electric develops industrial robots with intelligent capabilities, incorporating force sensing and three-dimensional (3D) vision. The robots, which can operate in collaborative environments, deliver best-in-class accuracy and speed in both challenging and simple applications.

Mitsubishi’s innovations include:

• Vertical-type robots – Mitsubishi Electric's RV-F, RV-CR, and RV-FR series of vertical-type robots integrate six-axis-arms to ensure increased flexibility.
• Horizontal-type robots – The RH-F and RH-FRH series of horizontal-type robots include 4-axis selective compliance assembly robot arm (SCARA) units to facilitate high-speed handling.
• Ceiling-mounted horizontal-type robots – Mitsubishi's RH-FHR and RH-FRHR series of ceiling-mounted horizontal-type robots incorporate inverted four-axis selective compliance assembly robot arm (SCARA) units to accelerate handling operations without blocking the floor space.
• Compact SCARA robots - The RH-CH series of low-cost, compact four-axis SCARA robots are designed for basic industrial applications.
• Micro working robots - Mitsubishi Electric's RP series of high-speed, compact micro-working robots, integrating a dual-arm structure, can perform a variety of micro-assembly applications with a high precision level.

Reporting a net profit of 193.1 billion yen in FY 2020, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is one of the top automation companies to work for in 2022.

Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric is known for its innovations to integrate world-leading process and energy technologies for more efficient and sustainable businesses. It features building automation and control systems products, and medium voltage distribution and grid automation products. 

Schnieder is currently highlighting its suite of EcoStruxureTM innovations:

• EcoStruxureTM Building from Schneider Electric securely connects hardware, software, and services over an Ethernet IP backbone to maximize building efficiency, optimize comfort and productivity, and increase building value.
• EcoStruxure Grid addresses grid reliability concerns for electric utilities. Its digital architecture and services bridge the gap between the supply and demand sides, providing an end-to-end software cycle (from design, build, operate to maintain) to help electricity utilities be more sustainable.
• EcoStruxure™ IT protects critical information and data. It helps ensure that data centers’ physical infrastructure can adapt quickly to support future demand and growth. It also helps protect against cyberattacks.

Schneider Electric is headquartered in Rueil-Malmaison, France and has 560 office locations in 117 countries. It employs 135,000 workers. In 2020, it had €25.2 bn in revenues and a net income of €2.1 bn.

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Conclusion

Thanks to continuous advancements in sensor technology and the developments of advanced programmable logic controllers, industrial automation keeps gaining traction, driving manufacturing processes and warehouse operations to the next level.

The world's top automation companies, to augment their capabilities and to deliver cutting-edge automation solutions, are recruiting skilled professionals certified by industry-recognized institutions such as Simplilearn.

Choose from Simplilearn's wide range of automation-oriented courses, such as the Robotics Process Automation (RPA) - Digital Transformation Course, the Automation Test Engineer Masters Program, or the Automation Anywhere Certification Training Course, to advance your career in the fast-expanding field of industrial automation.