Accenture has agreed to acquire German engineering consultancy and services firm umlaut. The acquisition should boost Accenture’s deep engineering capabilities to help companies use digital technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence and cloud to transform how they design, engineer and manufacture their products, and embed sustainability.
Headquartered in Aachen, Germany, umlaut will bring to Accenture’s Industry X services more than 4,200 engineers and consultants across a range of industries in 17 countries.
Industry X combines Accenture’s data and digital capabilities with deep engineering expertise to offer clients a suite of services for digitising their engineering functions, factory floors and plant operations. These services help clients to improve productivity, speedup the transformation of hardware into software-enabled products, and allow for faster and more flexible product development.
“We predicted that digital would ultimately be applied at scale to the core of a company’s business – the design, engineering and manufacturing of their products. COVID-19 has accelerated the need for companies to transform these core operations, and umlaut’s leading and highly-specialised engineering services will enhance our ability to meet the accelerating demand and also continue innovating for our clients,” said Julie Sweet, Chief Executive Officer of Accenture.
Digital technologies can help mitigate disruptions by enabling a fast switch to operate factories remotely or providing near real-time insights about changing market demands. Companies are also increasingly expected to operate more responsibly and contribute to a circular economy through the development of more sustainable products.
“Business leaders across many industries who face the convergence of the digital and the product world are looking for a trusted partner that understands their language and can really help navigate each step of the journey to bring tangible outcomes in engineering and manufacturing. “We are excited to bring our unique engineering and consulting culture, deep industry know-how and subject matter expertise to Accenture Industry X and jointly create the capabilities and scale to help clients successfully transform,” said Marc Peter Althoff, Chief Technology Officer of umlaut.
Entelechy Asia 