Keywords
Citation
(2004), "Major changes at Adept technology", Industrial Robot, Vol. 31 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2004.04931eab.002
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Major changes at Adept technology
Major changes at Adept technology
Keywords: Adept, Microelectronics, Robots
The end of 2003 and beginning of 2004 saw a new team taking over management of Adept Technology, the leading US-owned robot maker. The recession of the past several years took a heavy financial toll on Adept and has required the infusion of substantial new money into the treasury.
An investment team led by special situations funds has invested about 10 million USD in the firm. As a part of the changes, founders, Brian Carlisle, President, and Bruce Shimano, Vice- President of Research and Development and Secretary, have resigned.
In addition, several other key managers have left including Joe Campbell, VP of Marketing and Charlie Duncheon, Executive VP.
Carlisle and Shimano cofounded Adept Technology in 1983 after functioning as innovators in robot technology at Unimation, the company founded by the robot “Thomas Edison”, Joe Engelberger. Some of the innovations from Carlisle and Shimano include the VAL and VAL+ programming languages, the first direct drive SCARA robot and the use of VME bus/modules in industrial control.
Appointed as the new CEO and chairman of the board at Adept is Robert Bucher, who was most recently president and chief executive officer of Norsat International Inc. and earlier to that in various executive positions at Measurex Corporation, a global market leader and innovator in process optimization.
Bucher has outlined his strategy for returning Adept to profitability as one of returning to core competencies, such as the SCARA robots and semiconductor assembly cells and support for customers of more than 20,000 industrial robots sold since 1983. The company is also closing its facility in Orange County California and consolidating activities in Livermore. In recent years, Adept had diversified through internal developments and acquisitions into industrial vision systems, motion control systems, simulation software and modular automated assembly cells.
Not idle for long, Brian Carlisle and Bruce Shimano have established a new venture known as Precise Automation which is focused on integrated microelectronics-based motion and vision capabilities for factory automation requirements. Charlie Duncheon is providing marketing consulting to a buyout group of managers that acquired the former Chad Industries unit of Adept Technology. Chad Industries is a producer of electronics assembly equipment.