The Mapex solutions will be integrated into the Proalpha Digital Shopfloor and ERP systems, but will remain available as a standalone MES offering - optimized for use with third-party systems. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

Mapex: AI-based MES for complex manufacturing processes

Founded in 1999, Mapex employs around 100 people and supports more than 50,000 users worldwide. Headquartered in Barcelona, the company offers a modular, scalable complete MES solution for controlling complex production processes. Mapex solutions are in use at more than 500 production sites worldwide. Customers come from the automotive, aerospace, plastics, packaging, metal processing and food and beverage industries, including Maier, SMR (Motherson) and Camprofrío (Sigma Foods).

The Mapex MES platform covers central production processes in real time:

• Production control and planning
• quality control
• Traceability
• Maintenance management (CMMS)

This is based on automated real-time data from machines and workstations, which enables the calculation of important KPIs:

• Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
• Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)
• Mean Time To Repair (MTTR)
• Actual operating costs including material, energy consumption, labor and defective products

The system is supplemented by the AI assistant "Maik", who acts as a smart factory co-pilot and business analyst, identifying problems, interpreting data and providing recommendations for action to optimize productivity. "Maik" also takes on tasks as:

• Quality & Safety Checker: Monitoring label consistency and PPE usage via image recognition
• Smart Maintenance Assistant Bot: Simplification of maintenance information and document access

According to the company, the solution can be seamlessly integrated into ERP systems to synchronize management and production operations and accelerate digital transformation.

Strategic advantages of the takeover

"With its AI-supported MES platform, which has been developed for other key sectors such as the food, beverage and chemical industries in addition to discrete manufacturing, Mapex is an excellent fit for our quality and energy management solutions in the Digital Shopfloor division," explains Christoph Kull, President Business Applications at Proalpha. "The acquisition also gives us direct access to the Spanish market for the first time and therefore to one of the largest economies in the European Union. This gives us the opportunity to sustainably address this promising market with our broad portfolio of solutions along the SME value chain."

David J. Jacq, CEO of Mapex, adds: "Proalpha is ideally positioned in the German-speaking region. This was a key argument for us, which is why we see this acquisition as the right and important next step for the successful further development of our solutions. Until now, our efforts to expand into markets outside our Spanish home market have been difficult to realize due to a limited distribution network. We expect great synergies here in the future."

"With Mapex, we have acquired one of the leading companies on the Spanish market for modern and highly flexible MES systems," says Eric Verniaut, CEO of the Proalpha Group. "For our ERP customers, this means even more potential to successfully drive forward their digitalization on the store floor. The acquisition of the market leader also underlines that we are remaining true to our proven best-of-breed strategy in the course of our internationalization."

The acquisition of Mapex strengthens Proalpha in the areas of digital shopfloor, AI-supported production optimization and international expansion. In future, medium-sized companies will benefit from an integrated MES and ERP platform that networks production, quality and maintenance in real time.