Falfurrias merges IDS and RED Group into new industrial automation platform
What's the deal? Falfurrias Management Partners is combining control systems integrator Industrial Design Solutions (IDS) and operational technology engineering firm RED GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → into a new industrial automation platform. Carl Fangue, currently chief executive officer of RED Group, will lead the combined business. Financial terms were not disclosed.
What's the endgame? The platform pairs IDS's expertise in distributed control system (DCS) and programmable logic controller (PLC) upgrades with RED's broader operational technology (OT) and industrial control systems (ICS) engineering. It will serve customers in data centres, utilities, power generation, water, energy, maritime, chemicals, and manufacturing, spanning design, programming, fabrication, and field services.
Why now? Falfurrias says demand is accelerating on data centre construction, manufacturing reshoring, industrial AI adoption, and a growing shortage of skilled technical labour.
"Industrial automation demand is accelerating as data center buildouts and an aging workforce push owners toward integrators who can execute quickly and at a high standard," said Jubal Early, vice president at Falfurrias.
What's the context? The deal marks Falfurrias Capital PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →' first investment in its industrial automation thesis since backing E Technologies GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → in 2018. With E Tech, the firm pursued a buy-and-build strategy, adding businesses such as Glenmount Global SolutionsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Superior Controls, and continued expanding into areas like automation and cybersecurity.
Early and partner Chip Johnson will join the platform's board alongside Falfurrias partner Ken Walker, former Verve Industrial CEO John Livingston, former Control System Integrators Association president Jose Rivera, and RED Group founder Kyle Remont.
The signal: The combination revives a familiar playbook — consolidating fragmented systems integrators into a single platform with the engineering reach to win larger programmes. With no deal value disclosed, its immediate significance is strategic rather than demonstrably transformative, a bet on industrial AI and data centre buildouts driving a long wave of modernisation work.
Read more: industrialaitechnology.com
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