German conglomerate Rheinmetall has reorganised its electronics sector. Its subsidiary Hirschmann Electronics has taken full control of PAT GmbH. PAT, a leading manufacturer of crane operator assistance devices, was previously a sister company to Hirschmann.
Within the Hirschmann Group, PAT will be run as the Electronic Control Systems product group.
Branding remains unchanged and Laurie Burns continues to chair the PAT management board.
Rheinmetall said that “potential synergies between PAT’s mobile plant electronics business and Hirschmann’s automation & network solutions product group” justified the reorganisation.
Reinhard Sitzmann, management board chairman of Hirschmann Electronics, said: “In the market for load indication and load moment limitation devices, PAT commands a position of world leadership. This is a business we intend to develop further while harnessing synergies in sourcing, sales and technologies shared by Hirschmann and PAT.” Within the PAT Group itself, Krüger Systemtechnik is no longer a stand-alone company but has been merged into PAT and is now being run as the Krüger Retrofit division in charge of all PAT’s retrofit activities.
In fiscal 2002, PAT’s 280 employees generated sales of around Euro 46 million while during the same period the Hirschmann Group (excluding PAT) achieved with its 2,370 employees sales of Euro 306 million.