Accenture has acquired Germany-headquartered international engineering technology services firm umlaut, to further widen its Accenture Industry X offering.
Aachen-based umlaut will “significantly scale” Accenture’s engineering capabilities to help companies use cloud, artificial intelligence and 5G to transform how they design, engineer and manufacture their products, as well as embed sustainability, said Accenture.
The acquisition of umlaut will add more than 4,200 engineers and consultants across 17 countries to Accenture’s Industry X unit, and expand the company’s capabilities across a range of industries, including the automotive, aerospace and defence, telecoms and energy and utilities sectors.
Accenture has now made 22 acquisitions since 2017 to build up its Industry X capabilities. The value of the latest deal has not been disclosed.
Accenture's rivals have also been picking up technology services firms in the engineering field. Capgemini acquired Altran for €3.6bn, Cognizant captured Munich-based digital automotive engineering R&D provider ESG Mobility and Mindtree picked up IoT and Industry 4.0 specialist NxT Digital Business.
Julie Sweet, chief executive officer of Accenture, said: “Covid-19 has accelerated the need for companies to transform core operations, and umlaut’s leading and highly-specialised engineering services will enhance our ability to meet accelerating demand and continue innovating for our clients.”
Umlaut’s capabilities span traditional and digital engineering services; testing and validation of smart connected products; strategy, process and organisational consulting; and hardware product development as well as software development.
“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,” said Marc Peter Althoff, chief technology officer at umlaut.
“We are bringing our unique engineering and consulting culture, deep industry know-how and subject matter expertise to Accenture Industry X, to jointly create the capabilities and scale to help clients successfully transform.”
