Integrated servos and motor-drivertechnology pioneer Animatics has announcedthat it has been acquired by Moog Inc., a leadingmotion control company with a market capitalization of over $1.8 billion."This is a historic and powerful next step in the evolution of Animatics,"says Doug Parentice, president of Animatics.

Animatics'integrated servos or SmartMotors, linear actuators and control electronics areused in a variety of industrial, medical and defense applications includingfactory automation, flight simulation and camera and weapons stabilization.Animatics' products solve a broad array of challenging problems, particularly whenmulti-axis coordination is essential.

"Theacquisition of Animatics brings several very strong products to our motiontechnology portfolio, as well as a sophisticated distribution network that reacheshundreds of customers world-wide," says Larry Ball, president of MoogComponents Group.

For more than adecade, Moog has supplied the core motor components to Animatics for their mostpopular SmartMotor product lines. "We had an advantage when it came tounderstanding the importance of this technology," adds Ball, "Wecould see the success first-hand by the growth of our own sales to Animaticsand how they were dramatically outpacing the growth of the industryitself."

Animatics, withoffices in California, New York, Germany and Tokyo, did correctly anticipatethe direction of the industry when it developed the technology and drafted thepatents detailing the inclusion of microprocessors, power supplies and powertransistors directly into the motors themselves.

"SmartMotorssimply make machine design fun," says inventor and co-founder RobertBigler, "Machine designers no longer have to waste time and money layingout cabinets full of wires and controls. They can just focus on the fundamentalmachine elements, sprinkle some SmartMotors throughout and network themtogether. An array of SmartMotors makes one simple system capable ofcontrolling not just the motion, but the whole machine."

Bigler claims thatmachines developed with SmartMotors are reported to get to market faster,perform more reliably and prove easier to service.

"What makesthis deal so exciting is that Moog has a history of building up the companiesit takes in," says Bigler, "adding resources to build long-term shareholdervalue instead of stripping them down for the short-term appearance of financialgain."

A press statement saysMoog is planning no changes to the Animatics organization except to expand uponits existing technologies, facilities and channels to market.

"Animatics isnot a company that needs fixing," says Ball, "They also happen to bean outstanding financial performer, turning a profit even during the downturnand expertly financing their outstanding growth with only internally-generatedcash. It will be fascinating to see what they will accomplish now, with somereal power and additional Moog technology behind them."