Effective January 4, 2017 FORTE and PAS will come together to join Swisslog under a single brand name and corporate structure.
Swisslog Warehouse and Distribution Solutions Americas will continue to be headquartered in Newport News, Va., and will now have a Midwest office at the former FORTE headquarters in Mason, Ohio, and a West Coast office at the former PAS headquarters in Salida, Calif.
Swisslog acquired FORTE Industries in April, 2015 and has operated the company as a separate business unit focused on consulting, systems integration and warehouse execution software for companies primarily in the e-commerce and multi-channel retail segments.
“FORTE’s expertise in conveyor and sortation systems for case and piece picking operations has served its growing client base very well, and we have been earnestly at work planning the enhancement of the FORTE operation with Swisslog offerings since the acquisition,” said Markus Schmidt, president, Swisslog WDS Americas. “We are highly confident in our ability to go to market as one unified brand and company.”
The Swisslog Mason, Ohio, office will continue to be led by A.K. Schultz, vice president of Swisslog WDS Americas.
Similarly, Swisslog announced the acquisition of Power Automation Systems (PAS) in April, 2016 at Modex and has integrated PAS with Swisslog under the leadership of Michael Felbinger, vice president, Swisslog WDS Americas.
Employees in our Mason and Salida offices will join the more than 2,500 colleagues at Swisslog worldwide, supporting customers in 50 countries. Swisslog is part of the KUKA Group, a leading global supplier of intelligent automation solutions.