IPEC Ltd, a
Manchester University spin-out founded by Dr Colin Smith, has entered into an agreement to be acquired by
ABB, a global leader in electrification and automation. Supported by
DJH Manchester, the Stockport-based company supplies advanced 24/7 partial discharge monitoring systems, which safeguard critical industries from severe equipment failures.
The business will become part of ABB’s global Electrification Service organisation and through smarter, more predictive maintenance solutions, will help customers in industries such as power distribution networks, renewable energy, and data centres run at peek performance, while becoming more efficient, productive and sustainable.
Dr Colin Smith, IPEC’s managing director, said: “The backing of ABB means we will not only be able to expand our solutions to wider industries and markets, but we will also benefit from an increased capacity to develop our technology. We have spent decades refining how partial discharge data can be translated into meaningful diagnostics through advanced algorithms and, more recently, artificial intelligence and machine learning. Our monitoring technology will complement ABB’s predictive maintenance service portfolio that is working to cut downtime by up to 90% and costs by 85%.”
IPEC employs over 70 staff across its headquarters in Stockport as well as operations in Europe, the Middle East and the USA. The company has expanded from its domestic utility base clients to serve customers globally, with its innovative partial discharge testing and monitoring products helping to protect heavy industry, technology businesses and major infrastructure projects.
Invaluable expertise and experienceDr Smith added: “Natasha and the excellent DJH team have worked tirelessly to support a structured and ambitious route to sale. They have understood and shared IPEC’s core values and its expertise and experience have been invaluable.”
DJH’s Natasha Millward said: “We are delighted to have supported Colin and the team at IPEC. It has been such an exciting period for the business over the last 18 months and their passion and dedication to what they do is truly inspiring. We are really looking forward to seeing the next phase of the journey as they become part of the ABB Team.”.
Stuart Thompson, president of ABB Electrification Service, concluded: “Across critical industries, the cost of downtime is staggering, from multi-million-dollar revenue losses in data centres to the safety and reliability risks facing utilities and hospitals. By turning complex monitoring data into clear, actionable insights, we are enabling businesses to shift from reactive repairs to predictive maintenance, so they can focus on performance while their critical infrastructure runs leaner, cleaner, and smarter.”