Scott Systems International

SCOTT was established in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1913 as engineering company J & A P Scott. The company was listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in 1997, through distribution in the form of shares in SCOTT (in specie distribution) from the diversified company, Donaghy's Limited. SCOTT was solely focused on the appliance industry at that stage, primarily selling to North America.

The slowdown in the American economy in 2001 was the catalyst for SCOTT to diversify. This diversification was two-fold: firstly SCOTT diversified geographically and entered the Asian and European markets for appliance manufacturing systems; and secondly, we began diversification into other niche market areas.

During the global financial crisis of 2009, we continued to invest heavily in research and development in all areas of the business. We are now realising the benefit of this investment, with growth and opportunities in all current markets we serve.

In addition, SCOTT has diversified and grown its business by way of acquisitions:

ROCKLABS, an Auckland-based manufacturer of mechanised and automated sample preparation equipment and suppliers of gold reference materials to the mining industry. ROCKLABS was acquired in July 2008.

Reference Materials, a key supplier of reference materials to the ROCKLABS business, was acquired in November 2010.

HTS-110 Ltd, a designer and manufacturer of powerful electromagnets and other associated high-temperature superconductor technology, was acquired in March 2011.

75% of a Chinese manufacturing facility was acquired in September 2011, enabling us to take advantage of opportunities within the Chinese and wider Asian markets.

RobotWorx, based in Marion, Ohio, USA, specialising in the trade and integration of new and used robots, parts and robotic systems was acquired in May 2014, enabling SCOTT to significantly grow its presence in its key North American market.

Acquisitions of Melbourne-based Applied Sorting Technologies in June 2014, a manufacturer of x-ray food inspection equipment, and Sydney-based Machinery Automation and Robotics in January 2015, with its complementary products in the mining, meat processing and robotics industries, has also provided critical mass in SCOTT's other key geographical market of Australia.

In 2016 SCOTT acquired a German business that operates in the Appliance manufacturing industry sector, providing a stronger presence to deliver and grow SCOTT's European customer base.

In late 2016 SCOTT purchased the business assets of BladeStop Pty Limited. BladeStop is bandsaw safety technology used in the meat processing industry and sits alongside SCOTT's expanding suite of meat processing applications which focus on improving safety, efficiency, and yield. BladeStop is uniquely designed to reduce the risks of serious injury by mechanically stopping the bandsaw blade when the unit senses that a person has come in contact with the blade.

Mid 2017 Scott purchased DC Ross, a local Dunedin business that are world leaders in fine blanking technology.

The start of 2018 saw the acquisition of the Alvey Group, Headquartered in Belgium with operations in France, Czech Republic and the UK. This significant addition to the Scott Group brings with it a high caliber workforce of over 250, and expertise that greatly add to Scott's existing product range and software capabilities.

The purchase of Alvey was closely followed by the acquisition of Transbotics, a U.S based AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) manufacturer. This most recent addition to the Scott Group completes our goal of building a complete end-to-end offering for the overall production process from raw material receipt to final distribution. The recent acquisition of Alvey was the first step toward this goal, however an AGV business such as Transbotics was also needed to complement these back end logistic capabilities.

In 2013 SCOTT Technology Limited celebrated 100 years in New Zealand and commissioned the well-known Dunedin historian Jim Sullivan to document and write the book “Scott Technology - 100 Years of Engineering”.

For a company to still be in business on its 100th birthday is a reflection of the hard work undertaken from generations of SCOTT staff working together for a common goal.

Some brief stories from the book, which is available for purchase from SCOTT, are shared below.