NATICK, MA - Cognex Corp. announced that it has entered the web monitoring business via the acquisition of the web monitoring product line of Monitoring Technology Corporation (MTC), a manufacturer of products for monitoring industrial equipment and processes. Under the terms of the deal, which closed on October 1, 2009, Cognex purchased certain assets associated with MTC’s SmartAdvisor Web Monitoring System in a cash transaction.

A web monitoring system (WMS) consists of a network of high-speed cameras linked to a computer running specialized software that controls the acquisition, storage and synchronization of video from each of the cameras. The SmartAdvisor Web Monitoring System is complementary to Cognex’s SmartView Web Inspection System (WIS). When used together the WIS automatically identifies and classifies defects, and the WMS then provides the customer with the ability to determine the root causes of each of those defects so that they can be quickly eliminated.

“This acquisition is an excellent strategic fit with our Surface Inspection Systems Division; the combination of WMS and WIS allows us to provide a fully-integrated system to paper manufacturers and converters around the world,” says Dr. Robert J. Shillman, chairman and chief executive officer of Cognex. “We are looking forward to serving SmartAdvisor’s established customer base, which today is primarily in North America, and to quickly expanding the sales of SmartAdvisor globally through our existing worldwide sales and service organization.”

“We are very excited about this expansion of our product line,” says Tom Nash, president of Cognex’s surface inspection systems division. “By offering an integrated SmartView and SmartAdvisor system, we will be able to provide our global customers with a real-time solution that will help them to increase their production yields and lower production costs by dramatically reducing both scrap and machine downtime.”