Apleona acquires stake in predictive, AI-based maintenance solutions business

Apleona, a leading European integrated FM company based in Neu-Isenburg near Frankfurt (Main), has acquired a stake in Eastway, an Irish firm specialising in data-driven, predictive maintenance and AI-based monitoring of assets in building operations active in the US and Europe.

The closing took place on 2nd October 2023.

Headquartered in Limerick, Ireland, Eastway is a global reliability partner, founded in 2001. The technology specialist advises customers on condition-based and predictive maintenance solutions for critical assets such as HVAC units, compressors, chillers or pumps. These solutions combine 24/7 sensor-based online monitoring and expert advice with building services engineers and specialists. Its recommendations and decisions are supported by collected data from machine learning diagnostics. The solutions are OEM (original equipment manufacturer) independent.

The benefits to customers include avoiding unplanned downtime, particularly in critical environments, and reducing the cost of emergency repairs with more strategic and cost-effective replacement of assets. Customer industries include global players in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, food and beverage, and other industries where assets and their availability are critical. Eastway serves customers throughout Europe and the US.

Eastway now has a database of tens of millions of data samples and hundreds of verified real machine faults, which is constantly being expanded and refined. The company uses a proprietary monitoring platform to collect, transfer, organise and structure data from a wide range of sensors. The technologies and software used by Eastway is designed to be flexible, so that they can be adapted to different customer needs at any time and are scalable across sites or plants. This is an important requirement for the development of Apleona’s major customers, whose sites across Europe are served with uniform quality standards and integrated facility management solutions.

Dr Jochen Keysberg, CEO of Apleona, commented: “With this strategic investment, we are already addressing the future with a strong increase in customer demand for predictive, data-driven maintenance solutions and decisions, which will have a significant impact on the planning and CapEx of large portfolios. Additionally, this will increase the reliability of building technology systems. Overall, we are strengthening our market position as a technology-driven facility manager and opening up further growth opportunities with large existing and new customers that we serve with integrated FM contracts. Key success factors for the use of such AI-driven digital solutions in facility management are their scalability and outcome-based contracts. The partnership between Eastway and Apleona meets these requirements in an ideal way.”

Bernard Berkery, CEO and founder of Eastway, said: “Partnering with a market-leading FM company such as Apleona gives us access to markets and a broad and international customer base that offers Eastway very significant development and growth opportunities. The diversity and size of Apleona’s industrial customers, who operate in critical environments and require high reliability of their assets, as well as Apleona’s high level of professionalism and affinity with technology, convinced us that we had found the right partner for a successful future. A partnership between Eastway and Apleona means we can focus on continuing to be the best reliability partner in the global market, with the support of a very experienced and successful corporate team. We are pleased and proud to be an important element in the further development of Apleona.”