What project Automation & Consulting GmbH does

project Automation & Consulting GmbH is a German engineering and consulting firm (GmbH) established in October 2021 as a spin-off within the project Unternehmensgruppe, a group with over 30 years of operating history. The company is headquartered in Kranenburg, Nordrhein-Westfalen, and operates from a single office co-located 'Haus an Haus' with its sister company project Service & Produktion GmbH, which provides machine construction and production capacity. It employs approximately 20 people across engineering, design, and management functions under Managing Directors Ingo Rathmann and Jan Hanenkamp.

The company delivers automation engineering services across the full project lifecycle: planning and consulting (layout, safety concepts, feasibility studies, Lastenhefte), mechanical engineering (machine and detail construction), electrical engineering (circuit diagrams), software/programming (PLC/SPS, robots, microcontrollers, HMI visualization), on-site commissioning, and documentation including CE declarations. Beyond services, it has developed two proprietary engineered-product families: custom multifunctional gripper systems (including the PROGRAB-M100 and Jalousie gripping head with integrated suction grippers for beverage, food, and building-materials palletizing), and an AGV/7-axis cobot solution pairing a 1,500 kg-capacity AGV with a Kassow Robots KR1018 cobot for automated restocking of cabling machines.

The business model is project-based professional services with bespoke, quote-based pricing and no disclosed recurring or subscription component. Go-to-market is sales-led with enterprise field sales engagement, supplemented by a company website, newsletter, trade publication coverage (Getränke Industrie), and a LinkedIn presence. The company serves enterprise manufacturers across beverage/food (e.g., Refresco), textile (Saurer Technologies, with 60+ US-site deployments described as the largest order in company history), and building materials (wood, steel, paper). Customer concentration is high due to the small number of named logos and the disproportionate size of the Saurer contract relative to the rest of the book. Geographic footprint is primarily Germany with disclosed cross-border activity into the United States.

Name

project Automation & Consulting GmbH

Legal name

project Automation & Consulting GmbH

Website

https://project-ac.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

project Automation & Consulting GmbH is a German engineering consultancy delivering automation solutions—including custom gripper systems, AGV/cobot integrations, and full mechanical/electrical engineering services—to enterprise manufacturers in the beverage, textile, and building materials industries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial Automation Engineering Services

NAICS

Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (541690)

SIC

Services-Engineering Services (8711)

akta.pro primary industry

Instrumentation, Controls & Automation Engineering Consulting (BPAHAIAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Control System Integration & Engineering Services (Design, Commissioning, Retrofits) (IMAGABAK), Industrial Automation Software (SCADA, HMI, MES, Historian) (IMAHAHAJ), Industrial & Process Engineering Consulting (BPAHAIAF)

Keywords

• Industrial automation engineering
• PLC programming services
• Custom gripper systems
• AGV cobot integration
• Robotics consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Kranenburg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Engineering and Consulting Services: Professional services revenue from engineering consulting, mechanical and electrical engineering, programming, and commissioning for automation projects. Services include planning, layout creation, safety concepts, feasibility studies, new system design, replacement technologies, productivity analyses, documentation, and CE declarations.
2. Project-Based Engineering: Project-based engineering services where customers outsource automation projects to the engineering bureau. Services include detailed construction, electrical design, software creation for PLC, robots, microcontrollers, and HMI visualization.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

project Automation & Consulting GmbH is an engineering bureau offering industrial automation consulting and engineering services, covering planning, mechanical and electrical engineering, software/programming (PLC/SPS, robots, microcontrollers, HMI), and on-site commissioning. The firm designs custom gripper systems and integrated AGV/cobot solutions for industrial customers in beverage, food, building materials, and textile industries, leveraging its sister company project Service & Produktion GmbH for practical machine construction know-how.

Product overview

project Automation & Consulting GmbH is an engineering and consulting firm offering a comprehensive portfolio of automation solutions and services. The core offerings include custom gripper systems (such as the Jalousie gripping head and PROGRAB-M100), and the AGV/Cobot solution developed in partnership with Saurer Technologies for the textile industry. Services span the entire engineering lifecycle: automation consulting and plant concepts, mechanical and electrical engineering, software/programming (PLC, robots, microcontrollers, HMI), and documentation including CE declarations. The company also leverages the manufacturing capabilities of its sister company project Service & Produktion GmbH for implementation, providing customers with both engineering expertise and production capacity.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• AGV/Cobot Solution (KR1018) A combined autonomous guided vehicle (AGV) with 1,500 kg load capacity and a 7-axis Kassow Robots KR1018 cobot (18 kg payload) mounted on a linear axis, designed for automated restocking of cabling machines with yarn packages at varying heights. Developed in collaboration with Saurer Technologies.
• Custom Gripper Systems (Jalousie Gripping Head) Customized gripping solutions including the Jalousie gripping head with integrated suction grippers for intermediate layer handling, and combined multi-gripper heads (clamping, suction, grip) tailored to specific automation applications such as beverage six-pack palletizing and bag palletizing in building materials.
• Mechanical Engineering Services Machine construction and detail construction engineering services covering mechanical design, new plant design, replacement of existing technologies, and productivity analyses for industrial automation customers.
• Electrical Engineering Services Electrical construction and circuit diagram creation services as part of the comprehensive automation engineering offering.
• Software/Programming Services Programming services including PLC (SPS), robot programming, microcontroller software, and visualization/HMI system development for industrial automation systems.
• Automation Consulting & Planning Automation consulting services including plant concepts, layout creation, safety concepts, specification documents (Lastenhefte), feasibility studies, and methodology & engineering consulting for industrial customers.
• Documentation Services Plant documentation and creation of CE declarations for automation systems, including documentation for retrofit solutions on existing plants.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 60 AGV/Cobot applications deployed for US textile manufacturing locations
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and supporting.

• Saurer Technologies GmbH & Co. KGflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2022Collaborative development of AGV/Cobot solution for automated restocking of cabling machines in the textile industry. This partnership produced the largest order in company history, with over 60 applications deployed for US locations. The solution integrates a Kassow Robots KR1018 7-axis cobot on a custom AGV with 1500kg capacity.
• project Service & Produktion GmbHcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2021Sister company within the project group operating 'Haus an Haus' (side by side) with project Automation & Consulting. Provides machine construction and production capabilities that complement the engineering services, allowing the company to consider practical implementation aspects in early project stages. Customers benefit from the enormous manufacturing depth and machine construction know-how of the sister company.
• Kassow RobotssupportingTechnology or IntegrationTechnology provider for the KR1018 7-axis cobot used in the AGV/Cobot solution developed with Saurer Technologies. The cobot's 7-axis movement capability, including elbow-like motion, enabled the solution that would not have been possible with conventional 6-axis robots.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Festo: Festo is a global German leader in pneumatic and electric automation technology, including grippers, motion control, and automation engineering services. It is a broad incumbent that overlaps heavily with project A&C's automation engineering and gripper system offerings, but serves a much wider portfolio and customer base.
• Krones AG: Krones is a global German leader in beverage and food packaging/palletizing automation. It is a broad incumbent across the same beverage-manufacturing customer base that project A&C serves (e.g., Refresco), offering integrated production lines rather than bespoke engineering services.
• Stäubli Robotics: Stäubli is a Swiss/German manufacturer of industrial robots, cobots, and automation solutions. It is a broad incumbent in the robotics space adjacent to project A&C's PLC/robot programming and cobot integration services, including AGV and collaborative robotics applications.
• Sidel: Sidel is a global provider of packaging machinery and automation solutions for beverage, food, and home/personal care. It is a broad incumbent serving the same beverage/consumer goods customer base as project A&C, but delivering complete production lines rather than custom engineering services.
• KUKA: KUKA is a major German industrial robotics and automation systems integrator. It is a broad incumbent providing the type of robot programming, system integration, and automation engineering services that project A&C delivers, but at global scale with its own robot product line.
• ABB Robotics & Discrete Automation: ABB is a global industrial automation incumbent offering robotics, machine automation, and system integration services. It competes with project A&C for large industrial automation projects, including AGV/cobot deployments, but offers a much broader product portfolio.
• Weber Maschinenbau: Weber Maschinenbau is a German specialist in slicing and food processing automation. It is a broad incumbent in the food industry automation market that project A&C serves, offering integrated processing lines rather than custom engineering services.

Direct peers

• Piab Group: Piab is a Swedish industrial automation specialist focused on vacuum-based gripping and material handling. It is a direct peer in the gripper/handling technology space where project A&C operates, including suction-based gripper integration for palletizing and packaging.
• Schunk: Schunk is a German specialist in gripping systems and clamping technology, including standard and customized grippers. It is a direct peer in the gripper/system business where project A&C delivers custom solutions (e.g., Jalousie gripping head), but Schunk operates at much larger scale as a product manufacturer.
• Schmalz: Schmalz is a German specialist in vacuum automation, gripper systems, and ergonomic handling solutions. It is a direct peer in the gripper/handling technology category where project A&C designs custom solutions, competing for similar industrial automation projects.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/project-automation-consulting-gmbh

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about project Automation & Consulting GmbH