Rolls-Royce has acquired Servowatch Systems, a UK-based international supplier of integrated marine automation solutions for navies, commercial vessels and large yachts. Representatives of Rolls-Royce’s Power Systems business unit and the company’s previous owner, the Indian engineering, procurement and construction projects, manufacturing, defence and services group Larsen & Toubro, signed the contracts on 2 December.

Servowatch, based in Heybridge, Essex, will significantly expand the ship automation division of the MTU product and solution brand of Rolls-Royce’s Power Systems business. “Servowatch’s modern and sophisticated range of automation and integrated bridge systems for government and commercial ships and large yachts is the ideal complement to continue to offer sophisticated total system solutions for marine propulsion systems and the entire ship automation sector,” said Andreas Schell, CEO Rolls-Royce Power Systems. “Building on a state of the art automation platform and connecting it with our MTU SmartBridge and Digital Solutions we consequently follow our system strategy and being able to provide a fully integrated bridge-to-propeller-solution for our customers,” Schell added.

The new subsidary’s open automation systems will be fully integrated into MTU’s product range. “With our Bluevision and Callosum systems, we have positioned ourselves excellently in the market for ship automation over the past two and a half decades. We are the only engine manufacturer in the world that can also supply the electronic platform for monitoring and controlling the entire ship. With Servowatch, we will continue to expand this position and modernize our product portfolio,” said Knut Müller, Vice President of the Marine and Governmental Division of Rolls-Royce’s Power Systems business unit.

Servowatch employs approximately 35 people at its headquarters in Heybridge, with additional 11 people in India. Servowatch automation systems monitor and control the operation of numerous large ships, for example large yachts and government vessels – not only the propulsion system, but also numerous other functions such as heating and ventilation and power supply.

“Servowatch is completely complementary to what we do in marine automation,” Kevin Daffey Director Marine Systems & Automation at Rolls-Royces’ Power Systems business unit said. “Our new family member is focussed on ships generally powered by high speed diesel engines and an integrated system based around their world class Winmon9 software. The integration with MTU products will help us add more lifecycle services through on-board data collection and edge analytics to inform the ship’s crew about vessel performance“, he added.

Wayne Ross, Managing Director Servowatch Systems says: “The team at Servowatch are very pleased and proud to be joining Rolls-Royce Power Systems and see very positively the synergy of products, also the focus on innovation and customer service, that is the recognised hallmark of Rolls-Royce globally. We look forward to contributing our efforts and products to the group, also to our further development as a business unit, under Rolls-Royce ownership”.