Industrial tech company GrayMatter is at 150 employees after its latest merger

Pittsburgh-area tech and consulting firm GrayMatter is merging with HTSE Inc., a Michigan-based process automation and machine control provider, the companies announced this week.

The 30-year-old GrayMatter offers analytics and cybersecurity services to industrial companies. For its part, HTSE has provided automation tech for chemical, pharmaceutical, food, beverage and manufacturing companies since 1989.

“We’re thrilled to add the strength of HTSE to GrayMatter’s Industrial Intelligence Platform,” said James Gillespie, GrayMatter’s cofounder and CEO, in a press release. “They’re a known powerhouse in the pharmaceutical space and in manufacturing overall.”

In recent years GrayMatter has additionally acquired companies such as E-Merge Systems, another industrial automation solutions provider. While GrayMatter isn’t disclosing financial aspects of the latest deal, the goal for the Warrendale-based firm is to work with HTSE to meet the growing need for industrial intelligence solutions.

“Industrial technology is a rapidly expanding market,” Gillespie told Technical.ly via a GrayMatter spokesperson. “We pursued a strategic merger with HTSE because we’ve found that our customers, particularly large manufacturers, are looking for more help to fill talent gaps and accelerate projects that involve advanced analytics and cybersecurity for their remote assets.”

The merger will give GrayMatter a total of 150 employees, up from 110, with nearly 40 of them located in Pittsburgh. Ultimately the hope is that the companies’ combined staff and expertise will create a more efficient team that’s better able to meet the needs of manufacturers.

Expect hiring.

“GrayMatter has been growing quickly,” said Gillespie, who was also a finalist in the CEO of the Year category for the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s Tech 50 Awards last November. “We plan to continue to grow when there are opportunities to add people who have the type of unique plant floor experience that manufacturers need. That includes engineers specializing in data analytics, industrial control systems, SCADA, manufacturing execution systems, cybersecurity and other disciplines.”