Introduction: The Power Behind Industrial Automation
In the rapidly evolving landscape of industrial automation, system integrators serve as the essential bridge between complex technology and practical manufacturing reality. These specialized firms design, implement, and maintain automated solutions that optimize production lines, improve safety, and enable compliance across industries ranging from automotive and food and beverage to life sciences and heavy equipment. As we move through 2026, the automation integration industry has never been more critical to global manufacturing competitiveness.
The 2026 System Integrator Giants, representing 75 leading companies, collectively reported $4.67 billion in system integration revenue, marking a substantial increase of roughly 18% over the prior year. This impressive growth reflects the accelerating digital transformation sweeping through manufacturing sectors worldwide, driven by Industry 4.0 technologies, the Industrial Internet of Things, and the pressing need for cost-efficient, scalable manufacturing solutions.
The broader system integration market tells an even more compelling story. Valued at $561.17 billion in 2025, the global system integration market is projected to reach $629.3 billion in 2026 and ultimately $1,764.83 billion by 2035, reflecting a robust growth rate of over twelve percent throughout the forecast period. Within the specialized industrial automation segment, the market reached $57.93 billion in 2025 and is expected to climb to $60.28 billion in 2026, with continued expansion toward $82.9 billion by 2034.
What makes automation integrators indispensable is their unique ability to blend operational technology domain expertise with modern automation, controls, and data practices. They translate the complexities of programmable logic controllers, human-machine interfaces, supervisory control and data acquisition systems, and manufacturing execution systems into cohesive, functioning production environments that deliver measurable business value.
Top 10 Automation Integrators Leading the Industry in 2026
1. Andritz Automation
Andritz Automation stands at the pinnacle of the automation integration industry as the number one ranked system integrator for 2026. With system integration revenue of $715.7 million and gross revenue exceeding $9.2 billion, Andritz dominates the global automation landscape. The company operates as part of the broader Andritz Group, headquartered in Graz, Austria, with operations spanning the globe.
Andritz Automation functions as a full-capability controls, electrical, and power system integrator, filling roles from owner’s engineer to Simulation and Main Automation Contractor, from small improvements to turnkey projects. The company employs over two thousand automation professionals worldwide who design and commission control systems, high and low voltage electrical systems, and instrumentation.
The company’s expertise spans multiple industrial sectors, including pulp and paper, mining and minerals, metals processing, separation technology, and hydropower. Andritz specializes in developing autonomous plants and process optimization, combining automation, electrification, intelligent instrumentation, and digitalization to create measurable value throughout the full lifecycle. Their proprietary tools include the IDEAS process simulation software and Metris distributed control system, which provide advanced process control and optimization capabilities.
Andritz has demonstrated impressive innovation in applying artificial intelligence to industrial control. The company developed reinforcement learning algorithms that use process simulation as a training ground, creating AI systems capable of controlling continuous industrial processes. This technology has shown particular promise in sequential decision problems like plant startup and upset recovery, where operators must execute multiple discrete actions in a specific sequence based on current conditions.
2. RoviSys
RoviSys secured the second position in the 2026 System Integrator Giants ranking, maintaining its place in the top five since 2018. This consistent performance reflects the company’s scale, global reach, and more than thirty-five years of experience building long-term partnerships with clients across diverse industries.
Based in Aurora, Ohio, RoviSys provides comprehensive process automation, building automation, discrete manufacturing automation, and digital transformation solutions. Organizations of all sizes rely on RoviSys for expertise in information management, manufacturing automation, control systems integration, building automation, enterprise and industrial networks, manufacturing execution systems, and industrial artificial intelligence.
In 2025, RoviSys drove strong business growth across multiple industries and manufacturing sectors, with particularly significant expansion in data center and electrical utility markets. The company also established new relationships in growing renewable, sustainable, and climate-focused industries, positioning itself at the forefront of the energy transition.
Looking ahead, RoviSys maintains a strong focus on energy automation and solutions that improve efficiency, reliability, and availability while enabling cohesive, integrated systems. The company notes that data center projects continue to grow in both size and complexity while delivery schedules face constant pressure. RoviSys has become a trusted partner in the data center and related industries through strong commitment to customers, disciplined project execution methodology, industry-leading building automation experts, and a proven track record of quality and innovation.
The company’s experience spans building management systems and energy and power management systems implementations, packaged controls for mechanical and electrical systems, power and energy infrastructure including generation, transmission, utility supervisory control and data acquisition, and switchgear controls, as well as fuel oil system controls, water and wastewater treatment plants, and central utility plants.
RoviSys serves an impressive range of industries including chemical, petrochemical, life science, mission critical facilities, data centers, construction, distribution and fulfillment, consumer packaged goods, glass, metals, power and energy, water and wastewater, paper and wood, oil and gas, automotive, and semiconductor manufacturing.
3. John Wood Group
The John Wood Group stands as a global leader in engineering and automation integration with particular strength in energy, chemicals, and the built environment. Founded over a century ago, this multinational corporation delivers full-stack industrial system integration services across the complete project lifecycle, from conceptual design through commissioning and ongoing support.
Wood Group’s differentiator lies in its capability to handle large-scale, complex industrial automation solutions for oil and gas, renewable energy, and utilities sectors. The company brings together mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, and process expertise under one roof, enabling seamless coordination on major capital projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The company’s automation division works closely with operating companies and engineering procurement and construction contractors to design and implement integrated control systems, safety instrumented systems, distributed control systems, and enterprise-level information management platforms. Their global footprint allows them to staff projects anywhere in the world with experienced automation engineers who understand both the technical requirements and regulatory compliance needs of each region and industry.
Wood Group has increasingly focused on digital transformation initiatives, helping clients leverage data analytics, machine learning, and advanced process control to optimize existing assets. Their services extend beyond new construction to include brownfield modernization projects where they upgrade aging control systems while minimizing disruption to ongoing operations.
4. Thermo Systems
Thermo Systems earned recognition as the 2026 System Integrator of the Year in the over forty million dollars system integration revenue category, a prestigious award that reflects the company’s technical capabilities, project execution excellence, customer support quality, and organizational strength. The rigorous selection process requires detailed documentation showcasing engineering approach, innovation, project outcomes, and clear evidence of customer satisfaction through references, testimonials, and external acknowledgments.
Founded over twenty-seven years ago, Thermo Systems has built its reputation on three core values: employee success, customer success, and financial strength. The company operates from twenty-eight global locations, positioning staff strategically to best serve customers around the world. As an industry-leading, full-service control systems integrator, Thermo Systems supports all phases of projects from design through service.
Thermo Systems specializes in district energy, life sciences, and mission-critical markets, delivering turnkey automation projects that include programming and systems integration services, custom control panels, human-machine interface software and servers, and instrumentation and control valve packages. When Thermo Systems commits to a turnkey delivery, they provide a single source of responsibility, managing complete electrical and mechanical installation of automation projects.
The company holds several prestigious industry certifications that demonstrate its commitment to excellence. Thermo Systems is a Platinum System Integrator in the Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork, a designation held by fewer than one percent of partners. They are also a Premier Integrator for Inductive Automation, showcasing expertise in Ignition supervisory control and data acquisition platforms. Additionally, they hold certification as an AVEVA System Platform Integrator and are a Control Systems Integrators Association certified member, meeting top industry standards in project delivery, cybersecurity, and quality.
Their engineering model is based on Good Automated Manufacturing Practice standards for automation systems in good manufacturing practice environments, ensuring that all systems are designed with document traceability in mind. This approach is particularly valuable in regulated industries like pharmaceuticals and life sciences where validation and compliance documentation are critical.
5. ATS Automation
ATS Automation provides advanced automated systems integration with particular focus on life sciences, food and beverage, and energy sectors. The Canadian-based company has earned recognition as one of the best industrial automation integrators in North America, known for turnkey automation equipment manufacturing and robotic system integrator capabilities that enable both high-volume production and small-scale applications.
ATS differentiates itself through its ability to design and build custom automation equipment from the ground up, combining mechanical engineering, robotics, vision systems, and control software into integrated production lines. This end-to-end capability is particularly valuable for clients who need specialized equipment that is not available as off-the-shelf solutions.
In the life sciences sector, ATS has developed particular expertise in medical device assembly, pharmaceutical packaging, and laboratory automation. These applications demand exceptional precision, cleanliness, and validation documentation. The company’s food and beverage work emphasizes sanitary design principles, with control systems that provide complete traceability from raw materials through finished goods.
ATS has invested heavily in digital manufacturing capabilities, incorporating machine vision, data analytics, and predictive maintenance into their automation solutions. Their platforms collect real-time production data and present it through intuitive dashboards that enable operators and managers to quickly identify and address performance issues.
6. JR Automation
JR Automation ranks among the premier industrial automation integrators in North America, with particular strength in robotic automation across industries including automotive, electronics, and aerospace. The company brings comprehensive capabilities in automation machinery manufacturing combined with end-to-end engineering and integration services.
JR Automation’s approach emphasizes collaborative partnerships with clients, working closely from concept through commissioning to ensure automation solutions align with business objectives. Their team includes mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, controls engineers, and process engineers who collectively design optimized production systems.
In the automotive sector, JR Automation has completed numerous body-in-white welding cells, powertrain assembly lines, and final assembly automation projects for major original equipment manufacturers and tier-one suppliers. Their electronics experience spans consumer products, medical devices, and industrial equipment, where they implement high-speed precision assembly systems with advanced inspection capabilities.
Mike Lashbrook, Vice President of Digital Solutions at JR Automation, leads the organization’s suite of software products and services that help customers optimize operations through data analytics and connectivity. With over twenty-five years of industry experience in automotive and industrial automation, Lashbrook represents JR Automation’s commitment to evolving beyond hardware integration toward comprehensive digital solutions.
The company has embraced Industry 4.0 principles, helping clients implement connected manufacturing environments where programmable logic controllers, enterprise resource planning systems, manufacturing execution systems, and business intelligence platforms work together seamlessly. This integration enables real-time visibility into production performance and empowers data-driven decision making.
7. Vertech
Vertech claimed the 2026 System Integrator of the Year award in the twenty to forty million dollars system integration revenue category, highlighting the company’s impressive capabilities despite its mid-market positioning. This recognition reflects Vertech’s technical excellence and customer satisfaction across diverse industrial applications.
Vertech positions itself as an industrial automation expert providing complete data and controls integration for every industry. The company has achieved particularly impressive credentials with Inductive Automation, where they are a Premier Certified Integrator for both supervisory control and data acquisition and manufacturing execution systems, representing the highest certification level. Vertech employs the most certified Ignition developers of any integrator, demonstrating deep technical expertise in this leading platform.
The company’s portfolio of accomplishments includes several industry-leading implementations. They developed the largest overall equipment effectiveness application in Perspective with over two hundred production lines. They built the largest enterprise architecture in Perspective spanning one hundred fifty sites. They completed the largest supervisory control and data acquisition application in Perspective with over three and a half million tags. They implemented an enterprise manufacturing execution system Perspective application across six sites.
These implementations showcase Vertech’s ability to work at massive scale while maintaining system performance and usability. Their mobile-first design philosophy ensures seamless user experience on any device through beautiful, responsive application design. Vertech emphasizes modern security protocols including secure socket layer and transport layer security encryption along with multi-factor authentication.
The company’s solutions provide full process control capabilities, allowing operators to easily start and stop activity, monitor equipment usage, and check plant status. Real-time data automation and streamlining provide an always up-to-date view of operations. Efficiency tracking through overall equipment effectiveness metrics helps clients identify where performance improvements are possible.
8. Avanceon
Avanceon specializes in industrial control system integration with expertise spanning process control, manufacturing execution systems, and digital transformation. The company has built strong recognition for offering automation solutions tailored specifically to food and beverage system integrators and biopharmaceutical automation applications.
Avanceon’s strength lies in its consultative approach, working closely with clients to understand their unique production challenges and business objectives before designing automation solutions. This methodology ensures that implemented systems deliver tangible return on investment rather than simply deploying the latest technology for its own sake.
In process industries like food and beverage, Avanceon implements distributed control systems that manage continuous production processes such as mixing, cooking, fermentation, and pasteurization. Their control strategies optimize quality while minimizing energy consumption and raw material waste. For discrete manufacturing clients, they deploy programmable logic controllers that coordinate material handling, assembly operations, and packaging equipment.
The company’s manufacturing execution system implementations provide the critical link between enterprise resource planning systems and shop floor automation. These systems manage production schedules, track work in progress, capture quality data, and provide genealogy tracking for regulatory compliance. In regulated industries, this capability is essential for demonstrating that products were manufactured according to approved procedures.
9. Tesco Controls
Tesco Controls focuses on automation and controls integrators for water, wastewater, and electric utilities. This specialized positioning allows the company to develop deep expertise in the unique requirements of these critical infrastructure sectors, where reliability, regulatory compliance, and security are paramount concerns.
Water and wastewater treatment facilities present distinctive automation challenges. Process control must account for highly variable influent characteristics, biological treatment dynamics, and strict discharge permit limits. Tesco Controls implements supervisory control and data acquisition systems that provide operators with real-time visibility into treatment processes while automating routine control functions like chemical dosing, blower operation, and clarifier operation.
In the electric utility sector, Tesco Controls works on substation automation, distribution automation, and advanced metering infrastructure projects. These systems must meet stringent reliability standards and cybersecurity requirements given the critical nature of electrical infrastructure. The company understands industry standards like IEEE 1686 for substation intelligent electronic device security and NERC CIP for critical infrastructure protection.
Tesco Controls also provides services for industrial water and wastewater systems at manufacturing facilities, helping companies optimize water usage, reduce discharge costs, and achieve sustainability goals. Their expertise in both utility and industrial applications positions them uniquely to handle complex projects that span both domains.
10. Grantek
Grantek secured thirteenth place on the 2026 System Integrator Giants list, demonstrating strong performance among automation integrators worldwide. For over forty years, top manufacturers in food and beverage, data centers, consumer packaged goods, and life sciences and pharmaceuticals have called upon Grantek to solve their most complex business and manufacturing challenges.
Grantek specializes in automating pharmaceutical and food and beverage manufacturing operations, including integration with business systems for seamless solutions. The company helps customers meet the stringent requirements and challenges of the fourth industrial revolution, supporting digital transformation initiatives that leverage Internet of Things sensors, cloud computing, advanced analytics, and machine learning.
As a system integrator and solution provider with specialization in smart manufacturing solutions, manufacturing automation solutions, and manufacturing consulting services, Grantek takes a holistic approach to client engagements. They begin by understanding business objectives and operational challenges, then design automation solutions that address root causes rather than symptoms.
In pharmaceutical manufacturing, Grantek implements batch execution systems that ensure production follows validated recipes while automatically generating the batch records required for regulatory submissions. Their food and beverage work emphasizes food safety, with control systems that manage critical control points for hazard analysis and critical control points compliance. Data center automation projects focus on building management systems that optimize cooling efficiency while ensuring uptime through redundant systems and predictive maintenance.
Conclusion: The Critical Role of Automation Integrators
Automation integrators in 2026 stand at the forefront of manufacturing transformation, translating advanced technologies into practical solutions that improve productivity, quality, safety, and sustainability. The top integrators profiled in this article represent excellence in technical capability, project execution, customer service, and innovation.
From Andritz Automation’s commanding position with over seven hundred million dollars in system integration revenue to specialized firms like Tesco Controls focusing on critical infrastructure, these companies collectively enable the functioning of modern manufacturing and industrial systems. Their work touches virtually every product we use daily, from the food we eat and the medicines that keep us healthy to the automobiles we drive and the electricity that powers our homes.
The eighteen percent growth in system integration revenue reported by the 2026 System Integrator Giants reflects the accelerating pace of industrial automation adoption. As manufacturing becomes increasingly complex and competitive pressures intensify, companies recognize that effective automation is not optional but essential for survival. The most successful manufacturers partner with skilled integrators who understand both technology and production processes.
Looking ahead, automation integrators face both opportunities and challenges. The transition toward electric vehicles, renewable energy, and sustainable manufacturing creates demand for new automation systems optimized for these applications. The convergence of operational technology and information technology opens possibilities for unprecedented levels of integration and optimization. Artificial intelligence and machine learning promise to make automation systems more adaptive and intelligent.
However, integrators must also navigate persistent challenges including talent shortages, cybersecurity threats, rapid technology change, and economic uncertainty. Success will require continuous investment in workforce development, partnership with technology vendors, commitment to quality and safety, and flexibility to adapt to changing market conditions.
For manufacturers evaluating automation investments, selecting the right integration partner is among the most important decisions they will make. The integrators featured in this article have demonstrated through years of successful project delivery that they possess the technical expertise, process knowledge, project management capabilities, and commitment to customer success required to transform automation concepts into operational reality. As manufacturing continues its digital transformation journey, these automation integration leaders will play an indispensable role in shaping the future of industrial production.
