Global industrial company Terex acquired ZenRobotics' business – "The mood is quite Zen"

ZenRobotics, which brought artificial intelligence robotics to waste sorting, has a new owner.

The past period has been eventful for the company. The coronavirus pandemic brought ZenRobotics' order backlog to an all-time high and the company achieved record sales. Sorting waste manually has become even riskier. Many recycling facilities and waste processors around the world are interested in artificial intelligence robotics that sort waste automatically.

It was then that ZenRobotics staff unexpectedly heard that its main owner, a US fund, no longer intended to continue as the company's owner.

The war in Ukraine revolutionized European financial markets, and especially the operating environment for risk investments.

Part of a global brand

Although the cash crunch forced ZenRobotics Oy's CEO Jarmo Ruohonen to file for bankruptcy on July 1, the company was able to quickly find a solution.

For a moment, it seemed that 15 years of pioneering AI robotics and software development were in danger of disappearing into thin air. Some of the staff had already started looking for other jobs.

Until an announcement was made in early August. The US-Irish engineering company Terex announced that it would acquire the entire business of ZenRobotics.

“The story is not over, we are at the beginning of a new chapter,” ZenRobotics Sales Director Juha Mieskonen rejoices.

ZenRobotis Oy will now become ZenRobotics – a Terex Brand. The business will continue as an independent unit under the environmental unit of Terex's Materials Processing (MP) division.

According to Mieskonen, the company will transfer from ownership by a foreign private equity investor to ownership by a foreign industrial operator.

"The events have not at any point shaken people's passion or faith in what they are doing."

"The mood is quite zen. Most of us have had faith that things will continue because the company has systematically sought a new, strategic owner."

According to Mieskonen, ZenRobotics has had the intention to renew its ownership structure for some time. Negotiations have been held with several good industrial owner candidates.

Terex was one of the negotiating partners with whom there have been discussions about commercial cooperation in the past.

“We have known Terex for a long time, which is why they were able to make a quick acquisition.”

To make sales

Those personnel who have not yet had time to move elsewhere will continue to work for Terex Corporation as existing employees. Business with existing customers will also continue as before.

According to Mieskonen, ZenRobotics will continue to sell robotics and maintenance services and continue maintenance contracts with even stronger backing, as Terex has the sales network of a global company and a lot of business in the waste and recycling sector.

"We will take over all the delivery projects that were left unfinished for a while. We aim to ensure that no damage occurs from the customer's perspective and that we move forward as if nothing had happened," Mieskonen describes.

The previous owner consciously invested more money in developing the technology than in actual sales and commercialization.

“We are now primarily going to sell and commercialize the technology that we have been developing for years.”

15 years of development

ZenRobotics has been investing in product development for a long time. Founded in 2007, the company was one of the first to apply learning artificial intelligence robotics to waste management. The first robotics line was established in Helsinki in 2009.

Since then, the company's artificial intelligence robots have been sold all over the world, from China to the United States.

ZenRobotics' Heavy Picker robotics specializes in picking heavy materials such as construction and demolition waste from the waste line. The Fast Picker, on the other hand, is a fast robot that is well suited for sorting lighter packaging waste, for example. The ZenBrain is an intelligent center that controls the robotics, which analyzes and recognizes the composition and properties of the waste based on sensor data and is capable of independent decision-making.

Terex MP Business Director Tony Devlin commented in the press release that Zen Robotics is an exciting, modern company whose circular economy expertise is excellently aligned with Terex MP's goals.

“We are excited to begin a new journey together and warmly welcome our new colleagues to the Terex team.”

Jarmo Ruohonen believes that Terex MP will open up even greater opportunities for global growth for ZenRobotics.

“Terex MP is a perfect partner for us in our circular economy goals,” says Ruohonen.

Text: Elina Saarinen/ Uusiouutiset-magazine

Photo: Elina Saarinen. ZenRobotics' robotic arm at work at the Remeo recycling plant.