Hartford Business Journal

10 Hartford Business Journal | January 11, 2021 | HartfordBusiness.com By Sean Teehan steehan@hartfordbusiness.com W hen Wallingford- based Amphenol Corp. announced plans last month to acquire sensor- technology company MTS Systems Corp. for $1.7 billion, the price tag was eyebrow-raising, but the strategy made sense. "For many many years, we have seen more and more of our interconnect products being married together with some type of a sensor," said R. Adam Norwitt, CEO of Amphenol, which makes electrical, electronic and fi ber optic connectors, cables and R. Adam Norwitt interconnect systems for the telecommunications, aerospace and other industries. "We see demand for sensors growing, really, across all the markets where we're focused." Norwitt's not the only one who sees growth opportunities in sensor technology, which is expected to blossom globally into a $287 billion industry by 2025, according to Allied Market Research. From Fortune 500 companies to small startups, Connecticut businesses are increasingly staking out positions in the sensor- technology space, adding or developing products and services that help detect changes in the environment — like heat, motion or pressure — and then alert users to that data and information. Such technology is commonly used in consumer electronics, but it's being adopted at a rapid pace by businesses in myriad industries to make their operations, products or services more effi cient and profi table. For example, property and casualty insurers are using sensor technology to help customers detect potential faulty equipment to prevent prolonged and costly breakdowns. Healthcare providers, particularly in the wake of COVID-19, are using it to track patient health metrics from afar. And manufacturers are using it to streamline their production lines. Some experts say that in a matter of years, the technology could fundamentally change all three of those sectors, which are key to Greater Hartford's economy. "We're really optimistic about the market for sensor technology," said Lannie Moore, co-founder of Oval Digital Inc., a startup honing its in- home sensor technology at Upward Labs' Hartford accelerator program. "One of these days soon, sensors will be standard in any offi ce, or apartment building just like brakes are in a car." Connecting digital, physical worlds Amphenol's fi rst major investment in sensor technology came about seven years ago, when it acquired for $318 million General Electric's Advanced Sensors business, which makes sensor products for the transportation and automotive, medical and other industrial markets. Norwitt said he noticed that an increasing number of manufacturing technologies were using sensors to measure and improve the production process. Since Amphenol makes components used to connect manufacturing electrical systems, Norwitt said, it made sense to start selling sensor devices as well. Amphenol's purchase of Minnesota-based MTS — which makes systems that perform product testing on vehicles, civil engineering systems and other products — marked its eighth acquisition of a sensor-technology company, Norwitt said, but it probably won't be the last. That's because the ability to track physical data (i.e. temperature, pressure, motion, etc.) is at the cutting edge of many emerging markets. "When you think about [anything from] smart manufacturing to autonomous driving, all of these require a connection to the physical world that's brought into the digital world," Norwitt said. "And once data is in the digital world, there's a lot that you can do with it." George Bollas, director of the UTC Institute for Advanced Systems Engineering at the University of Connecticut, said sensor technology is already allowing manufacturers to adjust processes for effi ciency and fi x minor problems before they become big issues. For example, a medical device company can use sensor technology to fi gure out that an automated screwdriver is loose and needs to be replaced before it breaks. The company could also track data from its entire manufacturing process, and fi nd that altering the order in which the product is assembled saves time or material. "Converting the information to something that the operators can read and understand and get support for decision making … is one of the aspects of this technology that will actually bring signifi cant benefi ts to the [manufacturing] industry," Bollas said. Sensor technology is also making waves in the insurance industry, said Gordon Hui, a vice president focusing on internet-connected — or Internet of Things — products at Hartford Steam Boiler. HSB, a specialty insurer and provider of engineering risk management and technology services, has long understood the value of avoiding disasters before they happen, Hui said. One of George Bollas Digital Connection CT companies see sensors as game-changing technology HBJ PHOTO: STEVE LASCHEVER Gordon Hui, a vice president at Hartford Steam Boiler, says sensor technology could change the insurance industry's focus from paying claims to predicting and preventing loss.

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