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Three Decades Empowering New England's OEMs with Best-in-Class Automation Solutions
Industrial Automation Supply (“IAS”), based in Portland, Maine, is a value-add and engineered solutions provider of electrical controls and automation components serving the OEM market throughout New England. IAS has been acquired by Airline Hydraulics Corporation (“Airline”).
IAS was founded in 1993 when President and Owner Chris LeBel saw the need for OEM’s in northern New England to have access to the highest quality electrical and automation product lines and the latest technologies available. Fast forward to today and IAS has evolved into a team of application engineers and product specialists that partners with its clients to value engineer and manufacture the entire OEM automation system. The company has earned premier vendor designations including Phoenix Contact Automation Elite Distributor status and as a Doosan Robotics Platinum Distributor. IAS was further recognized as Doosan’s 2024 North American Distributor of the Year.
Highland Advisory Group partnered with founder and owner Chris LeBel to help think through the next chapter for the business, its employees, and its valued customers. Chris had a very clear vision for what the next owner of the client had to bring to the table, and the priority from the start was the right next home for his valued team members he considered like family.
When the decision was made to seek a new owner of IAS, Highland sought to find potential acquirers that shared in IAS’s culture, technical depth, and customer-first mentality. It was important to IAS leadership that the new owner take good care of the team and provide an even better home for its loyal customer base. Highland ran a curated and focused process to only consider investor groups meeting this strict criteria which led to a partnership with Airline Hydraulics.
“In Airline, we’ve found a partner whose values, employee-first culture, and commitment to technical excellence mirror our own. As a 100% employee-owned organization, Airline offers our team a home where their contributions are recognized and rewarded, and where the relationships and expertise that built IAS will continue to thrive.”
Chris LeBel
President
Industrial Automation Supply
Airline Hydraulics, headquartered in Bensalem, Pennsylvania is an employee-owned distributor of fluid power, automation, motion control, and machine safeguarding products with over 75 years of operating history and branches throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Airline distinguished itself in the process with its employee-ownership culture and shared commitment to technical excellence. The combination provides IAS’s team with the platform of an established, employee-owned organization while giving its customers access to Airline’s deep bench of engineering talent and expanded product capabilities.
Together, the firms are combining resources, scale, and engineering expertise to deliver an enhanced offering across the Northeast while preserving the technical depth and personal service IAS’s OEM customers have relied on for over 30 years. The IAS team will join Airline’s broader employee-owned platform, expanding the combined organization’s presence and capabilities throughout New England.
Highland Advisory Group represented Chris Lebel and Industrial Automation Supply in its acquisition by Airline Hydraulics Corporation. Highland’s mission is to empower business owners with the tools, resources, and expertise needed for a successful exit - when they want to, on their terms, and at maximum value. At Highland, we empathize with and admire all that comes with being a business owner. Our sole purpose is to free successful and passionate business owners and give them the reward, recognition, and legacy-enhancing transition they deserve for their life’s work.
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