Honeywell Acquires Life Sciences Manufacturing QMS specialist Sparta

  • January 6, 2021
  • William Payne

Honeywell is acquiring life sciences QMS software specialist Sparta Systems for $1.3 billion in an all-cash transaction from New Mountain Capital. The transaction includes acquiring Sparta Systems’ SaaS platform. The acquisition is designed to strengthen Honeywell’s position in industrial automation, digital transformation solutions and enterprise performance management software.

The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2021 subject to regulatory approval.

Sparta Systems is headquartered in Hamilton, New Jersey, and has approximately 250 employees globally. Sparta serves more than 400 customers, including 42 of the world’s top 50 pharma companies and 33 of the top 50 medical device companies.

Honeywell plans to integrate its industrial IoT platform Forge with Sparta’s expertise to introduce new, integrated solutions, including QMS offerings, for life sciences and adjacent industries.

Honeywell will enhance Sparta’s TrackWise Digital QMS by adding AI and machine learning capabilities that augment human decision making. Honeywell will also add new IoT-enabled connectivity between quality and operational data to detect manufacturing anomalies and triage quality events in near real time. These continuing innovations will help customers address quality to improve patient safety and effective regulatory compliance.

“Sparta’s TrackWise Digital and QualityWise.ai are a welcome addition to Honeywell’s enterprise performance management software, Honeywell Forge, and will further enhance the link between quality and production data for life sciences manufacturers,” said Que Dallara, president and chief executive officer of Honeywell Connected Enterprise. “Our combined offerings will make it easier for customers to gain critical insights from manufacturing and quality data that can improve their manufacturing processes while ensuring product quality, patient safety, and supply chain continuity.”

“Sparta Systems is an ideal complement to our life sciences portfolio,” said Rajeev Gautam, president and chief executive officer of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies. “While Sparta’s capabilities will initially help us expand our capabilities for our existing breakthrough initiative in life sciences, we plan to leverage Honeywell’s global footprint and expertise to quickly expand Sparta’s capabilities to serve other markets. We have strong conviction in the growth opportunities in the life sciences and pharmaceuticals space and in the synergies between Sparta and Honeywell both for Honeywell Connected Enterprise and Honeywell Forge as well as for Honeywell Process Solutions.”

“Organisations need a quality management software solution with advanced digital capabilities that effectively automates, optimises and standardises quality processes across the board,” said Dana Jones, chief executive officer of Sparta Systems. “When you combine Sparta’s leading QMS platform with Honeywell’s existing process automation and software offerings, you create a highly differentiated, comprehensive solution that allows customers to focus more on the value-add activities that will accelerate their growth.”

Pete Masucci, managing director of New Mountain Capital, said, “Since we partnered with Sparta in 2017, the company launched its TrackWise Digital platform – the only AI-enabled QMS solution, expanded its SaaS customer base by two-and-a-half times, and significantly invested in product development and R&D. We are excited to watch Sparta continue to thrive within the Honeywell organisation.”