IBM France has initiated a series of studies with Telemecanique SA of France that could lead to collaboration on factory automation systems. The aim is to combine the diversified electrical and electronic systems and equipment manufacturer’s TFX Series 7 programmable controllers with IBM computer systems to create integrated industrial automation systems for joint marketing. Telemecanique lost its computer arm about 10 years ago when the French government engineered a merger between CII’s Mitra minicomputer arm with Telemecanique’s Solar industrial computer business, and handed the two over to Thomson after the creation of CII-Honeywell Bull. In 1983, Thomson was required by a subsequent administration to hand the business back to Bull.
