IN Brief:
- MotionTech acquired Loughborough engineering company Alway on 22 October 2026; financial terms were not disclosed.
- Alway designs hygienic stainless steel conveyors, food process equipment and complete production lines.
- The UK business will retain its name, organisation and leadership while working within MotionTech’s international engineering group.
MotionTech has acquired Alway, a Loughborough manufacturer of hygienic conveyors, processing equipment and complete food production lines, extending the automation group’s capability in the UK food manufacturing sector. The October 2026 deal makes Alway MotionTech’s fourth UK business. The acquired company will retain its name, existing organisation and leadership under managing director Jason Larke. Neither the purchase price nor the financing structure has been disclosed.
Founded in 1985, Alway designs, manufactures and commissions stainless steel conveyor systems and other equipment used in food production facilities. The business also undertakes integrated engineering projects, combining specialist machinery with supporting installation and electrical work. MotionTech’s existing portfolio includes robotics, palletising and intralogistics automation, so the acquisition broadens the group’s ability to support equipment that moves products through processing stages as well as systems used later in manufacturing and dispatch.
Alway’s conveyors and processing equipment are designed for settings where food, washdown water and cleaning chemicals can all come into contact with machinery. Hygienic performance depends on details beyond the grade of stainless steel, including the geometry of joints, access to belts, drainage and the removal of trapped residues. Drainage and accessible cleaning points must be designed without creating gaps in conveyance or damaging products during transfer. Alway brings existing design and installation capabilities to the group; the ownership change alone does not alter a line’s certified hygiene status or its measured throughput.
The two businesses work at adjoining stages of factory automation. Process machinery and conveyors move ingredients and unfinished products between operations, while robotics, palletising and warehouse systems handle more of the packed output. Output is constrained by the sequence as a whole: a faster robot downstream cannot increase capacity if filling, cooling or packing remains the limiting step. MotionTech’s robotic and palletising systems complement Alway’s processing and conveyor equipment, although the companies have not identified a jointly completed installation since the acquisition. Integrating those capabilities in a future customer project would require compatible safety systems, line controls and performance specifications.
Alway brings a broader set of services than conveyor manufacturing alone. Its operations include Aqualine by Alway, associated with stainless steel drainage and hygiene solutions, and Surfaceline, which addresses industrial resin flooring. Other divisions cover digital modelling, electrical engineering and automation, and forming sets for vertical form-fill-seal machinery. These capabilities connect the mechanical design of a food line with the factory surroundings and packaging equipment, both of which can influence cleaning access, material flow and changeover performance.
Line modifications inside operating food factories can require mechanical equipment, building services and electrical controls to be designed and installed together. Installing a new conveyor or packaging machine can require changes to floor drainage, safety guarding, electrical controls and the movement of ingredients or finished packs. Those interfaces need coordinated design even when machines are supplied by different companies. Those services now sit within the wider MotionTech group, although no completed project combining the full service portfolio has been identified. Any throughput gain would need to be measured on a specific installation after commissioning.
Maintaining the acquired company’s leadership is consistent with MotionTech’s stated decentralised approach to specialist businesses. Alway will continue to serve its established customers while drawing on relationships and capabilities elsewhere in the group. The businesses will retain separate trading identities rather than combine their product ranges and operations immediately. No relocation, site closure or staffing change forms part of the stated transaction arrangements. Alway’s existing operating structure will remain in place under its current management.
MotionTech has indicated that its international presence could create opportunities to introduce Alway’s engineering services beyond Britain, with its wider customer networks spanning North America, Europe and Asia. That opportunity has not yet translated into overseas orders or a defined expansion timetable. Overseas contracts would need local engineering support for installation, commissioning, spare parts and maintenance, as well as coordination with the hygiene and safety requirements of individual factories.
MotionTech chief executive Louise Ringström Grandinson has emphasised Alway’s technical expertise and established customer relationships, while managing director Jason Larke has described joining the group as a route to further development. The acquisition is complete, and Alway is set to retain its existing leadership and identity. Transaction terms, projected combined revenue and quantified operational savings have not been disclosed. The two businesses will continue to serve customers under their existing arrangements as they explore joint engineering and automation projects; no firm timetable for those projects or quantified synergy target has been set.
