New ATS boss brings plethora of experience

CAMBRIDGE — ATS Automation Tooling Systems has hired an executive with experience in a range of industries to be its new CEO.

Andrew Hilder will take over as chief executive officer on March 6, the Cambridgebased company announced Wednesday.

He succeeds Anthony Caputo, who will step down as CEO of the manufacturer of factory automation systems on Feb. 15. Caputo’s plan to retire was announced last March.

Hilder most recently was the president and CEO of Taylor Made Group, a supplier of products for the marine, transportation, agriculture and construction markets that has been in business for more than 100 years.

The company, based in Gloversville, N.Y., operates 13 plants in the United States, Ireland and the United Kingdom, and has more than 1,000 employees.

Hilder was appointed CEO of Taylor Made last September, four months after he joined the company as president and chief operating officer.

Before that, he was an executive for 10 years at Danaher Corp., a science and technology company headquartered in Washington, D.C. He started his career at General Electric and served in a variety of roles there over a six-year period.

“Andrew is a proven, highenergy leader with strong

operational, commercial and strategic skills honed while serving for almost two decades for highly disciplined and successful global companies,” David McAusland, chair of the board of ATS, said in a news release.

“As ATS continues to drive its value creation strategy through organic growth and acquisitions, our shareholders, our customers and our employees will definitely benefit from Andrew’s focused leadership,” McAusland said.

ATS, which employs 3,500 people in 23 plants and more than 50 offices in North America, Europe, Southeast Asia and China, announced the appointment at the same time it released financial results for its fiscal third quarter.

It said it had net income of $6.6 million on sales of $237.4 million in the three months ended Jan. 1.

That compares to net income of $15.5 million on sales of $274.9 million in the third quarter a year earlier.

ATS said revenue was down due to the timing of projects, and the previously announced cancellation of a large order that it secured in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016. In December, when the company announced the order had been put on hold, it said there was a $70-million impact on its order backlog.

The company said it booked orders worth $284 million during the third quarter, 25 per cent more than in the same period a year earlier.

It said it finished the quarter with an order backlog of $632 million, 16 per cent higher than the backlog at the end of the second quarter.