Machine Solutions has completed its acquisition of Megadale’s automation assets, expanding operations into Galway, Ireland. The move builds on its 2022 acquisition of Intec Automation and expansion into custom automation.1
"Machine Solutions’ investment ensures continuity for our customers and provides a strong foundation for our team to grow,” said John Wood of Megadale. “Our customers have endured a challenging environment in recent years. Joining Machine Solutions allows us to expand our impact and bring renewed confidence to partners who rely on us for dependable, high quality automation solutions while preserving the engineering culture that defines who we are.”
1. https://www.machinesolutions.com/news-and-updates/announcing-intec-automations-partnership-with-machine-solutions-inc
This acquisition emphasized continuity and stability for Megadale customers and specifically highlights retaining Megadale’s experienced team during the transition. That customer-continuity lens is especially important in MedTech automation, where equipment downtime, qualification delays, and process variability can ripple quickly into production schedules and patient supply.
This new facility is designed to extend Intec Automation’s engineering reach and service responsiveness by bringing an integrated, two-region model to life: Rochester, New Hampshire + Galway, Ireland. The goal is not “two separate shops,” but one coordinated organization, with shared standards, shared engineering rigor, and tighter alignment from concept through production deployment.
This step builds naturally on what Machine Solutions set out to do when it acquired Intec Automation in 2022: make automation a core capability for customers tackling complex manufacturing problems in medical devices, pharma, and life sciences.
Galway isn’t just a vibrant city on Ireland’s west coast, it’s also widely recognized as one of Europe’s strongest MedTech ecosystems. According to the University of Galway, the city is a global MedTech hub with eight of the world’s top ten med-tech companies based there.2
From an industry lens, Ibec’s Irish Medtech Map describes Ireland as a global medtech hub and notes the sector includes 550+ companies, including 14 of the world’s top 15 medtech companies across medtech, digital health, and related fields nationwide.
That combination makes Galway an uniquely strong location for an automation engineering hub that supports regulated manufacturing. For customers, it’s also a meaningful signal: the people building and supporting automation are located in (and recruited from) one of the densest concentrations of MedTech manufacturing expertise in Europe.
2. https://www.ibec.ie/connect-and-learn/industries/life-sciences-and-healthcare/irish-medtech/irish-medtech-map
Nationally, Ireland’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.7% in March 2026, according to the CSO’s Monthly Unemployment release.3 At the same time, Irish workers have been navigating a more unsettled reality: The Journal reported in late 2025 on “silent redundancies” and described readers’ experiences reentering a job market they felt had tightened, citing CSO-reported “job destructions” growth and pointing to how not all workforce reductions show up in headlines.4
Closer to Galway specifically, even prominent employers in the region have not been immune to restructuring cycles. In late 2025, The Irish Times reported that Abbott’s Galway diagnostics site began a process where fewer than 20 roles were identified as at risk, while also noting the Galway facility’s scale and importance in the company’s rapid diagnostics operations.5
This context matters for how companies tell growth stories in Galway, or anywhere in Ireland right now. “Expansion” isn’t just a business phrase; it’s a signal about confidence, investment, and the kind of high-skill work that can anchor careers. Machine Solutions’ decision to retain Megadale’s experienced team also ensures continuity for customers and aligns with protecting expertise, keeping programs moving, and building long-term capability rather than short-term capacity.
For engineers and automation professionals in Galway (and across the West), that’s also part of the story behind this Intec expansion: adding another serious automation organization into a market that values stability, skill depth, and meaningful manufacturing impact.
3. https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-mue/monthlyunemploymentmarch2026/
4. https://www.thejournal.ie/layoffs-ireland-6860297-Nov2025/
5. https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2025/10/17/fears-for-hundreds-of-workers-as-us-medtech-group-abbott-axes-jobs-in-galway/
In 2022, Machine Solutions positioned Intec Automation as the cornerstone of a new automation division built to solve customers’ most complex production needs through automated solutions. This expansion brings Intec to a broader geography, centered in Galway, one of Europe’s most concentrated MedTech ecosystems.
For customers across the U.S. and Western Europe, this means a more resilient support model, more engineering coverage, and a clearer path from concept to validated production, backed by teams who understand what it takes to keep real lines running.