DEF 14A 1 lrok2022_def14a.htm ROCKWELL AUTOMATION, INC - DEF 14A ROCKWELL AUTOMATION, INC. - DEF 14A

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, DC 20549

SCHEDULE 14A

PROXY STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 14(a)
OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

(Amendment No. )

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Rockwell Automation, Inc.

(Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

(Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement, if other than the Registrant)

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MESSAGE FROM OUR CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

BLAKE D. MORET

CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

December 15, 2022

“WE ARE A PURE PLAY AUTOMATION AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION COMPANY WITH ENVIABLE TALENT, PARTNERS, CUSTOMERS, AND SHAREOWNER BASE, WITH EVERY INTENTION OF BUILDING ON OUR SUCCESS.”

Dear Fellow Shareowners:

Rockwell Automation continued to transform our business and increase our value in 2022 despite continuing macroeconomic volatility. Simply put, we are building a more resilient company with more ways to win.

Rockwell grew double digits in the year, with good growth in all regions and business segments. Also importantly, our talented people, partners, and position in the market enabled us to meet the challenges of component shortages, inflation, and geo-political conflict. We expect shortages and inflation to gradually ease in 2023, and the lessons learned have made us stronger.

2022 was a watershed year for our product development teams. We not only qualified new electronic components for hundreds of products to ease the most severe constraints, but we also released disruptive new products that will fuel profitable growth for years to come. In our Intelligent Devices business segment, we introduced new on-machine products to increase our competitively served market in automotive, warehouse automation, and food and beverage verticals. The Software and Control business segment released a new family of I/O designed specifically for process applications. At Automation Fair a few weeks ago in Chicago, we talked with customers about our new FactoryTalk Design Studio for Logix, a cloud-native design tool unlike any other in the market. Customers also saw FactoryTalk Optix, a new operator interface package that works with our control systems as well as those of our competitors. Our Lifecycle Services business segment will benefit from this new innovation as will system integrators and machine builders. New lifecycle services include cybersecurity threat detection and remediation enhanced by our Security Operations Center, and digital twin creation and deployment by Kalypso resources. We enhanced our focus on sustainable products and solutions that help industrial manufacturing companies reduce their energy, water, and waste usage and track those reductions over time. Recent acquisitions like Kalypso, Avnet, ASEM, and Plex are fueling new streams of profitable growth, and we are also excited to welcome the Danish company CUBIC to Rockwell. These are major introductions and additions representing broad new areas of value that complement existing product lines.

Priorities for 2023 start with meeting our commitments for profitable growth and effective capital deployment. Strong backlog, pricing power, and a continuing stream of new innovation provide a solid foundation for performance in 2023 and beyond. We are delivering on our framework for profitable growth, introduced in 2019, and we are excited about the opportunities available to us on the next leg of Rockwell’s journey. We are a pure play automation and digital transformation company with enviable talent, partners, customers, and shareowner base, with every intention of building on our success. And we’ll do this with the sense of urgency and outside-in perspective necessary to lead.

Thank you for your trust in and ownership of Rockwell Automation.