Chemelex Acquires EHT Group, Signals Shift to Predictive Tech

HOUSTON, TX – January 06, 2026 – Chemelex, a global leader in electric thermal solutions, has finalized its acquisition of Electric Heat Trace Group Ltd. (EHT Group), an Ontario-based innovator in heat trace management. The move integrates EHT Group’s flagship SmartTrace monitoring platform into Chemelex’s portfolio, marking a significant strategic pivot towards data-driven, predictive maintenance for critical industrial systems worldwide.

This acquisition reinforces Chemelex's commitment to digital transformation, coming just a year after it became an independent company under the ownership of Brookfield Asset Management. By incorporating EHT Group's advanced software and analytics capabilities, the thermal solutions giant is positioning itself to lead the industry's evolution from reactive repairs to proactive, intelligent asset management.

A Strategic Leap into Data-Driven Operations

The deal represents more than a simple expansion of product offerings; it is a calculated step into the future of industrial operations. Chemelex, with a legacy spanning over 50 years and trusted brands like Raychem and Tracer, has long been a cornerstone of safety and reliability in industrial environments. This acquisition injects the agility and specialized expertise of a modern tech innovator directly into its core.

EHT Group, founded in 2018, quickly established itself as a disruptive force in the heat trace market. Its mission was to address the operational inefficiencies and maintenance challenges inherent in traditional heat trace systems. By developing the SmartTrace platform, EHT Group provided a vendor-agnostic solution focused on delivering actionable intelligence. The platform’s ability to connect with controllers from various major manufacturers made it a uniquely flexible and powerful tool for plant operators.

“This acquisition marks a bold step forward for Chemelex and sets the tone for an exciting year ahead,” said Martin Lee, VP of Projects & Services at Chemelex, in the official announcement. “Together, we’ll deliver smarter solutions and greater value to our customers.”

The integration of EHT Group's team into Chemelex's Projects & Services division ensures that the deep industry knowledge and passion for innovation that defined the smaller company will now fuel the global reach of an industry leader. This fusion of scale and specialization is designed to accelerate the development and deployment of next-generation thermal management technologies.

The Power of SmartTrace: Redefining System Reliability

At the heart of the acquisition is the SmartTrace platform, a sophisticated cloud-based and on-premises software solution designed to monitor, manage, and optimize industrial heat trace systems. It leverages cutting-edge AI and data analytics to transform raw data into predictive insights, enabling facilities to move beyond costly, reactive maintenance cycles.

Key features of the SmartTrace platform that deliver this transformation include:

• Predictive Maintenance: By analyzing performance trends and operational data, the system can anticipate potential failures in heating circuits before they occur. This allows maintenance teams to address issues proactively, preventing catastrophic failures, minimizing unplanned downtime, and ensuring process continuity.
• Enhanced Operational Efficiency: The platform automates alarm management and provides rich diagnostic data, significantly reducing the human hours spent investigating nuisance alarms or performing manual system checks. Customer testimonials prior to the acquisition highlighted how the platform allowed them to reallocate personnel to more critical tasks, saving both time and resources.
• Demonstrable ROI: The benefits of SmartTrace extend directly to the bottom line. Through optimized energy usage, the system reduces both electricity costs and a facility’s carbon footprint. In one widely cited case study, EHT Group helped a client identify and correct systemic programming errors that were forcing heat trace circuits to run unnecessarily. The implementation of SmartTrace resulted in an estimated energy saving of 790 megawatt-hours, equating to approximately $130,000 in annual cost reduction.
• Secure, Universal Access: Built on a secure industrial cloud architecture, SmartTrace provides end-to-end encryption and multi-factor authentication, giving operators secure remote access to real-time system health data from any device, anywhere in the world.

This level of detailed, predictive insight is critical in industries like oil and gas, chemical processing, and power generation, where a single failure in a heat trace system can lead to frozen pipes, production halts, and significant safety risks.

Integrating Innovation into a Global Ecosystem

Chemelex’s existing digital portfolio, which includes the advanced Raychem Elexant series controllers and the comprehensive Raychem Supervisor software, already provides robust control and monitoring capabilities. The acquisition of SmartTrace is not about replacement, but enhancement. SmartTrace complements these existing products by adding a powerful layer of analytics and predictive intelligence that can operate across a heterogeneous hardware environment.

One of the most significant strategic advantages of the SmartTrace platform is its vendor-agnostic design. It can integrate not only with Chemelex’s own Raychem controllers but also with systems from other major manufacturers. This flexibility is a crucial value proposition for industrial clients who operate facilities with a diverse array of legacy equipment. Instead of requiring a complete and costly hardware overhaul, Chemelex can now offer a powerful software upgrade that unifies and elevates the intelligence of an entire plant’s heat trace network.

This integration will also enhance Chemelex’s Tracer Life Cycle Services, allowing the company to offer highly customized and data-driven maintenance programs. By leveraging the predictive insights from SmartTrace, service teams can optimize maintenance schedules, prioritize critical repairs, and provide clients with a clearer, more accurate picture of their system's long-term health and operational costs.

Shifting the Competitive Landscape

This acquisition takes place against the backdrop of a broader industrial shift towards the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and predictive analytics. Major technology players like Siemens and IBM have been championing enterprise-level platforms for predictive maintenance across all industrial assets. Chemelex’s move strategically carves out a leadership position in the specialized, high-stakes vertical of electric thermal management.

By embedding advanced AI and analytics directly into its core offerings, Chemelex is elevating the conversation from selling components to providing holistic, intelligent solutions. This positions the company to compete not just on the reliability of its hardware, but on the intelligence and efficiency of the entire system it manages. For an independent company backed by Brookfield, which has noted opportunities in the energy transition space, this focus on data-driven efficiency is paramount.

As industries seek to decarbonize and optimize their energy consumption, the ability to precisely control and monitor systems like electric heat tracing becomes increasingly vital. The enhanced portfolio, combining Chemelex's durable hardware with SmartTrace's intelligence, provides a powerful tool for achieving these sustainability and efficiency goals. This strategic alignment with major market trends strengthens Chemelex's competitive moat and sets a new benchmark for what industrial customers should expect from their thermal management partners. This fusion of established leadership and agile innovation is poised to redefine standards for reliability and efficiency across the global industrial landscape.