Case study · Samuel Automation (Samuel, Son & Co.)
Samuel Automation
A new website for Samuel Automation, the automation division of Samuel, Son & Co., uniting several specialist businesses under one credible brand.
01 — Context
Several specialists, one name
Samuel Automation is the automation division of Samuel, Son & Co., the family-owned Canadian metals and industrial company that traces its roots to 1855. The division brings together several automation businesses, including Systematix, RAMP and CAID Automation, with facilities across North America.
Together they design and build custom automation systems for component assembly, testing, inspection, packaging and robotic handling, including AMRs, for life sciences, transportation, alternative energy and consumer products. The challenge was to present all that expertise as one confident company, without losing the depth each team had built over decades. Samuel asked us to design and build the new website.
Samuel by the numbers
A long history of making things
- Year Samuel was founded
- 1855In downtown Toronto, by brothers Mark and Lewis Samuel.
- Years in business
- 165+Still owned by the Samuel family.
- Locations globally
- 70+Across the wider Samuel organization.
- Page designs
- 45+Capabilities, industries, partner services and more.
02 — Design
Industrial, with a human voice
Automation websites tend to look the same: blue gradients, glowing circuits and stock robots. We kept Samuel's heritage at the centre instead. The design pairs a warm off-white background and charcoal sections with Samuel red, used sparingly for actions and emphasis. Headlines are set in an elegant serif that feels more like a 165-year-old company than a startup, balanced by a clean grotesk for everything technical.
Big, real manufacturing photography does the rest, from robot cells and vision systems to AMRs moving through a warehouse. The homepage opens with "Building the Future of Manufacturing", then moves through services, high-demand capabilities and the industries Samuel serves.
03 — Structure
Capabilities, industries, partner services
The real work was the architecture. We organized the site around three ways engineers and buyers look for help: by capability (vision inspection, complex part assembly, AMRs, cleanroom, medical device assembly, leak testing, web handling, custom machining, proof of principle and more), by industry (automotive and transportation, alternative energy, heavy industrial, consumer products, medical device and life sciences, emerging technologies) and by partner service.
Mega menus make all of it reachable in one click, and a tabbed High-Demand Capabilities section puts the most requested solutions, like automation for data centres, right on the homepage. It's the approach we describe in aligning your website with your business goals.
04 — Deep pages
Detail for the people who sign off
Automation projects are big decisions, usually made by engineers. So the capability and industry pages go deep. The AMR page explains what an AMR is, where it can be used and the benefits, shows videos of AMRs in action and lists every product with specs. The Medical Device & Life Sciences page covers quality assurance, validation, onsite cleanrooms and the specific processes Samuel handles, from foil sealing and bonding to traceability and reporting.
Pages for careers, students, facilities, locations, a customer portal and news round out more than 45 page designs, plus focused landing pages for campaigns.
05 — Heritage
From a Toronto hardware shop in 1855
Few automation companies can say their story started before the light bulb. Samuel can: in 1855, brothers Mark and Lewis Samuel opened a hardware and metals business in a narrow corner building in downtown Toronto, where the Flatiron Building stands today.
We gave that history its own page: an interactive timeline from 1855 to today, with archival photos and a short story for each milestone. It gives a newly combined automation division the most valuable thing a B2B brand can have, which is proof it will still be here when the machines need servicing. Read more on storytelling through web design.
06 — The result
One credible voice for automation
Samuel Automation now has a single website that presents several specialist businesses as one capable, trustworthy partner, with the depth to satisfy engineers and the clarity to bring in new buyers.
See more of our work for industrial and manufacturing companies, including Buchner Manufacturing and Kalypso, a Rockwell Automation business, or explore our construction and engineering projects. We design and build custom websites for complex B2B companies.
What we delivered
- 01Website designMore than 45 page designs across capabilities, industries, partner services and company pages.
- 02Information architectureCapability, industry and partner-service structure with mega menus.
- 03Website developmentA fast, flexible build with tabbed capabilities and product listings.
- 04History timelineAn interactive timeline from 1855 to today.
- 05Landing pagesCampaign landing pages, including one for medical automation.
- 06Careers and locationsCareers, students, facilities and a locations map.
