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What We Do at Rockwell Automation
PLEX, its parent Rockwell Automation Inc., and their affiliates (collectively, “we” or “Rockwell Automation”; when referring to PLEX, alone, “PLEX”) are global leaders in digital transformation and industrial automation. Together, we provide market leading hardware, software, services, and solutions that help our customers and their people be more productive and sustainable.
Statement of Purpose
We respect your privacy. We are committed to protecting it. We believe that responsible handling of data—all data, not just personal data—is integral to our mission and growing more important as our world becomes more connected and individuals realize the advancements that data can enable.
This Privacy and Cookies Policy (the “Policy”) is part of our commitment to responsible data handling. The Policy explains the types of personal data we may collect and how we may use, share, store, and secure that personal data.
For purposes of this Policy, “personal data” means information (either on its own or in combination with other information) that identifies you, allows you to be identified , or could be linked to your household (collectively, “you” or the “User”). This includes information such as: your name; your physical address; your email address or other business contact details; your online identifiers like your IP address; the details of your use of products and services; and any other information that becomes personally associated with you.
This Policy applies to all of the personal data you may provide to us or that we may access through our websites (the “Sites” or a “Site”); through any of our online applications, platforms, channels, products, or services (collectively, “Products and Services”); or through our business interactions. This policy applies where Rockwell Automation is acting as controller. To the extent we may process your personal data as a processor on behalf of the company you are employed by or are otherwise associated with, this Policy will not apply and we may enter into a separate data processing agreement with your company.
PLEX Unsubscribe Center
You can configure how you would like Rockwell Automation to communicate with you at any time. To change your preferences, please visit our PLEX Unsubscribe Center.
Collection of Personal Data
When do we collect personal data?
We collect personal data in the following situations:
- When you visit or use one of our Sites;
- When you purchase or use one of our Products and Services;
- When you voluntarily provide your personal data to us (for example, when you opted-in to receive marketing emails, when you registered for an account on a Site or in connection with Products and Services, or when you completed a web form to register for an event) ;
- When the company or organization you work with provides it to us;
- When you participate in webinars, seminars, trade fairs, or other events;
- When you visit our social media pages;
- When you or others share information publicly (for example, by posting publicly on LinkedIn or publishing material to corporate websites);
- When you visit our offices;
- When you receive communications from us, including emails, phone calls, or text messages;
- When you use our Products and Services, including customer-care and technical support for those Products and Services;
- When it is necessary for us to provide Products and Services or otherwise do business with you or the company or organization
you work with; - When we buy services from selected third-party vendors that utilize aggregated cookies or similar data to target ads based on common characteristics; and/or
- At other times when we have disclosed the collection and intended use to you in advance through this Policy or at the time of collection.
You are not required to provide personal data to us in these situations. However, if you do not, we may not be able to provide certain services or information you may request.
What types of personal data do we collect?
We collect these types of personal data:
| Type of Personal Data | Additional Information |
|---|---|
| Relevant business contact information | This includes information such as your name, the name of the company or organization you work for, your business address, your location of operation, your title, your email address, and your telephone number. |
| Personal contact, preferences, demographic, and interest information | You might give us this information when registering for events such as webinars, seminars, and trade fairs. |
| Information that your web browser automatically makes available to us whenever you visit a Site | This information is obtained through commonly used tracking technologies, such as cookies and web beacons, and may include:
There is more information about cookies and our use of them below. |
| Usage data such as log files showing how you interact with our Products and Services. | This information includes log data showing the activities of individuals using our software and platform products (for example, Factory Talk Production Center, Fiix’s CMMS, and the Plex platform). The information may also include information about your interactions with customer-care and technical support, such as your communications and the contents of them, which may be reviewed and analyzed by our employees, contractors, and/or third-party vendors (possibly with the assistance of analytics technologies). We use this information to optimize plant operations and improve the functioning of our smart, digital manufacturing options. We call this the “Connected Enterprise.” And, while the usage data we collect is important to that goal, we are also committed to using this information only for the purpose of providing our Products and Services. We keep this information confidential and follow the instructions that your company may provide to us in one or more separate agreements, it being understood that we are generally allowed to use aggregated data for the improvement of our products, services, and software solutions. |
| Payment data | To purchase certain Products and Services (for instance Fiix’s CMMS) or register to attend certain events (like Automation Fair or Fiix trainings), you may be required to submit payment data (such as credit card number, type, expiration date, name, and billing address) to pay for the transaction. These would normally not be personal data, where such information belongs to a user’s company or employer but in certain circumstances may be a user’s personal payment data. We may work with third-party payment processing companies, to collect, store, use, and process payments. Accordingly, the collection, storage, use and processing of your Payment Information is governed by the applicable terms of service of these companies (For example, our Fiix business works with Stripe, Inc. whose terms and conditions and privacy policy are available at its websites). |
| Employment and education history, certifications licenses, and related data | You might provide this information to us if you apply for a job at Rockwell or one of our subsidiaries. We will handle this data consistent with our separate Talent Acquisition Privacy Statement, available on our websites. |
We sometimes combine these different types of personal data that we collect from different sources for the uses further described below (for example, to identify better the areas of your business interests or to improve our offerings and services).
If you provide us with any personal data relating to other individuals, you represent that you have the authority to share such information. Further, you acknowledge that such person’s information will be used by us in accordance with this Policy. If you believe personal data has been provided to us improperly or if you wish to exercise applicable rights relating to your personal data, please contact us using the Contact Us information below.
We typically do not collect the following personal data from you:
- Sensitive personal data (for example, health-related data; government identifiers like Social Security or driver’s license numbers; racial or ethnic origin; or your genetic data);
- Biometric information (such as fingerprints or faceprints);
- Private information about your home, your family members, individuals in your private environment, or their households;
- Information about children, because our Sites and Products and Services are not intended for individuals under age 16; or
- Consumer-related information, because we operate on a business-to-business (“B2B”) model and do not engage in business-to-consumer or direct-to-consumer (“B2C”) sales.
If you or your company transfer and/or store such data into a cloud or similar environment provided by us, then you acknowledge this will be at your and your company’s risk and responsibility. To the maximum extent allowable by applicable law, we disclaim all liability associated with your or your company’s transfer or storage of such information. Although we believe we provide strong technical and organizational measures to keep such data secure, you and your company acknowledge that we may not apply additional measures that would otherwise be required for the protection of such data, unless otherwise mutually agreed in writing.
Our Use of Your Personal Data
We may use personal data that you provide to us for the following business, transactional, and marketing purposes, to:
- Contact you or your company about possible business opportunities, offerings, or a specific request or inquiry;
- Deliver products, software, services and solutions we have agreed to provide or to otherwise meet our obligations in connection with our business transactions;
- Administer our Sites and your account(s) (for registered users);
- Send technical notices, updates, security alerts, and support or administrative messages;
- Investigate and prevent unauthorized transactions, access to our Products and Services, and illegal activities;
- Enable you to communicate, collaborate, and share files with users you designate;
- Analyze trends and improve functionality of our Sites;
- Customize and personalize our Sites and selected third-party websites to the preferences you have entered and personalize and improve your online experience, which may include matching and serving targeted advertisements about our products, services, and solutions to make the information delivered more relevant to you (for example, we utilize ad networks to display targeted digital advertisements on third party web sites);
- Evaluate an application for employment from you (see also our separate Talent Acquisition Privacy Statement on our websites);
- As we deem necessary, to protect our legal rights and our property, to protect other users or any third party, and to prevent personal injury or loss;
- Communicate (via email, regular mail, or telephone) with you about Rockwell Automation’s and its business partners’ products, software, services, solutions, and events that you may be interested in;
- Generate leads and to otherwise promote our business and that of our business partners (such as our authorized distributors) by, for example, identifying an existing or potential customer’s interest in particular products, solutions, and services through visits to certain website pages, downloads of documents, or direct inquiries to us;
- Post testimonials after we obtain your consent to do so;
- Provide you better support and services and/or to better respond to your requests or inquiries;
- Invite you to provide feedback or participate in customer surveys, and also to analyze and respond to your feedback and survey responses;
- Better understand the nature and quality of the provision of our products, software, services and solutions;
- Improve and further develop products, software, services, and solutions; and/or
- Use such information in the context of our overall customer relationship management (CRM) efforts.
For our marketing activities, we process your personal data in our CRM systems. Every promotional communication will include a link allowing you to opt-out of receiving such communications in the future and to manage your preferences to include or exclude certain communications. You can also change your preferences at any time by visiting our PLEX Unsubscribe Center.
Our legal basis for using and processing your personal data are, depending on the specific circumstances: your consent; the necessity of the use or processing for responding to inquiries; the negotiation and performance of contracts and business transactions; and our legitimate business interests.
Please be aware that, for some Products and Services including certain specific software and platforms, we may collect and use personal data for other purposes. We will inform you of those additional purposes when you apply for, enter, register, or otherwise use such Products and Services.
Information Sharing with Third Parties
Within Rockwell Automation, we restrict access to your personal data to employees who need to know the information for the above use purposes.
We do not rent or sell your personal data to other companies or individuals.
However, we may share your personal data with or receive it from the following third parties outside of Rockwell Automation in the following situations or for the following purposes:
| Third Party | Purposes |
|---|---|
| Authorized distributors, channel partners, and other suppliers who help provide you our products, software, services, or solutions |
By sharing information with us or with our authorized distributors and other partners (including channel partners and other suppliers), you acknowledge that this information may be shared between this group for commercial purposes. |
| Selected service providers and subcontractors who provide services or on our behalf |
We only provide these service providers with the personal data they need to deliver their services to us or on our behalf. |
| Governmental and/or regulatory authorities; parties and tribunals in litigation |
|
| Marketing and other business partners | Where you consent to the sharing of your personal information with us by one of our marketing or business partners (for instance, if you attend an event co-sponsored by Rockwell Automation and agree to share your information with Rockwell Automation in addition to our co-sponsor) |
In all instances that we share personal data with the third parties mentioned above, who process your personal data on our behalf (personal data processor), we take commercially reasonable steps to implement contractual safeguards that:
- Impose obligations on the third parties (and their subcontractors) to protect your personal data and keep it secure and confidential;
- Prevent the third parties (and their subcontractors) from collecting, using, or disclosing your personal data for any purpose other than to perform such functions for us or on our behalf and in accordance with applicable privacy laws and our instructions;
- Prohibit the third parties (and their subcontractors) from keeping this information longer than is needed; and
- Require the third parties to report to us within a reasonable period of time any data breach incident leading to the accidental or unlawful theft, loss, disclosure of, or access to personal data.
We also may offer certain services where you can post information on a Site, which will then be available to other visitors of the Site. Examples are discussion forums and comments on blogs. When you post, basic information identifying you as the poster will be made available to other visitors together with your posted information. This information includes your name or alias, and, where relevant, may include other information such as your country, the name of the company or organization you work with, and any other information that you provide. We are not responsible in any respect for the personal data and other information you may choose to submit thereon. We do not verify the information that is posted and cannot be held liable for any inaccurate, incomplete, unauthorized, illegal, and/or inappropriate postings. We may also display statistical, reputational, and other similar information, for example the number of forum posts you have posted or how useful other visitors have rated your posts. For details, please see the help pages for each service.
Aggregating and/or Anonymizing Information
The information we collect can help improve our offerings. Therefore, in order to use the data without identifying you or any other user of the Sites or Products and Services, we will sometimes “aggregate”, “pseudonymize” and/or “anonymize” personal data we receive. Aggregated, pseudonymized or anonymized personal data does not personally identify you or any other User, but it still provides information that can be useful in analyzing and assessing our offerings, such as performing statistical analysis and administration, analyzing of trends, tailoring products and services to customer needs, assessing risk, and analyzing the costs and charges of our products, services, and solutions.
Our Use of Cookies and Similar Technologies to Collect Information from You
What are Cookies?
A cookie is a small text file that is downloaded to your computer’s hard drive or stored in your web browser’s memory when you visit a website, including our Sites. Cookies help us understand which information and business interests you may have. Cookies also help us improve the performance of our Sites and your experience using them by, for instance, allowing us to remember your preference settings and to track trends and patterns in how visitors navigate our Sites.
What Cookies or Similar Technologies Do We Use?
Our Sites, like many other websites, use several types of cookies:
- “first party” cookies, which are those that our Sites place with your web browser;
- “third party” cookies, which are those that other third parties’ websites have placed;
- “session” cookies, which are used during the time you are visiting one of our Sites and expire when you close your web browser;
- “persistent” or “permanent” cookies, which remain stored in your web browser even after you have closed the browser and allow us to remember your preferences or actions from your previous visits to our Sites; and
- “pixels,” “web beacons,” “scripts,” “trackers,” and other similar technologies, which act similarly to cookies.
We use these different types of cookies for various purposes, which generally fall into four categories:
| Strictly Necessary Cookies | These cookies enable you to move around our Sites and use its features. These cookies do not gather information about you or remember where you have been when you are browsing our Sites. |
| Analytical Cookies | These cookies collect information about how you and other visitors use our Sites, such as how they get to our Sites, how often they visit, and which parts of the Sites they use. We use this information to improve the capabilities of our Sites and ensure that it meets all users’ needs |
| Functionality Cookies | These cookies allow us to store information about the choices you make when you visit our Site and deliver more enhanced personalized content. For example, functionality cookies show when you are logged in to our website and help us remember your user preferences. |
| Targeting Cookies | These cookies collect information about you that is used to deliver advertisements that are more relevant to you and your interests. |
Our Sites, Products and Services, and emails may also contain small, clear graphic images known as “web beacons” or “pixels”— either alone or in conjunction with cookies—to compile information about visitors’ and contacts’ usage. Web beacons/pixels are clear electronic images that can recognize certain types of information on your computer, such as cookies, when you view a website or open a marketing email. Information collected using these technologies may be associated with your e-mail address or account.
Our Sites, Products and Services, and emails may also include “widgets” which are interactive mini-programs that run on websites and other resources to provide specific services from another company (for example, links to bookmarked sites), along with buttons or other tools that link to other companies' services (for example, a “like" button or third-party map). The widget, button, or tool may collect and automatically send personal data—such as your e-mail address, browser information, or IP Address—to a third party. Cookies may also be set or used by the widgets, buttons, or tools to enable them to function properly or for other purposes, which may include advertising. Information collected or used by a widget, button, or tool, including cookie settings and preferences, is governed by the privacy policy of the company that created it.
How Can You Set or Change Your Cookies Preferences?
On our Sites, you can configure which cookies your browser shares with us.
The “help” feature on most browsers will tell you how to stop your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie and how to disable cookies altogether. You can also disable or delete similar data used by browser add-ons, such as Flash cookies, by changing the add-on settings or visiting the website of its manufacturer. For more information about cookies, please visit: www.allaboutcookies.org. You may be able to stop certain targeted advertising by taking the steps described at https://optout.networkadvertising.org/?c=1 or http://optout.aboutads.info/. Some of the most common methods of targeting rely on technologies from Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, which you may be able to configure at the following websites:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=ads
- Google: https://www.google.com/settings/ads/anonymous
- Bing: https://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/resources/policies/personalized-ads
You may also deactivate cookies in commonly used browsers. See instructions in these links:
For information about making choices with regard to digital advertising, please visit:
- In the USA: Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA)
- In Europe: European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA)
- In Canada: Ad Choices: Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada (DAAC) / Choix de Pub: l'Alliance de la publicité numérique du Canada (DAAC).
We utilize Google Analytics to understand how visitors are using our Site. You may opt out of Google Analytics here: Google Analytics Opt-out Link.
Direct Marketing
As noted above, we may wish to provide you with information about existing and new products, services, solutions, about webinars, seminars, trade fairs, and other events, and about promotions and offers, which may be of interest to you. We may also invite you to take part in market research or request feedback on our products, services, and solutions. This communication may occur by email or telephone (telemarketing).
We will obtain your consent for direct marketing through opt-in where we are required to do so in accordance with applicable laws and will keep track of your consent(s).
We will ensure that any direct marketing or market research that you receive or are contacted about by e-mail will provide a simple means for you to withdraw from such further e-mail communication. For example, we may provide you with an ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails, or an email address where you can send an opt out request. You can also change your preferences at any time by visiting our PLEX Unsubscribe Center.
In the event you unsubscribe or change your communication preferences, we would not necessarily remove all your personal data from our database(s) but would instead note and respect your changed direct marketing preferences. If you, instead, would like us to remove all your personal data from our database(s), you can send a request to privacy@ra.rockwell.com.
Obtaining Your Consent for Communications
You may gain a lot of information about our products, services, and solutions without having to provide any personal data. However, for certain services, information, and events we may require or request certain personal data. By giving us that information, you enable us to provide you with the applicable services, information, or events, and you also agree that we can use the information you provide for the other purposes described in this Policy or described specifically for the requested service, information, or event. When we collect this information, we will seek to provide you with a link to this Policy and the opportunity to configure your communication preferences within our Unsubscribe Center.
We will request, where required by applicable laws, that you grant your explicit consent for our online, electronic direct marketing activities, and for the use of our cookies. Where required, we will request that you grant your explicit consent for us to collect and use your persona data as explained in this Policy.
Such consent will be requested within the web form or hardcopy form used to collect your personal data and/or provided to you to confirm your registrations or preferences (for example, for offline activities, such as trade fairs, seminars, and other events).
In certain cases, we may also ask you to confirm your consent through a link in a follow-up email (a process called “double opt-in”).
When you choose or adjust your preferences in the Unsubscribe Center, you will be considered to have opted-in and to have given your explicit consent for the selected communication channels and choices and for the further collection and use of your personal data in accordance with this Policy. You may visit the Unsubscribe Center at any time to withdraw your consent or to otherwise change your preferences: PLEX Unsubscribe Center.
Information Security and Cross-Border Transfers
We have adopted reasonable, risk-based technical and organizational measures (or “TOMS”), which seek to protect your personal data against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. You can view our TOMS at: https://www.rockwellautomation.com/en-us/company/about-us/legal-notices/technical-and-organizational-measures.html.
Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee the security of any transmission of personal data over the Internet, via email or other electronic communication. We also cannot guarantee the security of different methods of electronic storage. Electronic communications such as via email are not secure unless they have been appropriately encrypted. While we strive to protect such information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information transmitted or exchanged between us. You therefore accept the inherent security implications of dealing online and through email. You acknowledge and agree that your personal data may be accessible to law enforcement and governmental agencies in such jurisdictions under lawful access or court order.
Given the nature of our business, the information you provide to us may be stored in and transferred to countries that offer varied levels of data protection. Often, the personal data we use under this Policy is on cloud applications and servers, which may be located around the globe. We may use and store personal data that we hold about you in any country in which we maintain offices.
Transfers of personal data from the European Economic Area (EEA) to our facilities in the USA are covered by intercompany data transfer agreements meeting applicable EU privacy law. In addition, when your personal data is shared by us with or transferred by or to third parties outside of the EEA, where required, with these third parties we generally enter into data processing agreements and/or Standard Contractual Clauses meeting applicable EU privacy laws.
Retention
We retain your personal data in our active systems as long as you have accessed or used our Sites and services or have interacted with us online or offline over the past twelve months, and as long as we may need the information for the purposes described in this Policy. Beyond this period, we archive your personal data in a secure environment or delete it.
If you don’t log on to one of our Sites for at least twelve or more months, you hereby agree that we may permanently delete your accounts and all the data associated with it.
We may retain and use your information for longer periods as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, to resolve disputes, and/or to execute and enforce our agreements.
Links to Other Websites
Our Sites may contain links to other websites. We are not responsible for the content, terms of service, security, and/or privacy practices of these other websites. Your access and use of such links or websites remains solely at your own risk. You should be aware of this when you leave our Sites and we encourage you to read the privacy statements on other websites you visit.
Your Rights as a Data Subject
Under some privacy laws, you may have certain rights in relation to the personal data we hold about you. These rights may include rights of:
| Access | enabling you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you where we are the data controller and to check that we are lawfully processing it. |
| Rectification | enabling you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new information you provide to us. |
| Erasure, Deletion or to be Forgotten | enabling you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it, where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing, where we may have processed your information unlawfully, or where we are required to delete or remove your personal data to comply with local law. |
| Restriction | enabling you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the information’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the information is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the information even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your information but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it. |
| Portability | enabling you to request that we provide you or a third party you have chosen with a copy of your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format (noting, however, that this right applies only to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you). |
Some of our Sites (for example, those Sites where you can register an account) allow you to see the personal data we hold about you, to amend and correct this information, and to deactivate your registration yourself.
You can also exercise your rights, as applicable, by emailing our Privacy Office at privacy@ra.rockwell.com. We do our best to respond to legitimate requests within thirty (30) days and will contact you if we need additional information to process your request.
In the event of a reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings), we expect that any and all information that we have will be among the assets transferred to the relevant third party, including the Personal Data provided to us by visitors and users of the Channels.
Additional Location-Specific Disclosures
Disclosures for California Residents
The California Consumer Privacy Act requires businesses to disclose whether they sell personal data. As a business covered by the CCPA, we do not sell personal data. We may share personal data with third parties or allow them to collect personal data from our Sites or Products and Services if those third parties are authorized service providers or business partners who have agreed to our contractual limitations as to their retention, use, and disclosure of such personal data.
California law requires that we detail the categories of personal data that we share or disclose for certain “business purposes,” such as disclosures to service providers that assist us with securing our services or marketing our products. We disclose the following categories of personal data for our business purposes:
- Identifiers;
- Commercial information;
- Internet activity information;
- Financial information;
- Professional and employment-related information;
- Education information; and
- Inferences drawn from any of the above information categories.
California law grants state residents certain rights, including the rights to access specific types of personal data, to learn how we process personal data, to request deletion of personal data, and not to be denied goods or services for exercising these rights.
If you are a California resident under the age of 18 and have registered for an account with us, you may ask us to remove content or information that you have posted to our Sites. Please note that your request does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information, because, for example, some of your content may have been reposted by another user.
For information on how to exercise your rights, please refer to section “Your Rights as a Data Subject” above. If you are an authorized agent wishing to exercise rights on behalf of a California resident, please contact us using the information in the “Contact Us” section above and provide us with a copy of the consumer’s written authorization designating you as their agent.
We may need to verify your identity and place of residence before completing your rights request.
Disclosures for Canadian Residents
Where you have provided your consent to the collection, use, and transfer of your personal information, you may have the legal right to withdraw your consent under certain circumstances. To withdraw your consent, if applicable, contact us at privacy@ra.rockwell.com. Please note that if you withdraw your consent we may not be able to provide you with a particular product or service. We will explain the impact to you at the time to help you with your decision.
Contact Us
If you have questions regarding this Policy or our handling of your personal data, please contact our Privacy Office, which you can reach at privacy@ra.rockwell.com or by writing to:
Rockwell Automation Privacy Office
1201 South Second St., E-6E18
Milwaukee, WI 53204 USA
Changes to this Policy
As technology, business purposes, and the laws governing the handling of personal data continue to evolve, we will update or change this Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the last updated notice at the bottom of the Policy. If we determine the changes are material, we may also provide a more prominent notice on this page or elsewhere our corporate website. Regularly reviewing this page ensures that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we will share it with other parties.
REVISION HISTORY
| Rev. | Date of revision | Summarize revision made |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 04/26/2024 | Updated language throughout to update and harmonize with acquisitions’ external privacy & cookie policies. |