Stock Offering Planned by Wonderware : Finance: Maker of software for controlling automated machines seeks to raise up to $17.1 million, to be used for acquisitions.

Wonderware Corp., which creates software to help factory workers control automated machines, said Thursday that it plans to sell 2 million shares of common stock in an effort to raise up to $17.1 million for acquisitions.

Wonderware, which raised $32 million in its initial public offering in July, said it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission and is awaiting approval of its public offering.

Under the proposed stock sale, the company will offer 500,000 new shares and certain existing shareholders will sell 1.5 million shares. The company will also give underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 300,000 additional shares.

At an expected offering price of $21.375 a share, selling stockholders and the company would raise $49 million, of which $17.1 million would go to the company. Wonderware stock closed at $22.25 a share, up 25 cents on volume of 31,500 shares on Thursday.

Among the selling shareholders is Dennis Morin, founder and chief executive, who plans to sell 67,000 shares. He still would own 5.3% of the 11.4 million shares outstanding.

Morin, a former engineer, created the company to make factory control equipment as easy to use as office computers. The software is based on Microsoft Corp.’s popular Windows environment, which uses graphics to make personal computers easier to use. Wonderware installed its first program in a Kal-Kan’s dog-food plant in Vernon in 1988.