From SCDigest's OnTarget e-Magazine
Jan. 19, 2011
Supply Chain News: Major Deal in Auto ID Industry, as Intermec Announces Plans to Buy Voice Leader Vocollect
Deal Shows Rising Place of Voice in Distribution and other Markets, Gives Intermec a Boost in DC Applications
SCDigest Editorial Staff
Big news in the wireless and auto ID industry today as Intermec announced its plans to acquire voice technology leader Vocollect for some $190 million.
Vocollect, which has been privately held by the Boston-based equity firm Riverside Partners, is headquartered in the Pittsburgh area. Intermec, a publicly traded company headquartered in Everett, WA, is considered one of the pioneering firms in bar coding, wireless systems for distribution, manufacturing and other markets, route accounting terminals and other systems, and one of the industry's largest equipment and system providers.
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| One auto ID and wireless systems reseller, who asked not to be named, thought the deal would also help Intermec in the distribution marketplace. |
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What Do You Say?
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Intermec had sales revenue of somewhere north of $700 million in 2010, while Vocollect is said to have had sales last year of about $120 million. The all cash deal of $190 million represents about 1.6 times Vocollect's prior year revenues, indicating the deal is a strategic one for Intermec and/or Vocollect has been enjoying strong growth.
Founded in 1987, Vocollect saw relatively slow growth for years but has benefited in the past decade from the rapid rise of voice technology in distribution center applications, especially for order picking processes. Voice has enjoyed fast adoption of late, starting first in the grocery and food service sectors but now expanding to many other markets. The "hands free" nature of voice technology, which can enhance productivity versus traditional RF terminals and bar code scanning, are what attract many companies to the technology.
The company was named as one of Inc. Magazine’s fastest growing companies in both 2004 and 2005.
The Vocollect web site says it had attained more than 120 new customers in 2010 by June of last year, and that it has well more than 300,000 workers using its terminals worldwide.
Under the agreement, Vocollect CEO and president Joe Pajer will lead the Intermec Voice Solutions business and report to Intermec CEO Patrick Byrne. Pajer was named Vocollect CEO in 2010.
"This acquisition is a major step for Intermec in building a software-centric solutions business in the warehouse, the largest AIDC deployment environment," said Byrne in a statement. "For many years, Vocollect has built the premier set of voice-centric warehouse solutions and has achieved a strong global market leading position. The adoption of voice in the warehouse is developing rapidly and we expect this technology to provide significant long-term growth opportunities for Intermec. When combined with Intermec's industry leading products and customer relationships, the acquisition will establish Intermec as a clear market leader in warehouse solutions and give us the talent and technology base for creating unique new market focused solutions in the AIDC industry."
Impact on Users
For now at least, it appears Intermec will maintain the Vocollect name, the most recognized in the voice industry, though as with all such deals, that could change at any time.
(RFID and AIDC Story Continued Below)
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Since its acquisition of Norand more than a decade ago, Intermec has also been a leader in route accounting/direct store delivery systems, an area that Vocollect had started to target for its voice solutions.
