First

By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 8/1/2000

Psion buys Teklogix

A major acquisition has been announced between British handheld terminal maker Psion Plc. (London) and wireless data communication systems supplier Teklogix International Inc. (Mississaugua, ON, Canada). Under the agreement, Psion will acquire Teklogix for an estimated $544 million (Canadian), to be paid in a mix of cash and Psion shares.

Ian McElroy will manage the new Teklogix/Psion Enterprise division from Canada, after the acquisition is complete, which is expected by the end of the third quarter of this year.

Long live conveyor safety

With 50 years experience in materials handling and forensic engineering, George A. Schultz provides a readable, useful reference in his guide to the safe design of conveyors and conveying systems titled, "Conveyor Safety: Safety in the Design and Operation of Material Handling Systems. "

Beyond being an excellent introduction to common sense conveyor safety, it details OSHA standards and features multiple real-life scenarios that drive home the value of conveyor safety.

B2B Internet usage to double in a year

Telephones and faxes are still the standard method of conducting business transactions in the $1 trillion industrial supplies industry today, but that's about to quickly change. A new survey, by Harris Interactive, finds that only 34% of transactions occur over the Internet today. Within 12 months, that number will increase to 67% and up to 83% by 2004.

Survey participants say the main reasons for using the Internet are convenience, speed, and the ability to make price/product comparisons online.

Enterprise applications software to hit $78 billion

The enterprise applications software market will grow from $27 billion in 1999 to $78 billion by 2004, predicts AMR Research, Inc. A compound annual growth rate of 24% during that 5 year period will largely be due to strategic extension areas: supply chain, e-business relationship management (ERM), and e-commerce applications.

According to AMR Research, revenue share in each enterprise application market segment from 1999 to 2004 is: e-commerce applications from 6% to 20%, ERM applications from 16% to 26%, SCM applications from 14% to 26%, and ERP applications from 64% to 28%.

3PL CEOs make customer service their top priority

According to a recent survey of CEOs of third party logistics (3PL) providers, over 67% chose "improving customer service" as their top priority for improvement in 2000. The survey, by Tompkins Associates, illustrates the CEOs' top business challenges for the upcoming months.

Enhanced supply chain visibility, improving operational efficiency, and employing e-commerce solutions are the CEOs' next highest priorities, all coming at 43.5%. The fifth highest priority, selected by over 41% of respondents, is "responding to competitive influences."