Acquisition boosts LXE’s vehicle-mount computer offerings

LXE’s parent company has purchased Akerstroms Trux, a Swedish supplier of vehicle-mount computers for warehouses and ports.

By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 2/11/2008

Automatic data capture supplier LXE is increasing its presence in the forklift-mount computer market. LXE’s parent company, EMS Technologies, announced today it has acquired Swedish company Akerstroms Trux, a major supplier of vehicle-mount computers in northern Europe.

According to the companies, Akerstroms Trux brings to LXE a new, market-ready Windows XP-based product line targeted at customers running advanced wireless applications in demanding warehousing and production environments.

“The addition of the Trux product line instantly strengthens our vehicle-mounted thick client offering.” says Jim Childress, president of LXE. “In the next few months, we will focus on fully integrating the Trux capabilities into our organization, as we look to maximize Akerstrom Trux’s significant sales channels in the Nordic region, Europe and the United States.”

Akerstroms Trux president Erik Lindquist has been appointed manager of LXE Scandinavia. “We recognize LXE is a market leader,” says Lindquist. “We can now leverage LXE’s global sales and support channels to service our customers. Together, we can take a broader range of products to a larger set of customers. We see only benefits from this acquisition.”

LXE ranks 12^th in Modern’s most recent ranking of suppliers of automatic data capture equipment. Venture Development Corp. reports that LXE is the worldwide market leader for vehicle-mount computers in distribution environments.

This deal continues a trend of mergers and acquisitions in the automatic data capture market.