Wireless solutions provider ID Systems Inc reports "substantial revenue contributions from channel partners", including industrial truck original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their dealers.
ID Systems says materials handling equipment developer and manufacturer Raymond Corp of Greene, New York, for example, accounted for 11% of ID Systems' revenues for the first quarter ended 31 March.
ID Systems lost USD2.6 million on product and service sales of USD8.0 million for the recent quarter versus a loss of USD1.6 million on sales of USD9.8 million for the comparable 2012 quarter.
The company says it entered into a master supplier agreement with a major tyre manufacturer and received purchase orders valued at about USD830,000 calling for ID Systems to deploy its PowerFleet wireless vehicle management system (VMS) on fleets of industrial trucks at three of the tyre maker's US production plants. The unidentified tyre manufacturer operates more than 150 plants worldwide.
"The selection of our PowerFleet system reflects a commitment to implement best practices for workplace safety and, at the same time, optimise material handling productivity," says Jeffrey Jagid, ID Systems chairman and CEO. "We are especially gratified that we displaced a competitor to win this business."
Walgreen Co of Deerfield, Illinois, an ID Systems customer since 2003, is systematically upgrading to the current generation of PowerFleet VMS on hundreds of materials handling vehicles at more than a dozen distribution centres in the US.
The upgrade includes implementation of ID Systems' set of enterprise analytics software tools to help optimise industrial vehicle performance across Walgreen's distribution network.
"Walgreen is a long-time customer that has established our wireless VMS technology as a best practice for safety, cost reduction, and productivity optimisation," says Ken Ehrman, ID Systems' president. The latest generation of PowerFleet "incorporates many new capabilities for vehicle access control, safety checklist automation, and intelligent impact management".
The new analytics platform is designed "to help streamline enterprise material handling operations and generate a greater return on investment from corporate assets", Ehrman notes.
In another business development, ID Systems says that an unidentified large transportation services company awarded a three-year contract for ID's VeriWise-brand track and trace system on approximately 1,000 cargo-carrying assets.
Woodcliff Lake-based ID Systems has subsidiaries in Texas, Germany and the United Kingdom.