Perceptron announces the sale of its Forest Products Business Unit

Citation

(2002), "Perceptron announces the sale of its Forest Products Business Unit", Sensor Review, Vol. 22 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.2002.08722cab.001

Perceptron announces the sale of its Forest Products Business Unit

Perceptron announces the sale of its Forest Products Business Unit

Perceptron, Inc. has announced the sale of its Forest Products Business Unit (FPBU) to US Natural Resources, Inc. (USNR), headquartered in Woodland, Washington. USNR has acquired substantially all the assets and intellectual property of the division for approximately $5 million. Perceptron has also entered into a long-term supply agreement with USNR to sell its sophisticated TriCam and LASAR sensors for forest products applications.

The sale will allow Perceptron to refocus and strengthen its expanding automotive businesses, and to dedicate an increased emphasis on its growing and diverse technology components businesses.

The acquisition of Perceptron's FPBU places USNR in a preeminent strategic position in the forest products marketplace with an unparalleled breadth and depth of mill-wide solutions available to its customers spanning most aspects of mill operations. USNR also will now be able to provide a higher level of customer support and service than any other competitor in the industry.

Alfred A. Pease, chairman and chief executive officer of Perceptron, commented: "The sale of our Forest Products Business Unit is of enormous mutual benefit to both companies. For Perceptron, it strengthens our balance sheet and allows us to focus our efforts in the industrial areas where we excel. Our technology components business has generated considerable excitement in a number of industrial segments, and this sale will provide us the opportunity to accelerate its market development."

Mr Pease continued: "Our FPBU is a very strategic acquisition for USNR. It directly complements their business, filling out their product offerings, giving their company access to new and unique technologies, and providing them with the best complete mill optimization solution suite in the industry. The long-term sensor supply relationship is highly synergistic to both organizations and keeps both companies invested in each other's success."

George Van Hoomissen, CEO of USNR, added: "Perceptron has done an outstanding job in assembling a talented team of forest industry experts and in developing state-of-the-art products which our industry needs. We expect those assets to be tremendously beneficial in the future, both to USNR and to our customers."

Perceptron produces information-based process improvement solutions for industry as well as technology components for non-contact measurement and inspection applications. Automotive and manufacturing companies throughout the world rely on Perceptron's process management solutions to help them improve quality, shorten product launch times and reduce overall manufacturing costs.

Headquartered in Plymouth, MI, Perceptron has approximately 240 employees worldwide, with facilities in the USA, Canada, Germany, Slovakia, Spain, The Netherlands, France, Brazil and Japan. For more information, please visit http://www.perceptron.com/