GE Equipment Services announced Thursday, Jan. 11, that it has acquired the business of Terion Inc., a provider of two-way wireless data communication and information solutions for the transportation industry, accelerating its development of productivity solutions for the transport of goods through global supply chains.
GE Equipment Services’ Asset Intelligence division and Terion will coordinate operations but continue to operate separately over the next several months while the two businesses develop and implement integration plans. Terion is privately held, and terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Equipment Services — owner and lessor of one of the world’s largest fleets of trucks, over-the-road trailers, railcars and sea containers — will integrate the Terion businesses with Asset Intelligence, through which Equipment Services offers solutions for tracking transportation assets and monitoring the condition of those assets and the shipments they carry. Equipment Services also is involved in developing “predictive maintenance” solutions for mobile assets by combining the capabilities of Asset Intelligence with its Trailer Fleet Services and Rail Services divisions.
Terion was one of the first companies to market with a solution developed from the ground up for the untethered trailer-tracking market. Equipment Services and Terion combined operate more than 100,000 tracking and monitoring units on over-the-road trailers in the United States and Europe. Their customers for these services include Wal-Mart, the U.S. Postal Service, J.B. Hunt Transport Services and Knight Transportation, among others.
“Our business is evolving from simply providing financing for transportation assets to providing broader solutions that help shippers and transporters make their supply chains more productive,” says Deborah Reif, Equipment Services president and chief executive officer. “Terion’s technology, people and vision complement ours beautifully, and will help us increase our current capabilities for over-the-road trailers and accelerate our development of intelligence-based services for other modes of transport.”
Thomas Konditi, president and CEO of GE’s Asset Intelligence division, says, “This is a strategic decision for Equipment Services. It allows us to offer our customers an unmatched portfolio of solutions and also positions us as the undisputed technology leader in the asset tracking space. We admire Terion’s technology expertise and solutions-focused DNA, and this complements our approach of developing strategic capabilities to serve global supply chains.”
“We are delighted to join forces with GE,” says Ken Cranston, president and CEO of Terion. “Together we can advance the science of fleet management, improve the speed and timeliness of transportation and make a significant difference to alleviate the current pain points our customers feel.”
