Bangalore, Sept 24: The US-based barcode scanner manufacturer PSC Inc has decided to focus on sales and marketing operating in Asia and particularly in India. To facilitate faster availability of its products in the region, the company has plans to set up an assembly unit in Bangalore in six months. However, a final decision to this effect is yet to be taken.The company has plans to diversify its operations into data collection devices and value-added systems in the near future. To this end, the company might rope in a few Indian and foreign companies on joint ventures.
However, PSC Inc vice-president sales (the Americas and Asia-Pacific) Cecil F Bowes told The Financial Express that the proposal was currently at the discussion level and decision would be taken only after a year.
On PSC's plans for India Bowes said, ``Asia has huge potential for barcoding systems. Our focus will be on the region and India in particular because US market is already flat, Latin Amercia has severe financial crunch. We also want to cash in on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) stipulation of barcoding.''
Bowes said currently over 50 per cent of PSC's revenue was generated outside US. The company's business in Chine would improve from the current year's turnover of $5 million to post $10 million in the next year, he added.
Commenting on Indian barcode scanner market, he said the country lacked awareness on the system and it was high time the governemnt conducted campaigs to popularise the importance and advantages of barcoding systems. Besides India, the company also would seriously look at markets including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Burma.
PSC Inc. is getting ready to launch a series of barcode scanners and other scanning products in the country in a month. The new products would include Imager2000, a multi-dimentional scanner available at the range of Rs 50,000 to Rs 55,000, PowerCell, a high-end scanner priced between Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000 and low-end products like QS-2000 CCT scanner and QS-1000 an auto scanner priced at Rs 8,000 and Rs 17,000 respectively.
PSC Inc manufatures barcode scanners and other scanning products for automatic identification and data collection (AIDC) markets at its facilites in US and Singapore. The company distributes its products through original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), resellers, distributors and systems integrators. Currently, the company has around 400 OEM customers, distributors and systems integrators to its products worldwide. In India, the company operates through four distributors including Essae Technologies Pvt Ltd.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.