QSI is North American subsidiary of Beijer Electronics after acquisition

QSI Corporation, manufacturer of industrial human machine interface (HMI) and mobile data terminals based in Salt Lake City, UT, has become the North American subsidiary for Beijer Electronics, with Beijer's purchase of QSI, announced Oct. 22.

November 3, 2010

QSI Corporation, manufacturer of industrial human machine interface (HMI) and mobile data terminals based in Salt Lake City, UT, will become the North American subsidiary for Beijer Electronics, with Beijer’s purchase of QSI, announced Oct. 22 and discussed at Pack Expo 2010. Beijer Electronics [BELE] is a publicly traded company out of Malmo, Sweden, with offices in 16 countries. Beijer is known for HMI terminals and the iX Software platform. Terms of the transaction were not announced.

QSI Corp. will be known as Beijer Electronics Inc., and become the North American subsidiary of Beijer Electronics. The company will continue to offer its rugged line of terminals in the industrial and vehicle markets along with Beijer Electronics’ hardware and software.

Barry Hobbs, ceo of QSI Corp., looks forward to offering customers additional software and hardware products and services and likes the expanded distribution that Beijer Electronics offers.

With the transaction, Beijer Electronics gets a stronger local presence in North America, "a strategically important market for Beijer Electronics," said Magnus Ekerot, Beijer Electronics business area director of HMI products. Other advantages include "great potential with the extended product portfolio designed for demanding environments and for mobile applications,” Ekerot added.

James K. Elwell, co-founder and chairman of QSI Corp. stated, “After twenty-seven years growing QSI, it is very gratifying to be acquired by a fine international company such as Beijer Electronics. This is an exciting opportunity for me, QSI’s stockholders, and for the employees of QSI.” 

Beijer Electronics, which began in 1981, had sales of $160 million in 2009. The company is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm’s Small Cap list under the ticker BELE.

QSI Corp., established in 1983, manufacturers rugged operator interface and mobile data terminals (Treq) for industrial OEMs and commercial vehicle systems integrators. QSI’s human machine interface and mobile data terminal products include character and graphic terminals that are programmable, customizable, CE Certified and NEMA 4/12/13 rated, including custom and semi-custom terminals that can withstand high levels of shock, vibration, extreme temperatures, humidity and other environmental parameters. QSI offers Qlarity Software, a free object-based programming language, with its HMI terminals. Manufacturing for QSI has been in the USA.

In 2007, Beijer Electronics acquired Westermo.

In 2005, Beijer electronics acquires Taiwanese HMI maker Hitech.

www.beijerelectronics.com

www.qsicorp.com

See Control Engineering research on HMIs and operator interfaces.

– Edited by Mark T. Hoske, CFE Media, www.cfemedia.com