3M to acquire FSTech from Federal Signal Corporation

3M has entered into an agreement to acquire the business of Federal Signal Technologies Group (FSTech) from Federal Signal Corporation for a purchase price of US$110 million in cash, subject to post-closing adjustments. 3M says the fast-growing $3 billion electronic tolling industry is projected to grow at a rate greater than 12 per cent per year as government agencies increasingly rely on tolling to fund roadway infrastructure, construction and maintenance. The company says FSTech’s solutions for electroni
June 22, 2012 Read time: 3 mins
4080 3M has entered into an agreement to acquire the business of 811 Federal Signal Technologies Group (FSTech) from 38 Federal Signal Corporation for a purchase price of US$110 million in cash, subject to post-closing adjustments.

3M says the fast-growing $3 billion electronic tolling industry is projected to grow at a rate greater than 12 per cent per year as government agencies increasingly rely on tolling to fund roadway infrastructure, construction and maintenance. The company says FSTech’s solutions for electronic tolling, vehicle identification and classification, toll management software, licence plate recognition, and parking lot fare collection systems, combined with 3M’s traffic management solutions, will advance the tolling and parking industry, enabling seamless fare collection wherever motorists drive.

“Electronic tolling and parking are key adjacencies to 3M’s offering for motor vehicle systems and services,” said John Houle, vice president and general manager, 3M Traffic Safety Systems Division. “FSTech will complement 3M’s offerings for the Department of Transportation, the Department of Motor Vehicles, toll authorities, and law enforcement agencies, and expand on our core traffic products for motor vehicles and roadways, and licence plate validation materials.”

FSTech’s technologies come from its five business units: 36 Idris - vehicle detection and classification solution; 37 PIPS Technology - fixed and mobile automatic license plate reading hardware and software; Federal APD - parking management and fare collection solutions; 495 Sirit - active and passive RFID transponders and readers; and 2073 VESystems - toll account management and violation processing software and services.

“3M’s expertise and innovation in the traffic industry make it a natural choice to continue to build this important business for our customers and for drivers everywhere,” said Dan McGurran, director, 3M Motor Vehicle Systems and Services.

"The sale of our FSTech business to 3M presents the best opportunity to maximise FSTech's value for Federal Signal shareholders, and complements 3M's global portfolio," said Dennis Martin, Federal Signal's president and chief executive officer. "I believe this transaction will benefit Federal Signal in two important ways: first, it will enable us to transform our balance sheet, and second, it will allow us to bring more focus to driving profitable growth in our core businesses of industrial and municipal equipment and safety and security solutions. We plan to intensify our commitment to new product development and excellence in customer service, and to expand certain businesses in response to the increasing global market demand for improved security and warning systems."

Charging, Tolling & RUC Enforcement Parking & Access Control Detection, Monitoring & Machine Vision Classification & Data Collection

Related Content

  • Machine vision’s image of road management’s future
    June 11, 2015
    Q-Free’s Marco Sinnema looks at how the commoditisation of high-quality vision-based solutions is widening their application. Machine vision technology’s entry into the ITS/traffic management sector has followed a classic top-down path. This is unsurprising given the extremely demanding performance criteria which are the standard in its market of origin, manufacturing processing. Very high image qualities combined with frame rates often in the hundreds per second range resulted in vision systems with capabi
    Read More
  • US DOT issues federal guidance for improving motor vehicle cyber security
    October 25, 2016
    The US Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is taking a proactive safety approach to protect vehicles from malicious cyber-attacks and unauthorised access by releasing proposed guidance for improving motor vehicle cyber security. The proposed cyber security guidance focuses on layered solutions to ensure vehicle systems are designed to take appropriate and safe actions, even when an attack is successful. The guidance recommends risk-based prioritised ident
    Read More
  • Virginia presses ahead with tunnels upgrade despite tolls challenge
    July 30, 2013
    David Crawford reviews current developments and legal/financial issues facing tunnel management in Virginia. This autumn the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) in the US will defend its plan to introduce tolling on the Elizabeth River tunnels linking the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth in the State’s Hampton Roads area. The tolling, which is due to start from February 2014, will be examined by the State’s Supreme Court later this year. The anticipated toll income, along with loans and bonds, is
    Read More
  • Gentex and TransCore partner on vehicle-integrated, nationwide tolling solution
    January 5, 2016
    Gentex Corporation and TransCore are teaming up to provide auto manufacturers with a vehicle-integrated tolling solution that enables motorists to drive on all US toll roads without a traditional toll tag on the windshield. Currently more than 75 per cent of new car registrations are in states with toll roads with over 50 million drivers accessing these roads each year. The two companies have signed an exclusive agreement to integrate TransCore's universal toll module (UTM) technology into Gentex's elect
    Read More

Highlighted Content