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Limerick RFID firm launches US initiative
Limerick-based RFID developer Advanced Manufacturing Control Systems has moved into the US market and won three new clients in the past month.
AMCS specialises in waste management tracking solutions. Its system allows for individual bins to be tagged with a radio frequency chip. These chips can be scanned when a bin is emptied into a truck and weights collected per bin can be instantly recorded.
AMCS managing director Jimmy Martin said that one of the new contracts was with Recyclebank, a reward based recycling scheme operator that awards points to customers based on the amount of waste they leave for recycling, which can then be redeemed for vouchers from partnering firms such as Coca Cola, Kraft and Evian.
Recyclebank is based in New York and Philadelphia and has operations across the US.
Martin could not disclose the identity of the other two new customers due to commercial confidentiality clauses, but did say that both were traditional waste collectors who were using the system to gather information for billing purposes. One customer was operating more than 14,000 bin lorries, he said.
According to Martin, breaking into the US market wasn’t particularly difficult as some of its new clients had approached the company themselves. AMCS’s association with Recylebank was proving fruitful in terms of opening doors to other potential clients, he said.
He said that the new deals in the US would add between 30 and 40 per cent to the company’s revenues next year. Turnover for this year is on target to reach €6 million.
AMCS was founded in 2004 by Martin and fellow director Austin Ryan. To date, the firm has concentrated on growing into the Irish, British and Scandinavian markets.
Martin said the company had good market penetration in Ireland and counted local authorities such as Fingal County Council, South Dublin County Council, Kerry County Council, Cork County Council, and private operators such as Greenstar and Oxigen amongst its client base.
The firm moved into Scandinavia in April, where it has already acquired two clients, one being a €1.5 million deal in Norway. Martin said the move into the US was another step up for the firm, since it was a country where one operator could be running more trucks than the entire sector in Ireland.
Backers of the company include NCB Ventures, Shannon Development, the Mianach BES Fund, and Enterprise Ireland.
