Perceptronics : Firm Wins Major Job From Army
Perceptronics announced Monday that it has received a $57.8-million contract from the Army to step up its development of simulators that would help several hundred troops at a time learn to use tanks, armored vehicles and helicopters.
The contract, scheduled for completion in July, 1989, is expected to dramatically increase sales at the Woodland Hills-based company. Its revenue was $15.7 million for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1985, and $21.1 million for the nine-month period ended Dec. 31.
“We hope it’s going to lead to all kinds of opportunities in training and simulation systems,” said Gershon Weltman, Perceptronics’ chief executive.
Under the contract, Perceptronics will design fiberglass simulators. The four-person units, to be operated in semi-trailer trucks, will be used at Ft. Knox, Ky., Ft. Benning, Ga., and an undetermined facility in West Germany.
Hundreds of Units
Perceptronics has been developing similar equipment for two years, said Robert Jacobs, senior vice president for the company. He said two prototypes are scheduled to be delivered in May, and eight more by the end of the summer. The new contract is much larger, however, calling for development of hundreds of units.
Perceptronics, which employs about half of its 225 workers in Woodland Hills, said the contract would prompt the hiring of 10 to 12 additional engineers and an undetermined number of production workers.
The company’s products include a line of table-top tank gunnery trainers, which are video games that help gunners learn to destroy tanks. The devices are less sophisticated than the combat vehicle simulators and are used mostly in barracks recreation rooms.
Perceptronics also disclosed that it recently suffered a setback in its table-top gunnery business. The company lost a major Army contract for the equipment to Educational Computer Corp., a small Florida company.
‘Pitched a Low Ball’
“They pitched a low ball,” Weltman said. Educational Computer Corp.’s winning bid was for $14.8 million, about half the price quoted by Perceptronics and General Electric, another bidder.
Primarily a defense-industry development firm over its 16 years in business, Perceptronics has tried to expand and boost profits in recent years by selling products derived from its research.
Most of the company’s work is based on what is known as human engineering, the relationship between people and mechanical devices.
The company’s founders, Weltman and President Amos Freedy, both have doctorates in the field and met while studying at UCLA.
For the fiscal year ended March 31, 1985, Perceptronics had a profit of $345,821. It made $500,993 over the nine months ended Dec. 31.
