If your background is military and you suddenly buy a commercial operation, you may not be comfortable. Many of Electromagnetic Sciences' products were classified and the company had to be secretive. With the LXE system, warehouse workers punch keys or scan bar codes to enter information into terminals that are roughly akin to hand-held palmtop computers. The terminals constantly communicate with central computers by means of radio waves. But it is among the most advanced because it receives and transmits information instantaneously.
Customers say the system gives warehouse workers the advantage of computer power wherever they go.
The LXE system, which was installed in 1985, cut labor costs by 15 percent, he said. The technology behind Pippin's system has come a long way since he founded Electromagnetic Sciences in 1968. In the mid-1970s, Electromagnetic Sciences sold a crude version of LXE's tracking system to the Washington, D.C., police department. It enabled officers to signal headquarters and report crimes without using the overworked voice radio system. But the units tended to drain batteries and were too bulky for officers to carry on the beat.