Trimble Profile
Trimble Inc. (Trimble) is a leading technology solutions provider that enables office and mobile professionals to connect their workflows and asset lifecycles to drive a more productive, sustainable future. With a focus on the industries that feed, build, and move the world, the comprehensive depth and breadth of its solutions is transforming the way the world works, making it easier for Trimble customers to focus on what matters-getting the job done right.
The company innovates at the intersection of the digital and physical worlds with solutions that span the world's foundational industries including building, civil and infrastructure construction, geospatial, survey and mapping, agriculture, natural resources, utilities, transportation, and government.
The company exists to empower its customers: asset owners, general and specialty contractors, engineers and designers, surveyors, agricultural companies and farmers, energy and utility companies, trucking companies and drivers, as well as state, federal, and municipal governments.
The company's solutions provide customers with the ability to improve their work quality while being safe, efficient, and sustainable. More than that, its products enable reduced environmental impact in the company's markets, ranging from reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to improved water stewardship.
The company's advanced positioning and autonomous guidance capabilities enable increased precision with large equipment, such as agricultural tractors and construction bulldozers. The company offers integrated systems that track and manage fleets of vehicles, improve the driver experience, and provide real-time logistical analytics and insights back to the office. The company's connected reality capture systems enable the management of large amounts of geo-referenced information, and its software solutions connect all aspects of a fleet, a farm, or a lane, while its collaborative building information modeling (BIM) solutions are used throughout the design, build, and operation of the built environment.
The company focuses on integrating its software application and cloud capabilities to create vertically-focused, system-wide solutions that transform how work is done. The integration of sensors, software, hardware, and data in the company's portfolio gives it a unique ability to provide detailed insights for its customers to improve their specific workflows.
The company's strategy is centered on the concept of open industry clouds and underlying common data environments as the nucleus of its connected solutions, allowing all stakeholders to collaborate and make decisions based on the same information. In construction, the company connects teams across the design, build, and operational phases of a project. In agriculture, it continues to develop connected farm solutions to optimize operations for agricultural production and protection. Meanwhile, the company's connected supply chain solutions provide transportation companies and their drivers with tools to enhance fuel efficiency, safety, transparency, and sustainability throughout their connected fleets.
Connected software applications and cloud platform services are key elements of the company's solutions and account for a steadily increasing portion of its business. The company's software enhances a broad range of other products and systems to allow its customers to optimize their work toward targeted outcomes and improve their decision-making and productivity. Ranging from embedded, real-time firmware to software that integrates data with large-scale enterprise back-office systems, many of its solutions are extensible and can be tailored by users for customized business processes and workflows. Trimble software capabilities include extensive three-dimensional (3D) modeling, analysis, planning and design solutions, as well as a large suite of domain-specific software applications used across industries including construction, geospatial, agriculture, utilities, and transportation.
The company's software is sold as perpetual licenses, term licenses, or subscription services and can be provisioned for on-premise, and increasingly, hosted as Software as a Service (SaaS). The company is extending its capabilities to run in multi-cloud environments, while delivering its unique value via domain-specific workflows and lifecycle management in its target industries.
The company's global operations include major research, development, manufacturing, and logistics operations in the United States, the Netherlands, India, Germany, Finland, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Sweden.
Business Strategy
The key elements of the company's strategy are to execute on its Connect and Scale strategy; increase focus on software and services; focus on attractive markets with significant growth and profitability potential; domain knowledge and technological innovation that benefit a diverse customer base; geographic expansion with localization strategy; optimized go-to-market strategies to best access its markets; and acquire businesses that bring domain expertise, geographic presence, technology, products, and distribution capabilities that augment its portfolio and allow it to penetrate existing markets more effectively, or to establish a market beachhead.
Business Segments
Buildings and Infrastructure
The Buildings and Infrastructure segment primarily serves customers working in architecture, engineering, construction, design, asset management, operations, and maintenance. Within this segment, the company's most substantial product portfolios are focused on building and civil engineering construction, design, capital planning, and asset management.
Building Construction: The company's building construction portfolio of solutions for the residential, commercial, and industrial building industry spans the entire lifecycle of a building and is used by construction owners, architects, designers, general contractors, sub-contractors, and engineers. These solutions serve to improve productivity and to enhance data sharing and collaboration across different teams and stakeholders to help keep projects within quality targets. The suite of technologies and solutions the company provides to the building industry includes program management solutions for construction owners, including software for 3D conceptual design and modeling; BIM software that is used in design, engineering, and construction; enterprise resource planning, project management, and project collaboration for general contractors; and advanced integrated site layout and measurement systems, cost estimating, scheduling, and project controls solutions for contractors. The suite also includes applications for sub-contractors and construction trades, such as steel, concrete, and Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP); project coordination; and capital program planning and management. In addition, its Trimble Connect collaboration platform streamlines customer workflows and enables interoperability between Trimble's and other providers' solutions. These solutions for the building industry serve to automate, streamline, and transform work processes across the building construction industry. The company's solutions provide customer benefits such as reduced costs, reduced waste and re-work, increased worker safety and efficiencies, faster project completion times, improved information flow, better decision making, enhanced quality control, and multiple sustainability benefits for its customers.
During 2023, the company announced a number of new developments including new versions of its Tekla Structure software for improved user experience such as extended collaboration with BIM model data; new AI features in Sketchup such as AI-powered image search capabilities to access 3D models on 3D Warehouse, as well as generative AI utilizing text prompts to convert a SketchUp 3D model to a rendered image in seconds with SketchUp Diffusion; new MEP products including Fabrication Smart Tools for use with native Autodesk users; and AI functionality for Viewpoint Vista and Spectrum to assist users with injection of PDF invoices.
Civil Engineering Construction and Asset Management: The company's civil engineering and construction portfolio spans the lifecycle of civil infrastructure assets from feasibility and capital budgeting, to planning and design, to construction, through to long-term operation and maintenance. The company's solutions serve the key industry stakeholders, including the asset owners or clients, design engineers, consultants, contractors, sub-contractors, and suppliers. The company's technological suite is employed across the entire project lifecycle to improve productivity, reduce waste and re-work, including reduced carbon emissions, and enable more informed decision making through enhanced situational awareness, data flow, data-driven insights and decision support, and project collaboration. At the same time, the company's solutions can improve worker safety and reduce environmental impact. The company's suite of integrated solutions and technologies in this area includes field and office software for estimating and job cost management and optimized project design and visualization; software for 3D design and data sharing; systems to automatically guide and control construction equipment such as excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders, motor graders, and paving equipment; systems to monitor, track, and manage assets, equipment, and workers; and software to facilitate the management of the construction process and for sharing and communication of data in real time. Together, these solutions are designed to transform how work is done within the civil construction industry.
The civil construction market portfolio integrates data and information across the entire construction process and across mixed fleets. This includes data from site positioning and machine control systems, construction asset management equipment and services, and various software applications. Utilizing wireless and internet-based site communications infrastructure, its solutions include the ability to track and control equipment, deploy a 3D model to machines, track progress of work in real-time, and reduce re-work.
The company maintains a joint venture with Caterpillar, Caterpillar-Trimble Control Technologies (CTCT), to develop the next generation of advanced electronic guidance and control products for earth-moving machines. The joint venture develops machine control and guidance products that use site design information combined with accurate positioning technology to automatically control dozer blades and other machine tools. The company also maintains a joint venture with Hilti, which focuses on the joint development of measuring solutions for the building construction trades and the integration of data for construction management.
During 2023, the company announced a number of developments, including the introduction of Trimble Siteworks Machine Guidance Module, extending the capabilities of Trimble Siteworks Software from surveying and layout to support on-machine excavator guidance and operator assistance; completion of the first test of a fully autonomous soil compactor on a live jobsite, taking another important step on the path toward Trimble's autonomous vision; and release of the Trimble DA2 GNSS Smart Antenna for construction surveying as part of the Trimble Works Subscription program.
The company sells and distributes its products in the Building and Infrastructure segment through both a direct sales force and global networks of independent distributors with expertise and customer relationships in the respective markets, including SITECH Technology dealers, which serve the civil construction industry, and BuildingPoint dealers, which serve the building construction industry. The company also sells many of its software solutions through its own direct sales force, to asset owners and clients, contractors, sub-contractors, and consulting engineers.
Geospatial
The Geospatial segment primarily serves customers working in surveying, mapping, engineering, and government. Within this segment, the company's most substantial product portfolios are focused on surveying and geospatial and geographic information systems (GIS).
Surveying and Geospatial: Through the company's surveying product portfolio, professional surveyors and engineers provide services to the construction, engineering, mining, oil and gas, energy and utilities, government, and land management sectors. The company's survey solutions replace less productive conventional methods of surveying, mapping, 2D or 3D modeling, monitoring, measurement, reporting, and analysis. The company's suite of solutions includes field-based data collection systems and field software, real time communications systems, and back-office software for data processing, modeling, monitoring, reporting, and analysis. The company's field-based technologies are used in handheld, land mobile, and airborne applications and incorporate technologies such as mobile application software, high precision GNSS, robotic measurement systems, inertial positioning, 3D laser scanning, digital imaging, and optical or laser measurement. The company maintains a joint venture with Nikon, which focuses on the design and manufacture in Japan of surveying instruments including mechanical total stations and related products. The company's office-based products include software for planning, data processing and editing, quality control, 3D modeling, intelligent data analysis and feature extraction, deformation monitoring, project reporting, and data export. The company's customers in this area benefit from using its products including significantly improved productivity in both field and office activities, improved safety through non-contact measurement and detection of potentially dangerous ground or structure movement, and improved data flow that enables better decision making.
Geographic Information Systems: The company's GIS product line collects authoritative field data and integrates that data into GIS databases. The company's handheld data collection systems allow users to efficiently and accurately log positions and descriptive information about their assets, ensure the integrity and accuracy of GIS information, and ultimately enable better decision-making. Through a combination of wireless technologies and software solutions, fieldwork results are seamlessly delivered to back-office GIS systems, while mobile workers can access relevant GIS information remotely. This capability provides significant advantages to users, including improved productivity, accuracy, and access to information in the field.
During 2023, the company announced several new developments, including the scalable and configurable Trimble R580 GNSS Integrated Receiver that includes its industry-leading ProPoint engine; the newest addition to its scanning portfolio, the Trimble X9 3D laser scanning system; and the Trimble T10x model 2 tablet for survey and mapping professionals. Additionally, the company delivered multiple feature releases in its powerful Trimble Access field software, Trimble Business Center office software, Trimble 4D Control Monitoring software, as well as TerraFlex and TerraOffice enabling productivity gains through improved connectivity, simplicity, and efficiency enhancements for survey, mapping, and construction professionals.
The company sells and distributes its products in the Geospatial segment primarily through a global network of independent distribution partners.
Resources and Utilities
The Resources and Utilities segment primarily serves customers working in agriculture, forestry, and utilities. Within this segment, the company's most substantial product portfolio addresses the agriculture market, including its Trimble Ag and Positioning Services businesses.
The company's precision agriculture products and services consist of guidance and positioning systems, including autonomous steering systems, automated and variable-rate application and technology systems, and information management solutions that enable farmers and their partners to improve crop performance, profitability, and environmental quality. The company's precision agriculture solutions can assist farmers throughout every step of their farming process beginning with land preparation and continuing through the planting, nutrient, pest management, water management, and harvesting phases of a crop cycle. The company provides manual and automated navigation guidance for tractors and other farm equipment used in spraying, planting, cultivating, and harvesting applications. The benefits to the farmer include faster machine operation, higher yields, lower consumption of fuel and chemicals, lower carbon footprint, and improved soil health as compared to conventional equipment. In addition, the company provides solutions to automate application of pesticide and seeding. The company's water solutions help farmers minimize their water costs and distribute water more efficiently and include applications for leveling agricultural fields for irrigation and aligning drainage systems to better manage water flow in fields.
Software solutions that use data to enhance farm productivity are an increasing focus in the company's agriculture business. The company's agricultural software is used by farmers to help integrate all of the information on the farm, and is also used by advisors, suppliers, and purchasers to share information to help improve efficiencies.
For many of its end-market applications and customer needs, the positional accuracy that can be derived from GNSS satellite signals alone is insufficient. In these applications, higher levels of positional accuracy are required. For these situations, the company provides an augmentation service that improves the positional accuracy that is available to the customer; thereby, enabling higher levels of precision and automation in work processes that are conducted in the field. This service is provided by Trimble Positioning Services and is available in a variety of formats and accuracy levels, depending on the relevant application's specific needs. Trimble Positioning Services serves customers in a variety of end markets, including agriculture, construction, geospatial, and other markets, with a majority of its customers being in agriculture.
The company uses multiple distribution approaches to access the mixed fleet agricultural market including independent dealers and direct selling to enterprise accounts. The company's aftermarket solutions address both new equipment as well as equipment already in the field. In 2023, the following changes occurred in the Ag distribution channels as follows:
Transportation
The company's transportation solutions provide capabilities for the long-haul trucking and freight shipper markets to create a connected supply chain and integrate all forms of transportation, drivers, back-office management, shippers, and freight. The company provides enterprise and mobility solutions focused on business intelligence and data analytics, safety and regulatory compliance, navigation and routing, freight brokerage, supply chain visibility and final mile, and transportation management and fleet maintenance. Within this segment, the company's most substantial product portfolio addresses the truckload freight market.
In the transportation market, the company offers a suite of solutions that provides comprehensive fleet and transportation management systems, analytics, routing, mapping, reporting, and predictive modeling solutions to enable the transportation industry to achieve greater overall operational efficiency, fleet utilization, including greater fuel efficiency and reduced carbon emissions, and profitability while ensuring regulatory compliance. In addition to cloud-hosted solutions, the company also integrates its applications and services directly into the customer's IT infrastructure.
The mobility solutions encompass route management, safety and compliance, end-to-end vehicle management, video intelligence, and supply chain communications. The transportation management system serves as a central hub from which the core operations of transportation organizations are managed, data is stored and analyzed, and mission critical business processes are automated. The company's enterprise transportation management system automates business processes spanning the entire transportation lifecycle for shippers, carriers, and intermediaries, delivering visibility, control, and decision support for the intricate relationships and complex processes involved in the movement of freight. The company's products also provide truck routing, mileage, and mapping solutions, as well as a voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation solution.
During 2023, the company had a number of important developments, including the acquisition and integration of Transporeon, a leading European cloud-based transportation management software platform; the wide-scale launch of its new in-cab platform, Instinct, that improves the driver experience and can support both Trimble and third-party apps; and significant progress in integrating data and connecting workflows, from its own unique set of capabilities and a growing network of partners, and through the Trimble Transportation Cloud (TTC). Market facing solutions enabled by TTC include Connected Maintenance, Connected Locations, and Connected Workflows. The Transportation segment generally sells directly to end users and OEMs.
Seasonality of Business
Construction equipment revenue, within the company's Buildings and Infrastructure segment, historically has been higher in early spring. The company's agricultural equipment revenue, within its Resources and Utilities segment, has historically been the highest in the first quarter, followed by the second quarter (year ended December 29, 2023), reflecting buying in anticipation of the spring planting season in the Northern hemisphere. However, overall, as a company, the company is experiencing less seasonality as a result of diversification of its businesses across segments and the increased impact of software and subscription revenue.
Manufacturing
The company outsources the manufacturing of many of its hardware products to its key contract manufacturing partners that include Jabil and Benchmark Electronics Inc.
Intellectual Property
The company holds over 1,000 unique issued and enforceable patents covering key technology areas, including precision GNSS, optical and inertial positioning solutions, artificial intelligence and machine learning, IoT, cloud computing, laser scanning, 3D modeling, point cloud processing, augmented reality, and many others. The company's patent portfolio is continuously updated with new patent grants that emerge from its investments in research and development. The company actively manages the intellectual property used in the development, operations, and sales of its products and services. The company also owns numerous trademarks and service marks that contribute to the identity and recognition of Trimble and that of its global products and services.
History
The company was founded in 1978. It was incorporated in California in 1981. The company was formerly known as Trimble Navigation Limited and changed its name to Trimble Inc.; and changed its state of incorporation from the state of California to the state of Delaware in 2016.
