All righty. Up next we have Vishay Precision Group, traded on the NYSE under ticker VPG. On behalf of the company, we have Bill Clancy, Chief Financial Officer, and Steve Cantor, Senior Director of Investor Relations.
Thank you. I'm Steve Cantor. It's great to be here. We've been doing these Three Part Advisors IDEAS Conference for the last couple of years and have really found them to be quite an effective venue to meet with investors. We definitely appreciate the opportunity to be here today and tell you about VPG. First, before I do, I do want to remind everybody that we will be making forward-looking statements, and you of course, should read our filings very carefully to understand the risks to those statements. This is an exciting time for VPG. We're targeting larger and faster-growing opportunities that are emerging, such as humanoid robots, that are really requiring new levels of sensing technology. These potential opportunities are being driven by major technology trends, such as what's called Physical AI. I'll talk a little bit more about that in a few minutes.
We've also been making some fundamental changes to our organization and our strategy, which we believe will accelerate our growth and really put us in a position to capture more of these opportunities as they emerge, and also to scale effectively. As we invest in these changes, we are continuing to be very disciplined with our financial focus, and certainly as we continue to look for inorganic growth opportunities. At our core, VPG is a sensor and precision measurement technology company, and what we do for our customers is really focus on the highest performing niches, the most premium solutions that relate to what we do for their needs.
Even though as we address, which I'll show in a minute, a broad array of markets, it's really focusing on providing the kind of high-value solution that really makes our customers' products and their processes safer, smarter, and more productive. Our products are often at the front end of what's called the data value stream, and that's the process in which real world data is acquired and translated into a form that can then be processed and analyzed. For applications, especially those where safety is an issue or which are mission-critical, our products, of course, play an important and critical part. While you may not see VPG in your daily life, you probably are exposed to it in ways that you don't even imagine.
First, let me walk you through some of our recent highlights from Q1, which was another strong quarter of revenue and order growth. Orders were particularly strong. They reached $102 million, which was the third highest in our history. This represented growth of 26% sequentially and resulted in a book-to-bill of 1.21. Our order growth was driven by our sensor segment, which grew 29% from fourth quarter to the highest level it's been in 15 quarters. It really reflected what we're seeing in parts of our business that are being driven by AI investments and applications in semiconductor equipment, data center, fiber optics equipment, and in our avionics, military, and space segment. We continue to see progress in the emerging humanoid robot market.
We started working with a fourth customer. We're preparing for a potential ramp here in the second half as our initial customer moves from pre-production to early production volumes. We also, in the first quarter, launched a new updated target model, which reflects the potential for higher organic growth, driven by these emerging, faster-growing markets, supported by the recent organizational changes which I mentioned, which really put us in a position, we believe, to capture not only the opportunities in front of us, but additional ones as they present themselves. Given the targeted cost reductions and efficiencies, we also believe we can deliver substantial flow-through to the EBITDA. Together, we think these elements form a really strong foundation for the next phase of VPG and growth. I mentioned we address a broad array of end markets. You can see this on this slide.
Really, we see that as one of the strengths of our company, the diversity of markets that we can serve. Our end markets span traditional applications, which you see on the right-hand side of the slide, which includes industrial type applications, including steel manufacturing and agricultural and construction equipment. On the other side, on the left-hand side of the slide, we are addressing emerging growth applications including semiconductor test and avionics. Across these categories, we generally hold the number one or number two position in our specific niches, which speaks to the trust customers place in our technology. This balance across traditional and emerging applications, we believe, creates a resilience in our business, which is very important. We operate in three business segments: sensors, weighing solutions, and measurement systems. Each of these segments serves a distinct set of customers, but they share a common theme.
They address applications where precision is essential. Across these areas, our value proposition is really built around a deep engineering expertise and the ability to customize and tailor our technologies to very specific requirements. Indeed, that engineer-to-engineering selling process is an important part of our company strategy. Let me touch just for a moment on a few of these emerging applications, or stronger growth applications. The first is humanoid robotics, which is clearly a very fast-moving area. We're supplying a number of sensors that are helping developers really solve fundamental engineering challenges around the stability and dexterity of these new robots. In semiconductors, our precision resistors are essential for ensuring consistent and accurate results in the testing of semiconductor chips, a need which only is increasing as AI drives more complex chips and boards and other systems.
In fiber optics, we are seeing an increased demand for our components because they help improve the stability of tunable laser sources used in data centers and telecom applications. If you roll that up, a key theme that we think is driving the opportunity set for VPG is really what's being called Physical AI, which is essentially AI interacting with the real world through robotics and autonomous systems. These systems really are going to require highly accurate, real-time data in order for those systems to make safe and reliable decisions. That's really the role our sensors are playing. Certainly today in non-AI systems, that's what our sensors do. As these applications scale, it's the sensing layer that becomes even more important, more critical, and that's where we're positioned.
We think the world is on the cusp of a fundamental revolution that will change a broad array of industries, including manufacturing and logistics, with the introduction of these autonomous systems. Jensen Huang from NVIDIA likes to talk about Physical AI, and he's often said that the next wave of AI is not going to come from LLMs. It's going to come from the application of AI in these real-world settings, where they're really driving a move from automation to autonomy. It's an exciting trend for VPG long term. More nearer term is within that Physical AI world is the area of humanoid robots. We're currently working with four humanoid robot developers, two of which are among the leading developers in the world and which are well along in their development process.
Also we added, in the last couple quarters, two additional customers, which are startup developers, which have some interesting approaches to their development projects. Since we've been working with these four developers, most specifically the two first ones I mentioned, we've generated $6 million of revenue just from prototypes over the past two years, and that is very unusual. We've never seen that in our business, and it really speaks to the aggressive nature of the development of these robots and also the amount of capital that is being put and deployed to build these things and get them out in the field. In customer number one, we're selling what are called torque sensors.
These are a strain gauge-based solution that are used in the joints of the robot to give it its sense of stability and to be able to adjust to different environmental conditions or forces. We think there's, in the current design, about 20-30 of our sensors modules per bot. As I mentioned, we expect this customer to move to production volume this year in the second half. In customer number two, we're using the same base component, a strain gauge, to develop what's called a tactile sensor that gives this robot its sense of human-like touch and feel. We believe that, of course, longer term, the importance of having a premium solution such as ours is going to help the safety and reliability of these robots, especially as these robots are deployed to work alongside or interact with humans.
We also, as I mentioned, introduced a new three-year target model. This shows a very clear path, we believe, to faster organic growth and even greater cash generation than previously. We're now targeting 8%-10% compounded annual organic revenue growth over the next three years, which is an increase from the previous target of around 6% organic growth. Importantly, we expect the sensors and measurement systems business to perform at or above that range, which is really driven by a number of these high-value, high-growth, secular growth opportunities that I mentioned. From a profitability perspective, we're targeting gross margins of 46.5%, operating margins of 14.5%-15.5%, and EBITDA margins of 18.5%-20.5%. At the higher end of the model, we see the potential for an approximately 50% flow through to the EBITDA line on incremental revenue.
We believe this highlights the operating leverage that's built into our company and our company's model. Maybe drilling down a little bit deeper into that, there are really two primary drivers behind this revenue growth or the view that we can achieve an accelerated organic growth. First, it's the attractive secular growth markets that I mentioned, that are being driven by advancements in automation, AI, that are requiring greater precision, reliability, and accuracy. I mentioned a few of these. Second, an important driver is derived from the organization changes that we made, which are really transforming our sales and marketing and business development model into a much more integrated cross-company approach supported by enhanced processes, IT platforms, and execution discipline. One way to think about it is, VPG has always had the best mousetrap, the best product in its category.
In many ways, we didn't have to do a lot of marketing. Customers came to us. Now, as we see these larger opportunities emerge, we need to obviously adjust and invest in our people, processes, and systems to really go after them in a different way in order for us to capture our share of those opportunities. The other piece of the organization changes and investments are really around a new organization under a Chief Operating Officer, which is a new position we created. Under that organization, we now have a plan to deliver more than $20 million of cost reductions and efficiency improvements over the next three years.
These improvements or these initiatives are really focusing on creating a structurally more competitive cost base, not just for short-term margin gains, but also to enable us to be more price competitive to go after and successfully capture these new opportunities. Our programs include ongoing manufacturing footprint optimization, the use of increased automation within our manufacturing environments, of course, achieving procurement efficiencies across our global supply chain. Importantly, these actions also support our growth by improving our execution, shortening our lead times, and enabling efficient scaling as demand increases. Some of these opportunities, as you can imagine, could be quite large. If we put everything together, the long-term thesis for VPG is very exciting. We're aligned with major technology and industrial trends, automation, AI, advanced materials, semiconductor innovation. We're investing to build a stronger organization and a more efficient operating platform.
We're broadening our opportunity set through disciplined business development. From our perspective, the company is entering a period where our capabilities and the market needs are increasingly converging. With that, Bill Clancy, our Chief Financial Officer, will be happy to take any questions. Bill, you want to step up?
Are any of your end markets not growing significantly? It seems like you're kind of perfectly positioned right now for the next several years.
The question is, are any of VPG's markets not growing currently? I would say, if you go back to the slide I showed, which was the pie chart showing our market segments, you have half of that which are, I would say, more of the traditional industrial-focused markets like construction equipment, precision ag, what we do in industrial weighing. Those, I would say, are mixed trends, as you would see certainly from our customers' perspectives. We think that those markets, which may be sector cyclical or economic macro cyclical, will improve over time. Really what's driving the shorter-term growth is what I showed on the left-hand side, which are some of these more tech-driven markets.
Can I follow up?
Absolutely.
Humanoid robots, when do you think they'll start being really seen in factories in the U.S. for use in, or other uses?
The question is, when do we anticipate the world will see humanoid robots deployed in real-world settings actually delivering value?
Yeah, from that perspective, obviously we've been dealing with the top two customers for over two years. The anticipation is probably moving into pre-production sometime in the third quarter, maybe in the hundreds of bots per week. Also with a goal of eventually, by the end of the year, it could move into the thousands of bots per week. We're at the mercy of the customer. We at VPG are more than ready and willing to go, and we are prepared. Truly, it's at the customer's demand more than us.
What we could also say, just from our work in this particular application and market segment, is you probably have maybe 10 to 12 leading humanoid developers in the world. About half or more are in Asia. What we can see just from the customers we're working with, there is a race, and I would actually call it a sprint, to get these robots built in volume so that they can be deployed. Certainly, I talked about the pace of innovation, the number of iterations that we have had with our current customers, the amount of capital that's being deployed. I think we'll start to see these things fairly soon, within the next six months, 6-12 months. Then we'll scale from there.
The world will know a lot more once these things are deployed in terms of the pace of the full deployment that would follow. I think we're at the beginning of it. Yes.
You talked earlier about the work that you're seeing in the sensor business and the AI investments, data center spendings, and all the fancy things that's going on. As you look out into the transformation that's taking place, either in the network or in the data center, in scaling out, scaling across, is that an opportunity for you in your sensor business, or you would have to look at other components in that space?
As I described, we do have a play in that. It's a very kind of niche play within the Co-packaged optics transmission systems. Obviously, we're looking at other areas that we could play. You're talking about the infrastructure build for data centers that the hyperscalers are involved with. I would say the bigger opportunity for us, the ones that we're most excited about, is sort of the next phase, when you start to see AI, as I mentioned, being really deployed in real-world applications to deliver value. Essentially, turning automated systems now that you might see in a factory or a logistics operation, or even any kind of environment where it's automated, but you still need a human to check a gauge and push a button to something that is truly autonomous, where you don't need to calibrate.
It can actually predict when the system needs to be maintained and maybe even do the maintenance itself. These are maybe a little bit further out, but we think that it's coming, and that's where the sensing data and especially the premium performance sensors that we provide, we think add a lot of value.
Could you talk about the supply side market dynamics? Are you a single-source supplier to those humanoid companies, and/or is there an East and West split in our supply?
The question is, are we single sourced or are there going to be multiple sources in the humanoid market for our products, and what's the split versus sort of Asian versus U.S. and Europe?
From that perspective, we've been working with the, I would say, the two customers for the last two years. Even though we don't think we're the sole supplier, we're definitely the leading supplier. We feel that when it comes time for pre-production, that we would roughly have the majority or the bigger portion of the size of what we're producing for the two customers. I think we've mentioned the presentation, there are 12 companies throughout the world. I think six of the biggest, largest ones are in Asia, which at this time we do not work with. It's mainly been the ones that are in the U.S. That's been our primary focus at the moment. There's two big ones, and there's also, we're working with two startup companies from a humanoid perspective.
One question with that third. Oh, the follow-up question was, looking back at your projections with this new avenue and onboarding of the, maybe in third quarter, fourth quarter, these two large humanoid companies, you would think your revenue may be higher than 8%-10%. Is that kind of conservative? You're waiting to find out when these come on board, or how are you looking out for your revenue growth rates going forward?
Yeah, it's a very good question. The question was, obviously, with the humanoids coming on board, potentially third, fourth quarter, could our 8%-10% be relatively conservative? To answer that question, I would say yes. At the time when we did our model, we had to make certain assumptions. This is where it's such a fluid working relationship with the first two customers. We're working on their pace. We're waiting for them. There is a very good sense that if this does go to 1,000 bots per week, we're hoping for that, then definitely the 8%-10% would be conservative in nature. You are correct. Yep
Just mainland China percentage of sales.
The percentage of sales that we currently sell into China today, relatively small, less than 5%.
Yeah.
Yes.
Within China, do you have manufacturing?
We do have a small manufacturing facility in China just to facilitate the local Chinese market. Other than that, it's relatively small for us.
Thank you.
You're welcome. Yes, sir.
In terms of the sensor, do you manufacture a specific type of sensor, like thermistor?
No. The question is what type of sensor do we make? Yeah. Yeah. Our specialization really is in a sensor that's called a strain gauge, which is a form of sensor that can measure weight and force and torque. It's probably the most precise technology for that purpose, and also we have, over years, developed some proprietary design as well as materials that we use to make that sensor, which give it its performance quality, so its ability to perform reliably, consistently, precisely over time and under all kinds of environmental conditions and changes in conditions. That's really the key differentiator. There are many other types of sensors that can measure weight and force, as you probably know.
Generally, they do have trade-offs in terms of the kinds of performance parameters that I just mentioned. Great. With no other questions, again, we really appreciate the opportunity to be here today and tell you about VPG, and we look forward to meeting you at future conferences. Thank you.