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Founded in 1947, Technitrol was the creation of four graduates of the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Engineering. Technitrol's young founders participated in the development of the ENIAC, the world's first electronic computer.
Innovation has been the hallmark at Technitrol from the beginning. The company has the distinction of holding the first patent for a magnetic drive, the dominant storage medium for today's digital computers. It is believed that Technitrol's was the most widely licensed memory patent during the 1960s and '70s, accounting for 90 percent of the business under license, according to one account. Licensees included IBM, Sperry Rand, Burroughs, RCA and General Electric.
Technitrol's first manufactured products were pulse transformers, which the company designed and built for the emerging computer industry. Five decades later, Technitrol is the world's leading supplier of these and many other products that support advancing communication, automotive, medical, navigation, consumer and electrical technologies.
Achieving Leadership
Starting in the 1970s, Technitrol embarked on a program that would expand the company's product lines and markets. Over the years, Technitrol has been extremely successful in buying companies and operations at attractive prices, consolidating them into existing businesses, and tuning them up for market leadership. In fact, management's goal is to achieve a number-one or number-two position in each market served.
In Technitrol's Electronic Components Group, the acquisitions of Fil-Mag in 1994 and Pulse Engineering in 1995 gave Technitrol the leading position in the high-growth enterprise networking magnetics market, plus beachheads in the telecommunications and power conversion markets. They also drove annual revenues in the segment from less than $10 million in 1993 to above $140 million by 1996 and nearly $180 million in 1997. In 1996, Technitrol's magnetic electronic components business was unified under a single name - Pulse.
Two additional acquisitions - of the Nortel Networks magnetic components business in 1997 and FEE Technology, S.A. in 1998 - made Pulse a global leader in telecommunications and power conversion magnetics. Meanwhile, the 1998 acquisition of Valor Electronics (GTI Corporation) solidified Pulse's market leadership in magnetic components for enterprise networking equipment. In 2001, we established a presence in the consumer-driven high-speed Internet market with the acquisition of Excelsus Technologies, a market-leading producer of digital subscriber line (DSL) microfilters and accessories for the customer's premises.
Recent Acquisition Activities
Beginning in 2005, Technitrol’s acquisition program would take its Electronic Components Group well beyond wirewound components. Expansion efforts have focused on businesses serving high-growth markets with products that are high in engineering content, mission-critical to the function of end-user devices and, by virtue of short life cycles, less subject to competitive inroads and pricing pressures.
Our acquisition of LK Products in 2005 made us a world-leading supplier of antennas for mobile phones and other wireless terminal equipment. In early 2006, we acquired ERA Group, a producer of coils for automotive ignition systems and control devices, giving us a very strong position in the rapidly growing European automotive electronics market. Later that year, we supplemented our antenna business with the acquisition of Larsen Antennas, which offers an array of antennas and other products for “non-cellular” applications such as WiFi and WiMax infrastructure, automotive telematics, RFID and public safety.
These new businesses enable us to offer existing customers a broader line of products and extend our presence into attractive adjacent markets. Without exception, each can easily leverage our core competencies in high-volume, low-cost engineering and production as well as our sales, marketing, supply chain management and customer care infrastructure across North America, the Far East and Europe.
Technitrol's Electrical Contact Products Group has similar qualifications. We are the world's leading producer of contacts and contact assemblies for electrical equipment found in buildings, vehicles, machines, appliances, commercial controls and electric power equipment. Technitrol entered this business in 1972 with the acquisition of Advanced Metallurgy Incorporated. After acquiring similar operations from GTE, Engelhard and Doduco, we became the market leader in North America. Global leadership came in 1996 with the acquisition of Doduco GmbH. Doduco added state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities in Germany and Spain, plus a worldwide reputation for quality and innovation. In 1998, Technitrol united all of its electrical businesses under the global brand AMI Doduco. In 1999, we acquired a manufacturing operation in the People's Republic of China to serve the needs of multinational customers expanding their manufacturing presence in the Pacific Rim, as well as customers serving local Asian markets.
Sustaining Growth in the 21st Century
Technitrol continues to explore new market opportunities well in advance of customer demand. Its research and development in the Electronic Components Group is focused on positioning the company to capture growth opportunities in wireless and wireline communication, high-speed networking, customer premises broadband equipment, wireless communications, Internet telephony, consumer electronics, automotive electronics and military/aerospace technology.
In Electrical Contact Products, growth opportunities have emerged from the electrification of vast, developing areas of the world and the upgrading of infrastructure in developed countries to meet demand for greater efficiency and reliability. Meanwhile, vehicles and appliances have been incorporating more convenience and safety features, resulting in higher demand for electrical relays and controls that rely on our contact parts and subassemblies.
More than a half-century ago, Technitrol was founded by visionary minds that foresaw the information revolution. Today, the company's dynamic management is expanding that vision through strategic acquisitions, increasing globalization and aggressive new product development that will keep Technitrol at the forefront of precision component technologies for years to come. |
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