Several Orange County technology companies drummed up new business leads and met with key customers at the world’s only expo dedicated to onboard aerospace electronics.
“I’m looking for new customers,” F. Michael Amador, director of business development at APV Manufacturing and Engineering Co., told the Business Journal during Space Tech Expo 2014 at the Long Beach Convention Center.
The Buena Park-based company specializes in custom tools, fixtures and precision machining.
Diversified Technical Systems Inc. aimed to boost awareness at the three-day conference, which ended April 3. The Seal Beach-based company caters to the defense
industry with its line of data recorders and sensors.
More than 50,000 units of the company’s sensors that are embedded in soldiers’ helmets in battle zones monitor head-force trauma from improvised explosive devices and other events.
“We’re trying to reach out to a different audience,” sales engineer Huy Nguyen said.
The company recently moved into a 50,000-square-foot headquarters that houses about 60 employees and engineering, manufacturing, test labs, and sales and support.
Santa Ana-based Dynamic Fabrication Inc., which offers certified welding, machining and sheet metal, and custom fabrication, also hoped to gain exposure.
“You can’t hit a home run unless you come up to bat,” said Mike Kartsonis, president of the 33-year-old company that specializes in quick turnarounds and has several large aerospace companies as customers, including Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin.
“Staying diversified is the key,” he said.
Filling Windows Gap
The Microsoft store at South Coast Plaza has been busy fielding customers interested in its latest Windows smartphones, tablets, Xbox system and games but hasn’t heard concerns from Windows XP owners.
Microsoft maintenance support and security updates ended April 8 for Windows XP, the widely used business operating system.
“I haven’t had a lot of customers that are concerned about that,” store manager Michael Soto said during a recent visit.
The OC location, one of five in Southern California and 88 companywide, is offering Windows XP owners $100 toward a new Windows 8 device if they bring in their PC.
The store will also help customers migrate photos, documents, and other data to the new device and is offering buyers personal training and workshops on Windows 8, which is a more challenging operating system to use than previous versions.
Chipmaker Partnership
Jazz Semiconductor Inc.’s new joint venture with Japan-based Panasonic Corp. could lead to business opportunities for the Israeli chipmaker’s North American headquarters in Newport Beach.
The company, better known as TowerJazz, expects to see revenue jump by at least $400 million, eclipsing $1.2 billion annually.
Under the deal, Panasonic transferred manufacturing processes and equipment from three of its Japanese factories to TowerJazz, which will supply the conglomerate for at least five years, boosting its 8-inch wafer production by some 800,000 units annually.
TowerJazz has struggled to compete for business in Japan, and this partnership is expected to open doors in the key technology region, according to Senior Vice President Marco Racanelli, who runs the company’s aerospace and defense business from Newport Beach.
“Japanese customers like to have local support and a local presence, and prior to this initial investment we had very little of that,” he said. “We are building our customer base in Japan, and this is another large step we’re taking.”
