The newly minted chief executive of Yorba Linda-based Sabtech is changing the longtime defense industry supplier’s course—starting with its name.
Sabtech last month dropped the Sabtech Industries moniker, trimming its name to one word as part of an updated logo with a tagline of “Advanced Communications Systems” in smaller font.
The company develops software for the various communications systems it makes.
“Sabtech is really a software company that builds hardware to embed our software,” said Michael Carter, a former research engineer at the Naval Ocean Systems Center in San Diego and industry veteran who took the helm last month.
It has specialized in weaponry for warships, unmanned ground vehicles and aircraft, and missile-launch systems, among others, since 1985.
Carter said he sees budding opportunity for commercial applications of the company’s defense products, with factory automation and other industrial controls for the oil and gas sector, manufacturers and public safety agencies among its target markets.
The privately held company does not disclose financial data. It competes with a broad field of defense contractors of various sizes, including customers of its own, in some cases.
The Business Journal estimates Sabtech’s annual revenue at $50 million. It has about 40 employees, with most at headquarters, and others in offices near Washington, D.C., and in Virginia Beach, Va.
Its latest plans are based on the development of chip sets that would gather communication from hundreds of systems. The new products will require significantly smaller hardware and are designed to cut energy consumption by a third compared with the current standard, according to Carter.
“We see those unmet needs in the marketplace for us,” Carter said.
Sabtech has made its living solely in the defense industry until now. The company began by selling data and communications systems that have been used in the Navy’s Aegis advanced weapon system for decades, as well on warships of some 30 U.S. allies.
It expanded to aircraft and ground-based systems, missile-launch systems and unmanned drones.
OC Manufacturers
The company relies on OC’s base of smaller, specialized manufacturers for the bulk of its production. Its products have been tested to survive the harshest of environments and require no additional research and development dollars from the federal government—an increasingly important factor as the U.S. Defense Department considers budget cuts in the coming years.
And cutbacks by the Pentagon could work in Sabtech’s favor. It recently has seen growing demand to update communications systems for aging weapon systems.
The push for commercial markets remains central to the plans laid by Carter. He brought deep industry connections and a track record of growing sales at other companies when Sabtech founder and Chairman Rahim Sabadia decided to step down from the chief executive post.
Carter is a radio frequency engineer by training, and his prior experience in the private sector includes a stint as chief operating officer at Irvine-based Red Digital Cinema Camera and Corlund Electronics Corp. in Tustin, where he also served as president.
