Astronics Corporation is an American
aerospace
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astr ...
electronics
The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...
corporation founded in 1968, headquartered in
East Aurora, New York
East Aurora is a village in Erie County, New York, United States, southeast of Buffalo. It lies in the eastern half of the town of Aurora. The village population was 5,998 per the 2020 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metr ...
. It is traded on NASDAQ as . It is known for lighting and electronics integrations on military, commercial, and business aircraft and semiconductor test systems.
Company
Astronics was founded in 1968 by Thomas L. Robinson, Sr., formerly of the
Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory
Calspan Corporation is a science and technology company founded in 1943 as part of the Research Laboratory of the Curtiss-Wright Airplane Division at Buffalo, New York. Calspan consists of four primary operating units: Flight Research, Transportati ...
, to pursue commercial applications of
electroluminescence.
Robert Keane (founder of
Vistaprint
Vistaprint is a Dutch global, e-commerce company that produces physical and digital marketing products for small businesses. Vistaprint was one of the first businesses to offer its customers the capabilities of desktop publishing through the int ...
and CEO of
Cimpress
Cimpress plc is an American Irish-domiciled company that invests in and operates a wide variety of businesses that use mass customization to configure and produce small quantities of individually customized goods. Those products are sold to small ...
) owns approximately 20% of Astronics' Class B stock and is a chairman of the board since 2019. Robert Keane worked at Astronics before founding Vistaprint and is also the son of former Astronics CEO (1972-2002) and chairman (1974-2019) Kevin Keane, who died in 2019
In 2010, Lufthansa Technik AG sued the AES division of Astronics over patent infringement with AES's EmPower system. In 2015, the suit was ruled in Lufthansa's favor in a
Mannheim, Germany
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...
court. After appeals, Astronics was ordered to pay Lufthansa $3.2 million plus interest, which totalled $4.5 million at the end of 2019. A secondary suit from Lufthansa is expected to lead to a $16 million payment from Astronics. Lufthansa filed suits in UK, France, and USA; the USA lawsuit was dismissed.
In February 2016, the company approved a
stock buyback program and purchased 1.675 million shares by 2017. Another buyback occurred in Q3 2019, leading to 1.823 million shares being repurchased. A third buyback occurred in Q4 2019 and Q1 2020, leading to 310,000 shares being repurchased for $8.5 million.
In March 2020, the company had a $500 million revolving credit line, with $333 million loaned out of it.
During the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
in early 2020, Astronics wrote down $74 million, laid off 30% of employees, and froze wages. They also drew down an additional $150 million from their credit line.
Company brands and divisions include AES, AeroSat, Armstrong, ATS, Ballard, CCC, CSC, Diagnosys, DME, Freedom, LSI, Max-Viz, Peco, and PGA Electronic.
Boeing accounted for 13.6% of their 2019 sales (14.3% in 2018, 16.8% in 2017), and Panasonic Avionics accounted for 13% of sales in 2019 (14.4% in 2018, 19.1% in 2017).
Astronics' sales in 2019 were $772.7 million, compared to $803.2 million in 2018.
Acquisitions and Divestitures
* Diagnosys Test Systems, $7 million, 2019
* Freedom Communication Technologies, $22 million, 2019, land mobile radio test equipment
* Divested semiconductor
automatic test equipment division to
Advantest, $185 million, 2018
* Telefonix Inc. and
Product Development Technologies, $105 million, 2017
* Custom Control Concepts, 2017
Leadership history
; CEO
* Kevin Keane, 1972-2002 Chairman of the Board 2002-2019
* Peter Gundermann, 2003–present, Chairman of the board 2019–present Act
See also
*
Abbreviated Test Language for All Systems
*
Astronics Max-Viz
References
{{Reflist
Aerospace companies of the United States
American companies established in 1968