Littleton Manufacturer Sends Plenty Of Positive Signals
To an outside observer, the thought process of a company considering buying another can seem daunting.
But there’s a way to keep it simple and Jeff Gilling and the rest of the investment group that bought Diamond Antenna and Microwave in 1994 demonstrate that: Make one thing.
In the case of Diamond, that one thing is a microwave rotary joint. And these days, Diamond is the largest independent manufacturer of microwave rotary joints in the country. But when Gilling his team of investors bought Diamond, the company was making several different components including antennas and adaptors.
But the rotary joints are what attracted Gilling, who had a background in small manufacturing. The rotary joint is a highly technical product, technical enough to present “barriers to entry” for any potential competition. Also, the product gives Diamond a spot in a niche market that totals only about $100 million worldwide.
You’ve seen Diamond’s rotary joints at work. They have two applications: radar systems and satellite communications. The most obvious place to find a microwave rotary joint at work is in the spinning, orange antennas along an airport runway. The microwave rotary joint is what allows components like those antennas to rotate continuously while sending or receiving a signal.
Rotating satellite dishes or antennas can’t use cable. It would simply get twisted and break. So, a rotary joint allows a coaxial cable to be cut while maintaining a microwave signal between communications components and their base.
It’s Simple, Really
Diamond makes what it calls “simple” rotary joints that can handle up to three channels, as well as units that can handle up to 12 channels for use in air traffic control. The joints can also house other components such as lights, switches and even heaters.
Now, a company that concentrates on making essentially a single product may not strike you as anything but lean. However, Diamond recently underwent some pretty serious lean manufacturing training at the hands of the folks at the Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership. Gilling calls them “weapons of mass production.”
The company employs 49 people and has the capability to make virtually everything for its products at its Littleton plant nestled in a quiet industrial area just off Route 2.
Still, “we realized we needed to get better systems in place in order to grow,” Gilling said. “In this region, we’ll never compete with some other low-cost regions or low-cost countries, but we have to keep leading in development. You can stay there and become a lifestyle company for the owner or you can put the systems and the management in place to continue to grow.”
Diamond has been in business since 1956. When Gilling and his partners bought it in 1994, it was very weak in the sales and marketing arena and lost money that year. From Winchester, Gilling moved operations to Lowell in 1996 and to Littleton about 5 years ago and it’s been growing since 1995.
Got news for our Industrial Strength column? Contact Managing Editor Matthew L. Brown at mbrown@wbjournal.com.
Watch as Diamond Antenna & Microwave CEO Jeff Gilling explains how a microwave rotary joint works.
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