Litton Industries Automated Assembly Lines |
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When Charles Litton started Litton Industries, he based it around a variety of innovative technologies that made it very easy for him to mass-produce critical radio vacuum tubes, and later magnetrons for defense systems for the Allied forces in World War II. The other great leader of Litton Industries, Tex Thornton, was renowned for his genius at automating tasks and making things more efficient; he and others with the same expertise worked for Ford Motor Company to develop a modern assembly line for the automotive industry before he ever thought about buying out Litton Industries. Because of these inherent expertises in Litton Industries, it was only natural that their assembly line efficiencies would be copied by other businesses, and that they would become an important part of Litton Industries business services arm. In 1991, Litton Industries acquired a company called Intermec, which included a number of solutions for industry efficiencies. In particular, Intermec had developed one of the first bar code symbologies, Code 39, and held over 145 patents for radio frequency identification technology. These technologies together have revolutionized inventory procedures over the last two decades; in particular, Code 39 has become the worlds most widely used bar code symbology system. Between the Intermec technologies and Littons already-robust automated assembly systems, Litton Industries gained one of the most efficient and innovative all-around manufacturing, inventory, and assembly systems. But Intermec brought much more: battery technology critical for portable wireless electronics like laptop computers, the first computerized cash register, and an early version of Bluetooth technology. All these businesses were spun off in 1994 when Litton Industries made the decision to split its military and its commercial businesses, forming the new company Western Atlas. Only three years later, Western Atlas had doubled its revenues, and spun off the section of its company containing Intermec and other automated assembly technologies into a company called UNOVA. Today, UNOVAs focuses include many high-tech efficiency innovations, primarily wired and wireless data collection and mobile computing systems and services. Its wholly-owned subsidiary Intermec has recently developed the worlds first fuel-cell powered mobile computer, among other things. Intermec is currently being traded independently on the stock market, which could portend yet another company splitting away from a company originally started by Litton Industries. Whatever its business and investment future, however, it is certain that UNOVA and Intermac will be at the forefront of mobile technology developments for the foreseeable future. |
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