Mitch Garner receives ZONTA M.A.T.E.S Award

Mitch Garner receives ZONTA M.A.T.E.S Award

Mitch Garner, President and CEO of Symetrics Industries was recognized with a M.A.T.E.S. (Men Acting Toward Equality of the Sexes) Award from the Zonta club of Melbourne. Representing the local Zonta club at the presentation were Doris Larson, Judy Walden-Bell and Sandy Michelson.  Mr. Garner was selected for providing a foundation of support and encouragement along with the resources necessary for women employees of Symetrics to do and be their very best every day. In addition, he participates in and supports community programs that annually recognize the accomplishments of women such as the Melbourne Regional Chamber of East Central Florida (formerly, Melbourne/Palm Bay Area Chamber of Commerce) Women of Excellence and the March of Dimes Women of Achievement awards.  He was nominated by two of Symetrics’ outstanding women leaders, Judy Moran, Business Manager and Executive Assistant and Courtney Culver, Manager of Contracts and Compliance.

Mitch’s leadership style provides positive reinforcement of the ZONTA philosophy. In managing Symetrics, he looks at ways for placing the right person in a job regardless of gender; as a result, several women hold key managerial positions within the company.  Mitch values the ideas, opinions and suggestions of all persons at Symetrics with his open door policy. He further empowers women to represent our company with participation in many organizations, community and charitable events, as well as marketing our products through tradeshows and face to face meetings with customers. 

The Zonta Club of Melbourne was chartered in 1983. The club serves the community through scholarships and service projects that serve Brevard County women; Human Trafficking Awareness, Joshua’s Closet/Job Link (provides clothes and shoes to Job Link graduates) and the Sue M. Pridmore Center for Homeless Women and Children to name a few. To learn more about our local Zonta club and their activities, visit www.zontaspacecoast.org.

Symetrics: Small Business Agility...Big Business Ability

U.S. Army Selects Symetrics to Design and Build Next Generation Airborne Data Modem

U.S. Army Selects Symetrics to Design and Build Next Generation Airborne Data Modem

Symetrics Industries announced today an award from the U.S. Army Aviation Missile Command (AMCOM) to design the next generation of the Improved Data Modems (IDM-304B) for installation on multiple Army aircraft.  The contract also allows the Army to order 1,500 of these new modems over the next six to seven years.  The total estimated value of the contract is expected to exceed $50M.

Symetrics President and CEO, Mitch Garner stated,“This contract award is significant for so many reasons.  First, it demonstrates the Army’s confidence in our ability to execute a long-term, high volume production effort.  Secondly, it shows that the Army believes in Symetrics’ ability to manage a major engineering effort of hardware, software, and systems engineering.  Finally, a contract of this size, complexity and purpose is a major victory for Symetrics as it is in line with one of our core business areas and provides a springboard for new growth and opportunity”.

The 304B program will require the addition of staff Garner said, which would be mainly engineering and program support.  In addition, the company will likely have to create additional workspace, and is considering an expansion of its NASA Boulevard campus.  Garner elaborated, “We believe that this program will transform our company, both from a tangible sense with the addition of more people and space, but also in an intangible manner in the way we are viewed as a small business who can provide excellence in both engineering and production of military airborne hardware”.

At the same time, Symetrics announced a follow-on order from the same agency for an additional 186 of the IDM-304 version to be installed on four Army aircraft; the Kiowa, Apache, Chinook and Blackhawk.  This order is to ensure that deliveries continue uninterrupted to those platforms while Symetrics performs on the new redesign effort.  That contract add-on was worth over $6M, and increases the total amount of IDM-304s Symetrics will deliver to the Army at over 700 units.

Symetrics: Small Business Agility...Big Business Ability

Symetrics to Provide Improved Data Modems for U.S. Air Force A-10 Aircraft

Symetrics to Provide Improved Data Modems for U.S. Air Force A-10 Aircraft

Symetrics Industries, LLC announced today a follow-on order from Lockheed Martin in Owego, NY, for additional Improved Data Modems (IDM) for Precision Engagement modification of the A-10 aircraft. Lockheed Martin is currently taking deliveries of the “mini-IDM” from Symetrics, and this new order, worth approximately $1 million, will complete the planned retrofit for the entire fleet of nearly 360 aircraft.

Rick Snyder, Senior VP, Advanced Programs, is very pleased that the mini-IDM will be on board the A-10 fleet. He said, “We are adding new technology like Variable Message Format Close Air Support (CAS) messages to a legacy platform, giving it a new, lethal capability. With this addition the A-10 will be able to receive portable graymap quality coordinates from a forward air controller and execute air strikes.” Installation of the mini-IDM into aircraft will be handled by Lockheed Martin.

The CAS mission is one of the most complex ones the Air Force undertakes. Targets are often mobile and time sensitive, and therefore present a limited window of opportunity. The mini-IDM greatly reduces the time from target identification to attack by using high speed digital messaging instead of voice communications. In one recent demonstration, a CAS mission was accomplished in 25 seconds with mini-IDM versus five minutes by voice. Cutting down “kill chain” ensures timely support of troops on the ground.

Snyder stated that the contract calls for deliveries to begin later in the year, and would continue into 2010. He believed that it would not require creation of any new jobs, and said, “This is really the production phase of the program, and will not require any increased engineering effort.”

Symetrics mini-IDM is a two-channel, small form factor avionics box that transmits data or imagery over the voice radios resident in the host aircraft. The mini-IDM is part of Symetrics’ “Family of IDM Products” that represent over 13 different form factors and installation on over 10 different U.S. military airborne platforms. Symetrics’ digital data links have enabled over 3,000 military aircraft to employ the ability to send digital data over the air.

Symetrics: Small Business Agility...Big Business Ability

Symetrics Industries Awarded $3.5 M Order for AN/ALE -47 Countermeasures Dispenser System

Symetrics Industries Awarded $3.5 M Order for AN/ALE -47 Countermeasures Dispenser System

Symetrics Industries, LLC today announced it has received a $3.5M order for the AN/ALE-47 Countermeasures Dispenser System (CMDS) from the U.S. Air Force.  This marks the twentieth delivery order placed against a five-year contract Symetrics won in November of 2006.  In the twenty-eight  months  since then, over 9,200 assemblies have been delivered on, or ahead of the contract schedule, with a total value of nearly $28M.

Ann Gill, Director of EW Programs, points to an excellent eight year relationship with the USAF.  She states, “at the Program Review held in February, the Warner Robins team told us they consider the Symetrics name to be synonymous with quality and outstanding on-time delivery. This order reinforces the confidence the government has in our ability to consistently exceed expectations by providing excellent service, in addition to delivering the highest quality product on-time and often early.” 

The AN/ALE-47 CMDS is an Electronic Warfare self-protection suite that provides combat aircrews with enhanced survivability against surface-to-air and air-to-air missile threats in all environments, by dispensing chaff or flares. It can be integrated on virtually any aircraft type. The system has been dubbed the “Guardian Angel” by those in the military that use it.

Symetrics has delivered thousands of components to the Department of Defense, the US State Department, and numerous domestic and international commercial customers as the U.S. Government's prime supplier of the system since 2001.  Symetrics also manufactures support equipment for the system, including the AN/ALM-295 Countermeasures Dispenser Test Set, and the AN/USQ-131B Memory Loader Verifier Set (MLVS), utilized for loading mission data software.

Symetrics Industries, LLC is an AS9100 and ISO-9001-2000 registered company and has been designing, manufacturing, testing and delivering low cost electronic assemblies and sophisticated EW and Communication systems of the highest quality to the DoD for over 45 years. Web: www.symetrics.com E-mail: symetrics@symetrics.com Telephone: 321/254-1500.

Symetrics: Small Business Agility...Big Business Ability

Symetrics Industries, LLC awarded follow-on contract with U.S. Navy

Symetrics Industries, LLC awarded follow-on contract with U.S. Navy

Symetrics Industries, LLC announced today that it has received a follow-on contract award from the U.S. Navy for Technique Control Modulator (TCM) chassis assemblies. The TCM is a 7-slot VME-3U chassis with power and signal conditioning that allows various configurations of commercial and custom VME-3U circuit cards to be installed. The TCM is then able to perform multiple RF Electronic Warfare simulations. The contract was issued by the Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division in China Lake, California, and has a 5-year period of performance. Symetrics previously won a similar 5-year contract in 2002 for the production of these same assemblies.

Symetrics: Small Business Agility...Big Business Ability

Progressive Manufacturing Awards

Progressive Manufacturing Awards

I am very excited to announce that Symetrics Industries has made Managing Automation Media’s prestigious 2009 PM100 list. We are one of only 100 companies in the US and abroad that were recognized and honored to receive this prestigious award confirming our successful business practices by an independent party. The global Progressive Manufacturing Awards Program, now in its fifth year, recognizes best-in-class manufacturers, and this year’s list includes companies such as Alcoa, Bell Helicopter, Caterpillar, Dow Chemical, General Mills, Ingersoll Rand, Mercury Marine, Motorola, Pfizer, Pratt & Whitney, Royal Dutch Shell, Tennant, Toshiba, and of course Symetrics. Receiving this award recognizes our commitment to innovation and the use of advanced technology, and has provided validation that we are on the right track with our mission and business strategies.

Symetrics won based on its continuous improvement efforts to upgrade and automate its manufacturing processes, and its adoption of systems such as Epicor and our Product Data Management (PDM) system, leading to tremendous productivity and quality gains. Each of the 100 winners is also competing for a “High Achiever” award in a particular sub-category, and those will be announced June 11, 2009.

Symetrics: Small Business Agility...Big Business Ability