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SENSOR SYSTEMS LLC
BY STEPHANIE SIMS
Co-owner Nancy J. Preis says she is proud of Sensor Systems LLC's ability to produce a
variety of custom-made products. "We have good productivity from our employees and we learned how to couple
[together] different technologies: potentiometric, strain gauge and digital in an ISO 9001 environment. That's
pretty damn good."
Preis says within the last two years, Sensor Systems has become ISO 9001:2000 and AS91oo:2004 certified. Sensor was
also certified as an FAA repair station. "We are thrilled we got all that," Preis notes," and that we doubled our
sales since we bought the company eight years ago."
Sensor Systems, headquartered in St. Petersburg, Fla., supplies precision electromechanical components for
commercial, industrial, medical and military applications. For more than 40 years, Sensor Systems has produced
precision feedback potentiometers, encoders and pressure transducers.
 Recently,
the company expanded its line of strain gauge-based pressure transducers, using semiconductor, sputtered film and
bonded foil technologies. This product line has been growing steadily for the last 10 years, and now includes a
broad line of commercial, industrial and military devices. Sensor Systems also has a growing line of pressure
systems that provide stable, high-accuracy altitude and airspeed signals to onboard aircraft instrumentation.
Preis says Sensor Systems' product line changes constantly. "We produce hundreds of different products a month," she
says. "Because our work force is trained in multiple technologies, we don't have to change our manufacturing process
to accomplish rapid changes in product mix. As long as we maintain multiple skill capabilities, we will have the
ability to rapidly vary product mix in response to market needs. We have been around for such a long time and we
have an enormous base of designs, equipment and tooling. We maintain everything, even if we don't use it on a
regular basis." |
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In its custom-manufacturing environment, the company uses lean manufacturing principles
to eliminate waste where it can, such as cross-training its employees, creating flexible work teams and doing
regular auditing to find and fix inefficiencies in the company.
"We are doing all of this and increased sales from
$6 million to $12 million within the same number of square feet," Preis says.
LABOR SHORTAGE
The industry is experiencing a labor shortage, according to Preis. "No one comes in the door skilled in
manufacturing our products," she says. "The most we hope for is someone who is experienced in soldering or light
assembly."
Because none of the company's competitors are local, Sensor does not hire people away from any competing companies:
St. Petersburg has other manufacturing companies, but it is not known for a high concentration of manufacturing
jobs. This makes dealing with the labor shortage a bit more difficult.
"It is hard to hire people who want to work [in manufacturing]," she says. "Everyone now has a notion that all
industrial jobs use computers. Our assembly is not on computers, and it isn't necessarily fun. People who are
well-suited to this job like working an eight-hour routine and don't mind detail work on very small parts. For some,
this work would drive them crazy."
MARKET CHANGES
Most changes in Sensor's industry are driven by technology developments and new solutions to problems, according to
Preis. After acquiring Edcliff, a pressure transducer division of BEI Technologies, two years ago, Sensor Systems
gained access to new technology and could manufacture new products. 'We have equipment to make things now that we
couldn't before, including the manufacture of silicon transducers from the chip stage through automated calibration
and test," Preis says. "We have always tried to have a broad base of markets, [and now, with the acquisition,] we
have customers we've never dealt with before and access to process and related industries."
Preis says Sensor Systems was able to find a solution for a problem of an Edcliff customer. "It took a year to
perfect that solution, which Edcliff and the rest of the industry had been struggling with for several years
previously," she says. "This illustrates Sensor Systems' strength: We come up with innovative solutions to difficult
problems in motion control and pressure sensing that are both cost-effective and profitable." ®
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