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Company History
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Winning Wars and Lunar Landings
Historical Achievements Rely on DIT-MCO |
Being part of history excites F. L. "Tom" Thompson, former president and CEO of DIT-MCO International. His son, Rick Thompson, DIT-MCO's current president and CEO, maintains a steady eye on the future.
"The vision changes," Rick says, "when we see how the industry changes and what is new out there." What is new is an increasing focus on software and a transition away from being a hardware-based company. This is just one more evolution in a company that has seen many changes in its 55 year history.
The company began its evolution shortly after founder George P. Heller incorporated his business catering to the once flourishing drive-in theater business in 1948. Drive-In Theater Manufacturing Company, renamed DIT-MCO in 1951, produced theater screens, speakers and other projection equipment. By early 1953, the construction boom of drive-in theaters ebbed and Heller looked for other avenues of revenue.
Meanwhile, an enterprising young man named Warren Hannon was working as an engineer at the nearby North American Aviation plant. The plant built the F-86 and C-45 planes. Hannon was in charge of overseeing the electrical cable testing.
"It was chaotic," said Tom. "At that time each company made their own testers. There was no standardization. Hannon got the idea of making a 'universal automatic analyzer' and somehow they got together."
Thus began the Electronics Division. By 1954, Goodyear purchased the company's first Universal Circuit Analyzer. Shortly thereafter, Boeing purchased one for work on the B-47. This fixed sequence circuit analyzer, a Model 200, proved to be such a boon to DIT-MCO that by 1959 the Drive-In Theater division was sold to its employees.
"By that time we were DIT-MCO," Tom remembered. "We kept the name DIT-MCO because by then it had become common for the military and its industrial suppliers to say, 'This aircraft needs to be DIT-MCOed.'"
DIT-MCO earned brand-name recognition while its engineers helped develop high voltage testing specifications that set the standard for the military and its industrial suppliers.
DIT-MCO created new products as technology developed. By 1960, engineering began on the first random access wiring analyzer. The first units used punch paper tape for control, precursor to the use of computers on the front end in the 1970s. "We went away from the fixed sequence equipment and had standard interconnect cables that could be used." explained Tom. "Technological advances in switch design and fault detection increased the speed of the test systems."
Through its 55 year history, DIT-MCO's dedication to customer service has remained constant. "Customer services and satisfaction are integral parts of the DIT-MCO philosophy," said Tom. "We conduct technology exchanges four or five times a year to talk about industry changes and to find out about our customers' needs and how we can best serve them."
Looking back over the last 55 years, Tom contends that DIT-MCO's greatest accomplishments have been, "the company's contribution to winning the cold war, Desert Storm and its involvement in the space age."
DIT-MCO's equipment was used on the early "Hawk Missile", the first intercontinental Atlas missile, the Polaris and Titian missiles for the Navy, and the Patriot Missile used so successfully in the Desert Storm War, as well as almost all the aircraft used by the Air Force, Army and the Navy.
The space age has seen our equipment used in the manufacture of the Dyna-Soar, Project Mercury putting the first man in space, Project Gemini, the Apollo Saturn V Program that took men and the Lunar Module to the moon, and presently on NASA's Space Shuttle vehicles. Tom concludes by saying, "the past years have been most rewarding and very exciting."
"The people we have working for DIT-MCO are the greatest asset we have," says DIT-MCO president, Rick Thompson. As he looks toward the future and DIT-MCO's next significant contribution, Rick talks about breakthrough technology in the 2500.FTE (Fiber Optic Test Equipment), helping the light rail industry reduce test time through automated testing and developing testers for the telecommunications industry. "The future is bright for DIT-MCO. We are partnering with the top companies of the world. And we have 55 years of experience to draw from. I am confident our greatest achievements have yet to be seen."
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