kSARIA Awarded $2M Lockheed Martin Contract

Industry-leading kSARIA will enhance its fully automated technology, once again raising the quality bar in fiber optic cable manufacturing

WILMINGTON, Massachusetts, (January 17, 2006) – To advance the state-of-the-art in military-grade fiber optic cables, Lockheed Martin has awarded a contract valued at up to $2 million with options to kSARIA Corporation, the world’s only fully automated fiber optic cable manufacturer. The contract, funded by the Penn State Electro-Optics Center, is sponsored by the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, to rapidly expand use of fiber optic technology in mission-critical aeronautical, shipboard and weapon systems applications.  The work builds upon previous efforts sponsored by the U.S. Office of Naval Research ManTech program.

“Building tomorrow’s military systems requires the ability to manufacture high-performance fiber optic cables quickly, affordably and – most importantly – with a repeatable and higher level of quality,” said David Enlow, Advanced Communication and Technology Development Program Manager at Lockheed Martin. “We awarded this contract to kSARIA based on its leading ability to address these requirements. kSARIA’s fully automated, lean manufacturing approach to fiber optic cable production has already revolutionized the industry and is soundly positioned to meet the military’s growing needs.”

Under the contract, kSARIA will further increase the quality and efficiency of its end-to-end automated manufacturing technology for fiber optic cables. The new enhancements will further reduce operator intervention during production while improving both the quality of the manufacturing process and the performance of the finished cables. As part of these enhancements, kSARIA will upgrade the tooling of its automated platform to ensure new levels of inline process control and validation during production – resulting in a tighter quality control band of completed fiber cable assemblies.

“By incorporating these capabilities into our automated platform, we are once again raising the manufacturing quality standards for military-grade fiber optic cables – enabling our customers to receive a superior performing cable solution that benefits from the increased repeatability, consistency and overall yield of our automated production process,” said Sebastian Sicari, president and CEO of kSARIA.

Fiber optic cable assembly is typically a manual process involving as many as 35 tedious steps, all of which are critical to performance and reliability. With this manual approach, the quality of each finished cable is limited by the ability, dexterity and judgment of the individual operator.  “By fully automating this process and minimizing human influence, our manufacturing technology has already proven its ability to maintain consistently high quality while accelerating the production of higher-performance, lower-cost cable solutions for mission-critical applications,” said Tony Christopher, vice president of engineering for kSARIA. “Through our partnership with Lockheed Martin, we can now take this technology to a new level and provide customers with the next generation in military-grade cable solutions.”

About kSARIA

kSARIA Corporation is the industry leader in manufacturing ultrahigh quality fiber optic cables for mission-critical military, aeronautical and harsh environment applications. In collaboration with the US Department of Defense, kSARIA leads the state-of-the-art in fiber optic cable production with the world’s only fully automated manufacturing processes and equipment. This unique, end-to-end, automated approach to manufacturing enables kSARIA to produce higher quality fiber optic cables that deliver superior performance and value to customers in shorter lead times. Today kSARIA is continuing to develop advanced manufacturing technologies to set even higher standards of excellence in fiber optic cable solutions.

 

kSARIA Contact:

Doug Dillon
+1-978-933-0008
ddillon@ksaria.com

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