LaBarge Inc.’s telecommunications unit has found a way to offer its products and services to several parts of the wireless industry.
The St. Louis-based company concentrates on designing and manufacturing products that require ruggedization, high reliability and high performance. These products include custom designed coaxial cable products, AC power and digital data interconnection products and AC power distribution and lightening protection equipment. The company’s joint venture with Clayco Construction Co., LaBarge Clayco Wireless L.L.C., performs cell site construction services such as architectural and engineering services, tower erection and antenna and cable installation.
“We consider ourselves to be a turnkey manufacturer and construction services (company) for the wireless industry,” said Tom Hubbard, vice president and head of the company’s telecommunications unit. “We offer a broad range of interconnection systems and cell site services. Our concentration is on custom designed products to help customers with their system needs.”
The company’s targeted customers are major infrastructure vendors and telecom service providers, which include cellular, personal communications services, paging and specialized mobile radio providers. LaBarge provides custom cabling interconnection products to both radiofrequency and power and data along with power distribution and lightening protection equipment to Northern Telecom Inc.
The company, which has about 750 employees, also takes small start-up companies under its wing by helping them get their own product lines to market more quickly than would be possible when building a new manufacturing operation from scratch.
“We have 40 plus years as a manufacturer and designer of high quality electronics and interconnection systems. What we are very accustomed to is helping a customer who may have a concept for a product and initial design. We can finish up the design and take the product into manufacturing in one of our six plants here in the United States,” said Hubbard. “What we’re finding in the marketplace are young companies with good engineering and design, but they are not necessarily experts in looking at the manufacturing sides of things. We look at the product and tell them if its producible.”
The concept said it fits with large infrastructure vendors as well. LaBarge can jump in and assist these companies that are experiencing short-term production increases or manufacturing surges. The company has systems in place to take over or assist during manufacturing surges, and if a manufacturer is producing a short-run product, LaBarge can manufacture that product in its facilities, said Hubbard.
LaBarge also manufactures and designs a range of custom electronic products and interconnect systems for the geophysical, medical, aerospace and defense markets at its facilities in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
