EDO Corporation
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| EDO Corporation | |
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| Type | Public (NYSE: EDO) |
| Founded | 1925 |
| Headquarters | New York, NY |
| Key people | James M. Smith, Chairman, President & CEO |
| Revenue | ▲$715 million USD (2006) |
| Employees | 4,000 |
| Website | www.edocorp.com |
EDO Corporation was an American company, which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of ITT Corporation (NYSE: ITT). The EDO division designs and manufactures products for defense, intelligence, and commercial markets, and provides related engineering and professional services. It employs 4,000 people worldwide and had revenues of $715 million in 2006.
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[edit] History
EDO commenced operations on October 16, 1925. Although EDO's founder, Earl Dodge Osborn, had dreamed of building airplanes, his first successful product line was "floats" that enabled airplanes to land on water. Because of a new innovative design, the use of aluminum rather than wood, and the simple fact that good runways were hard to find in the 1920s, demand built quickly for EDO floats. With the outbreak of World War II, the company's focus shifted, and EDO began to provide floats for military aircraft. EDO became a public company in 1956 with its listing on the American Stock Exchange, and moved to the New York Stock Exchange in 1983. An agreement was reached September 18, 2007 for ITT Corporation to buy EDO for $1.7 billion.[1] After EDO shareholders' approval, the deal was closed and finalized on December 20, 2007.
[edit] Company structure
EDO has aligned its resources into two reporting segments, Electronic Systems & Communications and Engineered Systems & Services, serving six market sectors:
[edit] C4 (Command, Control, Communications, and Computers)
The Command, Control, Communications, and Computers (C4) sector includes two business units: the Antenna Products & Technologies and the Communications & Networking Systems.
EDO’s antenna business custom designs antennas for military platforms and satellites. This includes military airborne, military shipboard, military ground, commercial wireless, commercial aviation, and advanced technology integrated/custom antennas.
The Communications & Networking Systems business unit designs and integrates voice and data communications equipment into end-to-end network solutions.
[edit] Electronic Warfare
The Electronic Warfare sector includes three business units: Communications and Countermeasures Systems, Defense Systems, and Reconnaissance and Surveillance Systems.
The Communications and Countermeasures Systems (CCS) business unit develops electronic protection technology. Products developed by CCS include the Shortstop Electronic Protection System (SEPS) for both military and civilian applications, the Data Link Validation System (DLVS) for validating and testing military data links, and the Wideband Secure Voice Equipment (WSVE) for secure voice radio transmission.
The Defense Systems business unit designs and manufactures high-performance electronic assemblies for military and space applications, and develops and produces electromechanical systems and equipment for government and commercial marine and aircraft applications. The primary product areas include electronic warfare systems, radar systems, embedded systems, RF/Microwave products, air quality monitoring, nuclear detection, and manufacturing services.
The Reconnaissance and Surveillance Systems business unit designs and manufactures Electronic Warfare (EW) and Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) systems and products. It manufactures integrated systems, antennas, receivers, digitizers, signal processors, and signal analysis software packages for ELINT, ESM, ECM, and SIGINT applications.
[edit] Integrated Systems and Structures
The Integrated Systems and Structures sector includes six business units: Defense Systems, EDO (UK) Ltd., Fiber Innovations, Fiber Science, MTech & Artisan, and Specialty Plastics.
The Defense Systems business unit is a designer and manufacturer of electronic assemblies for military and space applications, and the development and production of electromechanical systems and equipment for government and commercial marine and aircraft applications. The area of interest that falls within this sector includes the Aircraft and Armament Systems unit.
EDO (UK) Ltd includes EDO MBM Technology Ltd in Brighton UK, and designs, develops and manufactures weapon interfacing (carriage and release) systems, cable assemblies and electrodynamic products for the aerospace and defense industries. The UK firm make the EDO MBM Zero Retention Force Arming Unit.
The Fiber Innovations business unit develops and manufactures composite structures for the aerospace, defense and commercial industries. This includes net shaped preform assemblies using braiding and woven fabrics, resin transfer molding (RTM) and vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VaRTM). Fiber Science designs and manufactures lightweight advanced fiber-reinforced composite products. This includes designing and producing composite structures using the latest in filament winding, laminating, resin-transfer-molding (RTM), and autoclave cure processing.
The MTech product line consists of controller electronics for MIL-STD-1760 multiple carriage weapon suspension and release equipment, controller electronics for other weapon systems, related electronic subsystems, customized simulators and test sets. EDO Artisan advertised products include, zero retention force arming units, helicopter blade crack indicators, and programmable DC power supplies, but the first of these products (the arming unit) is actually manufactured in the UK by EDO MBM Technology Ltd.
Specialty Plastics is a supplier of advanced composite piping systems for marine and offshore oil platform applications.
[edit] Intelligence and Information Warfare
The Intelligence and Information Warfare sector includes three business units: NexGen, EVI, and Impact Science & Technology.
EDO NexGen develops, deploys, and supports custom end-to-end solutions for U.S. government organizations. Core competencies include systems engineering, systems integration, design and development of custom hardware and software, and operational support.
EDO-EVI focuses on mission-driven research and development of custom communication systems for the U.S. Government. EVI specializes in rapid development and prototyping of hardware and software systems.
EDO-IST (Impact Science & Technology) provides Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) systems and analysis support to the intelligence community, and advanced countermeasures and electronic systems to government agencies.
[edit] Professional and Engineering Services
The Professional and Engineering Services sector includes three business units: Acquisition and Logistics Management Operations, EDO-CAS, and Technical Services Operations.
The Acquisition and Logistics Management Operations business unit provides advanced technology solutions, training and performance aids, acquisition logistics, strategic business solutions, warfare experimentation and analysis and engineering services.
The EDO-CAS business unit provides engineering services, logistics support and weapons-systems analysis to the U.S. Department of Defense.
The Technical Services Operations business unit provides Electronic Warfare engineering, systems maintenance, and flight test support services to the United States Air Force.
[edit] Undersea Warfare
The Undersea Warfare sector includes three business units: Defense Systems, Electro-Ceramics, and Naval Communications and Sonar System.
Defense Systems is a designer and manufacturer of electronic assemblies for military and space applications, and the development and production of electromechanical systems and equipment for government and commercial marine and aircraft applications. The area of interest that falls within this sector includes the Shallow Water Influence Minesweep System (SWIMS).
The Electro-Ceramics business unit provides ceramic based products for defense and aerospace applications including underwater acoustic transducers and arrays for navigation and communication sonars for the United States Navy and its prime contractors, seismic and offshore oil exploration, industrial positioning and actuation, and medical devices.
The Naval Communications and Sonar Systems product line includes Underwater Acoustic Products, Surface Ship Command and Control and Combat Systems Integration, Data Link Products, Shore-Based Command and Control Systems, Information Management Systems (IMS).
[edit] Corporate governance
EDO's Board of Directors has adopted corporate governance guidelines and charters for each of its board committees. These documents, together with the Company's Ethical Business Guide, are the foundation of EDO's corporate governance and business conduct practices, and they are accessible for viewing on EDO's website. The Board reviews its governance guidelines and committee charters at least annually to ensure that EDO maintains and improves on its practices.
EDO Director Dennis C. Blair
Dennis C. Blair's membership on the board of directors of EDO Corporation, a subcontractor for the F-22 Raptor fighter program, and ownership of its stock was raised as a potential conflict of interest after the Institute for Defense Analyses issued a study that endorsed a three-year contract for the program. Blair told the Washington Post, "My review was not affected at all by my association with EDO Corp., and the report was a good one." He originally chose not to recuse himself because his link to EDO was not of sufficient "scale" to require it, but subsequently resigned from the EDO board to avoid any misperceptions.
However on Wednesday, December 20, 2006 the Washington Post reported that the US Department of Defense Inspector General's investigation into the affair found Blair had certainly violated the Conflict of Interest rules. The DoD report is available here: http://www.dodig.mil/fo/Foia/ERR/Blairreport113006.pdf
[edit] Criticism of EDO Corporation
ITT/EDO Corporation has been the subject of protests in the UK due to the presence of its subsidiary EDO MBM Technology Ltd in the city of Brighton. In 2004 local residents of the city began an anti-war campaign against the presence of the company that came to be known as Smash EDO. A feature length documentary about Smash EDO called On The Verge was released in March 2008 and faced police attempts to censor it across England and Wales.
Full article at Criticism of EDO Corporation wiki page.
