“Serve the customer and speak the truth. It may not give you a sale every time, but it will give you a steady stream of customers.”
– Stig W. Jorgensen, co-founder of Flash Technology
Cool Timeline
1931
MIT professor Harold Edgerton (a pioneer of high-speed photography) partnered with his graduate student Kenneth Germeshausen to found a small technical consulting firm. The two were joined by fellow MIT graduate student Herbert Grier in 1934. Bernard “Barney” O’Keefe became the fourth member of their fledgling technology group.
The group’s high-speed photography was used to image implosion tests during the Manhattan Project. The same skills in precisely timed high-power electrical pulses also formed a key enabling technology for nuclear weapon triggers. After the war, the group continued their association with the burgeoning military nuclear effort and formally incorporated Edgerton, Germeshausen and Grier, Inc. in 1947.
1947
A native of Stockholm, Sweden where he studied mechanical and electrical engineering, Stig W. Jorgensen came to the United States to find work in production engineering. Stig worked for MIT Professor Edgerton, the inventor of flash strobe photography.
1961
Stig moved to New Hampshire to work for Sanders Associates, Inc. Sanders was a defense contractor from 1951 to 1986, when it was bought by Lockheed Corporation.
(The first home video game console was developed as a side project by Sanders and sold to Magnavox.)
1970
FSW Inc. was founded on July 31, 1970 by Fred Gronberg, Stig Jorgensen and Wayne Kearsley.
Stig met Wayne at Sanders Associates where they both were working, while Fred was employed at EG&G. The company would later be named Flash Technology Corporation of America, as they focused on using the strobe technology learned from Dr. Edgerton.
1990
William Sommers purchased Flash Technology. The company also owned Modern Technical Service, Inc. (MTS), a tower service company.
2000
Flash Technology was sold to American Tower, a Boston, MA-based wireless infrastructure provider.
2003
Flash Technology was sold to SPX and became a part of its Dielectric Communications subsidiary.
2019
SPX purchases the solar airfield, obstruction and marine business lines from Carmanah Technologies Corporation to create a global aids to navigation (ATON) platform.
2021
SPX Technologies acquires Sealite and affiliated entities Avlite Systems and Star2M. These businesses have become a key operating company in SPX’s Aids to Navigation (“AtoN”) business platform, alongside Flash Technology and Sabik Marine, reporting through SPX’s Detection & Measurement segment. Read more.
2022
SPX acquires International Tower Lighting, LLC. ITL is a leader in the design and manufacturing of obstruction lighting and monitoring solutions. They provide precision optical designs that meet and exceed FAA requirements. Full Press Release.
