Harris
Corp
Communications equipment
company.
Headquarters:
1025 West NASA Blvd.
Melbourne, FL 32919
Employees: 14,000
CEO: William Brown
Stock Quote: HRS
Website:
http://www.harris.com
Career Site
Harris is an international communications and information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more than 125 countries. Headquartered in Melbourne, FL, the company has annual revenue of about $5 billion and nearly 14,000 employees - including 6,000 engineers and scientists.
Harris has sales and service facilities
in more than 90 countries.
Harris is the number one supplier of tactical radios to NATO and the U.S. Department of Defense—ensuring that soldiers are always connected in a networked battlefield. More than 450,000 Harris Falcon radios have been delivered around the world.
The company's main businesses focus on RF Communications, Integrated Network Solutions and Government Communications Systems.
The company reported revenue of $5.01 billion in fiscal 2014, down from $5.11 billion, and net income of $534.8 million.
History
Alfred and Charles G. Harris loved to tinker.
When they weren't running their jewelry store in Niles, Ohio,
they often were inventing. In fact, they had lost a goodly sum
of money on a nail feeder invention, a racing-sulky speed indicator,
and a 24-hour clock.
Although the brothers agreed they would
not get involved with any more inventions, in 1890 they were
once again tinkering with an automatic sheet feeder that would
eliminate the laborious job of hand-feeding printing presses.
They soon began to develop a new printing press that was better
able to handle their automatic feeder.
The company's first plant was two rooms in this old house in
Niles, OH, where President William McKinley was born.
This time the Harris brothers felt they
were on to something big. On December 23, 1895, the Harris Automatic
Press Company was incorporated and went into business in two
rooms in an old house in Niles-the house, incidentally, in which
President William McKinley had been born.
Their first press was a revolutionary breakthrough,
delivering 10 times what a pressman could feed by hand. The press
was so much faster than anything available that the brothers
had to understate significantly the capabilities of the press
in order to get potential customers to believe them.
The Harris Automatic Press Company was
responsible for many printing innovations during the early 1900s
including the first commercially successful offset lithographic
press and the first two-color offset press. The company made
several key acquisitions in addition to strong internal growth
during the first half of the century and became one of the world's
largest and most successful manufacturers of printing equipment.
In 1957 Harris-Seybold merged with Intertype
Corporation, a world leader in typesetting equipment. The resulting
Harris-Intertype Corporation would be responsible for many subsequent
innovations in the typesetting industry.
Harry Porter (left), head of sales, and George Dively, general
manager of Harris-Seybold, inspect an Intertype Corporation typesetting
machine. Harris-Intertype Corporation was formed by merger on
June 27, 1957.
Beginning in the mid-1950s Harris-Intertype
developed a much broader view of its destiny-to become a manufacturer
of equipment for communication, not just printed communication
but also in the broad field of electronic communications. In
1957, Harris-Intertype acquired Gates Radio of Quincy, Illinois
(which would become the Harris Broadcast Division), and in 1959
acquired PRD Electronics of Brooklyn, New York, a producer of
microwave test equipment. The company's most significant commitment
to growth in electronics would follow eight years later. In 1967
Harris acquired Radiation Incorporated, a manufacturer of space
and military electronics located in Melbourne, Florida, just
south of Cape Canaveral.
Radiation Inc. was the foundation for Harris'
current Government Communications Systems business and the company's
former Semiconductor business. The company had started in 1950
with four employees in a small two-story building located at
the former Naval Air Station on the site of what is now the Melbourne
International Airport.
Radiation quickly became a premier developer
of miniaturized electronic tracking and pulse code technologies
for America's new space program. Radiation's products were used
on America's first communication and weather satellites and by
the military for the Minuteman, Atlas, and Polaris missile systems.
Electronics from Radiation also were instrumental
in the first manned space flights, and the Apollo mission to
the Moon. Radiation was an early entrant into the microelectronics
business, and in 1963 developed its first working semiconductor
for use in its digital communications equipment.
Homer Denius and George Shaw were co-founders of Radiation Inc.,
which was the foundation for Harris' Government Systems and Semiconductor
businesses.
Following the merger of Harris-Intertype
and Radiation in 1967, the company continued to expand significantly
its participation in electronics. Harris acquired RF Communications
of Rochester, New York, in 1969 and in 1980 acquired Farinon
Corporation, a producer of microwave radios and parent of Digital
Telephone Systems, and Dracon Industries. These companies, along
with the Broadcast Products Division, would become the foundation
of Harris' worldwide communications business.
In 1974 the name of the company was changed
to Harris Corporation, and four years later Harris moved its
headquarters from Cleveland to Melbourne, which had become the
technical heart of the company. It had also become clear that
electronics would provide the best opportunities for continued
strong growth.
Harris sold its printing equipment business
in 1983 and acquired Lanier Business Products, later renamed
Lanier Worldwide. Lanier, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia,
was the world's largest independent supplier of office systems.
In 1988 Harris acquired General Electric's semiconductor operations,
which more than doubled the size of Harris' existing semiconductor
business. The acquisition significantly expanded Harris' participation
in commercial semiconductor markets for automotive, telecommunication,
and power products.
At the time of its centennial celebration
in 1995, Harris had become a worldwide company with annual sales
of approximately $3.5 billion and 27,000 people focused on four
major businesses-Electronic Systems, Semiconductors, Communications,
and Lanier office systems.
Harris implemented a significant restructuring
program in 1999 and set a bold new course by refocusing all of
its resources on the global communications equipment market.
It sold its Semiconductor business - now called Intersil - and
spun off its Lanier Worldwide subsidiary as a tax-free dividend
to shareholders.
Recently, Harris completed three very successful
strategic acquisitions. In July 2004, the Orkand Corporation
was acquired and has been integrated into the Harris Technical
Services business. In November 2004, Harris acquired Encoda Systems,
and in October 2005 it completed acquisition of Leitch Technology
Corporation - both are now part of the Harris Broadcast Communications
Division.
In January 2007, Harris merged its Microwave
Communications Division with Stratex Networks creating Harris
Stratex Networks, Inc., the world's leading independent supplier
of turnkey wireless network solutions serving customers in more
than 135 countries.
Benefits
Insurance
- We offer medical, dental and vision coverage for employees
and their families
Paid Time Off
- Generous Paid Time Off program and recognize all national holidays
- Some facilities work 80 hours over nine weekdays, and then
have a three-day weekend
401(k)
- Company match 401(k) for all employees
Tuition Reimbursement
- Personal and professional development is important to us. That's
why we offer a tuition reimbursement plan.
Spending Accounts
- Health Care Spending Account
- Dependent Care Spending Account
Updated September 30, 2014
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