“the market place, like life itself, is ever-changing. It is this change which has brought man’s progress, and with it the hope that the future will hold even greater promise.”
“Those ideas which were launched with little else but enthusiasm burst forth on the scene with resplendence but, comet-like, soon disappeared; while those that were nurtured and attended remained to achieve acceptance beyond fondest expectation.”
“Leadership in the market place is hard won and stoutly defended. Those who have earned and retained it have contributed greatly to the improvement of man’s standard of living and to the protection of his freedom.”
The term “marketplace” stems from two Latin words. ‘Mercatus’ means to trade, merchandize, or is a place where business is transacted. ‘Platea’ means open space.
In 1965, Thornton reclassified Litton’s operations into three areas:
Business Equipment
Defense and Space
Industrial Products
Tex continued to lead with the balance sheet. In my opinion, the overarching theme of 1965 was aggressive physical capacity expansion.
The board voted to split the common stock two-for-one subject to shareholder approval on December 4th 1965.
During the calendar year, the LA Times cited ‘Litton’ on 1425 occasions.
16 marketplace attributes were intertwined with operational analysis. This article mirrors the report’s structural form…
Responsibility.
Charles “Tex” Thornton’s Operational Highlights:
2. The Immemorial Need of Man.
Business Equipment
This segment’s sales hit a new peak, in 1965.
Monroe continued its product leadership in the printing calculator market with the release of EPIC 2000. It provided a printed record of its computations. The PC1421 electromechanical printing calculator was on sale for a full year for the first time.
3. Foresight.
Monroe had a strong share of mind in the calculators market. This was due to its long-standing product leadership in the form of the rotary calculator (that displayed results on dials). In 1965, the IQ-10-213 was introduced.
4. Efficiency.
New production records were set at Monroe’s main two production facilities in Bristol, Virginia (U.S.) and Amsterdam (Holland). Litton added Monroe plants in New Jersey and Italy for calculator and computer production.
The Monroe Sweda Division set new production records in Stockholm. That was driven by Dataregister (merchandise classification machines) sales and partly by punched-tape machines. In 1965, the division released a new product that printed sales records that could be translated by optical scanning devices into computational data.
Litton acquired the Royal McBee Corporation. Royal was a typewriter manufacturer that was separated into five operating divisions at Litton. It had 8,000 outlets worldwide and introduced the Electress (low-cost, electric typewriter: “Royal was able to market this machine at a price substantially lower than competing products”), in 1965. Royal manufactured manual typewriters and electric typewriters were to be introduced in 1966. 1,400,000 portable U.S. typewriting units were sold during the year.
5. The Value of Experience.
The Monroe Data/Log division introduced an ultra-high-speed, digital printer called the MC 4000: it recorded 192,000 characters per minute on photosensitive paper and was used to track and provide continuous split-second data on satellite or missile paths.
McBee Systems manufactured and marketed equipment for accounting and data processing. It built custom systems to project business costs, schedules, and distribution systems. McBee sold products to small and medium enterprises in nearly 100 countries. (Notice Tex’s emphasis on international operations).
LITCOM’s nationwide system of leased telephone circuits enabled accounting information to be transmitted across the U.S. through data processing centers of the Monroe Data Processing division.
Fitchburg Specialty Papers introduced several types of electrosensitive papers, such as Timefax NDH.
The Kimball division initiated Kimball Source Making which attached punch-marked tags to retail merchandise in the production line.
The Eureka division (graphic arts) added A. Carlisle & Co. (packaging and product identification producer).
6. Ideals.
7. Central and Comprehensive.
The Office Furnishings division achieved record sales, in 1965. Cole Office Equipment offered prestige wood furniture to complement its popular steel line. 300,000 square feet of manufacturing facility was under construction in York, Pennsylvania: completion was expected, in 1966. The Scarborough plant in Ontario (Canada) was doubled to 150,000 square feet and a 50,000 square-foot project in Oviedo (Spain) for the Joint Venture was scheduled to begin in 1966.
8. Quality in Quantity.
Fitchburg added a plant in Geneva (Switzerland) and introduced a new, exclusive process called dielectric drying for the coating phases of paper manufacturing.
Business Equipment Centers division — a division created solely for marketing the business equipment’s products and services — was formed in 1965. The strategy utilized Litton’s branches throughout the U.S.
Four retail office supply outlets in Northeast America began an automated supply system called “Order-Mation.” Subscribers mailed pre-punched cards or used a data phone to order inventory that was handled, stocked, and processed by Litton.
Litton Industries Credit Corporation (New York HQ) was formed to offer the service to customers who chose to rent or lease Litton products.
Defense and Space
Litton continued to deliver the F4D fighter bomber (Air Force’s version of Navy F4C).
Inertial guidance systems were delivered in F-104G and CF-104 Starfighter programs for NATO countries and Canada. Early flight tests were completed for Litton’s inertial guidance system in the new tri-service F-111 fighter.
The Air Force accepted the delivery of the Stellar-Inertial-Doppler System (SIDS) that would provide round-the-clock guidance for aircraft. Two SIDS were delivered in 1965 and two remained to be delivered under the Air Force’s contract. Litton released an inertial navigation system underpinned by microcircuitry called the LN-15.
Weapons Release Computer Set (WRCS) was developed in 1965 to enhance the Air Force’s F4D fighter bombers. Six prototypes were completed during the year at the Toronto plant of Litton Systems. Production was to begin in 1966.
The Data Systems division progressed on to the TRESI (Target Recognition by Extraction of Statistical Invariants) which was to recognize enemy submarines through sonar detection.
9. Expediting the Economy.
Data Systems division introduced new microelectronic general-purpose computers for military use called the L-304.
The Applied Science division, under contract from the Army, developed a system to shelter troops from chemical and biological agents. An experimental model detector of airborne bacteria was under development for the Navy.
10. Capability.
USECO released a new push button multi-circuit switch that could be applied both to the military and commercial settings. This product was exclusive to Litton and partially patented.
Litton’s potentiometers were the first to qualify under rigid U.S. Defense Department specifications (greater emphasis on reliability). A second-order effect of that was increased Litton revenue because the government and its contractors both tested their new products using Litton laboratories.
The Encoder division released three new products:
Neo-magnetic encoder
Solid-state optical shaft encoder
Pin contact encoder
Encoders received and translated data from inertial guidance systems and radar.
Clifton Precision’s motor product line had a record backlog. (Note backlogs were mentioned about Litton’s divisions but not the company as a whole).
The new Stanford Linear Accelerator Center ordered many Litton Electron Tube pulse klystrons. The division acquired the Microwave Devices division of Sylvania Electric Products. This is not the first time Litton acquired a single division or component (e.g. a laboratory) of another company. Did Teledyne do that?
Keels were laid (formal beginning of a ship’s construction) for the nuclear attack submarines in 1965, USS Aspro and USS Puffer, and for two amphibious ships in the winter of 1964 (USS Cleveland and USS Dubuque).
Also, projects began for one amphibious assault ship (USS Tripoli, designed to lift an assault force by helicopter to engage an enemy behind its lines) and one Polaris submarine supply ship (USS Canopus).
In total, eight Navy vessels, four of which were nuclear submarines, were under construction.
Industrial Products and Services
The Atherton division released new microwaves, in 1965…
High-powered infrared oven with quartz plate
Three new commercial ovens
…and delivered prototypes for microwave installations on jet aircraft. Airline cooking times decreased from 20 minutes to 4.
11. Ingenuity.
The Litton 500 oven was released for professional food providers.
The Electron Tube’s magnetron sales increased due to higher demand in the electronic cooking market.
Illinois Central Railroad contracted the Advance Data Systems division to build an automatic fare collection system with automatic gates, electronic ticket readers, and encoders. The railroad expected to complete the project at the end of 1965.
12. Convenience.
Hewitt-Robbins, Inc. was a leader in materials conveyance, processing, and control. Its European manufacturing and marketing program was bolstered by Wilton-Fijenoord Bronswerk, N.V. (Dutch marine constructors and metal fabricators).
All six Moore-McCormack Lines automated cargo liners were delivered, in 1965. This project resulted in ten more vessel contracts with electronic control features. Five were for American President Lines – named Van Buren, Taft, Grant, Andrew Johnson, and Fillmore – that were to be delivered in 1967. The remaining five were for Delta Steamship Lines and were to be completed by 1968.
The conversion of four C-4 cargo ships to container vessels began in late fiscal 1965.
13. Mobility.
Ingalls signed a contract to construct a special-purpose research ship for the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Commercial Fisheries.
Alvin, a Litton Applied Science division vessel, reached a depth of 6,000 feet — the greatest ever by a manned vehicle.
Ingalls delivered A 9,000-ton rig to Southeastern Drilling Inc., in 1965. A smaller platform called Trimaran was built for long-term charter by Litton Leasing.
Western Geophysical division added six seismic survey ships which brought its fleet to 42 vessels in total.
Aero Service added a rubidium vapor magnetometer. It successfully profiled terrain using laser techniques, in 1965.
The Federal Aviation Agency accepted airliners to land with only a 100-foot ceiling and one-fourth a mile of visibility if they were equipped with Litton’s Amecom altimeter.
14. Resourcefulness.
15. Merging Public Service with Commercial Endeavor.
Litton’s Space Laboratories developed a prototype of an advanced space suit delivered to NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center.
The defense systems approach was applied to learning programs when The Educational Systems division was formed in 1965. It won a contract from the U.S. Government’s Office of Economic Opportunity to operate a Job Corps training center at Camp Parks in California.
George A. Henke, GmbH, was acquired. Its medical devices complimented Litton’s Fritz Hellige division (Germany) and Profexray division (U.S).
Westrex Communications division developed a new system of facsimile machines that connected headquarters of law enforcement and enabled the rapid transmission of fingerprints and criminal histories. Forty-nine Policefax units were installed by the Chicago Police Division in 1965. A new model of the StereoDisk recording system was released.
Airtron division moved into a new crystal physics laboratory and grew a 667-gram yttrium iron garnet crystal. Litton expected this material to be used for tunable filters, delay lines, limiters, and amplifiers because all those products controlled microwave energy in long-range communication systems.
The Advanced Circuitry division developed a new proprietary process of plating through holes of multilayer circuitry.
16. Organization of Complexity.
Here were the markets served by Litton Industries, in 1965:
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