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Bourns Marks 70 Years of Innovation

June 12, 2017 by Jeff Shepard

Bourns, Inc. is marking 70 years of electronic components innovation. Bourns was founded on July 7, 1947 by Marlan and Rosemary Bourns. The pioneering couple invented a product to accurately determine an aircraft's pitch attitude solving a crucial problem that helped make aeronautics safer. Setting a strong technological foundation for growth in 1952, Bourns introduced the first Trimpot® trimming potentiometer, which remains the industry standard used to perform accurate circuit adjustments in a wide range of electronic equipment.

From its humble garage beginnings 70 years ago, Bourns, Inc. has grown to be a global leader in the design and manufacture of a comprehensive portfolio of circuit protection, circuit conditioning and motion control products as well as a full line of customized vehicle sensors. The company continues to set industry standards in the development of advanced high quality and high reliability products and technologies while expanding its range of valuable solutions through strategic acquisitions. As one of the influential trailblazers in the electronics industry, Bourns supports its extensive customer base with 6500 employees around the world in 11 offices and 28 manufacturing and R&D facilities.

"My parents founded our company around a simple philosophy: provide top-quality products, responsive service and high value for our customers. These ideals are still the benchmarks of Bourns, Inc. today," said Gordon Bourns, CEO of Bourns, Inc.

"As we mark this important milestone of Bourns' 70th anniversary this year, the management team has established a progressive course of continued innovation in meeting performance, miniaturization, energy efficiency, critical system protection and precise measurement requirements of an increasing array of more complex, integrated and sensitive emerging market applications," continued Bourns.

1947

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Bourns Laboratories founded by Marlan and Rosemary Bourns

1952

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Trimpot® Trimming Potentiometer introduced

1962

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Bourns AG European headquarters established in Switzerland

1969

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Bourns® products supported Apollo 11 moon landing

1970

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Panel controls & precision potentiometers product lines introduced

1976

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Resistor network products introduced

1985

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Surface mount trimmers and resistor networks introduced

1986

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Taipei, Taiwan manufacturing facility began operations

1989

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Sensors & Controls introduced steering sensor products

1991

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Recon Optical, Inc. cameras imaged over 4,000,000 U.S. reconnaissance photos during Desert Storm

1994

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Xiamen, China manufacturing facility began operations

1995

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Multifuse® Polymer Positive Temperature Coefficient product line introduced

1998

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Bourns offers standard and custom surge protection solutions

2006

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Bourns acquires assets of J.W. Miller Division of Bell Industries, the Automotive Controls Division of SSI Technologies, Inc. and the Polymer PTC business of Therm-O-Disc, Inc.

2008

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Bourns acquires assets from Emerson' gas discharge tube business

2009

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Bourns acquires central office surge protection products from Corning Cable Systems LLC

2012

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Bourns acquires assets from Jensen Devices AB, Stockholm, Sweden

2014

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Bourns acquires Komatsulite, Mfg. Co., Ltd of Japan

2015

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Bourns acquires Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. trimming potentiometer business

2016

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Bourns acquires Transtek power transformer business

"Celebrating 70 years in business is a significant achievement for any company. At Bourns, we remain on a course of continued strategic growth based on our proven applications expertise and market-focused organization that is backed by our world-class network of distributors," said Erik Meijer, President and COO of Bourns, Inc. "We are proud of our legacy of bringing differentiated products, and continual technology and service improvements helping our customers satisfy specific industry requirements while also giving them a competitive advantage. It is truly an honor to have our customers' continued trust and business."