Expands Specialty Markets : Pacific Scientific Buys IMEC of Boston

Continuing a two-year string of acquisitions designed to expand its “niche” markets, Pacific Scientific bought IMEC Corp. of Boston on Monday for an undisclosed amount of cash and notes.

Pacific Scientific, an Anaheim-based manufacturer of precision industrial and electronic instruments, has shown falling profits during most of 1985 because the market for its most profitable product has become dormant. The company has turned to a $30-million fund set aside for purchasing businesses that will help expand Pacific Scientific’s share of specialty, or niche, markets.

In keeping with that strategy, the company will use the electronic controllers built by IMEC to link the brushless motors built by Pacific Scientific’s Motor & Control Division to computer systems. The motors are used mainly in robotics and automated manufacturing systems, according to Richard V. Plat, Pacific Scientific’s vice president of finance and administration.

Would Increase Market

“Right now,” Plat said, “we have something like 10% to 15% of the motor portion of that market and we would expect to increase up to something like 20% of the total market with this acquisition. The purchase won’t have an immediate increase on our revenues but it makes our products very attractive, we think, because now we can offer this total package.”

Since February of 1984, Pacific Scientific has made four acquisitions to compensate for the drop in sales of what had previously been its most profitable product: mechanical shock arresters. The arresters are used in nuclear power plants to prevent pipes from bursting during an earthquake.

The company’s first addition was Honeywell Inc.’s Motor Products Division in Rockford, Ill., which became Pacific Scientific’s Motor Division. That division accounted for $26.9 million in revenue in fiscal year 1984.

Nicomp Instruments Inc., producer of a laser particle sizer used by chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturers, was purchased for an undisclosed price in August of 1984 and rolled into Pacific Scientific’s HIAC/ROYCO division in Menlo Park.

In October of 1985, the company purchased Ray-Mar Hydraulics Inc. of Rancho Cucamonga for $3.7 million. The acquisition became part of the company’s Kin-Tech division in Anaheim, manufacturer of electromechanical and hydraulic equipment.

Building in Three Areas

“We’re really building our business in three areas,” Plat said. “One is electronic instruments, the second is electric motors and the third is electromechanical devices for aircraft and industrial applications.”

IMEC will operate as a subsidiary, Plat said, unlike Pacific Scientific’s other acquisitions, and IMEC’s management group will continue to supervise the company’s operations.

“It’s unusual to find a team like this with demonstrated capabilities in producing these products. Really, a key part of this purchase is the people, Plat said.”

IMEC’s founders were formerly with Draper Laboratory, a research organization associated with Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Starting in 1984, IMEC branched out from contract work for other firms and developed its own products which it began producing several months ago, Plat said.