Makers of Airport Security Gear May See Orders Rise
Demand for sophisticated technology used in airport security systems is likely to jump dramatically in the wake of Federal Aviation Administration guidelines issued Wednesday.
A handful of companies could benefit, including Invision Technologies Inc., based in Newark, Calif., which markets million-dollar electronic explosive-detection machines for airports.
Other companies that make metal detectors, or that are developing various costly and comprehensive scanning equipment, include OSI Systems Inc., an electronic equipment firm based in Hawthorne, Calif., Barringer Technologies Inc. and a unit of technology conglomerate PerkinElmer Inc.
Barringer, which is being purchased by British firm Smiths Group, specializes in chemical devices that detect trace amounts of explosives or drugs, typically on the outside of luggage.
A PerkinElmer spokesman said the company is selling off its electronic scanning division and declined to comment further.
A spokesman for OSI said most of its scanners are used for carry-on luggage and rely on traditional X-rays.
“Bomb detection is more in the drawing-board stage,” OSI spokesman Sanjay Sabnani said.
The San Francisco airport already uses Invision machines to scan all outgoing international baggage and may begin scanning checked or carried domestic luggage as well, said Ron Wilson, spokesman for San Francisco International Airport.
Among other things, the FAA guidelines will end curbside baggage check-in and the carrying of knives on planes.
Both new technology and added security forces will be deployed at all airports under the new FAA rules. Although Wilson declined to give details on all the new requirements, he said Invision was the first company to be certified for bomb-detection gear a few years ago by the FAA.
“Many bags will go through not one [conventional X-ray scanner] but two or three devices” under the new FAA guidelines, Wilson said.
Invision spokesman Ross Mulholland said he couldn’t talk about any increases in orders because of government requests for secrecy and to discourage volatility in the small company’s stock.
“Normally, I would like to talk abundantly about this, but we have been advised by our counsel not to comment for the time being,” Mulholland said.
The 11-year-old company has sold more than 200 machines, manufactured under the model name CTX and costing as much as $1 million each.
The CTX scanners use technology similar to that in hospital CT scans.
Electronic waves slice through luggage to present an image of what’s inside. Different colors are used to show whether the material is metal, paper or fabric. The product’s development was aided by FAA grants.
Invision reported a profit of just $144,000 on sales of $17.4 million in the second quarter, about flat with a year earlier. In July, the company cut the payroll of its explosive-detection device unit by 10% to save money.
Invision went public in 1996 and its stock closed Monday at $3.11 on Nasdaq, before the World Trade Center attack. That’s far below the stock’s 1997 high of $17.88.
