Omega Engineering

OMEGA Engineering, Inc.
Industry Instrumentation
Founded Stamford, Connecticut in 1962 [1]
Founder Betty Hollander [1]
Headquarters Norwalk, Connecticut[2][3], United States
Key people
 Joe Vorih, CEO[4]
Products thermocouples
flow meters
pH meters
electric heaters
data collection
automation devices [5]
Revenue $168 million (2010) [3][6]
Number of employees
 700 [3][6]
Parent Spectris [3][6]
Website omega.com

OMEGA Engineering is an American instrumentation company headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, with its main factory in Bridgeport, New Jersey.[7]

It has sales offices in United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, China, Brazil, Singapore, Korea, Japan, and Mexico. Local websites are also available for customer convenience in France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, India, and Chile.[7] OMEGA does business with the United States Navy, NASA and other industrial corporations.[8]

OMEGA is owned by British-owned conglomerate Spectris plc.[3][6] since 2011.

History

The company was founded in 1962 by Betty Hollander at her kitchen table while she was raising 4 kids.[1][9] OMEGA began as a thermocouple manufacturer but slowly transitioned to other types of instrumentation. Today, OMEGA manufactures and sells devices that measure everything from temperature to pH.[10]

Hacking

In 1996, Tim Lloyd, an 11-year employee of OMEGA and a network administrator within the company, was fired. Three weeks after he was fired,[11] he unleashed a hacking "time bomb" within OMEGA's computer systems, deleting the software that ran all of OMEGA's manufacturing operations at its factory in Bridgeport, New Jersey.[8][12][13] OMEGA spent nearly $2 million repairing the programs and lost nearly $10 million in revenue, resulting in 80 employee layoffs, though Lloyd's lawyer stated that OMEGA's losses were far smaller.[8][12][13] Tim Lloyd was later convicted of computer sabotage and was sentenced to 41 months in Federal prison.[13] The Tim Lloyd hacking case is considered one of the largest employee sabotage cases in United States history.[12] The case also aired in a Forensic Files episode "Hack Attack", episode 39 of season 8.[14]

Sale to Spectris

In April, 2011, Betty Hollander died, and the company was turned over to her husband Milton Hollander.[1] Later that year, Milton Hollander sold OMEGA Engineering to British-based Spectris plc for $475 million.[3][6] Then, in March 2017, Spectris was forced to recognize an impairment charge of £115 million with relation to the past acquisition. This charge decreased goodwill and other intangible assets on Spectris' balance sheet. The charge also decreased its 2016 net income.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Lieberman, Joseph A. "Remembering Betty Hollander". capitolwords.org. Sunlight Foundation. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  2. ↑ http://www.concord-sots.ct.gov/CONCORD/online?sn=PublicInquiry&eid=9740
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sen, Anirban (15 August 2011). "UPDATE 1-Spectris Buys OMEGA Engineering for $475 mln". Reuters. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  4. ↑ "OMEGA Engineering Appoints Joe Vorih as President". Omega. Omega Engineering. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
  5. ↑ "About OMEGA". omega.com. OMEGA Engineering. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Ebrahami, Helia (16 August 2011). "Spectris buys US rival for $475m". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  7. 1 2 "OMEGA Engineering Global Contacts". omega.com. OMEGA Engineering. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 Gaudin, Sharon. "Case Study of Insider Sabotage: The Tim Lloyd/OMEGA Case" (PDF). craigchamberlain.com. Craig Chamberlain Security Do-er. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  9. ↑ Betty Ruth Hollander (obituary), Apr. 9, 2011, Stamford Advocate
  10. ↑ "OMEGA Website Homepage". omega.com. Omega Engineering. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  11. ↑ Gaudin, Sharon (June 27, 2000). "The Omega files: A true story". CNN. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  12. 1 2 3 "Notable Hacks". pbs.org. Public Broadcasting Station. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  13. 1 2 3 Strunsky, Steve. "Prison Sentence in Computer Case". New York Times Company. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  14. ↑ "Forensic Files Season 8". Retrieved 2018-01-28.
  15. ↑ Baba, Razak Musah (February 14, 2017). "Spectris 2016 profit falls; but hikes dividend". MarketWatch. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
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