Altek Electronics Overview
What Makes Altek Unique
Our close relationship with and commitment to our customers is a critical factor in what makes Altek unique. Every decision we make is designed to satisfy customers, not shareholders. For decades, family business owners Stephen Altschuler, David Altschuler, and Sabrina Altschuler Beck have made weekly visits to our largest customers. We keep on top of their issues and concerns so we can deal with those issues quickly and continually evolve to meet our customers’ changing needs. Customers come to Altek because they’re frustrated by poor quality, under pressure from tight deadlines, and disappointed they aren’t getting the best overall value. They stay with Altek because we deliver quality products, on-time, at market-competitive prices.
Altek Quality
A veteran-owned small business privately held by three family members (Stephen, David, and Sabrina), Altek manufactures printed circuit board assemblies and box builds for many industries including the medical, military, industrial, and telecommunications industries. We use LEAN manufacturing principles and Six Sigma practices to achieve in excess of 99% on-time delivery and customer acceptance. Our first pass yields are greater than 98%. Our Continuous Flow Manufacturing enables us to reduce internal costs so that we don’t have to raise our customers’ prices. We’re certified to AS9100D and ISO 9001:2008. Our soldering operators are certified to IPC-610 and the J-STD and our cable and harness operators to IPC-620.
50 Years of Growth By Sabrina Beck, Vice President January 2023
Stephen Altschuler, a U.S. veteran with a master’s in engineering from Yale, co-founded Altek in 1972 with Tom Helms to fill a niche business need. The company he’d been working for went out of business. Faced with customers who needed orders filled and needing a job for himself. They raised the cash, bought the necessary material and equipment at auction, and Altek was born. The company started with 10 employees and less than $470K in its first-year revenue.
Stephen’s son David Altschuler joined Altek in 1992 and his daughter Sabrina Beck in 1998. Stephen, David, and Sabrina heavily invested in the company’s people and infrastructure to facilitate the many years of profitable growth we’ve enjoyed.
Altek’s former President, Rich Razza, a Six Sigma Black Belt with extensive experience in the aerospace industry, joined Altek in 2000. During his tenure, Rich introduced LEAN manufacturing concepts and six sigma practices. These principles remain an integral part of the fabric at Altek.
Today, Altek has approximately 160 employees and is looking forward to celebrating many more milestones. Our future is securely in the hands of the second generation leading us into the future. We continue to focus on quality and customer satisfaction, which have been the cornerstone of our success for the last 50 years.
Our Milestones:
1981 Stephen Altschuler took sole ownership
1986 Revenues doubled
1996 Won the Supplier of the Year Award from Gerber Scientific
2002 Instituted formal training for our operators (IPC-610, IPC-620 and J-STD)
2002 Earned ISO 9001 certification
2005 Won the UConn Family Business of the Year Award
2006 Began production of RoHS compliant assemblies
2006 Recognized by Otis Elevator with a Service Excellence Award
2008 The Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce recognized Stephen as its Business Leader of the Year
2008 Won the Supplier of the Year Award from Hologic
2009 Registered with the State Department for our ITAR controlled work in the defense industry
2010 Opened our “Manufacturing Center of Excellence”
2011 Earned AS9100 certification
2016 Rich Razza retired and David Altschuler became CEO
2016 Hired our new Operations Manager, Ravi Kailan, a Six Sigma Black Belt, and also hired Kevin Bair, Director of Finance and Administration
2018 Hired Tim Suydam as Director of Continuous Improvement
2020 Tim Suydam assumed the role of Director of Operations and will continue to lead Continuous Improvement initiatives.
2022 Altek Electronics celebrated the company’s 50th Anniversary.
2022 Travis Benningfield joined Altek as our Operations Manager, overseeing all manufacturing operations.
