Nautel
When it comes to developing and delivering high-quality, innovative technology, Nautel in Hackett’s Cove, Nova Scotia, has the right stuff.
Nautel designs and manufactures AM and FM broadcast transmitters, navigational beacons and industrial radio frequency (RF) products – and has been doing so for more than 39 years. In addition to recently winning contracts to provide technology to Turkish Radio-Television Corporation, National Grid Wireless (UK) and Radiorama Corporativo (Mexico), Nautel is collaborating on a project with Ad Astra Rocket Company in Texas that is targeted to take flight in 2010-2011.
As Nautel president and CEO Peter Conlon explains, two key factors in the thrust of a rocket engine are the amount of fuel it burns and how hot that fuel is. A rocket propelled by plasma – which is what Ad Astra is designing – can achieve high velocity using minimal fuel and thus realize significant financial savings. Nautel’s contribution is a RF amplifier which generates and accelerates the plasma.
“Nautel’s compact and lightweight high power RF technology is critical to a successful space application,” said Dr. Franklin Chang Díaz, Ad Astra’s chairman and CEO, in a media release.
Nautel’s work on the project has received an investment of nearly $1.8 million from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency’s Atlantic Innovation Fund.
While space applications may be new at Nautel, innovation is not. “The company was built on innovation,” says marketing manager John Whyte. He explains that when the company was established in 1969, tubes not transistors were the norm.
“Our founder made a bet when he started this company saying, ‘I bet I can do beacons and transmitters using solid state instead of tubes.’ And by doing that he revolutionized the industry,” Whyte says.
Today, Nautel has 7,500 systems installed in over 170 countries around the world. In addition to its headquarters in Hackett’s Cove, Nautel has an operation in Bangor, Maine. The facilities, with a total of 170 employees, are ISO9001:2000 certified.
An area of focus at Nautel is digital radio. Conlon explains the significance of the technology in broadcasting.
“There has been no hugely successful innovation in radio since FM and we’re talking decades….” Conlon says. “So here’s an industry that’s under attack, losing listeners to alternative media, needing to refresh itself. What digital radio allows the radio infrastructure to do is to become more current, to offer more content, therefore more choices, and a much higher quality.”
Conlon says that as with any new technological innovation, there are short-term challenges in implementation – challenges that Nautel is helping to meet.
“There are little holes in the system and we’re developing products that alleviate some of the difficulties that these holes cause,” he says. “It’s actually been wonderful for us because we took a leadership role in recognizing that those holes were there and found really interesting solutions. We’ve actually developed applications that can be used on competitors’ products.”
Whyte adds that Nautel’s engineering group has grown by about 50 per cent in eighteen months. He says one team engages in pure research, another in development and a third focuses entirely on digital applications. The company even has its own digital radio station which serves as a testing ground.
“We have a very rare group of individuals worldwide,” Whyte says. “There are only select companies that can do the kind of RF research work that we do.”
Achieving high standards in product reliability and quality is aided by the fact that Nautel manufactures the majority of its components in-house. In the case of items that are outsourced, such as power supplies, Whyte says, “We work very closely with our suppliers to make sure those are meeting our quality standards as well.”
Whyte says quality is also supported by Nautel’s loyal workforce. Many employees have been with the company for 15 or 20 years. Joan Blair has worked at Nautel for more than 20 years, and serves as a test technician and an inspector in the quality department. When asked why quality is so important to the company she replies:
“Well, because we all like quality don’t we? No matter what we buy, we want quality. It’s very important and we take great pride in that here. We’re always on top of quality.”
Customer service is another focus, and is one of the attributes of Nautel highlighted by Cris Alexander, director of engineering at Crawford Broadcasting Company – a group owner of 26 AM and FM radio stations across the United States.
Alexander says he first came in contact with Nautel in 1989, at the recommendation of a transmitter equipment dealer. He purchased his first Nautel transmitter, and “I’ve never looked back.”
“These have been extremely high-quality, very high-reliability products,” he says. “They’re priced right and perhaps most important, the customer support and customer service by the people at Nautel have been second to none.”
Continued growth and the creation of partnerships with innovative companies in complementary lines of business are on the agenda for Nautel going forward.
“Our commercialization skillset is pretty big for a small company and one to be very proud of,” Conlon says. “I think where that plays out over the next little while is that we need to lever the fact that we can bring commercialization opportunities to entities that have innovation skills but that would not do typically well on their own, that would run into roadblocks.”
Conlon says Nova Scotia has “an incredible pool of talent” and is rich in postsecondary educational resources. He adds, “this is a very entrepreneurial part of the world.”
He also speaks highly of Nova Scotia’s quality of life.
“I come from Ottawa, I’ve lived in Mexico, I’ve lived outside of Washington, DC and Philadelphia, and there is nothing more satisfying than driving to work alongside the Atlantic Ocean,” he says. “And I get a chance to work in a company that’s in over 170 countries around the world, leading the charge in terms of technologies that are revolutionizing the radio industry, and I can do it right here.”
