In a business that rewards the latest technology and those who can bring it to life, there’s something quite different about Environmental Tectonics Corporation, a 40 year-old company headquartered in Southampton. Most employees have been around for decades, not months, and they’ve managed to stay current on everything from entertainment technology to military simulation.
“It’s fun to work in the world of aviation and space,” says Donna Averell, marketing manager for ETC’s Simulation Division. “We take it for granted that it’s cool.”
The company’s Training Services Group includes software products and services that create and monitor the physiological effects of flight, high-performance jet tactical flight simulation, driving and disaster simulation systems and entertainment applications. TGC’s Control Services Group includes steam and gas sterilization, testing and simulation devices for the automotive industry and hyperbaric and hypobaric chambers for medical use.
Early this year, ETC earned a $19 million contract from the U.S. Navy to manufacture a Disorientation Research Device. The vast majority of the nearly 30 companies it counts on for fabrication, electrical, engineering and supplies are in Pennsylvania, so the announcement was met with great fanfare.
Earlier this month, ETC, which employs 130, announced a deal with the Tennessee Air National Guard, which will utilize the company’s Advance Disaster Management Simulator (ADMS), a true-to-life virtual reality team training simulation platform.
“It’s exciting to think where this all might go,” says Averell. “People are finally getting money and recognizing it’s a product that can help them with national security.”
Source: Donna Averell, Environmental Tectonics Corporation
Writer: Joe Petrucci