Bourns, Inc.

Bourns, Inc. is an American electronics company that develops, manufactures and supplies electronic components for a variety of industries including automotive, industrial, instrumentation, medical electronics, consumer equipment and portable electronics.[1]

Bourns, Inc.
TypePrivately held company
IndustryElectronics
Founded1947 (1947) in Altadena, California
FoundersMarlan Bourns
Rosemary Bourns
Headquarters
Riverside, California
,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Gordon Bourns (Chairman and CEO)
Number of employees
9,000
Websitebourns.com
The "TRIMIT" potentiometer, one of the company's early innovations

Established in Altadena, California in 1947 by Marlan and Rosemary Bourns, graduates of the University of Michigan, the company was founded to develop and sell electronic components and sensors to the aerospace industry.[2]

Bourns has 15 manufacturing facilities around the world and has continued growing through the development of new products and technologies as well as through acquisitions. The company has approximately 9000 employees worldwide.[3]

Its current Chairman of the Board and CEO is Gordon Bourns,[4] the son of the co-founders.[5]

History

Marlan and Rosemary Bourns started the company in their 384-square-foot (35.7 m2) garage in Altadena, California in 1947. Their invention of linear motion and vane position potentiometers provided a method of accurately determining an aircraft's pitch, and helped to grow their business into a global corporation.

Headquartered in Riverside, California, Bourns makes and provides a broad range of electronic components and circuit protection devices including automotive sensors, circuit protection solutions, magnetic and inductor products, specialty engineering and manufacturing services, precision potentiometers, panel controls, encoders and resistive products.

Technology innovations

In 1952, Bourns patented the trimming potentiometer, trademarked "Trimpot".[6] In 1995, Bourns acquired VRN's Trimmer assets and introduced the first 4 mm surface-mount sealed tact switch. In 2008, Bourns acquired the Transient Blocking Unit (TBU) assets of Fultec Semiconductor, Inc.

Acquisitions
  • 2001: Joslyn GDT Division assets[7]
  • 2003: Telecom Protection assets from Texas Instruments Sensors & Controls Division
  • 2003: Microelectronic Modules Corporation assets
  • 2004: MMC's Switch Power Products assets
  • 2004: RUF Automotive Group
  • 2005: Tyco/Meggitt's Fuel Card Product assets
  • 2006: J.W. Miller Magnetics Business
  • 2006: the Automotive Controls Division assets of SSI Technologies
  • 2006: Polymer PTC division of Therm-O-Disc, Inc.
  • 2008: the Transient Blocking Unit (TBU) assets of Fultec Semiconductor, Inc.[8]
  • 2008: the Protection Products assets of Emerson Network Power Energy Systems
  • 2009: Central Office Surge Protection Products assets from Corning Cable Systems LLC
  • 2012: Assets from Jensen Devices AB, Stockholm, Sweden
  • 2014: Komatsulite Mfg. Co., Ltd
  • 2015: Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.'s trimming potentiometer business
  • 2021: Kaschke Components GmbH

References
  1. "Company overview of Bourns, Inc". Bloomberg. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  2. "About Us". www.bourns.com. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
  3. "Gordon Bourns wins 2018 Frank Miller Civic Achievement Award". Press Enterprise. 2018-04-30. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
  4. "Gordon L. Bourns". Bloomberg. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  5. "Gordon Bourns | BCOE". www.engr.ucr.edu. Archived from the original on 2018-12-09. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
  6. Bourns, Inc. - Our Beginnings, Bourns, Inc.
  7. http://www.bourns.com/docs/technical-documents/backgrounder.pdf
  8. "Bourn Acquires Assets of Fultec Semiconductor | Technology Transactions". Archived from the original on 2018-12-09. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
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