Planar Systems

Last updated
Planar Systems, Inc.
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Technology
FoundedMay 23, 1983;40 years ago (1983-05-23)
Headquarters Hillsboro, Oregon, U.S.
45°31′41″N122°53′00″W / 45.52794°N 122.88345°W / 45.52794; -122.88345
Key people
Gerald K. Perkel, President and CEO
Ryan Gray, VP and CFO
ProductsMonitors, Display Screen & Projectors
Revenue$1.8 billion USD(2018) [2]
Decrease2.svg $1.6 million USD(2018) [2]
Increase2.svg $3.8 Million USD(2018) [2]
Number of employees
456 (2018)
Parent Leyard Optoelectronic Co.
Website www.planar.com

Planar Systems, Inc. is an American digital display manufacturing corporation with a facility in Hillsboro, Oregon. Founded in 1983 as a spin-off from Tektronix, it was the first U.S. manufacturer of electroluminescent (EL) digital displays. Planar currently makes a variety of other specialty displays, and has been an independent subsidiary of Leyard Optoelectronic Co. since 2015. The headquarters, leadership team and employees still remain in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Contents

History

1980s

Planar was founded on May 23, 1983 [3] by Jim Hurd, Chris King, John Laney and others as a spin-off from the Solid State Research and Development Group of the Beaverton, Oregon, based Tektronix. [4] In 1986, a division spun off from Planar to work on projection technology and formed InFocus. [5]

1990s

In 1991, Planar purchased FinLux, a competitor in Espoo, Finland. This location now serves as the company's European headquarters. [6] Planar's executives took the company public in 1993, listing the stock on the NASDAQ boards [7] Planar acquired Tektronix's avionics display business, creating the short-lived Planar Advance in 1994. [8] Standish Industries, a manufacturer of flat panel LCDs in Lake Mills, Wisconsin, was sold to Planar in 1997. [9] This plant was closed in 2002 as worldwide LCD manufacturing shifted to East Asian countries.

2000s

Company headquarters Planar headquarters 1195 Compton.JPG
Company headquarters

On April 23, 2002, DOME Imaging Systems was purchased by Planar and became the company's medical business unit. [10] Planar acquired Clarity Visual Systems (founded by former InFocus employees) on September 12, 2006, now referred to as the Control Room and Signage business unit. [11] On June 19, 2006, [12] Planar acquired Runco International, a leading brand in the high-end, custom home theater market. [13] On August 6, 2008, Planar sold its medical business unit to NDS Surgical Imaging. [14]

2010s

In November 2012, Planar announced the sale of its electroluminescent business to Beneq Oy, a supplier of production and research equipment for thin film coatings. Under the terms of the transaction, consideration consists of a $6.5 million base purchase price, of which $3.9 million was paid in cash at closing and $2.6 million was paid in the form of a promissory note. [15] Planar was purchased by Leyard Optoelectronic Co. of China in 2015 for $157 million. [16] It became a subsidiary after formerly trading on the NASDAQ under the symbol PLNR.

In November 2016, Planar announced that it was to enter a merger agreement with NaturalPoint Inc., which sells infrared point tracking systems for use on CGI movie sets (Optitrack), and home use both for assisted computing (Smartnav) and computer gaming (TrackIR). The merger was finalized in January 2017. NaturalPoint will remain a separate business with its own executive team, customers, and market initiatives. [17]

2020s

In 2020, a nearly 32-foot-long, 5-foot-high Planar TVF Series LED video wall was added to Lea County Communication Authority (LCCA)’s Lea County 911 Call Center. [18]

Planar completed the latest of three installations at the University of Oregon. [19] The addition of Planar® CarbonLight™ CLI Flex™ pliable LED video wall displays, custom designed into two curved LED installations, at Matthew Knight Arena [20] follows the companies deployments at the university’s Hatfield-Dowlin Complex in 2013 and Student Recreation Center in 2015. [21]

The company also expanded its presence at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina by adding an impressive collection of 126 Planar LCD displays and two Planar LED video walls in the Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business. [22] 200 Planar displays also appear in the university’s four-story Watt Family Innovation Center following an installation in 2016.

On November 10, 2020, Planar expanded their US government division [23] to enhance the company’s product security program to further adapt products and processes to best meet the product security needs of customers.

Operations

Planar currently assembles and services videowalls, projectors, and other displays in Hillsboro. Planar's EL manufacturing operations were consolidated into Planar's Espoo, Finland facility in 2002. [24] Additional large-format displays are assembled and integrated in Albi, France. [25]

Leyard Merger

On November 27, 2015, Planar closed its sale to become a subsidiary of Leyard Optoelectronic Co., a Chinese LED display product corporation. Headquarters operations for Planar remain in Beaverton, OR following the sale. [26]

Locations

In addition to its Oregon, U.S. headquarters, Planar has worldwide reach. Its sales offices are located in Europe, North America, and Asia. It has manufacturing facilities in France, North America, and Finland. [27]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hillsboro, Oregon</span> City in Oregon, United States

Hillsboro is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Situated in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city hosts many high-technology companies, such as Intel, locally known as the Silicon Forest. The population was 106,447 at the 2020 census, making Hillsboro the 5th most populous city in Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silicon Forest</span> Nickname for the cluster of high-tech companies near Portland, USA

Silicon Forest is a nickname for the Washington County cluster of high-tech companies located in the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon, and most frequently refers to the industrial corridor between Beaverton and Hillsboro in northwest Oregon.

Grass Valley is a manufacturer of television production and broadcasting equipment. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, it was formed by the March 2014 merger of the original Grass Valley with Miranda Technologies, which were both acquired by American networking company Belden in 2014 and 2012, respectively. In February 2018, owners Belden merged Grass Valley with newly-acquired Snell Advanced Media. On July 2, 2020, Grass Valley announced the completion of its acquisition by private equity firm Black Dragon Capital from Belden Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tektronix</span> American test and measurement devices company

Tektronix, historically widely known as Tek, is an American company best known for manufacturing test and measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. Originally an independent company, it is now a subsidiary of Fortive, a spinoff from Danaher Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">InFocus</span> American company

InFocus Corporation is an American privately owned company based in the state of Oregon. Founded in 1986, the company develops, manufactures, and distributes DLP and LCD projectors and accessories as well as large-format touch displays, software, LED televisions, tablets and smartphones. InFocus also offers video calling services. Formerly a NASDAQ listed public company, InFocus was purchased by Image Holdings Corp., owned by John Hui, in 2009 and is now a wholly owned subsidiary headquartered in Tigard, Oregon.

Lattice Semiconductor Corporation is an American semiconductor company specializing in the design and manufacturing of low power field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Headquartered in the Silicon Forest area of Hillsboro, Oregon, the company also has operations in San Jose, Calif., Shanghai, Manila, Penang, and Singapore. Lattice Semiconductor has more than 1000 employees and an annual revenue of more than $660 million as of 2022. The company was founded in 1983 and went public in 1989. It is traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol LSCC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reser's Fine Foods</span> Corporation in Beaverton, Oregon, US

Reser's Fine Foods, Inc., an American corporation based in Beaverton, Oregon, manufactures and distributes fresh and refrigerated prepared foods. Over 1,000 products are available in the 50 U.S. states, Canada, Guam, Mexico, and areas of the Far East. Its prepared foods are sold in national grocery chains, independent outlets, and convenience stores. Oregon State University's football stadium, Reser Stadium, is named after the company, which is one of its sponsors. Reser’s is also a primary sponsor of Martin Truex Jr. and the #19 Toyota Camry in the NASCAR Cup Series. Reser's consistently ranks in the top ten privately held Oregon companies by annual revenue.

Radisys Corporation is an American technology company located in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States that makes technology used by telecommunications companies in mobile networks. Founded in 1987 in Oregon by former employees of Intel, the company went public in 1995. The company's products are used in mobile network applications such as small cell radio access networks, wireless core network elements, deep packet inspection and policy management equipment; conferencing, and media services including voice, video and data. In 2015, the first-quarter revenues of Radisys totaled $48.7 million, and approximately employed 700 people. Arun Bhikshesvaran is the company's chief executive officer.

Maxim Integrated, a subsidiary of Analog Devices, designs, manufactures, and sells analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits for the automotive, industrial, communications, consumer, and computing markets. Maxim's product portfolio includes power and battery management ICs, sensors, analog ICs, interface ICs, communications solutions, digital ICs, embedded security, and microcontrollers. The company is headquartered in San Jose, California, and has design centers, manufacturing facilities, and sales offices worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merix Corporation</span>

Merix Corporation was an American printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer based in Beaverton, Oregon. Prior to a merger in 2010 with Viasystems, the company had been the 31st largest public company in Oregon based on market capitalization as of 2006. The company is now part of TTM Technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TriQuint Semiconductor</span>

TriQuint Semiconductor was a semiconductor company that designed, manufactured, and supplied high-performance RF modules, components and foundry services. The company was founded in 1985 in Beaverton, Oregon before moving to neighboring Hillsboro, Oregon. In February 2014, Greensboro, North Carolina-based RF Micro Devices and TriQuint announced a merger in which the new company would be Qorvo, Inc., with the merger completed on January 1, 2015.

Runco International is a subsidiary of Planar Systems, Inc., an American multinational corporation headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, that manufactures a wide range of display devices.

Norm Thompson Outfitters was a privately owned catalog and internet retailer based in Middleton, Massachusetts that was previously based in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States until September 2016. The Norm Thompson offices were closed and consolidated due to Bluestem's acquisition of their parent company, Orchard Brands, in July 2015. Founded in 1949 by Norman A. (Norm) Thompson as a mail order business, it grew to annual sales of $200 million before it was sold to Golden Gate Capital Partners in 2006. The company sells clothing, gadgets, furniture, kitchen items, and gift items from its namesake catalog as well as from its Solutions and Sahalie brands. John Difrancesco serves as president and chief executive of the 500 employee company.

Electro Scientific Industries, Inc. (ESI) is an American high technology company headquartered in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area, specifically in Beaverton, Oregon, since 2021, but from 1963–2021, it was based in the unincorporated Cedar Mill area just north of Beaverton. ESI is a developer and supplier of photonic and laser systems for microelectronics manufacturers. Founded in 1944, it is the oldest high-tech company in Oregon. Along with Tektronix, and later Intel, it has spawned numerous technology-based companies in the Portland area, an area known as the Silicon Forest. From 1983 to 2019, shares in the company were publicly traded on NASDAQ, under the ticker symbol ESIO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norm Winningstad</span> American engineer and businessman

C. Norman (Norm) Winningstad was an American engineer and businessman in the state of Oregon. A native of California, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II before working at what is now Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. After moving north to Oregon, he started working for Tektronix before starting several companies in what became the Silicon Forest in the Portland metropolitan area. He founded or helped to found Floating Point Systems, Lattice Semiconductor, and Thrustmaster. Winningstad and his wife were also noted philanthropists in the Portland area, with a theater at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts named in his wife Dolores' honor.

Cascade Microtech is a semiconductor test equipment manufacturer based in Beaverton in the Portland metropolitan area of the United States. Founded in 1983, the Oregon-based company employs nearly 400 people. Formerly publicly traded company as CSCD on the NASDAQ, the company is now fully merged with FormFactor, Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MathStar</span> Semiconductor company based in Oregon (1999-2010)

MathStar, Inc., was an American, fabless semiconductor company based in Oregon. Founded in Minnesota in 1999, the company moved to the Portland metropolitan area where it remained until it completed a reverse merger with Sajan, Inc. in 2010. MathStar never made a profit after raising $137 million over the lifetime of the company, including via several stock offerings while the company was publicly traded on the NASDAQ market. The company's only product was a field programmable object array (FPOA) chip.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qorvo</span> American technology company

Qorvo is an American multinational company specializing in products for wireless, wired, and power markets. The company was created by the merger of TriQuint Semiconductor and RF Micro Devices, which was announced in 2014 and completed on January 1, 2015. It trades on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol QRVO. The headquarters for the company originally were in both Hillsboro, Oregon, and Greensboro, North Carolina, but in mid-2016 the company began referring to its North Carolina site as its exclusive headquarters.

Leyard Optoelectronic is a publicly traded Beijing based electronics manufacturer, producing LED products including displays and lighting. Its main business segment is in screen displays of very large dimensions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon Graduate Institute</span> Former higher education institution in Beaverton, Oregon

The Oregon Graduate Center was a unique, private, postgraduate-only research university in Washington County, Oregon, on the west side of Portland, from 1963 to 2001. The center was renamed the Oregon Graduate Institute in 1989. The Institute merged with the Oregon Health Sciences University in 2001, and became the OGI School of Science and Engineering within the (renamed) Oregon Health & Science University. The School was discontinued in 2008 and its campus in 2014. Demolition of the campus buildings began February 2017.

References

  1. ↑ "Planar Launches Six New Touch Screen LCDs". Nestor. January 15, 2008. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 "Planar Announces Fiscal Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2013 Financial Results". Planar Systems. November 20, 2013. Archived from the original on December 5, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Business Registry Business Name Search". Oregon Secretary of State . Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  4. ↑ A History of Electroluminescent Displays J. A. Hart, Indiana University; S.A. Lenway, and T. Murtha, University of Minnesota September 1999
  5. ↑ InFocus through the years The Oregonian/OregonLive Silicon Forest Blog April 13, 2009
  6. ↑ U.S. Project Hobbled by Japan's Lead New York Times, December 18, 1990 Section D page 1
  7. ↑ "Planar Systems gets in step with area trend to go public". The Oregonian, October 30, 1993
  8. ↑ "Planar Inc. maps deal, set to soar". The Oregonian, July 15, 1994
  9. ↑ "Standish of Lake Mills Sold to LCD Competitor". The Capital Times, August 27, 1997
  10. ↑ Planar Systems Acquires DOME Imaging Systems Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine Photonics.com May 1, 2002
  11. ↑ Planar buys Clarity for $46M Portland Business Journal July 19, 2006
  12. ↑ "News" (Press release).
  13. ↑ Planar’s Acquisition of Runco: No End to the Party CEPro, May 24, 2007
  14. ↑ NDS Surgical Imaging buys Dome Imaging Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal, August 6, 2008
  15. ↑ Kim Brown (November 30, 2012). Planar Systems (ed.). "Planar Announces Sale of Electroluminescent (EL) Business to Beneq (press release)". www.businesswire.com. Berkshire Hathaway Co. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  16. ↑ Rogoway, Mike (November 27, 2015). "Planar closes $157 million sale to Chinese company". The Oregonian/OregonLive. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  17. ↑ "Planar finalises merger agreement with NaturalPoint". AV Magazine | Pro AV news, analysis and comment from Europe’s leading Audio Visual title. 2017-01-31. Retrieved 2017-02-07.
  18. ↑ "AV News to Know Aug. 21, 2020: New Products, Cool Projects and People in New Places". 21 August 2020.
  19. ↑ "Planar LED Installation Drives Pregame Hype at University of Oregon Arena". 24 September 2020.
  20. ↑ "Installation Profile" (PDF). planar.com. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  21. ↑ "Installation Profile" (PDF). planar.com. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  22. ↑ "Installation Profile" (PDF). planar.com. 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  23. ↑ "Planar Announces Expansion of U.S. Government Division | Planar". Archived from the original on 2020-11-10.
  24. ↑ Planar consolidation means 55 layoffs Portland Business Journal, August 16, 2002
  25. ↑ "Form 10-K: Annual Report pursuant to Section 13 OR 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (2010)" (PDF). www.sec.gov. United States Securities and Exchange Commission. September 24, 2010. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  26. ↑ "Planar and Leyard Merger Complete". Planar Systems. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  27. ↑ http://www.markets.co/planar-systems-inc-nasdaqplnr-a-hold-roth-capital/8425/ Planar Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLNR) a Hold: Roth Capital
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.