Applied Test Systems, Inc.
Contact: Sales Manager
348 New Castle Rd. P.O. Box 1529
Butler, PA 16003
U.S.
Phone: 724-283-1212
Fax: 724-283-6570
Our History: The founder of ATS, Norman L. Carroll, is a Kansas native who spent 15 years working as a manufacturing engineer at the Westinghouse Atomic Fuel Division plant in Cheswick, Pennsylvania. This field presented a number of unique testing and quality control applications for which Norm was constantly struggling to find suitable equipment, including various ultrasonic, eddy current, radiographic, and destructive tests. When equipment could not be found, solutions often had to be developed in-house. This situation led to Norm's departure from Westinghouse in order to create his company, called Applied Devices, in 1965.
A handful of employees initially worked in a refurbished barn that served as the company's engineering, marketing, and manufacturing facility. In the beginning, the company's foremost customer was the Westinghouse plant where Norm had been working. His thorough knowledge of the industry's needs made Applied Devices an invaluable resource to that organization. As time went on, a standard line of products began to be developed, including universal testing machines, creep/stress rupture test frames, furnaces, and ovens, as well as an unmatched line of testing accessories. By far, however, the majority of projects continued to be unusual custom equipment which no one else would build, and the word quickly spread around the industry: This company can do almost anything.
As business continued to grow, the name of the company was changed to Applied Test Systems to more accurately describe the corporation's specialty. In time, "The Barn," as it had affectionately been called, became increasingly lacking in space to keep up with new developments in the materials testing industry. Therefore, in 1983, ATS acquired the former Bobbie Brooks clothing factory in Butler, Pennsylvania, and has remained at this location since. ATS continues to be active in numerous ASTM committees in keeping up with the ever-changing testing world, and this 40,000 square foot facility has adequately allowed us to continue developing new products, as well as the custom products that are the foundation of our organization.
It wasn't long after that when the company also began to sell outside the United States and recently has even been awarded for its excellence. Pennsylvania State Senator Jane Clare Orie wrote in a letter of recognition for the 2004 Export Excellence Award:
