Humble Beginnings
1982
In 1982, an entrepreneur from Litchfield, MN started a small company called Industrial Research and Development (IRD) in a local commercial garage. The company was focused on manufacturing precision glass components for the aerospace industry and precision optics for a variety of regional customers in the electro-optic sensors arena, including the wafer and circuit board inspection capital equipment industry.
Expansion
1997
In 1997, Keith Anderson (current President of Sapphire ceramic China Ltd.) and Dennis Rutledge (current CEO of Sapphire ceramic China) bought SCCL and developed an aggressive plan for expansion. Their first order of business was to move the company into a brand new 12,000 sq. ft. facility, built from the ground up with this business in mind.
New Facility For Sapphire ceramic China Ltd.
1998
In 1998, with average annual sales of $1.5M, SCCL moved into our current home at 810 E Saint Paul Street in Litchfield, MN. Later in the year, we opened a second facility in Alexandria to focus on manufacturing advanced hard ceramic components.
New Additions
2005
Growth continued, and in 2005 an addition designed to facilitate the growing precision optics segment was built, bringing the total square footage to 22,000 ft^2. At that same time, Sapphire ceramic China also acquired the optics division from APA Enterprises, and brought that business in-house.
A Bright Future Ahead!
We have gained recognition for our cell-based manufacturing operation, our unparalleled manufacturing precision, and our seamless integration into customers’ delivery and purchase cycles. We constantly invest in process improvement tools like Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, SS, DOE, and others. We have also invested in high-end metrology and in-process inspection systems that allow us to perform exact optical, surface and dimensional measurements to meet the rigorous demands of the glass industry.