“More important than helping to advance Tom Cruise’s career, Kurt brings his knowledge of electronic, mechanical and software innovation collaboration to one of the most exciting technology enablers in the American economy,” said Robert Toth, Jr, president of Dexter Research.

Previously Mr. Hochrein, an industry sales leader in robotics who developed accounts at Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Ford, also launched successful customer collaboration centers across the US and in Canada and Mexico. Mr. Hochrein holds a degree in economics from the University of Michigan and also has energy industry experience.

“I am delighted once again to be leading such an important innovation center,” Mr. Hochrein said. “Dexter Research is already making our troops and pilots safer in oversea combat. We play a key role at exhaust emission testing centers, in greenhouse gardening and airplanes, in kitchen appliances and steel factories, ear thermometers and mine safety, weather forecasting and earth measurement. And we’re making important contributions to the Mars missions.

“But equally important, I believe that you will soon see Dexter Research detectors providing important foundations to industrial and residential control of greenhouse gases. We are also positioned to make important technology transfers to home fire safety, intruder security, and foreign-sourced energy reduction. No wonder our sales are up thirty-four percent in Q1 of this year,” Mr. Hochrein said.

The infrared thermopile products of the privately-held company are making American troops and pilots safer in oversea combat. Its detectors, which lead the industry for design with a carefully guarded manufacturing process, play a key role at exhaust emission testing centers, in greenhouse gardening and airplanes, in kitchen appliances and steel factories, ear thermometers and mine safety, weather forecasting and earth measurement. And its tiny detectors, which never sleep yet require no external power, are making important contributions to the Mars missions.

In a state full of bad business news, the brain behind the breakout is Robert Toth, Jr., son of the founder and a quiet spoken man who knows his technology, and a market that spans five continents, like no one else. A soccer coach and fan of Detroit Tigers, Pistons and Wings sports teams, Rob figured that the way to dominate the league in which his company plays was to assemble a dream team of his own.

Taking full advantage of Michigan’s deep talent bench, Rob most recently enticed Kurt Hochrein, a Michigan-based veteran of a major Asian robotics supplier who brings an enviable record of customer collaboration that spans three countries. Earlier, Rob recruited RFD Insight consultant Wes Arrington, a turnaround expert and an internationally noted veteran of General Motors and EDS, to bring world class strategy and operational improvements to the volume manufacture of Dexter’s infrared thermopile detectors. Rob added a high-level product and marketing consultant Lawry Dolph, a verteran of some of the world’s largest advertising agencies and a consultant with an enviable record of driving up stock valuation.

These three joined Rob’s earlier draft choices, Victor Banta, a remote sensing and digital imaging expert who, in addition to a comprehensive grasp of infrared technology, also had experience saving habitat measuring technology deep in the Amazon, and William McMillan who brought a major retailer’s exceptional customer service to Dexter Research’s account team. Veteran manufacturing boss and senior ski patrol Steven Kasper was put in charge of making sure that no competitor delivered a higher quality product.

Rob’s only non-Michigan hire is Wayne Baer as Director of Research and Development. Calling a Chicago suburb home, Mr. Baer is a veteran of Motorola, where he managed Bluetooth activities for their Automotive and Telematics Sector, including a new SIG profile group (HFP), HW/SW design, production, and customer interfaces. Milestones include the first in-car Bluetooth device and first in-flight Bluetooth phone call. Dig a little deeper and you find that Wayne is a graduate of Huron High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan and has a long-time affiliation with Professor Ken Wise at The University of Michigan Solid State Electronics Lab Center for Integrated Sensors and Circuits.

“You bring together talent of this caliber and create an environment where they can discover how to leverage one another skills and experience,” Mr. Toth noted of his executive roster. “Last year, we went to the largest sensor show in North America and were mobbed by prospects. When we returned home, we had a fifty-four percent response to our follow up direct marketing initiative. No wonder our sales sky-rocketed.

“Am I surprised by what these people can do?” Mr. Toth asks. “No. Michigan is full of exceptional people, and I have been lucky enough to have found some of the best. They have set the bar pretty high for themselves, and it will be fun to watch them try to top their own performance.

“I wouldn’t recommend that anyone else try to take us on in the infrared thermopile business,” Mr. Toth adds, “but for any other company trying to turn things around in a tough global market, I highly recommend shopping for talent in Michigan. They think big. And that’s proven to be the secret of overcoming our competitors in the US and Asia,” Toth observes.

On a quiet night, when no responsibilities intrude on your personal time, there are few movies more entertaining to see again than the 1999 release of Entrapment, starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

He is a master thief. She is the investigator bent on catching him by posing as an accomplice. The target: a room crisscrossed by lasers protecting a prize of impossible value. He trains her to writhe like a serpent, working her way over and under the intersecting beams to reach the query without setting off the alarms. It’s must-see entertainment, as the preview shows.

Inventive Hollywood minds concocting elaborate security systems are nothing new. Who can forget the pressure sensitive stones in Indiana Jones, Raider of the Lost Ark, which loose a flight of poison tipped arrows and a giant rolling stone to chase a desperate and fleeing Harrison Ford?

Fact is, had Catherine Zeta-Jones, in any guise and comporting with any elusive movement, set a single foot into a room guarded by an ST60 detector, she would be busted. Harrison Ford would be captured or crushed, depending on the writer’s imagination, with no possibilities of escape.

The ST60 is impossibly small, yet sophisticated. It’s an infrared thermopile detector about the size of a plump golden raisin. Highly affordable, it draws no power and can sit and wait inert for decades. Its internal materials do not oxidize or corrode. And yet it never sleeps.

Stick a limb into the security zone and the system immediately powers whatever intruder protocol you have in place—closing security doors, running security guards, knock out gas, even poison-tipped arrows if you have a thing for Aztec tradition and a risky disregard for your attorney’s advice. “Catherine Zeta-Jones, you have the right to remain silent.”

I, for one, would volunteer to be the arresting officer.

FACT: The world’s best detectors are made by Dexter Research Center, Inc. For more information, contact us today.

Dexter Research pioneered the affordable infrared thermopile detector. Our thermopile detectors are accurate with ±0.5°C or better. Dexter’s products are 100% tested prior to shipping and display a remarkable reliability-durability curve.

For more information, contact:

Rob Toth, President
Dexter Research Center
7300 Huron River Drive
Dexter, MI 48130
Tel +1 734 426 3921

The ST120 Four Channel Silicon Thermopile

The new single-channel silicon-based thermopile provides lowest cost solutions in a small active area of 1.2mm x 1.2mm in a TO-5 package. Performing at a time constant of 25ms with nitrogen encapsulation gas, the ST120 delivers a very low Temperature Coefficient of Responsivity of minus 0.04%/°C. This detector has a very short thermal shock response to ambient temperature change.

The new device is available with many of the long list of optical filter options from Dexter Research. An optional Internal 30kW 5% NTC chip thermistor provides ambient package temperature measurement. Also available, an internal aperture precisely defines active area for applications with field-of-view and/or spot size requirements.

The company believes that the ST120 will become the preferred detector for gas analysis. It is well suited to multi element applications, and is excellent for non-contact temperature, fire suppression, and for use as a horizon sensor.

A volume manufacturer, as well as the global center of expertise for infrared detectors since 1977, Dexter Research Center, Inc., Dexter, Michigan, offers 30 models and over 600 products, more than all competitors combined. Enjoying record growth in 2005, Dexter Research continues to lead the industry in the design, development and production of high quality, high output thin film and silicon-based infrared sensing thermopile sensors.

For more information, contact:

Rob Toth, President
Dexter Research Center
7300 Huron River Drive
Dexter, MI 48130
Tel +1 734 426 3921

The flat pack enables thermopile technology and performance to be available in a surface mount package. Benefits include a small active area of 0.61mm x 0.61mm, and a time constant of 18ms with nitrogen encapsulation gas. The device deliver a very low Temperature Coefficient of Responsivity of minus 0.04%/°C. This detector has a very short thermal shock response to ambient temperature change.

Available with Dexter Research’s industry-leading choice of options, the ST60R LCC version offers a poly-silicon resistor to be used as a PTC thermistor. Also available, an internal 30kW 5% NTC chip thermistor provides ambient package temperature measurement.

Housing the ST60 and the company’s new ST120 elements, the device allows for ultra low profile packaging yet offers an easily adjusted field of view. The Flat Pack is ideal for today’s automated pick-and-place manufacturing processes.

A volume manufacturer, as well as the global center of expertise for infrared detectors since 1977, Dexter Research Center, Inc., Dexter, Michigan, offers 30 models and over 600 products, more than all competitors combined. Enjoying record growth in 2005, Dexter Research continues to lead the industry in the design, development and production of high quality, high output thin film and silicon-based infrared sensing thermopile sensors.

For more information, contact:

Rob Toth, President
Dexter Research Center
7300 Huron River Drive
Dexter, MI 48130
Tel +1 734 426 3921