company industry electrical components founded 1940 in florence italy headquarters lainate milan italy key people massimo della porta president giulio canale vice president and managing director products dispensers functional polymer components gas purifiers getters shape memory alloys special products vacuum pumps revenue 131 701 million 2014 number of employees 913 2014 website www.saesgroup.com saes getters s.p.a. is an italian joint stock company established in 1940 . it is the parent company of the saes industrial group which focusses its business on the production of components and systems in advanced materials patented by the same company and used in various industrial and medical applications . contents 1 history 1.1 1940s and 50s 1.2 1960s and 70s 1.3 1980s 1.4 1990s 1.5 2000s 2 technologies 2.1 material science 2.2 solid state chemistry 2.3 metallurgy 2.4 shape memory alloys 2.5 functional polymer composites chemistry 2.6 gas ultra purification 2.7 vacuum science & technology 2.8 physical vapour deposition 3 products 3.1 industrial applications business unit 3.1.1 electronic & photonic devices 3.1.2 sensors & detectors 3.1.3 light sources 3.1.4 vacuum systems 3.1.5 thermal insulation 3.1.6 pure gas handling 3.2 shape memory alloys sma business unit 3.2.1 sma medical applications 3.2.2 sma industrial applications 3.3 business development unit 4 corporate affairs 5 references 6 external links history edit 1940s and 50s edit s.a.e.s. historical building in milan . in 1940 the company s.a.e.s. societ apparecchi electrici e scientifici was formed in florence at the initiative of ernesto gabrielli an engineer from livorno and two other shareholders . the impetus for the foundation of the company was the discovery by gabrielli of a new method for the production of getters with nickel lids to protect barium plastics in order to prevent the phenomenon of oxidation . s.a.e.s. initially devoted itself to producing time clocks and a barium magnesium aluminium alloy . after a few years it transferred its headquarters to milan and began to produce electrical resistance heaters . in 1946 the della porta and canale families entered the shareholding structure and in 1949 paolo della porta joined the company subsequently taking over management in 1952 . a period began that was distinguished by major innovations supported by the research and development laboratory notably the invention of ring shaped getters in barium aluminium alloy . the company expanded into europe appointing its first agents in france germany and england . s.a.e.s. continued to invest in scientific research during a period of major change in the electronics sector characterised by the extensive spread of transistors to the detriment of vacuum tubes intended for radio and television reception and transmission . in 1957 s.a.e.s. filed a patent for getters for television cathode tubes first for black and white and then for colour television launching production on an industrial scale . 1960s and 70s edit this period was characterised by company consolidations innovations and commercial successes including at international level . s.a.e.s. also commissioned its first mass production plant . at the 3rd symposium on residual gases held in rome in 1967 s.a.e.s. presented a new configuration of getter consisting of a metallic tape coated with st 101 alloy obtained from the combination of zirconium and aluminium . this technological evolution allowed the company to execute new products with non evaporable getters neg and getter pumps . the non evaporable getter pumps neg pumps are devices which have the same purpose as barium getters but do not require an evaporation process ; they have extremely high absorptive capacity and are still used today in more advanced forms in applications requiring a high or ultra high vacuum . exploiting its own technological skills in the field of metallurgy during these two decades s.a.e.s. developed new alloys such as the st 707 alloy in zirconium vanadium and iron and was involved in projects on the catalytic module and purifiers of inert gases . it also pursued its internationalisation with the creation of subsidiaries with commercial responsibilities in the united kingdom 1966 united states 1969 canada 1969 and japan 1973 . other commercial representative offices were opened in france 1978 and in germany 1979 . in 1977 saes getters usa inc. was founded in colorado springs the first foreign subsidiary with a manufacturing mission for satisfying the growing demand for porous non evaporable getters from the us military industry . s.a.e.s. continued to grow by virtue of the progressive launch of new products and the expansion of its production structure both through the construction of new plants and acquisitions of other companies . in 1978 it had grown to 300 employees redefined its company structure and changed its name from s.a.e.s. to saes getters . 1980s edit saes pure gas building in san luis obispo u.s. saes advanced technologies building in avezzano italy . in 1982 a plant was commissioned in nanjing in china for the production of barium getters the installations for which were supplied directly by saes getters . the objective during this period was the vertical integration of production or the internal management of all processes which over the years would become one of the group s strong points . from this perspective in 1984 saes metallurgia was founded in avezzano province of l aquila for the production of barium and barium aluminium alloy saes engineering for the execution of instruments and devices necessary for the metallurgical processing of alloys and saes gemedis dedicated to the production of gemedis getter mercury dispenser i.e. alloys containing mercury . over the course of the 1990s the three companies merged into saes advanced technologies s.p.a. adding to their own portfolio numerous other articles and devices used constantly in hi tech applications requiring a vacuum or ultrahigh vacuum . in the mid 1980s saes getters concluded two important acquisitions in the united states in the field of barium getters for cathode tubes and created getters corporation of america . in 1986 saes getters was listed on the stock exchange 1 with the financial resources raised allowing it to pursue its acquisitions policy most notably towards the end of the decade the californian company cryolab inc. subsequently renamed saes pure gas inc. within which it still develops and produces gas purification products principally for the semiconductor industry . in 1989 massimo della porta paolo s son began to work for saes metallurgia . over the years massimo took on increasingly important roles until he was appointed chairman of saes getters in 2009 . 1990s edit at the start of the 1990s the entire activity of the group was encompassed in three sectors barium getters for the television industry non evaporable getters neg pumps and metal dispensers for industrial and scientific applications gas purifiers and analyzers for the semiconductor industry . over the decade production companies were established in south korea and china and commercial companies in singapore and taiwan . in 1996 in order to meet the new requirements of the company in the fields of production and research the new headquarters was inaugurated in lainate . during the same year saes getters became the first italian company to be listed on nasdaq 2 the most important equity market in the us for high tech companies on which the company remained until 2003 the year in which it requested a delisting . 3 during the second half of the 1990s with the succession of technologies in the field of televisions saes getters sensing the importance of new market developments expanded its own field of production and focused on technologies widespread in the flat display sector in particular mercury dispensers for backlight lamps for lcd liquid crystal display for monitors and televisions . 2000s edit in 2001 paolo della porta was appointed entrepreneur of the year by ernst & young with this recognition consolidating the image of the company at international level . 4 overall this decade signalled a notable change for the entire company with its structure reorganised through new acquisitions and company policy evolving significantly which characterised by innovation and diversification focused increasingly on expanding its technology portfolio in advanced materials . this strategy led saes getters to specialise in the execution of components and systems for high tech industrial and medical applications allowing the company to survive unscathed after the collapse of a number of key markets such as barium getters for the television industry or back lights for lcd screens . furthermore during this period the company developed highly innovative technologies and processes for the depositing of getters on silicon wafers for so called mems micro electro mechanical systems miniaturised devices intended for various applications such as sensors and gyroscopes . the company entered the shape memory alloy sector sma becoming a key reference for the sector and the first producer of sma devices and materials for use in industry . in this way saes acquired memory metalle gmbh renamed memry gmbh in 2010 a german company with metallurgical and application skills relating to sma in the field of medicine . it also acquired two companies in the united states memry corporation specialising in the production of sma devices for medical use and the business division of special metal corporation dedicated to the production of nitinol renamed saes smart materials . nitinol is the commercial name of shape memory alloys used in medicine and the saes group is one of the major international suppliers of this material . saes then launched the production of sma wires and springs for industrial applications at its italian facilities with these now concentrated at its headquarters in lainate . in this context in 2011 together with the german company alfmeier saes getters established the 50 50 joint venture in germany actuator solutions gmbh to boost its own competitiveness at international level in the fields of development production and marketing of sma wire based actuators . 5 in 2014 the joint venture won the german innovation award in the medium sized company category . 6 the group is also strengthening its presence in the field of purification with the acquisition of a division of the company power & energy ivyland pennsylvania united states with the aim of expanding its production of palladium membrane purifiers . at the same time the research and innovation area of the company is developing innovative hybrid technologies which integrate getter materials into polymer matrices initially concentrating on the development of dispensable absorbers for organic electronics applications in particular oled organic light emitting diodes light displays and sources . from 2013 onwards further developments of the polymer technological platform have permitted the group to execute new functional polymer compounds with the properties of interacting with the gases and optical mechanical and surface modifying functions according to the requirements and applications of interest including implantable medical devices food packaging and the field of energy storage lithium batteries and super condensers . in 2010 it also established the company etc the fruit of a collaboration between cnr and saes getters the majority shareholder . 7 an innovative research programme was launched within etc for the development of olet technology organic light emitting transistor . technologies edit material science edit the group is mainly focused on advanced alloys advanced inorganic materials polymer matrix composites and thin metal films . solid state chemistry edit saes getters exploits solid state chemistry to manage multiphase solid state reactions among one or more solid phases . evaporable getters mercury dispensers alkali metal dispensers are examples of products based on solid state reactions . metallurgy edit the company has been dealing for decades with vacuum metallurgy arc melting and vacuum induction melting and powder metallurgy milling technologies sieving powders classification and mixing screen printing and sintering . in particular by the available sintering technologies processes under high vacuum or inert atmosphere and controlled conditions of temperature time traditional sintering and pressure hot uniaxial pressing and cold isostatic pressing can be performed allowing to obtain either highly porous either full dense sintered bodies . shape memory alloys edit sma are materials that can exhibit the property of remembering their original shape even