type public nasdaq esio industry electronics semiconductor laser machining founded 1944 alternatively 1953 founder douglas c. strain 1953 1 2 headquarters portland oregon united states 45 31 34 n 122 49 24 w 45.52623 n 122.82329 w 45.52623 ; 122.82329 coordinates 45 31 34 n 122 49 24 w 45.52623 n 122.82329 w 45.52623 ; 122.82329 area served worldwide key people edward c. grady president and ceo paul r. oldham cfo robert m. debakker svp operations james latham cmo products laser based processing systems for printed circuit board pcb manufacturing ic packaging fabrication passive component manufacturing testing and inspection semiconductor wafer processing and component parts micromachining ; revenue us 159.1 million fy 2015 website www.esi.com electro scientific industries inc. esi is a high technology company headquartered in the portland oregon metropolitan area more specifically in washington county in the unincorporated cedar mill area north of beaverton u.s.a. it is a developer and supplier of photonic and laser systems for microelectronics manufacturers . 3 founded in 1944 it is the oldest high tech company in oregon . 4 5 along with tektronix 6 and later intel it has spawned numerous technology based companies in the portland area an area known as the silicon forest . 7 contents 1 history 1.1 annexation fight 2 operations 3 products 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit framed photograph of douglas c. strain on the wall of the science center named after him at pacific university esi was founded in 1944 3 as brown engineering later becoming brown electro measurement corporation beco . 8 in 1953 beco s douglas c. strain and three other investors bought out strain s partners at brown and formed a new company electro measurements inc. which used the brand name esi in marketing . the acronym stood for excellent scientific instruments 9 but the company s name remained electro measurements inc. until 1959 when it was changed to esi inc. and finally in 1960 to electro scientific industries inc. esi . 10 prior to about 2000 the company was usually referred to as having been founded in 1953 . 1 2 11 12 douglas strain was the company s ceo and board chairman from 1953 until 1980 and remained on the board continuing as chairman until 1985 then vice chairman until fully retiring in 1999 . 12 in the 1950s the company s specialty was the manufacture of high precision resistance measuring instruments and related products . 2 in 1970 esi began developing laser trimming systems for resistor circuits 2 and soon became a leader in this field . esi s headquarters campus building 4 all facilities were located at s.e. 43rd & stark in portland until 1956 when the first stage of a new headquarters and manufacturing plant on macadam avenue in south portland was opened . the new plant was destroyed by fire 8 in 1957 13 and had to be rebuilt . in 1962 esi announced plans to create a new development called sunset science park to be built in the cedar mill area of unincorporated washington county oregon designed to attract other technology companies with esi as an anchor . 14 the company moved its headquarters to the sunset science park location in 1963 and the manufacturing facilities followed in 1966 vacating the macadam avenue site . the complex on n.w. science park drive which remains esi s headquarters today has a portland mailing address but is not in the city of portland proper ; it occupies unincorporated land which is now adjacent to the city limits of beaverton . esi became a publicly traded company in 1983 . 2 15 the company opened its first foreign sales office in 1978 in munich germany and later opened offices in several countries in southeast asia . 16 the company now has offices for direct sales in several european countries as well . 17 several small companies were acquired by esi in the late 1990s including dynamotion corp. of california in 1997 18 chip star inc. california in 1997 19 applied intelligent systems inc. aisi michigan in 1997 20 and testec corp. arizona in 1999 . 21 a new manufacturing facility was opened in klamath falls oregon in early 2001 . 22 the company acquired california based new wave research inc. in 2007 . 23 at the beginning of 2009 electro scientific had around 700 employees about half of whom were located in oregon . 5 edward c. grady was named as the president and ceo of esi in february 2014 . 24 the company acquired fiber laser manufacturer eolite systems in june 2012 25 the semiconductor systems business from gsi group in may 2013 26 and chinese laser firm wuhan topwin optoelectronics technology co. in january 2015 . 27 in august 2016 the company announced that michael burger formerly ceo of cascade microtech would succeed edward grady as ceo effective october 3 2016 . 28 annexation fight edit in 2005 esi joined columbia sportswear tektronix and other washington county companies in an effort led by nike to convince the state legislature to prohibit the practice of forcible annexation of islands of unincorporated land that have become surrounded by a city . 29 the nike effort stemmed from an aggressive annexation policy being practiced by the city of beaverton in 2004 under which the city had added more than 500 acres 2.0 km2 of unincorporated land including the headquarters of leupold & stevens 30 located almost adjacent to esi but on the opposite side of the sunset highway freeway . although the headquarters of esi and columbia are not on islands surrounded by beaverton both directly abut the city boundary and company officials were concerned about the likely eventual effect of the city s annexation practices should future annexations cause their properties to become part of such an island . the 2005 oregon legislature enacted a law prohibiting beaverton from any forced island type annexations for two years and additionally included language effectively banning beaverton from forcibly annexing any of electro scientific industries property whether an island or not for at least 30 years . 31 32 operations edit esi manufactures a variety of laser based processing and micro manufacturing solutions designed to help manufacturers optimize their production capabilities by moving beyond the limitations of mechanical based solutions . these include laser based via drilling systems for printed circuit board pcb manufacturers and integrated circuit packaging fabricators . esi systems also address the needs of passive component manufacturing testing inspection with wafer trim and circuit trim offerings . semiconductor manufacturers use esi systems for processing wafers . manufacturers use esi s laser based micro machining platforms for component part manufacturing and marking . esi s manufacturing facilities are distributed across the us and asia from the headquarters campus in portland to klamath falls oregon fremont california bozeman montana and singapore . in asia the primary operation hub is located in shanghai . the nasdaq traded company had annual revenues of 159.1 million for fiscal year 2015 . 33 products edit esi s interconnect and micro fabrication products are used to create nano scale features on a variety of materials and substrates in high volume manufacturing . the company s semiconductor products include automated ultra thin wafer dicing and high throughput high accuracy grooving systems . 34 in the area of component test and inspection esi offers automated test termination high speed handling and visual inspection equipment for manufacturing of miniature multilayer ceramic passive components and other components such as arrays inductors and varistors . it also manufactures fiber rod and solid state lasers and ablation lasers for use in laser manufacturing systems . see also edit list of companies based in oregon references edit a b 1995 annual report form 10 k for 5 31 95 u.s. securities and exchange commission . retrieved 2010 08 11 . a b c d e enders john december 1994 . electro scientific industries bounces back one of oregon s first technology companies has recovered from hard times . oregon technology inc. 1994 edition an annual supplement to oregon business magazine . retrieved 2010 08 11 . a b esi financial tear sheet . esi . retrieved 2010 08 08 . earnshaw aliza march 20 2001 . esi surpasses analyst expectations . portland business journal . retrieved 2010 08 11 . a b rogoway mike january 20 2009 . esi sales under extraordinary pressure . the oregonian . retrieved 2010 08 11 . meyers sean october 19 1997 . tek s rich history helps define state . portland business journal . retrieved 2010 08 11 . silicon forest universe . portland state university . retrieved 2010 08 08 . a b an intricate history spanning two centuries company history . electro scientific industries . retrieved 2010 08 11 . 1959 electro measurements inc. advertisement in the pulse of long island the monthly journal of the institute of radio engineers long island ny section june 1959 issue p. 13 . a new name 1960 advertisement in the pulse of long island the monthly journal of the institute of radio engineers long island ny section february 1960 issue p. 15 . northwest public companies in profile . the seattle times . june 11 1996 . retrieved 2010 08 11 . a b guide to the douglas c. strain papers 1914 2007 . northwest digital archives oregon state university collection . 2010 . retrieved 2010 08 11 . 200 000 fire sears plant july 19 1957 . the oregonian p. 1 . pratt gerry january 21 1962 . cedar hills sic area receives new 50 acre science park . the sunday oregonian p. 1 . the oregonian october 11 1983 . portland business journal staff january 21 2003 . esi opens new office in taiwan . portland business journal . retrieved 2010 08 11 . portland business journal staff january 3 2008 . esi to sell directly in japan . portland business journal . retrieved 2010 08 11 . portland business journal staff june 10 1997 . electro scientific industries completes dynamotion acquisition . portland business journal . retrieved 2010 08 13 . portland business journal staff july 1 1997 . esi buys chip star inc. . portland business journal . retrieved 2010 08 13 . portland business journal staff december 5 1997 . esi completes intelligent systems acquisition . portland business journal . retrieved 2010 08 13 . portland business journal staff january 15 1999 . esi acquires testec . portland business journal . retrieved 2010 08 13 . portland business journal staff december 5 2000 . esi contributes oregon institute of technology scholarship . portland business journal . retrieved 2010 08 11 . earnshaw aliza july 13 2007 . esi follows the playbook with 36m new wave buy . portland business journal . retrieved 2010 08 11 . spencer malia february 24 2014 . esi names board member as new ceo . portland business journal . retrieved 25 february 2014 . staff june 20 2012 . fiber laser firm eolite sold for 10m . optics.org . retrieved 2016 01 21 . staff april 11 2013 . esi to acquire semiconductor systems from gsi group . photonics.com . retrieved 2016 01 21 . rogoway mike november 13 2014 . esi will pay up to 18 million for chinese laser company . the oregonian . retrieved 2016 01 21 . rogoway mike august 19 2016 . esi s new ceo is cascade microtech s former chief . the oregonian . retrieved 2016 08 26 . giegerich andy june 3 2005 . islands of discontent . portland business journal . retrieved 2010 08 12 . schmidt brad april 8 2009 . beaverton drops annexation fight . the oregonian . retrieved 2010 08 12 . anderson david r. update by friesen mark june 16 2006 updated june 8 2007 . appellate court rejects beaverton annexation . the oregonian . retrieved 2010 08 12 . cs1 maint multiple names authors list link oregon state bill