newberg oregon us 45 18 55 n 122 57 12 w 45.3152 n 122.9534 w 45.3152 ; 122.9534 coordinates 45 18 55 n 122 57 12 w 45.3152 n 122.9534 w 45.3152 ; 122.9534 key people ken and joan austin founders scott parrish president products dental chairs lights cabinetry and sterilization number of employees 900 website a dec.com a dec austin dental equipment company 1 is a dental office furniture and equipment manufacturer based in newberg oregon united states . it is considered one of the largest dental equipment makers in the world 2 and as of 2002 is newberg s largest employer with 832 employees . 3 founded in 1964 the company s annual revenue of 250 million comes from the sale of products such as dental chairs stools delivery systems medical lighting cabinetry and other accessories . contents 1 history 2 operations 3 see also 4 references history edit in 1964 ken austin built an improved air powered vacuum system known as the air venturi system which varied from the belt drive devices in use at the time . 4 5 that same year the company released the first miniature delivery unit designed specifically for the new reclining patient chair dec et followed by the complementary tray cart the first mobile dental assistant s work surface . the mobile equipment helped the company grow rapidly . 6 in 1966 a dec was incorporated and at the time the company was housed in a quonset hut in newberg . 4 7 they built a new plant and offices on 150 acres 0.61 km2 on the edge of newberg in 1971 . the company expanded distribution into 23 countries that year as well . in 1977 a dec offered a full line of instrument delivery systems . in subsequent years the company added chairs stools and dental lights becoming a full service provider in the 1980s with revenues of 75 million annually by 1990 . 7 they developed a dental cabinetry line in 1983 as well as building the self contained water system allowing dentists to have a controlled water supply to handpieces and syringes improving the industry s infection control . a dec began a partnership with w & h a family run company based in austria and a leading manufacturer of rotary dental instruments in 1985 . the partnership positioned a dec for new growth into the dental handpiece and ancillary equipment markets with the a dec w & h co brand . in january 1990 they bought a dec diversified inc. a company also in newberg . 8 the company grew to 600 employees by 1992 . 9 in 1999 the company was named as the 88th largest woman owned company in the us . 10 a dec introduced new products the cascade and radius in the 1990s and in 2004 introduced the a dec 500 . the chair mounted delivery system brought new technologies together for the first time and created an integrated system . the development of a dec 500 led to streamlining the company s production lines and staging a dec for a quicker time to market for its products . they also switched from a cold press to a hot press for their wood piece production at their 60 000 square foot 5 600 m2 plant . 2 the company was one of the leading contributors to a campaign to force a vote on a proposed income tax increase by the state legislature in 2003 which was defeated in 2004 . 11 by 2006 the company had grown to almost 1 000 employees and annual revenue of 250 million . 4 a dec named scott parrish president of the company in 2007 replacing founder ken austin . 12 in 2008 the company held a contest for dentists and gave the winners new office equipment . 13 they also opened a new 25 000 square foot 2 300 m2 training facility that year in newberg . 14 this facility doubles as a showroom for visiting dental professionals to view the company s products . 15 the company introduced the a dec 300 a fully integrated chair and delivery system with a smaller footprint in 2009 . that year they also laid off 100 employees due to the worldwide economic downturn . 16 in february of that year the company was fined by the environmental protection agency and then reached a 325 700 settlement for selling an unregistered pesticide . 17 operations edit founders ken and joan austin developed the a dec way a written expression of the operating philosophy which governs all aspects of the company . 18 introduced in 1972 the philosophy contains 15 points from a concern for people to encouraging creativity among others . 18 employees receive profit sharing from the privately held corporation . 5 19 the company s 40 acre 160 000 m2 campus in northeast newberg has 11 buildings with 500 000 square feet 46 000 m2 . 19 as of 2003 the private company was debt free . 20 most of the equipment built is custom ordered by dentists . 21 the company has affiliations with the american association of women dentists american dental association american student dental association dental trade alliance national dental association british dental health foundation and australian dental industry association among others . a dec has won many award including being named as one of oregon s most admired companies by the portland business journal in 2006 2007 and 2008 . other awards include those from dentaltown magazine volunteers of america the american dental education association association of fundraising professionals american dental association and oregon business magazine . see also edit list of companies based in oregon references edit cnc punch press aids group technology team. ; computer numerical control . tooling & production . nelson publishing . 55 7 105 2 . october 1 1989 . issn 0040 9243 . a b awfs vegas fair technology tour ; a dec is on deck with new hot press . wood & wood products . 112 7 134 1 . june 1 2007 . issn 0043 7662 . newberg community profile . oregon economic & community development department . retrieved 2009 05 08 . a b c tims dana december 21 2006 . joan austin brings a quiet boom to newberg . the oregonian . pp . a1 . a b edmonston jr. george p. september 2002 . building a better mousetrap . oregon stater . oregon state alumni association . archived from the original on 2006 08 31 . colby richard november 14 1988 . a dec built on dental equipment . the oregonian . pp . d8 . a b khermouch gerry march 19 1990 . a dec finds success in thinking small ; dental equipment producer is being run like family shop . metalworking news . 17 777 4 2 . issn 0891 4036 . two a decs become one . the oregonian . january 25 1990 . pp . d11 . blackmun maya april 10 1992 . pacific metal bows to quirks of customer . the oregonian . pp . b6 . duryee tricia may 4 1999 . five oregon companies make top 500 list of women owned businesses . the oregonian . steves david december 11 2003 . big donors give tax petition a push ; ballot measures ; nearly half of the 600 000 it cost to put it on the ballot came from five companies . the register guard . p. d1 . tims dana january 4 2007 . northwest ken austin co founder of a dec steps down . the oregonian . p. c2 . lab business week editors from staff and other reports august 31 2008 . a dec inc. ; two dental practices win big to help patients . lab business week . incrx.com 97 . staff april 17 2008 . metro southwest neighbors in brief sw tigard . the oregonian . p. 9 . moody robin j. april 4 2008 . a dec opens a new showroom . portland business journal . retrieved 2009 05 08 . tims dana february 13 2009 . dental supplier a dec jettisons 100 employees . the oregonian . learn scott february 7 2009 . dental supply firm epa settle dispute . the oregonian . a b quality management ; quality leadership 100 quality s survey reveals that these companies know quality makes a difference . quality . 44 48 10 . september 1 2005 . issn 0360 9936 . a b brinckman jonathan june 10 2004 . inside oregon business a weekly look at businesses strategic decisions details keep a dec lean . the oregonian . p. b1 . harrington cynthia august 1 2003 . the new accounting environment companies face a paradigm shift in how they conduct business . journal of accountancy . 196 2 28 6 . issn 0021 8448 . hall mark june 24 2002 . web servicesopenportaldoors ; industry standards make for easier access and application integration . computerworld 28 . v t e oregon based companies nyse listed greenbrier companies lithia motors nike nw natural portland general electric nasdaq listed columbia sportswear electro scientific industries erickson inc. fei flir lattice mentor graphics radisys rentrak schnitzer steel umpqua holdings private companies a dec banfield consumer cellular esco franz bakery hoffman construction infocus kindercare education laika leupold & stevens les schwab the old spaghetti factory parr lumber plaid pantry reser s fine foods roseburg forest products shari s vigor industrial other bi mart tillamook creamery western family foods list of companies based in oregon retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title a dec & oldid 741945173 categories 1966 establishments in oregoncompanies based in oregoncompanies established in 1966newberg oregonprivately held companies based in oregonhidden categories coordinates not on wikidatapages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 30 september 2016 at 17 42 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about 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