BusinessTN

Phrases such as “homeland security,” “global threat” and “terror alert Level” roll easily off Americans’ tongues these days. An increasing familiarity with those terms means big business for Mack Barber. Barber is president of Oak Ridge-based Remotec, which designs and manufactures mobile robotic systems, primarily for use in bomb disposal.

Since the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, Remotec’s sales have grown 300%.

“People often ask how we’ve changed since Sept. 11. Our business hasn’t changed much. We’re just more visible now than we were because people are more aware of situations,” Barber says.

Remotec has been most visible in Afghanistan, Iraq and Israel. Now, prospects for its domestic markets look encouraging.

Barber calls the Department of Homeland Security “a really good idea” that “should have been done a long time ago.” As a result of additional funding put into homeland security by the legislature, Barber says the government is looking for new technologies and Remotec is ready.

“We have vehicles they can put in there right now,” Barber says. “So, we’re very busy shipping vehicles to different cities in different states.”

Remotec, a spinoff from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was established in 1980 primarily as a remote systems engineering firm. In 1987, Remotec purchased the Andros robot from Belgium, redirecting the company¹s mission to the design of mobile robot systems. Remotec will ship its 1,000th Andros vehicle out of Oak Ridge this month.

In 1996, Remotec became a subsidiary of defense contractor Northrop Grumman, a $28 billion corporation. Remotec employs more than 150 people in several facilities in Oak Ridge, as well as 35 workers at a sister office in Coventry, England.

While Remotec¹s robots are primarily used in bomb disposal for military organizations, they’re also used in SWAT operations, hostage negotiations, and by nuclear power stations for radioactive monitoring, in-plant maintenance and inspection.

Last year, police at Los Angeles International Airport placed an order for Remotec’s Andros F6A. With a $160,000 price tag, the nearly four-foot-tall robot has an extending arm that can reach into an airplane¹s overhead luggage compartment or wrestle a gun from a terrorist. It also can spray an area with pepper spray, shoot out a net to capture a suspect, and of course, disable a possible bomb.

“I think it’s tremendous to see a home-grown technology company that has spun out of the lab grow and succeed in the Oak Ridge community,” says Kim Denton, president of economic development for the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce.

Indeed, Denton says the company has been “very engaged” in helping recruit new businesses to the area, opening its doors to prospects and praising the region for its business-friendly environment.

“The business climate in this area is beyond anything I’ve ever dealt with. The city of Oak Ridge has been phenomenal,” Barber says, going on to call U.S. Sen. Bill Frist and U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp “friends” to technology companies in the state.

In addition to a supportive environment, Barber says the company’s advantage over competitors stems from its longevity in the business.

“We’ve been in business for a long time, and we’re known for having systems that do well in the real world,” he says. “If our vehicle is down, that means some soldier has to go out into the field and disarm the bomb manually instead of remotely. So, we can’t afford to not have a vehicle operate properly.”