Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 25, 1995 TAG: 9506300109
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: G1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Perhaps a more obvious explanation for her concern is that Tuttle is vice president and director of ITT Night Vision, based on High Tech Drive in northwest Roanoke County. ITT Night Vision is the commercial arm of the ITT Electro-Optical Products Division, which for many years has been the top supplier of night vision equipment to the U.S. military.
Prompted by cuts in defense spending that threatened the loss of jobs at its Plantation Road plant, ITT sought commercial markets for its night vision technology and asked Tuttle to lead the way.
Introduction of night vision products to the general public in marine, outdoors and law-enforcement markets has been so successful that ITT, a multinational giant based in New York, in April gave Tuttle its top award for creative management.
"When they first told me, I thought they were joking," Tuttle said of her selection for the company honor. "For a $23 billion company to recognize the entrepreneurial effort of a couple of dozen people here in the Roanoke Valley is unique," she said.
ITT's night vision operation in the Roanoke Valley has been held up by members of Congress and others as an example of how a defense contractor can convert its technology to civilian uses. Such efforts are important because, as the size of the U.S. military has shrunk, ITT and other defense companies have lost business for military supplies and equipment.
Neil Gallagher, president of ITT's Electro-Optical Products Division, believes that, in five years, the company's commercial sales of night vision equipment could exceed its sales to the military.
ITT won't reveal the size of its military contracts, but Tuttle said the company's commercial sales of night vision devices were $5 million in 1994 and would likely reach $10 million this year. While that's a small percentage of the company's peak military sales, "the idea of us having a $50 million [commercial] business in several years is not out of the question," she said.
The commercial business already has been credited with helping save jobs at ITT's Roanoke plant, where 650 people are employed.
During its first three or four months of operation at the end of 1993, ITT Night Vision, the commercial operation, had $1 million in sales. Last year, sales reached five times that. "We're looking at a very steep curve in terms of growth," Tuttle said.
Tuttle said she frequently gets calls from people with other companies asking how she did it. "What was your magic?" they ask her.
There are few successful defense conversion stories because selling products to the public is so different from selling to the government, Tuttle said.
The focus of a defense contractor is on technology, Tuttle said, while that of a commercial business must be on providing the customer with a value. A defense plant is more like a military organization, well managed and disciplined. ITT Night Vision is more free-wheeling, she said. "We're treading new ground every day."
The most important decision that contributed to ITT's commercial success was to separate that business from the military operations, Tuttle said.
Tuttle was the plant's vice president and director of contracts when Gallagher tapped her to lead the commercial effort. A Pennsylvania native who is married and has two children, Tuttle has been with ITT since 1977.
Tuttle was picked because "she's a very bright person," Gallagher said. "Although she was working for the military side of the house, she had a comprehensive exposure to ... how businesses really operate," he said.
|n n| The organization Tuttle has built is highly motivated and "learns something every day," Gallagher said. Things that have been learned in the commercial operation have helped ITT improve the production time of its military products, he said.
Tuttle said Gallagher allowed her to handpick the employees she took with her across Plantation Road into the plain metal building where the new commercial night vision business is located. ITT Night Vision now has 30 employees involved in sales, marketing, design engineering, product development, assembly and purchasing.
Amplification tubes, the key component in the night vision products, are made at the division's main plant where similar tubes for military equipment are manufactured. The tubes combine optical and electronic technology to enhance the ambient light from stars and other night-time light sources up to 20,000 times, allowing a person to see a night-time scene clearly.
ITT makes three lines of commercial night vision products. The first to be introduced was the Night Mariner, a product for commercial and recreational boaters. Other products are the Night Enforcer for police officers and the Night Ranger for bird watchers and other outdoor types. The Night Ranger is marketed by Bausch & Lomb's Sports Optics Division under a contract with ITT Night Vision.
All product lines feature binoculars, which sell for $2,000 to $2,500, and monoculars, which cost about half that. Other accessories, including magnifying lenses, also are available.
Workers at ITT Night Vision can assemble a monocular from its component parts and have it out the factory's back door within half an hour, a rate of production that allows the company to compete with any foreign suppliers of similar equipment, Tuttle said.
The devices for commercial use are designed for easy assembly, Tuttle said. Those sold to military agencies may take two to five times as long to produce, largely because of exhaustive testing required by the government, she said.
ITT's major competitors in the commercial market are Russians manufacturers, who formerly supplied the Soviet military..Those devices now are being sold to American consumers through sporting goods catalogs. Although the most popular models are priced from $400 to $800 for, thus cheaper than ITT's products, the quality of the Russian equipment is not as good, according to Powerboat Reports, a Connecticut publication that has tested various viewers. Tuttle said the Russian devices reflected technology that ITT used 20 years ago.
Most of ITT's commercial products incorporate its "Generation 2" technology, the third step in the evolution of night vision equipment since the 1960s. ITT Night Vision is now offering a version of the Night Enforcer products for law enforcement that uses "Generation 3" technology, currently in use by the U.S. military. Generation 3 equipment works better in extremely low-light conditions.
As a result of conversations with many groups of potential customers, the company realized that people wanted a rugged product and developed one that, in some ways, was more durable than military night vision equipment. The products are designed to survive a four-foot drop onto quarter-inch plywood over concrete. They are also water-resistant and designed to float.
One barrier ITT Night Vision has faced is the lack of public knowledge about its products, Tuttle said. The company has to educate people to what night vision can do for them, she said. She spends much of her time traveling and talking with customers.
Her management style is based on teamwork, Tuttle said. Her job involves getting "a very spirited, entrepreneurial group of people" focused on the work and then giving them freedom to move.
It wouldn't be surprising if ITT asked Tuttle to move to some other plant to work her magic, but she says she would be happy just to stay in Roanoke and grow the night vision business.
"I really love Roanoke," she said, "and I love to create jobs."
by CNB