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Garmin
Garmin produces a wide range of GPS-based applications for the general and business-aviation markets.
What It Is: A publicly traded technology company specializing in GPS-based applications, Garmin Ltd. produces avionics for the general and business aviation line-fit, retrofit, and experimental markets, in addition to mass-market consumer devices.
How It Grew: In 1989, sparked by a dinner conversation about potential consumer applications for the nascent Global Positioning System, Motorola colleagues Gary Burrell and Min Kao raised $4 million and founded ProNav in Lenexa, Kansas. They soon changed the name to Garmin, a portmanteau of Gary and Min, and in 1991 the company entered the aviation market. It began with the GPS-100AVDpanel-mounted receiver, followed by its first portable unit, the GPS-95 (1993); the GPS-155 (1994), the first GPS receiver FAA-certified for instrument approaches; and the GNS 430 (1998), its first integrated GPS, COM, VOR, LOC, and glideslope product.
In December 2000, following the dot-com bust, Garmin proceeded with a planned IPO (Nasdaq: GRMN). The new century brought the G1000 (2003), its first integrated flight deck (IFD), with the in-development Cessna Citation Mustang light jet as launch platform. That same year, Garmin acquired UPS Aviation Technologies (UAT), rebranding it Garmin AT, and renamed UAT’s CNX-80 WAAS GPS/COM/NAV—the first aviation product approved for primary GPS navigation—as the GNS-480.
In 2018 Garmin opened a new manufacturing facility in Olathe, Kansas, more than doubling North American aviation product manufacturing and warehousing capacity.
What It Offers: Garmin manufactures integrated cockpits, panel mount displays, multifunction displays, transponders, radar, and other avionics, sold under a dozen product categories: flight decks and displays; autopilots; navigation and radio equipment; active traffic; weather radar and receivers; audio panels; ADS-B and transponders; connectivity; sensors and interfaces; flights instruments and indicators; portable devices and apps; and engine information systems.
QUOTE: “By controlling the entire process, we’ve had higher levels of innovation, reduced risks, lower costs, and greater scalability.” —chairman Min Kao, on the company’s vertical business model.
FAST FACTS:
Founded: 1989
HQ: Olathe, Kansas (incorporated in Schaffhausen, Switzerland)
Aviation business revenue: $603 million (2018; 18 percent of corporate sales)
Employees: More than 13,000
President & CEO: Cliff Pemble
Chairman: Min Kao
Chairman emeritus: Gary Burrell
Website: garmin.com