Story ID: 450
Anodyne Electronics Snapped Up by SMS Canada
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: The two companies have partnered for more than four years before the announcement.
Word Count: 478
Culminating more than four years of collaboration, SMS Canada—a wholly-owned subsidiary of Australia’s Structural Monitoring Systems—has purchased fellow Canadian aviation equipment maker Anodyne Electronics Manufacturing (AEM, Booth N4100). The two companies had partnered in the development, production, and certification of SMS’ structural health monitoring technology, which recently received FAA approval.

AEM founder and former company president Dave Veitch has committed to remaining with the company for one year in a transitional role. “It will be business as usual for our customers worldwide,” said Ray Lewis, AEM’s vice president of business development. “SMS is fully supportive of AEM’s current projects and business activity, encouraging growth through new business opportunities, new product development, and acquisition where it makes sense to do so.”

Anodyne has also signed a distribution agreement with DAC International, a worldwide dealer in avionics, test equipment, data converters and aviation supplies. An assessment by AEM showed a need for visibility and presence in South America, which the British Columbia-based company believes will be enhanced through this deal.

“DAC International will support us with expansion plans for representation in other parts of the world,” noted Lewis. “Discussions with DAC International continue to assess other areas of the world where opportunities that would benefit both companies might exist.”

Before Heli-Expo, Airbus Helicopters received an STC to install AEM's 600-Watt loudspeaker system on the H125/AS350B3 series of light, single-engine helicopters. The STC represents the culmination of more than 10 months of work between the two companies to install, integrate and certify the system.

“The AS350 is the helicopter of choice for the airborne law enforcement market and AEM’s loudspeaker is the new standard for this type of role equipment,” said audio specialist and sales and business development representative Steve Broderick. “It made sense to bring the two together.”

AEM has also released two new loudspeaker amplifiers to its lineup. Derived from the LSA400, the 150-Watt LSA150 and 300-Watt LSA300 are optimized to work with the compact TS series speakers. According to AEM sales manager Tony Weller, “These two new amplifiers and related speakers give our customers an affordable and technically superior option to the legacy PA110 (110 Watt) and PA220 (220 Watt) systems.”

Additionally, the company expects to receive certification this summer on its next-generation AWG08 audio-warning generator. The unit is field programmable and capable of providing eight separate tones and/or voice warning outputs. “We received key customer feedback in October that led to the addition of new features, which we believe the AWG09 needed,” said Weller. “This product will also be the first project completed under the authority of AEM’s Design Approval Organization (DAO). The close coordination with the Transport Canada engineering and certification team means the completion and certification of the AWG08 are slightly delayed.”