From the CEO: Wendy Tirollo

As I look back on 2012, I can’t help but feel immense gratitude for all my employees, reps, customers and suppliers. As our economy struggles to recover and with the uncertainties facing all of us in the defense industry, we have been very fortunate to be able to report another successful year.  

A huge part of our success is directly related to the belief that effective communication doesn’t “just happen”. We know that it is cultivated. Taking the time to actively listen to our customers and employees is a priority for us. We know that without clear communication at all levels, goals and expectations will not be agreed upon and met.  In fact, poor communication can be traced as the primary cause of many project failures. We wholeheartedly believe that open channels of communication lead to stronger relationships.  

We’re delighted when we get feedback from our customers and even more so when we receive reinforcement that we are listening to their needs. An example of this is the recent kudos from Jeff Davis, Boeing Project Manager (see testimonial above). Upon completion of our support on the Mexsat program in November of 2012, Jeff was quoted as saying “communication, transparency and accessibility” are the main reasons Boeing continues to work with us.

As we look ahead to 2013, we will remain 100% focused on listening to and delivering on our commitments to our customers.

Thank you for your support. We look forward to working with you in the coming year.

Wendy Tirollo, CEO

Planning for a Great 2013 - Mark Schappler, COO

I am pleased to be able to write that 2012 was one of TRM Microwave’s best years ever. We added talented people to our team, supported our customer’s needs better than ever and improved our processes to make our company better at focusing on the right things.  We have positioned ourselves to be able to make the investments that our customers will value, helping us both today and for years to come.

As we close out each year we reflect on how we can improve our performance in the future. We learned a number of lessons in 2012, and that knowledge will strengthen us for the opportunities ahead.

The products we develop and the specifications we must achieve are extremely challenging. Engineering with clarity to ensure full compliance requires  a knowledgeable, experienced team and a solid, defined process focused on achieving optimum results with the most effective cost solution.

Growing the business allows us to build a superior team to serve our customers.  We continue to see that the best team results are better than great individual efforts, so our recruiting plans are focused on finding only the highest skilled people who will enhance the team already here.

The mechanical aspects of product design can be as particular as the electrical requirements. Selecting the appropriate materials and thinking through the fabrication processes, working out the tolerances to gain predictable performance against manufacturing capabilities is where we excel. Building up our library of proven designs streamlines our efforts, allowing us to engineer the exception rather than the norm. This approach allows us to be confident in our ability to fabricate, assemble and test new products. Efficiencies in design translate into cost savings that we can pass on to our customers.

Our message of ‘Serving our Customers' has helped to unite TRM and our customers have taken notice. We see this through the increase in the diversity of new products we are designing which complements the integrated solutions they must deliver in turn to their customers. We take nothing for granted, seek to add value in every opportunity we encounter and recognize our future is dependent on the success of our customers. In many ways our existing customers will help shape the future capabilities of TRM Microwave.

We’ve got the right team in the right place with the right mindset to serve in 2013. And we are excited about the New Year and the opportunities it will bring.

With Gratitude,

Mark Schappler, COO

Sales Highlights - TJ Cole, Director of Sales

In spite of the ever changing marketplace and trying to determine the possible effects of sequestration, TRM had another successful year in 2012.

The secret to our success continues to be our people. Without their continued commitment we would not be able to provide the level of service we take a tremendous amount of pride in. Early in 2012, BAE presented our dedicated team with an award for Outstanding Performance and Delivery on the JSF program. In November, Boeing, another key strategic partner, also recognized TRM with their appreciation for Outstanding Service in support of the Mexsat program. In 2013, we will add another 23 new space qualified designs to our product line.

To support our goals for growth and building the right team to serve our customers, John Dimech joined TRM as our Business Development Manager; a new role for TRM. We've also extended our reach into three territories with the addition of Blackhart Sales in Arizona, ERA in Metro New York and Summit Electronics in Israel. We're intent on stepping up our efforts to share the message that we will support with design, material procurement, and assembly and test to add greater value to our customers.

A good example of TRM providing a greater level of service to our customers is a large build-to-print pre-amplifier order for one our existing beamformer customers. As a result of listening to their needs and focusing on adding value we shipped the entire requirement on time with improvements to the packaging design. These efficiencies will carry over to future orders.

We look forward to continuing to serve in 2013 and send a sincere THANK YOU to all of our customers, sales reps, employees and suppliers for a great 2012.

TJ Cole, Director of Sales

Engineering Corner - Shaun Moore, Applications Engineer, Sr. RF/MW Engineer

The TRM Engineering team continues to be the central point for both our customers and our business. Once again custom products dominated our sales achieving greater than 93% of total revenue.

To ensure that our Product Development efforts do not get diluted as the company continues to grow, we have created a new engineering group which we refer to as Order Fulfillment Engineering. This team supports all released products from quoting, to contract review, to routing optimization and RMA evaluations. These engineers manage ECOs’ for released products and support the manufacturing and test groups with tools and accurate documentation. This team has the diverse skill set required to drive our efforts to eliminate waste and meet our commitments.

In 2013, Applications Engineering will continue to support our customers by sharing best practices and helping to write specifications that will result in optimal product performance. With more than 200 years of combined engineering experience we have learned that simply meeting the basic requirements flowed to us isn't always good enough. Understanding our customers’ needs, evaluating the trade-offs and offering design guidance on the front end of the order is a mutually rewarding value added service that our engineering team provides.

Our Product Development group released 33 new part numbers, most of them custom products based on customer specifications. Integrated products designed for space application continue to be a very active segment of our market. We also allocated R&D time to complete the  family of ultra-broadband power dividers covering the .02GHz to 3GHz frequencies, all of which are now currently available.

The group continues to seek ways to reduce the development time, achieving some large gains with team based concept review meetings and with the development of a library of standard product features. Having the proper 2D and 3D simulation tools and optimizing the use of SolidWorks allows us to apply these features to many custom designs. This translates directly into reducing design cycle time and a cost savings for our customers.

The engineering team thrives on the diversity of opportunities that our customers entrust to us, and we are very appreciative.

Thanks for a great 2012, we look forward to teaming up with you in the coming year.

Shaun Moore, Senior RF/MW/Applications Engineer

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