AstroNova, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes a broad range of specialty printers and data acquisition and analysis systems, including both hardware and software, which incorporate advanced technologies to acquire, store, analyze, and present data in multiple formats. Target markets for the company’s hardware and software products include aerospace, apparel, automotive, avionics, chemicals, computer peripherals, communications, distribution, food and beverage, general manufact...
AstroNova, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes a broad range of specialty printers and data acquisition and analysis systems, including both hardware and software, which incorporate advanced technologies to acquire, store, analyze, and present data in multiple formats. Target markets for the company’s hardware and software products include aerospace, apparel, automotive, avionics, chemicals, computer peripherals, communications, distribution, food and beverage, general manufacturing, packaging, and transportation.
The company’s products are distributed worldwide through its own sales force, authorized dealers, and independent dealers and representatives.
Segments
The company’s business consists of two segments, Product Identification (PI) and Test & Measurement (T&M).
The PI segment includes specialty printing systems and related supplies sold under the QuickLabel, TrojanLabel, and GetLabels brand names.
The T&M segment includes the company’s line of aerospace printers, ethernet networking products and test and measurement data acquisition systems sold under the AstroNova brand name.
Product Overview
The company leverages its expertise in data visualization technologies to design, manufacture and market specialty printing systems, test and measurement systems, and related services for select growing markets globally.
PI products sold under the QuickLabel, TrojanLabel and GetLabels brands are used in brand owner and commercial applications to provide product packaging, marketing, tracking, branding, and labeling solutions to a wide array of industries. The PI segment offers a variety of digital color label tabletop printers and light commercial label printers, direct-to-package printers, high-volume presses, and specialty original equipment manufacturer (OEM) printing systems, as well as a wide range of label, tag and other supplies, including ink and toner, allowing customers to mark, track, protect and enhance the appearance of their products. PI products sold under the Astro Machine brand acquired on August 4, 2022, also include a variety of label printers, envelope and packaging printing, and related processing and handling equipment. In the T&M segment, the company has a long history of using its technologies to provide networking systems and high-resolution flight deck and cabin printers for the aerospace market. In addition, the T&M segment includes data acquisition recorders, sold under the AstroNova brand, to enable its customers to acquire and record visual and electronic signal data from local and networked data streams and sensors. The recorded data is processed, analyzed, stored and presented in various visual output formats.
Product Identification
The company’s PI segment includes three brands: QuickLabel, TrojanLabel, and GetLabels. Additionally, PI also includes the Astro Machine brand that is sold directly to end users though its channel partners and to OEM customers, which generally rebrand these products for sales to their customers. The segment provides a wide array of digital end-to-end product marking and identification solutions, including hardware, software, and supplies for OEMs, commercial printers, and brand owners. The company’s customers typically label or mark products on a short- to mid-size run basis and benefit from the efficiency, flexibility, and cost-savings of digitally printing labels or packaging in their facility, on-demand, with the ability to accommodate multiple SKUs or variable data, such as bar codes, lot numbers or expiration dates. QuickLabel brand products include tabletop printers, production-ready digital color label printers, and specialty OEM printing systems for either standalone output or inline integration with existing pre-processing and finishing systems. Customers use its digital printing products in a wide variety of industries, including chemicals, cosmetics, food and beverage, medical products, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, and many others. TrojanLabel expands its customer market by providing a range of higher volume digital color printers, OEM printing systems, and supplies that target the more demanding needs of brand owners, commercial printers, label converters, and packaging manufacturers, giving them the ability to digitally mark or encode products directly or to produce labels for post-printing applications. GetLabels brand products include a full line of media supplies, including label materials, tags, inks, toners, and thermal transfer ribbons designed for optimal performance with its printing hardware, and are also compatible with a wide variety of competitive and third-party printing hardware.
QuickLabel models include a selection of professional tabletop digital color label printers. The company recently introduced the QL-E100, an entry-level, compact, full-color tabletop label printer. In 2020, the company introduced the QL-120D, which features high-performance pigment inks that can produce durable BS5609-certified labels and labels that can withstand a wide range of demanding environmental conditions from sterilization to cryogenic freezing.
In fiscal 2024, the company introduced the QL-900, a wider format inkjet color label printer. Also in fiscal 2024, the company obsoleted the QL-850 and QLS-4100 Xe to rationalize its product lines and manufacturing system, creating a leaner and more efficient business.
The company’s TrojanLabel portfolio includes a range of products from professional digital color label mini-presses to large-scale all-in-one inline specialty printing systems for brand owners, OEMs, and commercial printers. The T2-C, a compact, digital mini-press designed for 24/7 label production, includes numerous differentiating features for several end-use market applications.
GetLabels provides a broad range of high-quality supplies for both its printers and third-party printers, including label and tag materials, inks, toner, and thermal transfer material, all specifically designed and constructed for a wide variety of labeling applications. Label material and substrates are carefully qualified and tested on-site in its Rhode Island Materials Research Laboratory to ensure durability and compatibility with its QuickLabel and TrojanLabel branded products, along with a variety of third-party printers.
Astro Machine is a U.S.-based manufacturer and engineering development company providing inkjet printers, conveyors, tabbers, software, and various components to the mail and addressing markets, as well as the label and packaging markets. Astro Machine serves OEMs and value-added resellers.
The PI segment provides worldwide training and support, as well as develops and licenses various specialized software programs to design and manage labels, print images, manages and operates its printers and presses, and coordinates printing on an automated basis directly over networked systems.
Test & Measurement
Products sold under its T&M segment are designed and manufactured for airborne printing and networking solutions and data acquisition. The company’s aerospace products include flight deck printing solutions, networking hardware and specialized aerospace-grade thermal paper. The company’s data acquisition systems are used in research and development; flight testing; missile/rocket telemetry; and production monitoring and power and maintenance applications. These products are sold to customers in various industries, including aerospace and defense, automotive, commercial airline, energy, manufacturing and transportation, to meet their need to acquire and record data from local and networked data streams and sensors.
The company’s airborne printers, which include its flagship ToughWriter series, are used in the flight decks and cabins of military, commercial, and business aircraft to print hard copies of data to enhance flight safety and reduce pilot workload by providing ready access to many types of critical flight-specific information required for the safe and efficient operation of aircraft. Examples of printed data include navigation maps, arrival and departure information, flight itineraries, weather maps, notice to air missions (NOTAMs), performance data, passenger data, and air traffic control data. ToughSwitch Ethernet switches are used primarily in military aircraft and military vehicles to connect multiple computers or Ethernet devices. The company’s ToughWriter airborne printers and ToughSwitch ethernet switches are ruggedized to comply with rigorous military and commercial flight-worthiness standards for operation under extreme environmental conditions. The company is furnishing ToughWriter printers for various aircraft made by Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Lockheed, Gulfstream, and others. In addition to its ToughWriter products, the company furnishes other acquired flight deck printer products, including the TP/NP series, the RTP80 series and the PTA-45B series of airborne printers. The PTA-45B is subject to an Asset Purchase and License Agreement with Honeywell International, Inc. (the Honeywell Agreement), pursuant to which the company acquired an exclusive perpetual worldwide license to manufacture and support Honeywell’s narrow-format flight deck printers for the Boeing B737 and Airbus A320 aircraft. Over time the company expects customers to replace the PTA-45B and other acquired printer product lines with the AstroNova designed ToughWriter products because of its numerous technical features, functional advantages and significant weight savings. Approximately one-third of the airborne printers the company sells are ToughWriter branded, and it expects the percentage of ToughWriter products to continue to grow over the next several years, and notably in fiscal 2026.
Other T&M products include the TMX all-in-one high-speed data acquisition system for applications requiring high channel counts and acquisition rates; the Daxus DXS-100 distributed data acquisition platform; the SmartCorder DDX-100, a portable all-in-one data acquisition system for R&D facility and field testing; and the Everest EV-5000 digital strip chart recording system used mainly in aerospace and defense applications. The Daxus DXS-100 can be connected to the SmartCorder to increase channel count or networked as part of a distributed measurement system spanning vast distances.
Technology
The company’s core technologies are data visualization technologies that relate to acquiring data; conditioning the data; displaying or printing the data on hard copy, visual displays or electronic storage media; and analyzing the data. To support its data visualization technology, the company maintains technological core competencies and trade secret know-how concerning the subject matter peculiar to each business unit. The technological disciplines are diverse and include electronic, software, mechanical and industrial engineering aspects. Additionally, the company possesses engineering expertise in digital signal processing, image processing, fluidics, color theory, high-speed material handling, and airworthiness design.
Marketing
The company, through its existing network of manufacturing, sales and support facilities, during fiscal 2024 (year ended January 31, 2024), sold its products to customers in approximately 100 countries.
Research and Development
The company spent approximately $6.9 million in fiscal 2024, on Company-sponsored product development.
Government Regulation
The company’s business outside of the U.S. exposes it to foreign and additional U.S. laws and regulations, including but not limited to, laws and regulations relating to taxation, business licensing or certification requirements, consumer protection, intellectual property rights, consumer and data protection, privacy, encryption, restrictions on pricing or discounts, and the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other applicable U.S. and foreign laws prohibiting corrupt payments to government officials and other third parties.
History
AstroNova, Inc. was founded in 1969. The company was incorporated in 1969.
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