OSI’s Baggage Screening System on International Trip

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OSI Systems Inc., which makes a variety of electronic products for the security and health care industries, said it has won a small but promising order for its X-ray passenger screening technology.

The Hawthorne-based company’s security division, Rapiscan Systems, received a $5 million contract last week from “an undisclosed international aviation customer” for its MVXi system, which can detect concealed weapons and other problem objects in baggage.

The system provides multiple viewing angles while scanning passengers and bags, which is considered more efficient and thorough than traditional X-ray systems.

The company has won several contracts with the Federal Aviation Administration for its airport security checkpoint technology, and Rapiscan President Ajay Mehra said it is in talks with several international customers for its passenger screening systems.

Rapiscan reported $186 million in revenue last year.

OSI is also in the process of increasing its ownership of its medical device-making subsidiary, Spacelabs Healthcare.

Earlier this month, OSI bought more than 3 million shares of Spacelabs’ stock, increasing its ownership from 84 percent to about 90 percent. Executives recently said the company plans to purchase the remaining outstanding stock for approximately $15 million to make Spacelabs a wholly owned subsidiary of OSI.


Chinese Metal

Los Angeles-based metals processor Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. said last week that its Valex Corp. subsidiary has opened a 24,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Shanghai.

The facility will produce tubes, fittings and valves for the semiconductor, LCD and solar industries.

“This new facility will allow us to expand our market share by offering localized production and enhanced services to our customers,” Chief Executive David Hannah said in a statement.

Valex is 97 percent owned by Reliance and currently has operations in Ventura and Pyongtaek, South Korea. This will be the first Valex facility in China.

Reliance has metals processing facilities in several countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom, and across the United States.


Fiber Investment

FutureVest Inc., a Santa Monica venture capital firm, announced that it has acquired 100 percent of the stock of Barotex Technology Inc., a Sherman Oaks manufacturing company.

Barotex has spent several years developing and manufacturing a specialty composite fiber processed from volcanic rocks. The fiber is heat resistant and can be used as insulation.

FutureVest hopes to expand the market reach of the fiber, which the company said can be used for car parts, piping and hot tubs. The company said the material can compete with Kevlar.


‘Green’ Plastic Expands

Hawthorne-based bio-based plastics manufacturer Cereplast Inc. will significantly expand its production capacity with a new plant.

Next month, the company will begin some operations at the Seymour, Ind., facility, which will be able to produce 500 million pounds of recyclable bio-plastic resin per year by 2010.

Currently, the company processes about 55 million pounds of resin per year, but is in the process of increasing its capacity to roughly one billion pounds.

The plastic is made from soy protein, corn starch and other natural substances and is gaining favor as an environmentally friendly alternative to plastics because of the ease of recycling.

The company plans to employ as much as 200 people at the 12-acre site.


Missile Manufacturer

The U.S. Air Force recently awarded a $176 million contract to Northrop Grumman Corp. to help replace the military’s aging intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Under the contract, the Los Angeles company will produce 56 motors for the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Propulsion Replacement Program over a 23-month period.

In another Air Force contract, the company won a three-year, $12 million deal to maintain electronic planning software.


Building in Britain

Pasadena construction giant Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has been rolling up contracts lately in the United Kingdom.

The company last week announced it had won a contract to provide design services for a major development that will include office buildings and a hotel. The announcement comes on the heels of three deals to assist on highway and rail projects in London.

The values of the deals were not disclosed.


Staff reporter Richard Clough can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 251, or at [email protected].

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