Looking Back

(The following text was written a while ago by Mr. Carol Kirshner who was one of Orbit's founders and was part of its top management team - for over 40 years. )

Orbit's history begins in 1950 under the name Alchut, a cooperative association founded by five ambitious young colleagues: Teddy Beeri, Walter Cohen, Moshe Myk, Karol Kirshner and the late Yiftah Stein (photo).

Our initial goal was to supply radio services to agricultural settlements in the central region of Israel. We equipped a vehicle with instruments that enabled simple repairs to be carried out on-site, and additional opened a lab in the coastal town of Netanya. While in the beginning we provided only services, our real dream was to establish a manufacturing facility that would have a smoking chimney of at least 20 meters...

In time, the plant was indeed established, but as for the chimney, it still has not been put up....

The dilemma, of course, was what to manufacture. Our team decided at first on radio receivers and reception devices, because at the time, the flood of low cost imports from the Far East had not yet begun.

Fortunately, we found an unfinished facility in Netanya's old industrial area, and our real story began to unfold. Among our customers were the National Bus company - "Eged" as well as sub-contracting work for "Rafael", designers and developers of equipment for the military market. This was a particularly significant development, as it taught us to how meet military standards, and at the same time, helped us develop important professional know-how.

Our company developed a reputation for reliability and fast turnaround, and additional leaders of Israel's military industries among which was also Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), became customers.

The real leap forward however, was in 1967, when we were asked to manufacture an antenna pedestal for a special defense project. We delivered it three months later, presenting the AL-860 pedestal, which we manufacture to this very day. 

We were confident that a pedestal like ours would put us on the map, and Mr. Yiftah Stein initiated a trip to Germany, offering the pedestal to R&S. Within a week, a representative of the German company visited us and we received our first international order.

Our pedestal family of products grew consistently, as did our customer base, which soon hailed from around the world.

Later on we were joined by Mr. Yossi Harlev that led the company into other areas such as transformers and avionics, as well as to antenna measurement devices.

In short, this is how we began and today we are a public company with hundreds of employees that operates from its modern facilities and is active all over the world.

There remains one more important point to be made: We have a highly motivated cadre of employees, who have been and are the driving force behind our success.

Today, I pass on the torch with confidence to the young generation and retire knowing that Orbit has a bright future.

Karol Kirshner

Milestones

Orbit Alchut revitalizes the company, changes its look and feel and renames itself as Orbit Technologies Ltd.