Instron, Norwood, Mass., celebrated its 70th anniversary on March 15, 2016. This milestone marks continued success in providing customers with the highest quality products, expert support, and world-class service.
Instron was established in 1946 by Harold Hindman and George Burr, who were working together at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to investigate suitable substitutes for silk that could be used in the manufacture of parachutes. After discovering that there was no testing machine available with enough accuracy to meet their requirements, Mr. Hindman and Mr. Burr designed a materials testing instrument.
The prototype was so successful that Instron Corporation was formed. Instron has continuously been at the forefront of the industry, earning recognition as one of the first companies to use video strain measurement, and as the first in its industry to offer automatic transducers and reverse stress loading, among many other accomplishments.
In October of 2005, Instron was acquired by ITW as the first company in their Test and Measurement platform, under the guidance of Steve Martindale, Executive Vice President of ITW. Today, Instron thrives under the leadership of Darcy Hunter, Graham Rogers, and KC Goh.
“ITW arrived at a crucial time in Instron’s seventy-year history,” says Yahya Gharagozlou, Group President – ITW Test and Measurement. “As we made the transition from a largely family-owned business, ITW’s philosophy guided us to maintain the high standards envisioned by the original owners, and at the same time taught us to run a more responsive organization to best serve our customers. I see our management’s role as custodians of our innovative culture.”
Throughout its 70 years in business, Instron has opened offices across the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific. With an expansive network of nearly 1700 employees globally, Instron employees collectively speak more than 40 languages, enabling communication with customers in their local languages around the world.
Instron remains committed to delivering leading-edge technologies and services designed to push the boundaries of research, quality control, and service-life testing.
