Local radar pioneer still growing, innovating

(L-R) Ethel Poulos, Andrew Arnold, “storm chaser” Joshua Wurman, and Pulse Systems founder John Lagadinos (Barry Okun photo)

A few years ago, John Lagadinos began hearing from customers who were worried that he might be headed toward retirement. As the founder and president of Pulse Systems, a leading manufacturer of radar technology and related subsystems, Lagadinos had designed and outfitted countless radar transmitters around the globe, and his customers had come to depend on him for his knowledge, expertise, and technical support.

Among them was the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center at Patuxent River, Maryland, and when it became known to Navy personnel that many of the ships’ vital electronic warfare parts were being made by a “small man out in Massachusetts operating a small shop,” the reaction was one of obvious concern.

“They wanted to make sure that there would be continuity between now and the future and also service of these parts,” recalled Lagadinos, a Canton resident since the mid 1960s.

So in an effort to alleviate his clients’ fears while also setting his business up for long-term growth, Lagadinos decided to embark on a major expansion in January of 2011, moving Pulse Systems from its original location on Bolivar Street to a brand-new campus at 100 Energy Drive.

Located on 20 acres of land near Dan and John roads (off Route 138), the new 32,000-square-foot facility houses a manufacturing plant, research and development laboratory facilities, a machine and fabrication shop, and plenty of office space.

The company also increased its technical staff, hiring two full-time engineers, and it recently absorbed Lagadinos’ original business, MagCap Engineering, which provides all of the magnetic components under the leadership of his son, Chris.

Lagadinos said his ultimate goal is to transfer as much knowledge as possible to his son and the two fellow engineers, thus fulfilling a promise he had made to his customers while enabling him to focus his efforts on research and development.

“This was a serious move on my part because I just wanted to show them that the company is an ongoing company and I don’t have in mind to retire,” he said. “Rather, we are going to expand and provide all the services that we usually provide for our customers.”

Lagadinos said he is particularly excited about their advancements in the area of high power klystron-based transmitters, which offer advantages over the magnetron transmitters — another product that Pulse Systems has produced to great success.

Many of Lagadinos’ original designs are in use all over the world to power weather radars, including three new klystron systems that the company successfully completed: one for the government for R&D purposes and the other two for television stations in North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia.

“People are enjoying really expanded range of weather information through these sets,” he said. “We’re now providing basically the whole transmitter whereas before the company was limited to doing only components.”

Some of Pulse Systems’ other customers include WBZ-TV4 and WCVB-TV5 in Boston as well as national weather bureaus in Canada, Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom. In fact, a recent solicitation by the UK government for radar updates went so far as to specify that the transmitters would have to be made by Pulse.

“That’s quite a thing for us,” said Lagadinos. “It indicates there is a certain seriousness about our product and people respect it.”

Besides providing transmitters for traditional weather outlets, Pulse has also begun attracting interest from various weather research groups, including a company from North Dakota that specializes in weather modification techniques, such as cloud seeding.

Recently, Pulse Systems welcomed renowned atmospheric scientist and “storm chaser” Joshua Wurman to its headquarters to discuss some of the company’s latest technology. Wurman, a former Discovery Channel star who heads the Center for Severe Weather Research in Colorado, brought one of the trucks from his famous Doppler on Wheels fleet, which are used to analyze tornadoes and hurricanes with the help of Pulse products.

“We developed a tuning process in their transmitters that they can get automatic tuning and basically know on what frequency they are operating,” explained Lagadinos. “They are very thrilled with that advancement.”

At this point, Lagadinos estimates that his business is split roughly “50/50” between commercial products and government contracts — including past and current deals with everyone from NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense to Raytheon, MIT, and even the Chilean Navy, among others.

In addition to weather applications, Lagadinos’ radar technology has been employed in the fields of surveillance, aviation, homeland security, missile defense, and medical equipment, as well as an assortment of secret government projects.

“Every day we are being discovered by various companies around the world,” said Lagadinos. “A year from now I think the company will be at a different level based on what I see from a lot of our customers and what they’re looking for and what they’re expecting from us.”

Although in some ways he is busier than ever, especially with the move to the new location, Lagadinos still manages to find time for his family, especially his wife, Effie, his biggest supporter since he first opened MagCap in 1969, and his three children: Stella Karavas, who is the CEO of Canton-based Voltree Power, and Chris and Ethel Poulos, who both work at Pulse Systems.

Lagadinos, a native of southern Greece, is also very active in the local Greek community and is a big supporter of St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church in Boston. He also maintains a connection to his homeland through occasional visits to the monastic community of Mt. Athos — his favorite place in the world to travel to. A few years ago, he purchased enough medical equipment to outfit a small clinic there, and he recently sent over a fully equipped ambulance that has helped to “save a lot of lives.”

As for the question that he often gets about when he might retire, Lagadinos, at 75 years young, is simply having too much fun to consider that as an option right now. His mind is still sharp and he still maintains a good level of energy — he recently visited three countries on business in a three-day span, traveling to Sweden, Finland, Germany, and then back to Boston.

“If I was doing something that I was forcing myself to do, I would have retired years ago,” said Lagadinos, who in many ways personifies the American Dream. “I love what I’m doing and I have a lot of fun doing it. That’s basically what I can say.”

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Posted by Jay Turner on Feb 14 2013. Filed under Business. Both comments and pings are currently closed.