Lindgren buys West Coast company

Lindgren RF Enclosures of Glendale Heights, IL, established aWest Coast base of operations with the acquisition of ShieldCoInternational of Ontario, CA, in July.

While ShieldCo's technology will be most useful in the firm'scommercial (non-MRI) shielding business, there will be advantagesfor the imaging side as well, said John Guennewig, manager ofsales and marketing. Lindgren has not retained the ShieldCo name.

"It (the acquisition) will enhance our MR business byhelping us with local installations and service support,"he said.

Lindgren's copper radio-frequency panels are manufactured inChicago as well as at a Wisconsin plant and shipped to the WestCoast. Establishing a West Coast office will help the firm trimtransportation costs for inventory and personnel, he said.

ShieldCo manufactured high-performance RF doors and weldedrooms used to provide RF-signal-free environments for the manufactureof sensitive electronic equipment. MRI systems do not operateat as high a frequency and thus do not require that level of shielding,he said.

ShieldCo personnel will be trained to apply their shieldingexpertise to medical applications. The company does not plan toshift employees from Chicago, he said.

About 60% of Lindgren's shielding business is medical, 20%is commercial and 20% is government work, Guennewig said.

Lindgren installs steel combination magnetic/RF shielding aswell as copper RF-only protection for MRI rooms. The firm contractsout much of the steel work, however, and the RF side of its businessis more profitable, he said.

The onset of self-shielded MRI systems has reduced the steeltonnage that Lindgren works with, although the number of MRI installationshas continued to rise for the firm, Guennewig said.