Everywhere. Every Day. With a low profile and more than 100 years of history, Elkhart's CTS Corp. has crucial products and services for a wide range of industries.

• Author: Hromadka, Erik
• Position: Cover story - Company overview

CTS CORP. IS HARDLY A household name in Indiana. In fact, it maintains a rather low profile in the state's business community as well. But for more than 100 years, the Elkhart company has grown into a global operation by quietly developing, acquiring and manufacturing a wide range of components and sensors that are used in the automotive, computer, communications, medical, industrial, defense and aerospace industries.

That's why the CTS motto of "Everywhere, every day" is no exaggeration and the company's annual sales are approaching $700 million with continued growth in a challenging economic climate. It's an impressive story of a company that came to northern Indiana in search of cheaper commercial and industrial space and found a place where it could grow into a global electronics manufacturer.

MAKING THE FIRST TELEPHONES

CTS traces its roots to Chicago, where it was founded as the Chicago Telephone Supply company back in 1896. In a time when most people still traveled by horseback, the company recognized that the new telephones were more than a passing fad and ramped up operations, moving to Indiana in 1902 to take advantage of more space and lower costs in Elkhart.

Through the rest of the 20th century, CTS kept pace with the rapid innovation in electronics and communications. In the 1920s. CTS engineers began adapting telephone technology to home radio receivers and developed a new line of variable resistors that served as a key product for decades. In the 1940s, the company manufactured remote radio and radar for the U.S. Army and then in the 1950s, it began supplying the emerging television industry

CTS went public in 1962 on the New York Stock Exchange, where it still trades under the CTS symbol. In the 1970s, CTS expanded out from the electronics industry and the company's products were used in vehicles to meet automobile emissions regulations and in medical devices, such as pacemakers. That was followed by the boom in computers and communications devices which took place in the 1980s and 1990s, increasing demand and competition for CTS products. And as the 21st century began, CTS found itself back in the middle of a rapid expansion of telephones as wireless communications took off.

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FOSTERING INNOVATION

"The success behind our long history of innovation and growth can very well be attributed to our focus on delighting our customers with the innovative use of our core technologies and manufacturing...