Morgan Hill
’s second-largest employer has a new president. Frank Tiernan
was presented to the 600 employees of Anritsu Co. during a ceremony
Thursday afternoon.
Morgan Hill’s second-largest employer has a new president. Frank Tiernan was presented to the 600 employees of Anritsu Co. during a ceremony Thursday afternoon.
“Congratulations, Frank, on your promotion to president of Anritsu Company,” said Akira Shiomi, president of Anritsu Corp., the Japan-based corporate parent of the Morgan Hill firm. “As everyone knows, he’s a good guy. I’m confident Anritsu Co. will be more successful in the future.”
Outgoing Anritsu Morgan Hill president Mark Evans handed Tiernan a ceremonial torch and baseball cap.
“We’re passing the torch and we’re passing the hat,” Evans said.
Tiernan accepted the gifts and his new responsibilities with a sober attitude.
“We have some challenges and opportunities ahead of us in the next year,” Tiernan said.
Those challenges include changing the way the company approaches its customers and product development.
“We’re planning some mindset changes,” Tiernan said Thursday. “We do have initiatives in place to increase our focus on the customer and also to be certain that what we’re working on in product development is being driven by the market rather than pure technology.”
Those changes might mean some more jobs, especially for people with engineering and manufacturing experience, Tiernan said.
“Like a lot of companies we’re being very cautious with new hires,” Tiernan said. “I don’t anticipate getting close to our peak of the Internet bubble.”
Anritsu’s local plant designs, manufactures and distributes wired and wireless technologies, including fiber, microwave/RF, optical and digital mobile radio test solutions for the communications market.
A 20-year veteran of Anritsu Corp., Tiernan was most recently the general manager of the company’s microwave measurement division in Morgan Hill.
He also has served as director of research and development, director of corporate services and director of manufacturing.
Tiernan holds a BS degree from Boston University, a BSEE from San Jose State University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Tiernan replaces Evans, who served as Anritsu’s president for eight years and is now headed to Japan to lead the company’s globalization efforts.
The job shuffling is part of a new focus on globalization that Anritsu has been planning for the last six to eight months.
“We’ve been having discussions with senior management about the transformation of Anritsu,” Evans said. “We’re making a significant change in the way Anritsu will conduct its business in the future.”
Evans, a Morgan Hill resident, will maintain his South Valley home and will be traveling extensively in his new role, he said Thursday.
“We want to have one face for our customers no matter where in the world they come to us from,” Evans said.
Like many high-tech companies, Anritsu has weathered its share of economic storms in recent years. Workers took a one-year, 10 percent pay cut in September 2001, and 15 percent were laid off in October of that year.
In September 2002, Anritsu’s workforce was reduced by another 18 percent, affecting 115 Morgan Hill employees. A temporary workshare program where manufacturing was shut down every other Friday, reducing working hours, was also in place for approximately one year.
“We’re expecting some modest revenue growth and modest profit in the next fiscal year,” Tiernan said.
Anritsu Corp. came to Morgan Hill in 1990 when it bought Wiltron Co., which had moved from Palo Alto in 1984. Its offices and manufacturing plant are located at 490 Jarvis Drive in the Morgan Hill Ranch business park. The company’s sales headquarters are in Richardson, Texas. With its world headquarters in Atsugi, Japan, Anritsu Corp.’s stock is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Anritsu Corp. has approximately 3,700 employees worldwide.
Details: www.us.anritsu.com
