OUR HERITAGE OF QUALITY
Formed in 1967 Sensor established itself as a high quality manufacturer of precision transducers used in the rapidly growing hydrocarbon exploration industry. Through the development of the innovative SM-4 type rotating coil geophone Sensor became the preferred supplier to many key customers in the seismic industry, as well as in areas of machine vibration monitoring, security and high temperature borehole applications.
Quality of both product and service became a core principle on which the company developed its reputation. In 1979 Sensor was acquired by Geosource Inc. and relocated its Netherlands transducer operation from The Hague to the company’s current location in Voorschoten.
Industry leadership position
The company’s Norwich, UK facility opened in 1981 as part of a strategic plan to service the growing UK seismic base and at the same time increasing further the lateral integration of various key manufacturing processes. The Norwich facility developed skills in the areas of geophone stringing, plastic injection moulding and leader wire manufacture. By the mid 1980’s Sensor had moved into an industry leadership position and today Sensor supplies equipment to about 50% of the world’s seismic crews. Recognising the need for seismic crews to regularly test equipment in the field, Sensor developed the SMT range of test equipment, providing seismic crews with the capability to accurately test transducers to manufacturer’s standards.
ION Geophysical Corporation
In 1986 Sensor changed corporate ownership when Geosource was acquired by Gearhart and in 1988 Halliburton Geophysical Services (HGS) was formed. In 1994 Western Geophysical Company (WGC) acquired HGS and since 1995 Sensor has been a vital part of the leading seismic equipment manufacturer, ION Geophysical Corporation. Throughout this period Sensor continued to develop its core processes and products. Today there are over 500 SMT systems working around the world, on crews, in test laboratories and with other geophone manufacturers as part of their final manufacturing test.
Market demand to increase channel counts caused by the move towards 3D seismic meant a significant increase in the number of seismic detectors needed by a crew. Sensor met this challenge by focusing the Company’s R&D program towards reducing manufacturing costs, through the creation of flow-line manufacturing and by automating key production processes, all targeted at improving yields and translating into more competitive product pricing. Product development continued and in 1993 through a combination of investment in precision high-speed machine tools, improvements in manufacturing processes, redesign of critical components and improved quality control of materials, a new geophone was created, the Superphone, which extended the limits of performance and set new industry standards which other manufacturers followed. As 24 bit technology became the standard for recording systems Sensor developed the SM-24 wide band Superphone in 1995, providing a clean bandwidth to over 240Hz.
35 years of market and labour experience
Today Sensor continues its history of innovation with the development of the SMT-300 geophone tester and the LF-24 low frequency geophone. Sensor currently applies more than 35 years of market and labour experience to its manufacturing operations in Voorschoten.
