Company News

In January, 2001 AST completed its registration audit for ISO 9001-2000 followed by a successful ISO 14001 registration in May 2001. We have continued our focus on quality and environmental management and are pleased to report that Orion Registrar, Inc. has again recommended us for continued registration to both standards following a successful surveillance audit in December 2002. In addition to these certificates, AST is an FAA part 145 Repair Station holding Air Agency Certificate Number V3UR140X.

In July 2002, AST formed an alliance with Equinox Interscience, Inc. for the production of DEEP SKY BLACK™ optical surface treatment. Deep Sky Black is a low reflectivity surface treatment for optical, laser and instrumentation applications. Among the firms now using this process, Ball Aerospace has completed Space Qualification Testing on the Star Tracker Sun Shade Assembly treated with DEEP SKY BLACK^TM.

In September 2002, AST made a big commitment to its core plating business. Determining that we had too much capacity in commodity process like anodizing and chromate conversion on aluminum, AST exited from those processes. We have now redeployed those lines and offer Chromate Conversion on Magnesium and will very soon complete an Electroless Nickel Line for Magnesium as well.

Look for additional developments at AST over the next several months such as Electroless Nickel with as plated hardness of HRC 60-63 and Lead-Free/Cadmium-Free Bright Nickel.

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