Universal Metal Spinning – Founded in 1963 by Charles H. Schmidts
Mr. Schmidt received a EE degree from the University of Missouri, as well as further undergraduate education from Cal-Tech while serving in the United States Navy. In 1949, he moved to Albuquerque and began working for Sandia National Laboratories, eventually rising to a supervisory position involved primarily with weapons system component testing. In 1954 Mr. Schmidt left Sandia to work for a private company as a manufacturers representative for electronic equipment
In 1963 Mr. Schmidt discovered an unfulfilled need for spun metal spheres in New Mexico. Beginning as an operation from his own garage, his efforts were strictly a part time endeavor. The demand for the radar target spheres grew and before long, Universal Metal Spinning Inc. was created to meet the markets needs.
As time went on, the company grew due to business from many government testing needs, as well as manufacturing of other product lines. Mr. Schmidt actually developed several proprietary systems and techniques, and custom designed various machines to make the manufacturing process more efficient.
Over the years, the products manufactured at Universal Metal Spinning were significantly reduced due to falling market demand, leaving the manufacture of radar target and calibration spheres as the sole product for the company today.
