Our History
A Word About Our Founder
Dytran Founder and Chairman Nicholas D. Change began his long technical career in 1950 as a draftsman at Bell Aircraft Co.(Wheatfield, NY). Nick's career at Bell was interrupted when he was drafted and served in the U.S. Army from 1952-1954. After completing his military service, Nick returned to Bell until 1961 when he joined Kistler Instrument Corp. (Clarence, NY) as a manufacturing product line manager. While at Kistler, Nick began his career in piezoelectric transducer design. Working full time and going to school at night, Nick completed his BSEE degree at the University of Buffalo in 1965. In 1970, Nick joined PCB Piezotronics (Depew, NY) as Technical Director and later served as its President before re-joining Kistler in 1979 as President. Driven by a desire to bring innovative new designs to the market, Nick founded Dytran in West Seneca, NY (a suburb of Buffalo) in September, 1980. (Nick formed the company name “Dytran” by combining the words "Dynamic" and "Transducer".) In 1983, Dytran moved to Los Angeles, CA to better serve its developing customer base in the aircraft and aerospace industries.
With the founding of Dytran, Nick became one of the most prolific piezoelectric transducer designers of his day. He turned out accelerometers, force sensors, impulse hammers, pressure sensors, current source power units, vibration meters, charge amplifiers, cables, and a blinding array of accessory items in non-stop rapid succession. A multiple patent holder, Nick was the sole design engineer at Dytran for the first 20 years of the business; some of his legacy designs are still among the most popular Dytran products.
Dytran Today
The company Nick founded now employs over 170 talented individuals and operates from a 45,000 square foot facility in Chatsworth, CA. Nick was joined at the beginning of Dytran by three of his children who today serve as Officers and Directors (Michael Change, President, David Change, Vice President, Technical Director, and Anne Hackney, Chief Financial Officer). Under the leadership of this next-generation executive team, Dytran has expanded its product line beyond piezoelectric technology to include VC-MEMS based accelerometers, digital output, USB-powered triaxial accelerometers, and the highly innovative bus-based sensor communication and machinery diagnostic platform CAN-MD® (Controller Area Network - Machinery Diagnostic). Dytran continues to spur exciting sensor technology innovations for others to follow!
Nick is now retired, but his last designs (the "World's Smallest" single axis IEPE accelerometer, Model 3224A, and the ultra-miniature IEPE triaxial Model 3133A) are both top-sellers for Dytran. Nick's tenacity, inventiveness, customer-oriented approach, and "can-do" attitude helped make Dytran the company it is today. Our people, products and policies reflect that tradition and we look forward to serving you!
