Search
Languages

75 Years of Innovation

Bourns® Letters of Recognition: from Arrow, TTI, RS, Bürklin, MBS, and Anglia.

Seventy-five years ago, co-founders Marlan and Rosemary Bourns set up shop in their tiny 384 square-foot garage in Altadena, California. Their idea to provide a component solution to accurately determine an aircraft's pitch attitude solved a crucial problem for pilots. Their invention of the first miniature linear motion and vane position potentiometers propelled the Bourns' small start-up into the global corporation it is today. What started from the development of a single product, Bourns, Inc. is now known as a trusted innovator and manufacturer of a wide range of advanced products that are used in thousands of electronics industry applications.

From its earliest days, the founders established a benchmark for quality, value and innovation. In 1952, Marlan Bourns patented the world's first trimming potentiometer, trademarked Trimpot®, which remains the industry standard. Bourns now holds more than 91 patents, and that inventive spirit and dedication to excellence is still strong today. With a culture and processes that ensure continuous improvement and outstanding customer service, the company excels at meeting design requirements and satisfying international standards for a broad variety of applications in the automotive/vehicle, industrial, energy, consumer, computer, telecommunications, instrumentation, audio and low/medium risk* medical markets.

1962 bourns riverside building
Bourns Riverside facility in 1962

In addition to its worldwide headquarters in Riverside, California, Bourns now has 14 additional facilities around the world, and has continued expanding through strategic acquisitions and start-up initiatives. Its comprehensive portfolio now consists of more than 19 different product lines.

Beyond providing technology solutions, the Bourns family continues honor its commitment to giving back to the communities where we live and work. Through the generous donations of the Bourns family and the Bourns Foundation, the Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering at the University of California Riverside was founded. The college has become nationally recognized for its center for environmental research and technology and for its programs in chemical engineering and computer science. The Bourns family and employees also support numerous community outreach programs, green initiatives, scholarship opportunities and educational advancement such as the sponsorship of events to further education in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

*Bourns® products have not been designed for and are not intended for use in "lifesaving," "life-critical" or "life-sustaining" applications nor any other applications where failure or malfunction of the Bourns® product may result in personal injury or death. See Legal Disclaimer Notice www.bourns.com/docs/legal/disclaimer.pdf