Cubic Corporation

A leader in its two diverse businesses, Cubic Corporation is the parent company of two major business segments: Cubic Automatic Revenue Collection Group and Cubic Defense Group. Cubic began as a small electronics enterprise housed in a garage before developing into a sophisticated manufacturer of defense electronics systems. From there, the company moved into the freight and passenger elevator business by acquiring U.S. Elevator Corporation in 1969 and into the production of automatic fare collections systems three years later. Cubic exited the elevator manufacturing business in 1993, leaving it with its defense electronics and automatic fare collection businesses as the primary money earners for the company. During the late 1990s, Cubic's defense electronics subsidiary manufactured a wide range of instrumented training systems for the U.S. Army, Air Force, and Navy. The company's automatic fare collection subsidiaries designed and manufactured systems for mass transit projects throughout the world. A smaller component of the company's operations was its industrial operations segment, comprising Consolidated Converting Co., a corrugated-paper converting company, and businesses that manufactured emergency highway call boxes and optical tooling instruments. Cubic was founded in 1951 by Walter J. Zable, a retired professional football player and professional engineer. The company founded by Zable would later rise to prominence in three distinct business areas, evolving into a leading manufacturer of defense electronics systems, electronic freight and passenger elevators, and automatic fare collection equipment for mass transit systems, but in 1951 Zable's business interests were less ambitious and not nearly as wide-ranging. Zable started Cubic in a garage, where he assembled digital voltmeters. Quickly, however, Zable's business took the steps toward progress that led to the sophisticated and multifaceted Cubic Corporation of the 1990s. In a decade's time, Cubic's business evolved remarkably. From its unpretentious beginnings in Zable's garage, the company quickly matured; it was engineering the downrange tracking system for the Mercury space program ten years later. This was an enormous leap for the company to make, placing it in a business arena that would serve as the chief revenue-generating engine for decades to come. Cubic, in the years ahead, would be known primarily for its talents in the defense electronics systems industry, but Zable was not content with his achievements during his inaugural decade of business. A little more than a decade after securing a contract to supply downrange tracking systems for the Mercury space program, Zable steered Cubic in other directions, acquiring two companies that provided entry into two different business areas. As his military equipment business was growing during the 1960s, Zable looked to broaden Cubic's business interests and establish a presence in a market not subjected to the unpredictable forces directing national defense spending. Accordingly, in 1969 Zable acquired U.S. Elevator Corporation, then a $2-million-in-sales maker of freight and passenger elevators. Zable, through acquisitions and internal development, shaped U.S. Elevator into an industry leader, making it the first elevator company in the United States to manufacture programmable computerized controls in its passenger elevators. As Cubic was developing a solid presence in the elevator market and attending to its mainstay defense electronics business, another opportunity for the growing company was emerging. During the 1960s, metropolitan mass transit systems were becoming the rage of the decade, attracting federal spending and some of the largest corporations, who were intent on grabbing a piece of the burgeoning business. Litton Industries was an early competitor in the business, followed by the arrival of Control Data, General Electric, and IBM, all in pursuit of the vast sums to be spent on subway and ra