Our Mission
Deliver and integrate innovative precision control systems using our unique military, scientific and space market expertise to meet the critical demands of our customers. Develop new solutions and markets by offering a broad range of products and services while maintaining our values and world-class quality and reliability.
For more than 60 years, Quantic BEI has advanced the technology of optical encoders and motion control systems, with a focus on the singular characteristic that matters most: performance. The Quantic BEI portfolio includes the industry’s absolute best-in-class encoders, scanners, oscillators and accelerometers, including specialized products from our focused business units, Quantic Wenzel, Quantic Thistle and Quantic Croven – each a standout in its field. And as a Quantic company, we’re part of an extended engineering ecosystem and powerful supply chain, defining a competitive advantage that extends to every customer.
Our story began over 150 years ago in 1862 with the D.H Baldwin Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. Baldwin vowed to build “the best piano that could be built” and that dedication to manufacturing excellence is still the core of every instrument built at Quantic BEI’s Maumelle, Arkansas manufacturing plant today.
Following this vow, Baldwin would go on to become the largest piano dealer in the Midwestern United States. Baldwin’s excellence in piano manufacturing would lead them to begin designing and producing electronic organs. Years of innovation would lead to the development of an optical technology to generate harmonics. Accurate patterns put down on glass and read optically were the “Tone Wheels” that made organs sound like particular instruments. Custom designed and built machines would allow Baldwin to produce the “Tone Wheels” with remarkable precision and accuracy. While the organs produced by this technology would never be a commercial success due to the musician union blacklisting of the organ, the engineering technology became the foundation and birth of the optical encoder.