AKI is a global manufacturing company with headquarters in Hutchinson, MN and a regional support office in Bangkok, Thailand.

AKI is a premier integrator of lasers and machine vision for measurement and processing within the precision manufacturing market. AKI’s expert staff provides first-to-market technology solutions involving lasers, metrology, and vision around existing or planned customers part-handling and automation systems. In addition to our custom solutions, we provide exceptional customer service through flexibility and support from ideation through the product lifecycle.

Through AKI’s state-of-the-art facility, industry positioning, exclusive patents, and world-wide vendors, AKI is positioned to design and manufacture a diverse range of highly sophisticated measurement devices for the data storage industry primarily in China, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and the United States.

Positioned in the heart of Minnesota’s manufacturing hub, AKI provides a broad range of solutions including suspension and HGA angle measurement, adjustment devices, and Head Stack measurement equipment and holds a number of industry changing patents.  AKI prides itself on its flexibility and innovativeness in meeting customer needs, while utilizing leading technology to deliver customized solutions for almost two decades.

AKI’s customer focus means high responsiveness, flexibility, and innovativeness when addressing specific project needs.  You’ll find extraordinary effort and commitment put into to meeting your specific requirements, with several unique examples highlighted on the project portfolio section.

If cutting-edge solutions and industry experience is something you seek, AKI has experts ready to talk about your specific data storage and measurement needs. We’re confident you’ll appreciate AKI’s ability to deliver a stable relationship and the confidence necessary for important business growth and decisions.

History

Founded in January 1998, AKI is located 50 miles west of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. Home to our corporate office, Hutchinson is where our research, development and operations departments are consolidated into a 10,000 sq ft facility. AKI initially focused solely on vision assisted attachment of small circuits to spring assemblies with accuracies better than 13 microns.

1999: We included the development of a laser based passive resistor application and removal process.

2000: A novel flexible circuit based mechanical support was developed for hard disk drive components; U.S. patents 6,515,832 B1 and 6,980,400 B2.

2001: High sensitivity, high resolution angle sensors were developed.

2001: Our regional support office in Bangkok, Thailand opened. The Bangkok office is responsible for supporting Thailand, China, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia clients.

2003: Additional machine, metrology, and software components hit the market. These components, along with our core angle sensors, make up 75% of our current business activities.

2007: An extensive renovation to our corporate facility  created a state-of-the-art facility to include  laboratory updates, production cell organization, and interior/exterior remodeling.