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Note 1 - Nature of Operations
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2017
Notes to Financial Statements  
Nature of Operations [Text Block]
(
1
)
NATURE OF OPERATIONS

We are an independent designer, manufacturer and marketer of thermal management products and semiconductor automatic test equipment (“ATE”) interface solutions. Our products are used by semiconductor manufacturers to perform development, qualifying and final testing of integrated circuits (“ICs”) and wafers, and for other electronic test across a range of industries including the automotive, defense/aerospace, energy, industrial and telecommunications markets. We also offer induction heating products for joining and forming metals in a variety of industrial markets, including automotive, aerospace, machinery, wire & fasteners, medical, semiconductor, food & beverage, and packaging. We manufacture our products in the U.S. Marketing and support activities are conducted worldwide from our facilities in the U.S., Germany, Singapore, the Netherlands and the U.K. The consolidated entity is comprised of inTEST Corporation and our wholly-owned subsidiaries.

During
2016,
we reorganized our business from
three
product segments, Thermal Products, Mechanical Products and Electrical Products, into
two
product segments, Thermal Products ("Thermal") and Electromechanical Semiconductor Products ("EMS"). Certain operational changes undertaken in the
first
quarter of
2016
in connection with this reorganization are discussed further in Note
3
of our consolidated financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form
10
-K for the year ended
December 31, 2016
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on
March 27, 2017 (
the
"2016
Form
10
-K"). Accordingly, effective
January 1, 2017,
we have
two
reportable segments, which are also our reporting units. Prior period information has been reclassified to be comparable to the presentation for
2017.


On
May 24, 2017,
we completed the acquisition of Ambrell Corporation ("Ambrell"). The acquisition was completed by acquiring all of the outstanding capital stock of Ambrell. Ambrell is a manufacturer of precision induction heating systems which are used to conduct fast, efficient, repeatable non-contact heating of metals or other electrically conductive materials, in order to transform raw materials into finished parts. The Ambrell acquisition complements our current thermal technologies and broadens our diverse customer base, allowing expansion within many non-ATE related markets, such as consumer product packaging, fiber-optics, automotive and other markets. Ambrell's operations are included in our Thermal segment. Ambrell manufactures its products in the U.S. and conducts marketing and support activities from its facilities in the U.S., the Netherlands and the U.K. This acquisition is discussed further in Note
3.


The ATE market in which we operate is characterized by rapid technological change, competitive pricing pressures and cyclical as well as seasonal market patterns. This market is subject to significant economic downturns at various times. Our financial results are affected by a wide variety of factors, including, but
not
limited to, general economic conditions worldwide and in the markets in which we operate, economic conditions specific to the ATE market and the other markets we serve, our ability to safeguard patented technology and intellectual property in a rapidly evolving market, downward pricing pressures from customers, and our reliance on a relatively few number of customers for a significant portion of our sales. In addition, we are exposed to the risk of obsolescence of our inventory depending on the mix of future business and technological changes within the markets that we serve. We also continue to implement an acquisition strategy that
may
cause us to incur substantial expense in reviewing and evaluating potential transactions. We
may
or
may
not
be successful in locating suitable businesses to acquire. In addition, we
may
not
be able to successfully integrate any business we do acquire with our existing business and we
may
not
be able to operate the acquired business profitably. As a result of these or other factors, we
may
experience significant period-to-period fluctuations in future operating results.