But these days defense subcontracting alone can't propel a hi-tech company into the 21st century. As the demand for military technology continues to decline, companies that rely too heavily on defense contracts risk losing everything. That was Lau's second big challenge. Once she secured her company's existing market niche and generated capital for expansion, she refocused on developing a civilian product.
In 1992 Lau committed $300,000 to the research and development of a new technology. The following year, it spent $1 million, virtually the entire profit for that fiscal year. The investment paid off. The company has diversified into the field of digital imaging, an identification process that will soon be in demand at bureaucracies in all 50 states.
Digital imaging lets an agency like the department of motor vehicles digitally store photographs, fingerprints and other information in a central computer housed at Lau Technologies. When a client agency needs to access the data, it's only a modem transmission away.
Lau Technologies has already won contracts with the motor vehicle departments of three states, including Massachusetts where Lau beat out giant Polaroid. Currently, Lau Technologies systems are installed in 18 of the 42 Massachusetts sites.
In New York the company has a contract to develop electronic benefit transfer cards for welfare recipients, in order to streamline that operation. For the Justice Department Lau Technologies will develop INS employment cards for the staff, and later, cards for immigrants.
"Quite frankly, they blew the socks off the competition," says Ohio registry controller Jim Spurrier.
The digital imaging technology already makes up about 20% of LT's current revenues, but Lau foresees a 50-50 split by the end of this year.
"A company has got to have the will to change," says Lau. "You have to say, 'OK, I'm going to walk out of this comfort zone and into a totally unknown black hole.'"
In its original military arena, the company is upgrading all its systems to 21st century standards. Most recently, Lau Technologies is building power supplies for F-18s and coolers for Patriot missiles.
Lau prefers dealing with the military. "If you don't hear from the Army, that's good news," says Lau. "They are real business people. You only gain their respect by developing quality products on time. They don't want to be your buddies. In the corporate world, rather, it's more who you know."
Her Asian upbringing, Lau says, accounts not only for her success but her motivation to stay ahead of the competition. "We learn to be humble," she says. "Someone is always out there better than you, so you have to continually sharpen yourself. My mother told me 'If you want something you have to do it yourself.' Sounds like Confucius," Lau laughs. Lau's mother takes her own advice. At 70, she insists on keeping her job at a textile factory, though she no longer needs to work.
Lau seems to have inherited her taste for plain honest living. Her office is simple and modest. Its sole distinguishing feature is a large bookcase filled with books. Her one luxury seems to be her Infiniti Q45A which she likes for its many safety features, including a fully independent suspension which can come in handy on Massachusetts winter roads. She frets that the car can no longer be sold in the U.S. after independent service facilities complained that its advanced design requires that it be serviced only by Infiniti technicians.
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Having embraced a company near death and breathed new life into it, Lau is now busy nurturing a creation she conceived from scratch, eight-month-old daughter Caitlin. Luckily Caitlin "sleeps through the nights," Lau says. "She's a very happy girl."
Joanna met husband Denis Berub while she was at GE during a company outing when they struck up a conversation about their engineering work. Their relationship began as a friendship. It wasn't until three years later, in 1986, that they married. Denis currently works at Lau Technologies and sits on the the board of a new, as-yet-unnamed subsidiary that will take over the digital imaging side of LT's business. This working relationship gives them the luxury of each other's company during the day. After hours they spend a good deal of their time playing with Caitlin who has started crawling. Lau often does her stretching exercises in the basement with Caitlin accompanying her with her own baby versions. Otherwise, the couple unwinds by reading or watching TV.
