Company History

Technical Services for Electronics (TSE) was founded in Arlington, Minnesota in 1972 by Paul and Cathy Kamba. Their vision was to design and market the difficult-to-produce interconnect solutions required primarily by computer mainframe manufacturers that were prevalent in the Minneapolis area at that time. Early customers included IBM, Unisys and Motorola.

The vision took a significant step in 1981 when the first TSE plant was built in Arlington. Later in the 1980's, as the company continued to grow, a second plant was added in Jackson, Minnesota, along with a corporate administration building in Arlington.

About this same time, the Minnesota business landscape began to change. Mainframe computer companies consolidated and left the region, and medical device manufacturers began to emerge. In response, TSE began developing its current-day expertise in interconnect technology for some of the largest medical device manufacturers in the world; companies such as Medtronic, GE Healthcare and St Jude Medical.

In 1992, Lyle Fahning joined TSE as President, and an owner/partner with Paul Kamba.

Asia became part of the TSE world in 2002, when the company began operations in Taiwan. Initially, Taiwan was viewed as a resource for purchasing materials and sub-assemblies in support of our Minnesota operations. However, four years later, we started producing and shipping parts from our own Taiwan plant.

In 2006, TSE shipped nearly $35 million of product, and employed approximately 245 people. That same year, Paul Kamba, after 34 years of success as an entrepreneur, sold the business to the current owners, Pfingsten Partners Limited. Pfingsten Partners is a private equity investment group specializing in mid-sized, specialty manufacturing companies. Lyle Fahning remains as an owner and advisor.

To provide advanced educational opportunities for workers, TSE opened its Learning Center in 2008. This facility is used by the company's Continuous Improvement and Training & Development teams.

Steve Sundberg became President & CEO in 2009. TSE also acquired Connect-Tech, a Portland, OR company with exciting technology in fine wire manufacturing and assembly. TSE is now among only a handful of companies in the world that manufacture discrete wires and multi-conductor round cables with conductor sizes in the range of AWG 38 to AWG 50.

Staying true to our founder's initial vision, TSE remains focused on providing difficult-to-produce custom interconnect solutions for some of the most prestigious electronic equipment manufacturers in the U.S., Europe and Asia.