Fiber Optic Tools And Supplies Inc.

FIBER OPTIC TOOLS & SUPPLIES, INC., otherwise known as FOTSI, has been in business since 1991. The owner, Christine Killen Wing, has been in the industry since the early eighties when she took a fiber optic splicing course and became the first full-time, female fiber optic splicing and testing technician in the country since 1986.

The idea to start the business stemmed from the owner's frustration in receiving insufficient service and products from the suppliers that they bought from in the fiber optic industry. Occasionally, when buying new products to be used in the field, she and her employees would have questions about the product. There was seldom anyone to answer the questions other than a sales person who had never seen the product and had certainly never used it.

Bringing with them an excellent working knowledge of the products to be sold, and the skills needed for operating a successful business, Chris and David Wing started the corporation in the fall of 1991.

We have personally designed and overseen the marketing of several products at the customers request in order to better the integrity, organization, and the value of their systems. Currently, we are supplying Williams Communications Group with all of their distribution cabinets, jumper storage cabinets, cross connect cabinets and splice cabinets. We have either designed or modified each of these products especially for the customer. We also supply them with splice trays and a special U-bracket that we have designed to be used with the 2178LS, 3-M splice closure. At the request of the Williams engineering team we have helped develop an alternate way to ground the 2178 closure as well as solutions for several problems that have been encountered in the building and maintenance of their systems. We own the patent on, produce and market the Jones Two Way Cable Stripper. This tool is a very safe and effective alternative to a hook blade knife. We also produce and market fusion splice protective sleeves and launch reels.

At the moment we are in the process of opening a cable assemblies division of our company. The research and development of this endeavor is a major project for our company, which we see as a very good investment in our future growth.

Our company specializes in kitting products, in order to better supply our customers. Most of our customers have their own set up and part numbers for restoration kits, as well as cleaning kits, closure kits and connector kits. With this type of marketing we not only create sales for ourselves on the products that we may not sale otherwise, but we also provide our customers with a valuable service/product. Our customers are provided with a list of all of the products that could be needed in order to do a particular procedure. They then have the ability to add or delete any item from the list to create their own product. This set up has been very helpful in the stocking of our customer's warehouses where space is limited and product tends to disappear. This allows them to have all the product they may need in one box so when a job is to be done the customer doesn't have to pay employees to search their "black hole warehouses" for many different products, we have already done it for them.

FOTSI is listed as a small business by the SBA, and is certified by the Women's Business Development National Enterprise as a woman owned business. We are waiting to receive our certification from the Women/Minority Business Enterprise Clearinghouse based out of California. Listed in Dunn and Bradstreet, fully insured, and incorporated in the state of Missouri, FOTSI has the capabilities to meet and exceed any current standards for this type of company.