What Capacitec does

Capacitec, Inc. is a privately held designer and manufacturer of non-contact capacitive displacement and gap measurement sensors, founded circa 1980 and headquartered in Ayer, Massachusetts, with regional headquarters in Créteil, France, and engineering, sales and recalibration support centers in Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore and China. The company's underlying technology is capacitive sensing between conductive plates, enabling sub-micron-precision non-contact measurement of gaps and displacement on conductive and semi-conductive targets without physical contact. The product portfolio is anchored by the portable Gapman® and Gapmaster® electronic feeler-gage systems (including the latest Gapman Gen4 with Bluetooth and multi-point capability), a family of HPC cylindrical, HPB button, HPT threaded and GPS/HPS thin capacitive probes covering gaps from 110 microns up to gaps with probes as small as 0.040 inch outside diameter, the modular Capteura® amplifier family (200 Series, 520 Series, 210 SCP, 508-SW, 516-SW), and the Bargrafx™ LabView-based data acquisition and LiniGage™ engine rotor eccentricity software. Sensors are specified for extreme environments operating from cryogenic (-272°C) up to 1,000°C, in radiation up to 10^18 RADS and magnetic fields to 10 Tesla.

Capacitec monetizes primarily through direct, quote-based hardware sales of probes, amplifiers and integrated measurement systems, complemented by software (Bargrafx, LiniGage) and custom engineering/OEM solutions. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is handled through direct inquiry with free technical application reviews; multi-year contracts and recurring recalibration services support installed-base stickiness. Go-to-market is sales-led direct enterprise engagement targeting engineering and quality professionals rather than broad digital marketing, with a deep technical resource library serving top-of-funnel education. ISO 9001:2015 certified manufacturing supports aerospace, defense and industrial qualification requirements.

The customer base spans commercial and military aerospace (Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, GE Aviation, Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, CFM International, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, Bombardier, Embraer, Mitsubishi, Kawasaki, Fuji, Textron, Bell, ULA, NASA, JPL), national and European research laboratories (CERN, SLAC, Fermilab, Brookhaven, Argonne, Oak Ridge, AECL, NLR, LIDAX), automotive brake-system suppliers and glass manufacturers, nuclear fuel rod assemblers, slot-die coating and extrusion operators, steam and wind turbine manufacturers, and semiconductor parallelism applications. With no funding rounds, no institutional owners and no acquisitions disclosed across forty-plus years, Capacitec operates as a founder/management-owned specialty industrial sensor firm built on long-cycle enterprise relationships and incumbent process qualifications.

Name

Capacitec

Legal name

Capacitec, Inc.

Website

https://capacitec.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Capacitec designs and manufactures non-contact capacitive displacement sensors, portable Gapman electronic feeler gages, modular Capteura amplifiers, and Bargrafx/LiniGage measurement software, serving aerospace, defense, automotive, slot-die coating, power generation, semiconductor and research customers globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Precision Measurement Sensors

NAICS

Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical, and Control Instruments Manufacturing (3345), Other Measuring and Controlling Device Manufacturing (334519), Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing (334511)

SIC

Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, And Control (3823), Aircraft Parts & Auxiliary Equipment, Nec (3728)

akta.pro primary industry

Industrial-Grade Sensors & Transducer Components (Discrete sensing elements, transducers, MEMS sensors) (IMAGAJAO)

akta.pro secondary industries

Motor Encoders, Feedback & Condition Monitoring (Encoders, Vibration, Predictive) (IMAGACAJ), Automotive Sensors Manufacturing (Position/Pressure/Temp/IMU/Radar/LiDAR Cameras) (IMACAJAD)

Keywords

• Capacitive displacement sensors
• Gap measurement systems
• Non-contact sensors
• Precision measurement instruments
• Displacement sensing systems

Headquarters

HQ city

Ayer

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Capacitive Displacement Sensors and Probes: Sale of non-contact capacitive displacement sensors including HPC cylindrical probes, HPB button probes, HPT threaded probes, and GPS/HPS thin capacitive sensors. Sensors range from small OEM configurations to custom industrial-grade probes operating in extreme environments.
2. Gap Measurement Systems: Complete gap measurement systems including portable Gapman and Gapmaster units, gap sensor wands, amplifiers and signal conditioning electronics for industrial applications.
3. Amplifiers and Electronics: Capteura series amplifiers including 200 series, 520 series, 4000/5000 series, 210 SCP, 508-SW, 516-SW amplifiers for signal conditioning and data acquisition.
4. Software and Data Acquisition: Bargrafx LabView-based data acquisition software and LiniGage engine eccentricity software for specialized measurement applications.
5. Custom Engineering and OEM Solutions: Custom amplifier and software design services for OEM applications, along with specialized measurement tool development for specific customer requirements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Capacitec designs, manufactures, and sells non-contact capacitive displacement sensors, gap measurement systems, and capacitive probes for industrial, aerospace, automotive, semiconductor, coating, power generation, and extreme environment applications. Its product portfolio includes the Gapman® portable electronic feeler gages, Gapmaster® multi-channel systems, HPC/HPB/HPT/GPS/HPS series capacitive probes, the Capteura® family of modular amplifiers and signal conditioners, and supporting software (Bargrafx™, LiniGage™) for data acquisition and engine rotor eccentricity analysis.

Product overview

Capacitec designs and manufactures non-contact capacitive displacement sensors, gap sensors, and multipoint measurement systems. The product portfolio centers on the Gapman® and Gapmaster® portable electronic feeler gage product lines, complemented by a comprehensive family of sensor probes (HPC cylindrical, HPB button, HPT threaded, GPS/HPS thin capacitive sensors) and Capteura® amplifier modules (200 Series, 520 Series, 210 Single Channel, 508-SW, 516-SW). Supporting software includes Bargrafx™ for data acquisition and linearization, LiniGage for engine rotor eccentricity analysis, and Bore Software for hole mapping. The company serves aerospace, automotive, semiconductor, slot die coating, power generation, and extreme environment applications with sensors operating from cryogenic to 1,000°C temperatures.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Gapman®: Portable electronic feeler gage for non-contact gap measurement in aerospace, automotive, and industrial applications.
• Gapmaster®
• Capteura®
• LiniGage™
• LGWAS
• Bargrafx™

Products and services

• Gapman® Portable Gap Measurement System Portable, battery-operated non-contact capacitive gap sensor system designed as a digital replacement for feeler gauges, achieving five times faster measurements with substantially higher resolution and repeatability, for shop floor and field use by aerospace, automotive, and industrial users.
• Gapman® Gen3 Portable Thin Gap Feeler Gage High-precision, non-contact portable thin gap electronic feeler gage with 0.00001"/0.254 µm resolution, ±0.05% FS accuracy, 10,000 data point logging, and 22-hour battery life, for aerospace shimming, automotive, and industrial gap measurement.
• Gapman® Gen4 Multi-Point Gap Mapping Tool Multi-point and ultra-thin gap sensing tool with Bluetooth communication, supporting gaps as narrow as 0.0043" (110 microns), up to 8 gap locations, and 20,000 data point storage, for aerospace, automotive, and industrial gap mapping.
• Gapmaster® 3 Portable Three-Position Sensing System Lightweight portable three-position sensing system with three pre-amplifiers providing up to three channels for non-contact displacement sensor measurement, for shop floor and field gap measurement.
• HPC Series Cylindrical Capacitive Probes Non-contact capacitive displacement sensors designed for ease of installation to measure earth grounded targets, available in sizes from 0.040" to 0.500" sensor OD, for industrial displacement sensing.
• HPB Series Button Capacitive Probes Thin side-looking button probes designed for tight or hidden access locations down to 0.025" (0.65 mm) for inspection of thin gaps.
• HPT Series Threaded Capacitive Probes Threaded capacitive probes mountable into drill-and-tapped holes for precise displacement measurements from cryogenic to 1,000°C.
• GPS & HPS Series Thin Capacitive Stick-on Sensors Single-sided ultra-thin stick-on capacitive sensors (0.004" to 0.009" thickness) using Kapton material, available in -100°C to 260°C temperature ranges, ideal for limited space applications.
• Capteura® 520 Series Dual Channel Amplifier Next-generation dual channel amplifier card with ±0.05% linearity, push button calibration, ESD protected inputs, and selectable frequencies up to 16 kHz.
• Capteura® 200 Series Non-Contact Displacement Instrumentation Modular non-contact capacitive displacement instrumentation with highest stability and lowest noise, offering ±1% (220-S) or ±0.2% (220-SL) linearity.
• 210 SCP/SLCP Single Channel Amplifier Compact OEM-optimized single channel amplifier with 5-12 VDC power input, 50 ppm/°C temperature stability, and resolution better than 100,000:1.
• 508-SW Multiple Channel Switching Amplifier Smart multi-channel displacement and gap measurement amplifier supporting up to 8 channels at approximately half the cost of dedicated amplifiers.
• 516-SW Multiple Channel Switching Amplifier Smart multi-channel switching amplifier supporting 4-16 channels for displacement, gap, parallelism, and bore applications at reduced cost vs dedicated amplifiers.
• Bargrafx™ Data Acquisition Software LabView-based data acquisition application for precision gap measurement achieving accuracies better than 10 microinches (0.25 microns) with virtual channel architecture.
• LiniGage™ Aircraft Engine Rotor Eccentricity Realignment System Aircraft Engine Rotor Eccentricity Realignment System for setting concentricity of engine rotor assemblies, with Windows-based software for eccentricity calculation and quality records.
• Parallelism Measurement Systems Custom systems with 3 to 6 displacement sensors for measuring surface parallelism in semiconductor wafer production and other precision alignment applications.
• Flatness Measurement Systems Multi-point flatness inspection with up to 32 sensors for achieving 90% spatial flatness results at cost-effective pricing.
• Bore Measurement Systems Non-contact capacitive hole diameter probes with 2-4+ sensors for obtaining accuracies of 0.1% FS and resolutions of 0.02% FS.
• Bore Software for Multi-Level Diameter Mapping Multi-level diameter mapping software that differentiates between material layer variations such as CFRP to aluminum interfaces.
• Spring Contact Gap Sensors Gap sensors for measuring gaps where one or both target surfaces are non-conductive or uneven, using flexible leaf springs to provide a grounded target.
• Industrial Gap Sensors Custom thicker gap sensors with earth grounded core design for wider gap ranges (1-10 mm), available in lengths up to 2 meters.
• Thin Gap Sensors (HPD/GPD Series Wands) Double-sided thin gap sensor wands (HPD/GPD series) with thickness down to 0.004" (0.11 mm), used with Gapman for precision gap measurement.
• Sensor Calibration Stands and Recalibration Service Calibration stands with targets for performing in-house calibrations, plus factory recalibration services.
• Custom OEM Engineering and Specialized Measurement Solutions Custom amplifier, software, and specialized measurement tool design services for OEM applications, plus specialized measurement tool development for specific customer requirements.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduced shimming time by 5x compared to traditional feeler gauge methods in aerospace applications
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers33 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature6 records

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Micro-Epsilon: Germany-based manufacturer of non-contact displacement, position, and thickness sensors including capacitive and eddy-current technologies. Most direct competitor to Capacitec across capacitive displacement and gap measurement, with broader scale and global footprint.
• MTI Instruments: US-based maker of non-contact displacement, gap, and runout measurement systems using capacitive and laser technologies. Overlaps with Capacitec in engine rotor eccentricity, bore measurement, and industrial gap applications.
• Lion Precision: US-based specialist in capacitive and eddy-current displacement sensors for precision measurement. Closest US-headquartered direct peer to Capacitec in capacitive displacement technology and OEM sensor design.
• Kaman Precision Products: Manufacturer of eddy-current displacement sensors and position measurement systems used extensively in aerospace engine and turbomachinery applications. Competes with Capacitec's capacitive sensors for engine and industrial gap measurement.
• SIKO: Germany-based manufacturer of measurement technology including magnetic, capacitive, and optical sensors for length, angle, and speed. Directly comparable in capacitive displacement technology and industrial positioning applications.

Broad incumbents

• Keyence: Global industrial sensor leader with a broad portfolio including laser displacement, confocal, and inductive proximity sensors. Competes with Capacitec in slot die coating, automotive, and general industrial gap/displacement measurement through much larger scale and sales coverage.
• Renishaw: UK-based precision measurement company offering encoders, laser calibration, and probing systems. Adjacent competitor in precision displacement and bore measurement for aerospace, semiconductor, and industrial metrology.
• Aerotech: US manufacturer of precision motion control and position measurement systems including capacitive sensors for high-accuracy stages. Adjacent competitor in precision displacement for semiconductor and industrial automation.
• Omron: Global industrial automation giant offering a broad sensor portfolio including displacement, proximity, and vision sensors. Competes with Capacitec in automotive and industrial gap/displacement measurement through significant scale advantages.

Emerging players

• Polytec: Provider of laser vibrometry and optical measurement solutions including non-contact displacement. Competes with capacitive sensors in vibration, dynamics, and precision displacement use cases in aerospace and research labs.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/capacitec-inc-

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Capacitec