KVH Industries headquarters. Photo: KVH Industries

Maritime service provider KVH Industries is stepping away from hardware manufacturing to focus on its position as a hardware-agnostic multi-orbit connectivity provider. This comes after KVH added Starlink and Eutelsat OneWeb to its connectivity portfolio.  The company is laying off about 20% of its workforce, about 75 employees with this change. 

KVH Chairman David Tolley said in a Feb. 13 announcement that KVH has decided to “migrate away from capital-intensive manufacturing to become a more agile sales and service-oriented organization, using our expertise and global reach to deliver exceptional value-added solutions to the end markets we serve.” 

The company said in SEC filings that it has experienced reduced demand for the company’s hardware products amid greater competition. At the same time, its multi-orbit, multi-channel integrated communication solutions have made up the largest portion of its revenue in recent years, promoting this shift. 

The company currently operates a manufacturing facility in Middletown, Rhode Island, which it plans to wind down. The company plans to manufacture enough maritime satellite connectivity and satellite television terminals needed to meet demand for the foreseeable future, while it winds down the facility. It will still conduct equipment repair and refurbishments, warehousing and shipping and receiving activities at the location.

KVH offers the TracNet and TracPhone terminals. The company now offers KVH One, a hybrid network with intelligent switching among satellite, cellular, and Wi-Fi networks, and it has an offering for non-KVH antennas.