Meet the Team

  • Dr. James R. Adams, BBA, MBA, Ph.D.

    Owner, CEO, President

    James R. Adams, BBA, MBA, Ph.D., spearheads the business activities and production of ZLS in addition to design, research, and development responsibilities. Dr. Adams has had 40 years of experience in gravity meter production, construction, assembly, R&D, and testing. His previous affiliation was as Vice-President of Production at LaCoste & Romberg Gravity Meters, Inc.

  • Keisuke Adams

    Senior Product Engineer, Customer Liaison, Senior Gravity Meter Specialist

    Keisuke Adams heads the R&D department with new product development.

  • Noriko Adams

    Senior Gravity Meter Specialist - Land Meter

  • Robert Adams

    Senior Gravity Meter Specialist - Dynamic Meter

  • David Burris

    Senior Field Tester, Office Manager

  • Denise Townsend

    Senior Gravity Meter Technician

  • Mark Trusell

    Gravity Meter Technician

About Us

ZLS Corporation was founded in 1991 in response to a need for a high-quality company that would provide the latest in state-of-the-art technology for gravity meter instruments.

The company was started in Austin, Texas by three individuals with experience in designing and manufacturing gravity meters: Dr. James Adams, Larry Burris and Herbert Valliant. Dr. LaCoste suggested that the company be named after his Zero-Length Spring. The name was fitting and the three began working on their first product, an upgrade for LaCoste & Romberg (L&R) S-meters.

Since its start, ZLS has continued to develop its products and services and now offers its own line of gravity meter products which include a land gravity meter (Burris Gravity Meter) and a marine meter (ZLS Dynamic Gravity Meter).

To continue servicing the gravity meter community, ZLS also offers a range of state of the art technology products for L&R G, D, ET, and S-meters.

Facilities

Mechanical Clean Rooms

Cleanliness is essential for working on miniature mechanical instruments. A sealed room with electrostatically filtered positive air flow provides a clean area for assembling the internal parts of gravity sensors and other mechanisms, such as precision levels. Low-lint clothing is worn by the meter builders. Facilities include specially constructed work stations designed to facilitate state of the art assembly techniques. The clean room is entered from the pier room which serves as a catchment area for lint and dust.

Pier Rooms

Stable piers are essential for reading and testing gravity meters. Special equipment includes a precision vacuum/pressure gauge for pressure testing meters, and equipment to backfill gravity meters with dry nitrogen. A precision tilt-table for calibrating levels and work areas for installation of “O” rings and other “semi-clean” processes are included. The pier room also serves as a preparation area for material entering the clean room.

Dynamic Test Facility

ZLS has constructed a complete facility for testing marine gravity meters. These machines are capable of generating all the motions (linear, circular, and ramp) required to test and adjust marine gravity meters. The tracks upon which the machines run are straight and parallel to better then 0.002 inches (0.051 mm) over approximately 48 inches (1.2m).

Machine Shop

ZLS maintains a small but complete model shop.  It has the capability to manufacture all the internal parts of gravity meters. The shop’s primary function is the development of prototype parts and systems.

Electronics Lab

A small electronics lab provides a good environment for the development of electronic systems. Extensive use of surface-mount technology is made in the design of small embedded circuit boards. Although some assembly work is performed here, the main purpose of the lab is research and development projects.