Rockwell Automation
| Rockwell Automation, Inc.
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|---|---|
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| legal form | Corporation |
| ISIN | US7739031091 |
| founding | 1903 |
| Seat |
Milwaukee , United States Col
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| management | Blake Moret ( CEO ) |
| Number of employees | 22,500 |
| sales | 6,308,000,000 US dollars |
| Branch | Automation technology |
| Website | www.rockwellautomation.com |
| As of September 30, 2015 | |
Rockwell Automation , Inc. is one of the world's largest, specialist manufacturers of automation and information solutions for industrial production. Rockwell Automation is headquartered in Milwaukee , Wisconsin, USA. The company employs around 22,000 people in more than 80 countries.
Products
Rockwell Automation was one of the first to produce programmable logic controllers, among other things . The English abbreviation PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) was adopted as the product name (e.g. PLC2, PLC3, PLC5).
Current controllers include the Logix family of controllers - predominantly ControlLogix and CompactLogix. ControlLogix is a rack-based system with multitasking and multiprocessor capability, which, in addition to the classic control task, also offers process, motion and, in the GuardLogix variant, safety functions. The CompactLogix is a more compact version of the ControlLogix with only one processor, but which offers the entire instruction set of the large ControlLogix. In the small PLC sector, Rockwell Automation is represented with the MicroLogix.
EtherNet / IP , ControlNet and DeviceNet , among others , are supported on networks . The common CIP protocol of these networks allows seamless browsing regardless of the hardware.
Another area is highly dynamic servo drive systems and frequency converters up to (currently) 1100 kW at 650 volts alternating current.
history
The founders
In 1893, at the age of 15, Lynde Bradley developed his first coal pressure regulator. As the operator of an X-ray laboratory, he met Milwaukee-based doctor Stanton Allen. The two later enjoyed a lifelong friendship. In 1901 Bradley received US $ 1000 from Allen to develop the current regulator for a crane motor.
In 1903 Allen and Bradley founded the Compression Rheostat Company and agreed with Frank Jones, President of the American Electric Fuse Company (AEF) in Chicago, to manufacture "Allen-Bradley" devices for a license fee. In 1904, 19-year-old Harry Bradley joined his brother Lynde's business. The American Electric Fuse Company relocated the production of Allen-Bradley devices to Muskegon, Michigan. The brothers temporarily moved to Muskegon, but the business relationship with American Electric Fuse ended in 1909 due to a dispute over manufacturing quality and "opaque" business dealings by AEF President Frank Jones. The brothers returned to Milwaukee in 1909 and changed the company name to The Allen-Bradley Company . In 1910, Fred Loock joined the company as an 18-year-old "left-handed draftsman".
The first products and facilities
The Compression Rheostat Company's first administrative and planning office was on the second floor of a deli in the pedestrian area of Milwaukee. The Pfeiffer & Smith machine shop rented nearby served as a production facility. In 1904 the company presented an A-10 controller at the St. Louis World's Fair. It also received its first major order for 13 crane controls valued at US $ 1,000 from George Smith, a Pfeiffer & Smith partner and owner of a large foundry.
Beginning of the 20th century
The first Allen-Bradley products included controllers, motor starters, and battery chargers that worked on the principle of pressure resistance .
1910-1920
In 1914, Fred Loock opened the first sales office in New York. The company expanded rapidly from 1910 to 1920, largely due to government contracts resulting from the First World War . The product offering included automatic starters and switches, circuit breakers , relays and other electrical components. When the company's co-founder, Stanton Allen, died in 1916, Lynde Bradley became President, Harry Bradley became Vice President, and Attorney Louis Quarles became Corporate Secretary. The workforce grew from 33 to around 150 by 1917. The company bought the machine shop from Pfeiffer & Smith and began building another building in 1918. The first female worker, Julia (Bizewski) Polczynski, was hired in 1918, two years before American women were given the right to vote. In the following year, Polczynski was promoted to the company's first foreman.
The 1920s
By the mid-1920s, radio components made up about half of sales, and bradleyunits (cast carbon resistors with fixed resistance values) had become the industry standard. The sale of miniature rheostat designed for radios and originally used by do-it-yourselfers increased continuously. In addition to the "Bradleystat," touted as the "perfect line regulator," the company produced a number of radio components that were branded with names such as Bradleydenser, Bradleyleak, Bradleyohm, Bradleyometer, Bradleyswitch, and Bradleyadapter. Sales held its first sales congress in 1920. In 1929 record sales of US $ 3 million were achieved.
Another building was completed in 1928. There were the new offices of Lynde and Harry Bradley as well as generously designed areas for employees, such as a leisure and relaxation area on the roof of the building, in which dancing, sunbathing, badminton and golf were offered at lunchtime.
The 1930s
The global economic crisis hit the company hard in 1932. Sales, which peaked at US $ 3 million in 1929, halved by 1931 and reached their lowest point in 1932 at US $ 863,000. The number of employees fell from 800 to 550. While the company was forced to reduce the salaries of the remaining employees by 50 percent, Lynde and Bradley came up with a concept to alleviate the financial losses with a program designed for a year. The program consisted of making up for lost wages for employees by issuing preferred shares. In the end, the company bought back all of the shares at a 6% interest rate.
During this time, Lynde Bradley ran an aggressive research and development initiative designed to "get the company out of the crisis." Numerous innovations were the result. These included the magnetic starters introduced in 1934 and the hot formed fixed resistors that came on the market in 1935.
By 1937, Allen-Bradley's workforce had returned to pre-crisis levels, and company sales reached a new high of approximately $ 4 million.
1940s
With Lynde Bradley's death in 1942, Harry Bradley took over the role of President and Fred Loock was promoted to Vice President. The Lynde Bradley Foundation was established as a trust with Lynde Bradley's assets. The Foundation's first donation of US $ 12,500 went to the Milwaukee Community Fund, the predecessor of United Way .
Due to enormous demand during World War II , production reached an unprecedented level. Eighty percent of the incoming orders were due to the war. The war contracts centered on industrial controls for faster and more automated production of extensive military supplies and of electrical components or "radio parts" that were used in a variety of military devices such as radios, aircraft instruments and radios. Allen-Bradley expanded its manufacturing facilities to meet demand. Sales reached US $ 15 million by the mid-1940s. In 1948 a two-year expansion project began with investments of US $ 1 million.
In 1947, 62-year-old Harry Bradley resigned from his position as President and became Chairman. Fred Loock began his 20 year career as President of the company.
The 1950s
With television growing in popularity, Harry Bradley saw new business potential - ferrites , which were used as core components in the picture tubes of early televisions. In 1950, Bradley signed an agreement with Stackpole Carbon Company, the only ferrites manufacturer in the country, to share experiences. The following year Allen-Bradley opened its first ferrite manufacturing facility.
Ferrites, which were used in a number of inductors, transducers, and computer memory applications in later years, remained an important part of the business until the early 1990s. In 1986 the company's ferrite business formed the basis for a 50/50 joint venture with TDK . 1991-92 TDK took over this company, Allen-Bradley withdrew from the ferrite business.
The company's first manufacturing facility outside the USA was completed in 1954: Allen-Bradley Canada Ltd. Harry Bradley continued to be an active researcher into the 1950s. In 1959, at the age of 74, he acquired his last patent - for a capacitor. During his career, Harry Bradley patented 29 products; Lynde Bradley has a total of 26 patents.
The 1960s
The most important product development was the new, compact, direct line powered Bulletin 709 series K starter, which was launched in 1961. Its features included contacts made from a new, optimized material, a completely new coil design using a new epoxy resin molding compound, a snap-action switch and a sleek, new housing designed by Brooks Stevens.
The office and research complex at the company's headquarters in Milwaukee earned Allen-Bradley a reputation for having the world's largest tower clock with four-sided dials. The construction of the new complex was not completed until 1964, but on October 31, 1962 (Halloween) Harry Bradley pressed the switch to illuminate the clock during one of his last public appearances. The world's first electronic wristwatch ( Accutron from Bulova) was equipped with Allen-Bradley miniature resistors. These components were made specifically for the watchmaker after turning to Allen-Bradley for a 1/8 ohm resistor.
Harry Bradley died on July 23, 1965 at the age of 80. Fred Loock retired in 1967 after serving the company for 57 years. Arloe Paul became the new president and began a major reorganization of the company, which he divided into three divisions: Industrial Control, Electronic Components and Special Products. In 1969 Allen-Bradley expanded its manufacturing capacities beyond North America and opened the first plant in Europe: Allen-Bradley UK Ltd. in Bletchley (later renamed Milton Keynes), England.
The 1970s
Andrew "Tiny" Rader was elected President of the Company in 1970. Rader set the course for the transition into the age of electronic controls - the division that was to bring the company the greatest growth. Under his leadership, the share of this business rose from 2 to 62 percent of total sales.
Companies were acquired in order to quickly acquire the necessary research and development know-how to become market leaders for electronic controls - and factory automation. In quick succession, Allen-Bradley took over a 25% stake in Information Instruments Inc. (1969) and the numerical controls division of the Cleveland-based Bunker Ramo Corporation (1970). In 1970 Allen-Bradley also acquired the remainder of Information Instruments. The first programmable logic controller (PLC) came on the market in 1970.
In 1972 Allen-Bradley entered the drive business after acquiring TPC Drives Inc. from Sun Chemical Corporation . Allen-Bradley introduced the first industrial network for the factory floor in 1979, DataHighway. The spread of DataHighway was promoted by the publication of the DataHighway specifications, which other manufacturers could use to design their products to be connected to the network.
The 1980s
Despite the economic downturn, the newly elected President J. Tracy O'Rourke (1981-89) advocated unthrottled product development in order to meet the industry's growing need for means to increase production. Allen-Bradley began as an international corporation in the 1980s - by then the company had expanded its sales to all regions of the world. By 1985 it had a share of around 20% on the world markets. In 1984 the World Contactor production site, a fully automated “factory within a factory”, received worldwide attention. Internationally usable IEC contactors were manufactured there and production itself was controlled with automation products from Allen-Bradley for demonstration purposes.
To diversify the trust assets , the Allen-Bradley trustees put the company up for sale and accepted Rockwell International 's $ 1.651 billion offer on January 17, 1985. On February 20, 1985, the Allen-Bradley Company was sold to Rockwell International.
Together with the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), Allen-Bradley developed the Pyramid Integrator, the first system for integrating information processing into the plant level (1988). In 1989, O'Rourke went from President to one of Rockwell's Executive VPs and COOs. Don H. Davis, Jr. succeeded O'Rourke as President, which he held until 1994.
The 1990s
In the early 1990s, Allen-Bradley launched products with connectivity for Ethernet and TCP / IP . In 1994, the company introduced DeviceNet, an open device network that quickly became the de facto standard in North America. The company merged its software business with ICOM and founded Rockwell Software, Inc. (1994).
Headed by Don Davis and Don Beall, parent company Rockwell expanded its automation offering in 1995 with the acquisition of $ 1.6 billion Reliance Electric to include electric motors and mechanical drive elements. By combining the brands Allen-Bradley and Reliance Electric, the newly formed “Rockwell Automation” group became one of the most high-ranking global players in the field of factory automation. Rockwell Automation, a $ 4 billion corporation, was now Rockwell's largest company, generating 28% of its sales.
When Davis took over the role of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the parent company Rockwell in 1994, Jodie Glore succeeded him as President (1994–98). Davis became President and COO of Rockwell in 1995. In 1998 he was appointed to his current position as Chairman and CEO. After more than 20 years with the company, Keith Nosbusch, senior vice president of the Control and Information Group, was named president of Rockwell Automation Control Systems in 1998.
After a series of strategic partitions that began in the mid-1990s, Rockwell consolidated its commitment to automation and in 1999 relocated its headquarters from California to Milwaukee, home of Rockwell Automation.
Beginning of the 21st century
In 2001, Rockwell spun off the Rockwell Collins flight electronics and communications systems business and changed the company name to Rockwell Automation. Rockwell Automation becomes an independent company trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ROK.
Today, Rockwell Automation, with more than 450 sales and support offices in over 80 countries, delivers end-to-end, integrated automation and information solutions to customers around the world, from factory to management level.
Keith Nosbusch headed the company from 2004 to 2016.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Executive Profile: Blake Moret ( Memento of the original from May 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Annual Report 2015 ( Memento of the original from March 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Lisa Beilfuss: Rockwell Automation Names New CEO. In: Wall Street Journal . April 19, 2016. Retrieved May 19, 2016 .
