Multinational power management company
Eaton Corporation plc
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Eaton_Corporation_logo.svg/220px-Eaton_Corporation_logo.svg.png) |
Company type
| Public limited company
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ISIN
| IE00B8KQN827
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Industry
| Conglomerate
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Founded
| 1911
; 113 years ago
(
1911
)
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Founders
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Headquarters
| Eaton plc:
Dublin, Ireland
Eaton Corp:
Beachwood, Ohio
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Area served
| Worldwide
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Key people
| Craig Arnold (
Chairman
, President &
CEO
), Olivier Leonetti (
CFO
), Heath Monesmith (President &
COO
Electrical Sector), Paulo Ruiz (President &
COO
Industrial Sector)
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Revenue
| US$20.75 billion (2022)
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| 2,911,000,000 United States dollar (2022)
![Edit this on Wikidata](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/10px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png) |
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| US$2.46 billion (2022)
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Total assets
| US$35.01 billion (2022)
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Total equity
| US$17.01 billion (2022)
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Number of employees
| 85,000 (2022)
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Divisions
| Electrical Sector
Industrial Sector
- Aerospace
- Filtration
- Golf Pride
- Vehicle
- eMobility
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Website
| eaton.com
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Footnotes / references
[1]
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An Eaton Corporation office building in
Brossard, Quebec
Eaton Corporation plc
is an Irish/American
[2]
multinational power management company, founded in the
United States
[3]
and incorporated in
Dublin, Ireland
,
[4]
with a primary administrative center in
Beachwood, Ohio
.
[5]
Eaton has more than 85,000 employees and sells products to customers in more than 175 countries.
[6]
History
[
edit
]
In 1911,
Joseph O. Eaton
, brother-in-law Henning O. Taube and Viggo V. Torbensen, incorporated the Torbensen Gear and Axle Co. in
Bloomfield, New Jersey
. With financial backing from Torbensen's mother, the company was set to manufacture Torbensen's patented internal-gear truck axle. In 1914, the company moved to
Cleveland, Ohio
, to be closer to its core business, the automotive industry.
The Torbensen Axle Company incorporated in Ohio in 1916, succeeding the New Jersey corporation. A year later,
Republic Motor Truck Company
, Torbensen's largest customer bought out the company. But Eaton and Torbensen were not content and bowed out of Republic to form the Eaton Axle Company in 1919. A year later, in 1920, Eaton Axle Company merged with Standard Parts. Standard Parts went in receivership later the same year and was later liquidated. In 1923, Eaton bought the Torbensen Axle Co. back from Republic and changed the name to the Eaton Axle and Spring Company.
Eaton officers believed the quickest way to grow the business was through acquisitions and began buying companies in the automotive industry. By 1932, the diversified company changed its name to Eaton Manufacturing Company. In 1937, Eaton became international by opening a manufacturing plant in Canada. In 1958 Eaton Corporation acquired Fuller Manufacturing. The company name changed once again in 1965 to Eaton Yale & Towne Inc. after the acquisition of Yale & Towne Manufacturing Co. in 1963. Stockholders approved the change to the company's current name in 1971. In 1978, Eaton Corporation acquired Samuel Moore & Company, Kenway Systems, and Cutler-Hammer.
[7]
[8]
[
citation needed
]
Current work
[
edit
]
Eaton's businesses are divided into the following sectors:
Electrical
[
edit
]
The electrical sector's products include circuit breakers, switchgear, busway, UPS systems, power distribution units, panel boards, load centers, motor controls, meters, sensors, relays, PLCs, HMIs, and inverters. The main markets for the Electrical Americas and Electrical Rest of World segments are industrial, institutional, government, utility, commercial, residential, information technology and original equipment manufacturer customers.
Aerospace
[
edit
]
For the aerospace industry, Eaton manufactures and markets a line of systems and components for hydraulic, fuel, motion control, pneumatic systems and engines.
Mobility
[
edit
]
The Mobility Group comprises the company's Vehicle and eMobility segments, including the Roadranger division providing:
[9]
- Eaton clutches
- Eaton automated and mechanical transmissions
- Eaton hybrid power systems: mounted between the UltraShift automated manual transmission and clutch is an electric motor/generator, connected to a power inverter using lithium ion batteries, controlled with an electronic control module. The system has a fail-safe that reverts to conventional engine-powered operation should some fault occur.
[10]
- Roadranger synthetic lubricants
- Eaton MD mobile diagnostics
The truck segment is involved in the design, manufacture and marketing of powertrain systems and other components for commercial vehicle markets. Key products include manual and automated transmissions, clutches,
[11]
drive-line components, and hybrid power.
Eaton's automotive segment produces products such as superchargers, engine valves, valve train components, cylinder heads, locking and limited-slip differentials, heavy-duty drive-line components, fuel, emissions, and safety controls, transmission and engine controls, spoilers, exterior moldings, plastic components, and fluid connectors.
The eMobility sector combines elements of Eaton's electrical and vehicle businesses to deliver electric vehicles to passenger car, commercial vehicle and off-highway OEMs.
Acquisitions and divestments
[
edit
]
In one of Eaton's largest acquisitions, the company purchased the
Westinghouse
Distribution and Controls Business Unit in 1994.
[12]
The acquisition included all of the Westinghouse electrical distribution and control product business and also included stipulations that the Westinghouse name cannot be used by anyone else on these types of products for years. Today, Eaton Electrical manufactures electrical distribution and control products branded "Eaton" or "Cutler-Hammer", which can replace Westinghouse products in commercial and industrial applications.
Eaton spun off its
semiconductor manufacturing equipment
business as
Axcelis Technologies
in 2000.
In 2003, Eaton's Electrical Distribution and Control business (formerly known as Cutler-Hammer) acquired the electrical division of Delta plc. This acquisition brought Delta's brands Holec, MEM, Tabula, Bill and Elek under the Eaton nameplate
[13]
with the previous Westinghouse divisions and gave the company manufacturing facilities to meet
IEC
standards, one of the steps to become a global company and developing a worldwide standard.
Soon after this acquisition, Eaton entered a
joint venture
with
Caterpillar Inc.
and purchased 51% of I & S operations, now known as Intelligent Switchgear Organization, LLC.
[14]
This was followed in 2004 by the acquisition of
Powerware
.
[15]
The Powerware brand is known for the design and production of medium to large Uninterruptible Power System (UPS) devices. After several years of co-branding UPS products "Eaton|Powerware" the company is switching to the single brand Eaton for all UPS products including;
BladeUPS
, 9355, 9390, 9395, and 9E.
In 2006, Eaton entered the data center power distribution market. Initial products were internally developed PDU's and RPP's under the Powerware brand and included the PowerXpert metering system. A Powerware brand Static Transfer Switch was added to the portfolio through a brand-label relationship with Cyberex. To complete the power distribution portfolio Eaton released a line of rack power distribution products under its Powerware brand called ePDU. It acquired Aphel Technologies Ltd., a manufacturer of power distribution product for data centers based in
Coventry
, UK.
[16]
Shortly after, it added Pulizzi Engineering Inc., a manufacturer of mission critical power distribution based in Santa Ana, California.
[17]
In late 2007, it acquired the MGE Office Protection Systems division of
Schneider Electric
, as a result of Schneider's acquisition of
APC
. A Taiwanese manufacturer, Phoenixtec, was also acquired giving the company the highest share in the Chinese single-phase UPS market.
[18]
On 21 May 2012, Eaton announced that they had agreed to purchase
Ireland
-based
Cooper Industries
in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $11.46 billion. The new company is called Eaton Corporation plc and is incorporated in Ireland. Then-Chairman and CEO of Eaton
Alexander Cutler
headed the new corporation. Cooper shareholders received $39.15 in cash and 0.77479 of a share in the newly created company for each Cooper share held. This is worth $72 per share based on Eaton's closing share price of $42.40 on 18 May 2012, and is 29% above Cooper's closing stock price.
[19]
Eaton Corporation plc completed its acquisition of Cooper Industries on 30 Nov 2012. The $13 billion acquisition of Cooper (US$5.4B Sales revenue (2011)), became the largest in Eaton's (US$16B Sales Revenue (2011)) 101-year history.
[20]
On 17 Mar 2021, Eaton completed the acquisition of
Tripp Lite
for $1.65 billion. President and COO of Electrical Sector, Eaton Uday Yadav said "The acquisition of Tripp Lite will enhance the breadth of our edge computing and distributed IT product portfolio and expand our single-phase UPS business." The acquisition will further Eaton's access to the consumer market in which Tripp Lite has a strong position.
[21]
Eaton's
hydraulics
business, manufacturing systems and components for the agriculture, construction, mining, forestry, utility, material handling, machine tools, molding, power generation, primary metals, and oil and gas markets, was acquired by
Danfoss
in August 2021 for $3.3 billion.
[22]
Headquarters
[
edit
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From 1920s-1964 Eaton was based on East 140th Street in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1964, the company moved its headquarters into the new
Erieview Tower
where it remained until 1983. In that year, Eaton Corporation moved into a 28-story Cleveland office tower which was renamed for it.
[23]
Eaton relocated to its new 580,000 square foot facility, named Eaton Center, in
Beachwood, Ohio
in early 2013.
[24]
They reincorporated, as a means of reducing their U.S. corporate tax burden, in Ireland as part of the Cooper merger involved establishing a registered head office in Dublin, Ireland but operational headquarters remain in Beachwood.
Controversies
[
edit
]
Racial harassment
[
edit
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In 1995, Eaton Corp had to pay $1.25M in restitution to a former employee who had been subject to racial harassment. Incidents included food being thrown on his desk, food being thrown through the roof of his car, use of the word 'nigger', and the presence of neo-nazi flyers at Eaton Corp.
[25]
The employee developed psychological problems and slipped into homelessness shortly after being fired.
In 2020, an employee sued Eaton Corp for retaliation and facilitating a climate of racial harassment. After a profane outburst from a fellow worker, the plaintiff was assigned to work and train under a supervisor who abused him psychologically. The supervisor made frequent use of the N-word, made reference to slavery and lynching, and claimed his job was to get rid of black workers.
[26]
The employee informed management of his hostile work environment, but management responded by disciplining the plaintiff himself.
Long-term benefits
[
edit
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Back when Eaton Corp was struggling with bankruptcy, various employees on long-term benefits suddenly found themselves terminated.
[27]
Eaton had failed to insure the plan that the employees had nonetheless paid for. This led to numerous suits against Eaton.
[28]
[29]
[27]
Tax avoidance
[
edit
]
In 2012, the acquisition of
Cooper Industries
made it possible for Eaton Corp to become an Irish company, which would sharply lower its
corporate tax rate
.
[30]
The move was later denounced by both
President Obama
and
President Donald Trump
.
[31]
Triumph Group
[
edit
]
In 2004, Eaton Corp sued
Triumph Group
for trade secrets theft, but when it was discovered that the company’s lawyers were paying former Hinds County District Attorney Ed Peters to improperly influence then-Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter, the defendants countersued. In 2014, Eaton Corp paid $135M to Triumph Group and $13M to six former employees to settle the long-running legal dispute. Judge Bobby DeLaughter was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
[32]
[33]
Corporate recognition and rankings
[
edit
]
Recognitions include the following:
- Ranked #4 in "100 Best Corporate Citizens" of Corporate Responsibility Magazine in 2013, also ranking in Top 50 for Six Consecutive Years.
[34]
- Named to
Thomson Reuters
Top 100 Innovators List, 2011 - 2012 - 2013.
[35]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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People
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Directors
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Products
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Acquisitions
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Buildings
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Vehicle
manufacturers
and brands
| Current
(
list
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Foreign
subsidiaries
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Defunct /
former
2
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Concept and
pre-production
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Factories
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Auto component
makers and
performance car
modders
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Design studios
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By state
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Related topics
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- 1
Non-U.S. based parent company that owns subsidiaries headquartered in U.S.
- 2
Company still exists but is no longer in the automotive manufacturing business
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