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Actuant Corporation, headquarted in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, is a $1.5 billion multinational company with operations in more than 30 countries. Founded in 1910, the company was an integral part of the early industrialization period in the United States. In its early years, the company produced water pumps for the legendary Ford Model T and other motor cars. Currently, Actuant is structured into four business segments: Industrial, Energy, Electrical, and Engineered Solutions. The Actuant businesses within these segments are leaders in a wide array of niche markets, including branded hydraulic and electrical tools and supplies, specialized products and services for energy markets, and highly engineered position and motion control systems.

Timeline
In 2010, historian John Gurda authored “The Drive To Lead”, a history of Actuant that celebrated the company’s 100th anniversary.

1910 Founded as American Grinder and Manufacturing

1927 Applied Power enters hydraulic business with Blackhawk

1958 Enerpac founded

1970 Power-Packer founded

1987 Applied Power initial public offering, trades on NASDAQ

1988 Applied Power acquires Gardner Bender from Gardner family

1989 Applied Power acquires Barry Wright Corporation

1992 Applied Power common stock trading moves to the NYSE

1996 Applied Power starts a roll-up of electronic contract manufacturers with the acquisition of Everest

1997 Applied Power acquires Versa Technologies, including Power Gear and Milwaukee Cylinder

1998 Applied Power reorganizes into two business groups: Industrial and Electronics to reflect the growth of the electronic contract manufacturing business

2000 Applied Power spins off its Electronics business segment into a separate public company called APW Ltd. The remainder of Applied Power, consisting of its former Industrial segment begins doing business as Actuant Corporation and trading on the NYSE as ATU.

2001 Applied Power changes name to Actuant

2002 Actuant successfully completes $105 million follow-on equity offering, using proceeds to retire 35% of 13% Senior Subordinated Notes

2003 Actuant acquires Heinrich Kopp A.G (European Electrical)

2004 Actuant acquires Kwikee Products (RV), and Dresco B.V. (European Electrical), and successfully completes $125,000 convertible bond offering.

2005 Actuant acquires Hedley Purvis and Hydratight Sweeney - initiating the Joint Integrity platform. Also completes its largest acquisition to date - Key Components, Inc - which included Gits, Marinco, Acme and Elliott.

2006 Actuant Acquires D.L. Ricci, Precision Sure-Lock, Actown and BEP Marine.

2007 Actuant deploys $163 million of capital on five tuck-in acquisitions including Veha, Injectaseal, Maxima, TTF and BH Electronics.

2008 Actuant acquires TK Simplex and Superior Plant Services, both tuck-ins to the Industrial Segment.

2009 Actuant acquires Cortland adding a new platform (electro mechanical cables & umbilicals and engineered synthetic rope) to the portfolio.

2010 Actuant celebrates its centennial.

2010 CEO Bob Arzbaecher and Actuant management ring the closing bell at the NYSE celebrating centennial.

2010 CEO Bob Arzbaecher talks with CNBC.

2011 Achieves record cash flow of $158 million and deploys just over $300 million to acquire Mastervolt and Weasler Engineering.

2012 Acquisition of Jeyco Pty. Ltd. in Australia, and Turotest in Brazil

Business Segments
Actuant is organized into four segments: Industrial, Energy, Electrical and Engineered Solutions. The industrial segment is primarily involved in the design, manufacture, and distribution of branded hydraulic and mechanical tools to the maintenance, industrial, infrastructure and production automation markets. The energy segment provides joint integrity products and services, as well as umbilical, rope, and cable solutions to the global oil and gas, power generation, and energy markets. The electrical segment is primarily involved in the design, manufacture, and distribution of a range of electrical products to the retail do it yourself (DIY), wholesale, original equipment manufacturer (OEM), utility and harsh environment markets. The engineered Solutions segment provides engineered position and motion control systems to OEMs in various vehicle markets, as well as a variety of other industrial products.

Industrial
Actuant's industrial segment designs, produces, and markets its industrial tools primarily through its better-known Enerpac, Simplex, Precision Sure-Lock, and Milwaukee Cylinder brands. The company has a large presence in the lifting industry. Their products are used in industrial, infrastructure, energy, mining, rail, and other environments.

Enerpac, Actuant's most profitable company, is a supplier of specialized high-force hydraulic industrial tools. The hydraulic tool line consists of a broad range of products that are generally sold by industrial and specialty fluid power distributors to customers in the infrastructure, mining, steel mill, cement, rail, oil and gas, and general maintenance industries. Enerpac is a supplier of hydraulic workholding components and systems. The products are marketed through distributors to the automotive, machine tool and fixture design markets.

Enerpac also provides high-force hydraulic systems; these customized hydraulic products and systems are sold to construction firms or direct to OEM customers.

PRODUCTS


 * Hydraulic cylinders, pumps, valves
 * Concrete tensioning
 * Integrated solutions
 * Production automation

MARKETS SERVED


 * Infrastructure and Bridges
 * Power Generation
 * Oil and Gas
 * Mining
 * Shipbuilding
 * Buildings and Stadiums
 * Petrochemical
 * Manufacturing
 * Steel Production and Metal Production
 * Workholding

SAMPLE CUSTOMERS


 * Fluid power distributors
 * W.W. Grainger
 * AIT
 * Hydraulic Power
 * Balfour Beatty
 * American Bridge Company

Energy
Actuant's energy segment is a supplier of joint integrity products and services, as well as umbilical, rope and cable solutions to the global oil and gas, power generation and energy markets under the Hydratight, D.L. Ricci, Morgrip, Cortland, FibronBX, Puget Sound Rope, Biach and Selantic brands. Joint integrity products include hydraulic torque wrenches, bolt tensioners and portable machining equipment, which are sold to asset owners, service providers and through distributors or rented to end users. These products are used in the maintenance of joints on oil rigs and platforms, wind turbines, refineries and pipelines, as well as fossil fuel and nuclear power plants to reduce customer downtime and provide increased safety and reliability. It also provides manpower services whereby its trained technicians perform bolting, machining and joint integrity work for customers.

The energy segment also provides custom engineered umbilicals, cable and high performance slings and synthetic rope to service providers and asset owners, which are used in the maintenance and installation of sub-sea oil and gas production equipment, as well as in oil and gas exploration. Energy segment sales and services are provided to customers in emerging markets, as well as in the North Sea, Middle East, South America, China, Asia, Gulf of Mexico, and Canada.

PRODUCTS


 * Hydraulic torque wrenches and tensioners
 * In-situ machining equipment
 * On-site joint integrity & other services
 * Equipment rental
 * Emergency pipeline connectors
 * Electro-mechanical cables and umbilicals
 * Engineered synthetic rope
 * Slings

MARKETS SERVED
 * Oil and Gas
 * Power Generation
 * Wind turbines
 * Nuclear
 * Medical
 * Defense
 * Marine

SAMPLE CUSTOMERS
 * BP
 * Petrofac
 * Shell
 * Statoil
 * Technip
 * Oceaneering
 * CGGVeritas
 * Subsea 7
 * Sercel
 * Cook Medical
 * Lockheed Martin

Electrical
The Electrical segment provides the retail DIY market with a variety of electrical tools and consumables such as wire strippers, electrical meters, connectors, terminals, cable ties, staples and other wire management products and conduit bending equipment under the Gardner Bender, Del City and A.W.Sperry brands. These products are sold to retailers such as Lowe's, The Home Depot, Menards, True Value, and Ace Hardware, as well as numerous electrical distributors and OEM's. This segment also sells power transformation products in North America including low voltage, single-phase dry type transformers and custom toroidal transformers under the Acme Electric brand name and high voltage switches under the Turner Electric brand name. These transformers are sold through electrical wholesale distributors, as well as directly to OEMs such as Rockwell Automation, Eaton, Yaskawa, and General Electric. Product offerings also include electrical components and systems for the harsh environment and marine markets under the Ancor, Marinco, Guest, Mastervolt and B.E.P Marine brand names. These products are primarily sold to various customers in the industrial, marine, power generation, and retail markets, including West Marine, Applied Materials, and Kohler. Solar products (primarily high efficiency solar inverters for residential and small commercial applications) are sold through local distributors and installers in Europe.

PRODUCTS


 * Electrical tools & consumables
 * Wire management
 * Ship / shore power cords
 * Transformers
 * Utility switches
 * Solar Inverters

MARKETS SERVED


 * DIY and other retail
 * Marine OEM & distribution
 * Harsh environment (medical, theatrical, etc.)
 * Electrical wholesale distributors
 * Utilities
 * Solar Photovoltaic Systems

SAMPLE CUSTOMERS
 * Ace Hardware
 * Home Depot
 * Lowe's
 * Menards
 * West Marine
 * OEMs (Intermatic, Chopwell, Powerware)
 * Electric Utilities

Engineered Solutions
The Engineered Solutions segment is a leading global designer and assembler of customized position and motion control systems and other industrial products to various transportation and other niche markets. The vehicle systems product lines (Power-Packer, Gits and Power Gear brands) are sold to the truck, automotive, off-highway and specialty vehicle markets. Products include hydraulic cab-tilt and latching systems sold to global heavy duty truck OEMs such as Volvo, Iveco, Scania AB and CNHTC and electro-hydraulic convertible top latching and actuation systems. The automotive systems are utilized on both retractable soft and hard top vehicles manufactured by OEMs such as Daimler, Audi, Volkswagen, Renault, BMW, Volvo, and Nissan. Diesel engine air flow solutions, such as exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) systems, are used by diesel engine and turbocharger manufacturers to reduce emissions, improve fuel efficiency and increase horsepower. Primary end markets include heavy duty truck and off-highway equipment serving customers such as Caterpillar Inc., DAF, Honeywell, and BorgWarner. Actuation systems are also sold to various specialty vehicle OEMs (principally in the defense and off-highway markets) such as Oshkosh, BAE Systems, and Winnebago. The Weasler business within the segment provides highly engineered drive train components and systems for agricultural, lawn & turf and industrial markets to customers such as CNH, Deere, MacDon, and Kuhn. Other businesses in this segment include Maxima which produces severe-duty electronic instrumentation (including displays and clusters, machine controls and sensors), Elliott which provides custom designed flexible shafts and push pull cable assemblies and Sanlo which produces custom steel cable assemblies.

PRODUCTS
 * Hydraulic position & motion control systems
 * Engine & turbocharger air flow valves
 * Severe duty instrumentation and electronic controls
 * PTO Drivelines
 * Flexible shafts
 * Steel cables & assemblies

MARKETS SERVED


 * Vehicle OEM's: Truck, Auto, Off-Highway, Agriculture, RV
 * Diesel engine & turbocharger manufacturers
 * Agriculture Implement OEM & AM
 * Medical
 * Security
 * Military

SAMPLE CUSTOMERS
 * Volvo
 * Scania AB
 * DAF
 * CNHTC
 * Karmann
 * Webasto
 * CTS
 * Honeywell
 * Holset
 * BorgWarner
 * Caterpillar
 * John Deere
 * AGCO
 * CNH
 * BAE
 * Oshkosh
 * Winnebago

Businesses
Industrial:

Enerpac, Milwaukee Cylinder, Simplex, Precision Sure-Lock

Electrical:

Gardner Bender, Turner Electric, BEP, Mastervolt, Acme Electric, Marinco, Ancor, Amveco, Actown

Energy:

Hydratight, Cortland, Selantic, Injectaseal, DL Ricci, Biach Industries

Engineered Solutions:

Power-Packer, Maxima, Weasler, Power Gear, BW Elliott, Sanlo, Gits Manufacturing

Business Model
An interview with Actuant CEO, Bob Arzbaecher sheds light on the corporation’s business model, focusing on growth and innovation. He was featured in Linda Gorchel’s book, released in 2012, ''Business Model Renewal: How to Grow and Prosper By Defying Best Practices and Reinventing Your Strategy".

Growth and Innovation

Growth and Innovation initiative launches in May 2010 prompting new internal growth strategy:
 * Drive new product development to sell into existing markets
 * Take existing products into new end markets
 * Aggressively expand emerging-market presence

Inorganic and Organic Growth


 * Inorganic growth through acquisitions has been essential part of strategy
 * Organic growth boosted by new processes, metrics, and resources

Continuous Improvement

LEAD (Lean Enterprise Across Disciplines) program boosts continuous improvement:
 * Improve sales, profitability, and asset efficiency
 * Variable compensation tied to improvement