Business briefs

Electrical Apparatus, Nov 2004 by Jones, Kevin

One New England distributor buys another

Standard Electric of Wilmington, Mass., an independent electrical distributor, recently acquired Wellesley Electrical Supply, Inc., of Needham Heights, Mass. Wellesley Electric was founded in 1985 in Wellesley, Mass., and was moved to Needham in 1995. Standard Electric, founded in 1952, operates 16 locations throughout New England, serving the construction, commercial, industrial, and national retail markets with lighting, power distribution, telecommunications, and electrical supply products.

Emerson wins $9 million in plant contracts

Emerson Process Management of Austin, Tex., a business of St. Louis-based Emerson, recently won an $8 million contract to upgrade control systems for Sunflower Electric Power Corp.'s Holcomb generating station in Kansas. The utility also awarded Emerson a $1 million contract for asset management software, field instrumentation, and services. Installed at the 360 MW, coal-fired Holcomb plant will be Emerson's Ovation expert control system, used to optimize, control, and monitor the plant's steam supply processes and the balance of plant processes.

Elliott and Wood Group in service alliance

The Elliott Co. of Jeannette, Pa., and Wood Group Heavy Industrial Turbines Division, part of the Gas Turbine Services division of John Wood Group PLC of East Tullos, Aberdeen, U.K., have signed a memorandum of understanding to combine the networks of rotating equipment repair facilities of both companies with Wood Group's field service presence in the U.S. to provide service to both companies' customer bases. Wood Group's U.S. operations are headquartered in Houston.

Industrial supplier acquires metal stamper

Innovative Manufacturing Solutions, Inc., of Elk Grove Village, Ill., a provider of mechanical and electromechanical assemblies to manufacturers in the automotive, appliance, industrial, and electronics industries, has bought Buhrke Industries of Arlington Heights, Ill., a supplier of progressive die tooling and metal stampings primarily to the automotive industry. Innovative Manufacturing Solutions' services include sheet metal fabrication, precision stamping, gear manufacturing, wire and cable assemblies, and electromechanical assembly and testing.

General Cable in manufacturing agreement

General Cable of Highland Heights, Ky., a manufacturer of wire and lead cable, has entered an agreement with CTC Cable Corp. of Irvine, Calif., under which General Cable will have the exclusive right through 2007 to manufacture a finished cable using CTC's proprietary composite for applications in the U.S. and Canada. General Cable has also been given non-exclusive rights to distribute CTC's ACCC line of cables for the same rime period and locations.

Minarik Drives observes 50th anniversary

Minarik Drives of South Beloit, Ill., is observing its fiftieth anniversary of manufacturing a-c and d-c variable-speed controls. The company began as a motor and parts distributor in a downtown Los Angeles storefront in 1952 and developed its first d-c speed control in 1954. Minarik now produces a variety of a-c motor controls, low-voltage controls for battery-powered motors and vehicles, brushless motor controls, and multiple-axis motor controls using microprocessor technology.

Molex acquires interconnections company

Molex, Inc., of Lisle, Ill., a global electronic components company, recently bought Incep Technologies, Inc., of San Diego, a provider of power delivery, high-density packaging, and thermal management products. The two companies have been in a joint development partnership for the past two years, focusing on advanced power delivery systems for high-performance semiconductors. Incep has established a new standard in device power delivery structure that combines the semiconductor device and its substrates with the associated power-conditioning circuitry. The company's patented technology delivers power to the surface of the device substrate from a voltage regulator mounted over the device through a high-efficiency interconnect system.

Financial briefs

A.O. Smith Corp., Milwaukee-based manufacturer of hermetic, fractional-horsepower, and other specialty and standard motors, has announced that sales for the three-month period ended Sept. 30 were $390 million, a 9% increase over third-quarter 2003 sales. The increase in sales was driven primarily by higher sales in the pump, general industries, and ventilation and refrigeration market segments, according to the company. At the same time, the company cut its full-year profit expectation in half owing to "unprecedented" increases in steel costs, according to Reuters. Earnings estimates were also lowered. "Unprecedented increases in steel costs, coupled with cost increases in other materials and freight, are the principal drivers of the shortfall," said a company statement.

A.O. Smith also recently announced that it had presented its annual President's Safety Award to its plant in Juarez, Mexico. It was the second time the Juarez plant had won the award.