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 Headquarters inBeachwood, Ohio | |
| Formerly |
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|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| ISIN | IE00B8KQN827 |
| Industry | Conglomerate |
| Founded | 1911; 114 years ago (1911) |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | , Ireland |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | |
| Revenue |  US$24.88 billion (2024) |
| US$4.632 billion (2024) | |
| US$3.794 billion (2024) | |
| Total assets |  US$38.38 billion (2024) |
| Total equity | US$18.49 billion (2024) |
Number of employees | 94,000 (2024) |
| Divisions | Electrical Sector Industrial Sector - Aerospace - Filtration - Golf Pride - Vehicle - eMobility |
| Website | eaton.com |
| Footnotes / references [1] | |
Eaton Corporation plc is an American-Irish-domiciled[2] multinational power management company, with a primary administrative center inBeachwood, Ohio.[3] Eaton has more than 85,000 employees and sells products to customers in more than 175 countries.[4]
In 1911,Joseph O. Eaton, brother-in-law Henning O. Taube and Viggo V. Torbensen, incorporated the Torbensen Gear and Axle Co. inBloomfield, 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 toCleveland, 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.[5][6][citation needed]
Eaton's businesses are divided into the following sectors:
The electrical sector's products includecircuit breakers,switchgear,busway,UPS systems,power distribution units,panel boards,load centers, motor controls, meters, sensors, relays,PLCs,HMIs, andinverters. The main markets for theElectrical Americas andElectrical Rest of World segments are industrial, institutional, government, utility, commercial, residential, information technology and original equipment manufacturer customers.
For the aerospace industry, Eaton manufactures and markets a line of systems and components for hydraulic, fuel, motion control, pneumatic systems and engines.
TheMobility Group comprises the company'sVehicle and eMobility segments, including theRoadranger division providing:[7]
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,[9] drive-line components, and hybrid power.
Eaton's automotive segment produces products such assuperchargers, engine valves, valve train components, cylinder heads, locking and limited-slipdifferentials, heavy-duty drive-line components, fuel, emissions, and safety controls, transmission and engine controls,spoilers, exterior moldings, plastic components, and fluid connectors.
TheeMobility sector combines elements of Eaton's electrical and vehicle businesses to deliver electric vehicles to passenger car, commercial vehicle and off-highwayOEMs.
In one of Eaton's largest acquisitions, the company purchased theWestinghouse Distribution and Controls Business Unit in 1994.[10] 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 itssemiconductor manufacturing equipment business asAxcelis 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[11] with the previous Westinghouse divisions and gave the company manufacturing facilities to meetIEC standards, one of the steps to become a global company and developing a worldwide standard.
Soon after this acquisition, Eaton entered ajoint venture withCaterpillar Inc. and purchased 51% of I & S operations, now known as Intelligent Switchgear Organization, LLC.[12] This was followed in 2004 by the acquisition ofPowerware.[13] 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 inCoventry, UK.[14] Shortly after, it added Pulizzi Engineering Inc., a manufacturer of mission critical power distribution based in Santa Ana, California.[15] In late 2007, it acquired the MGE Office Protection Systems division ofSchneider Electric, as a result of Schneider's acquisition ofAPC. A Taiwanese manufacturer, Phoenixtec, was also acquired giving the company the highest share in the Chinese single-phase UPS market.[16]
On 21 May 2012, Eaton announced that they had agreed to purchaseIreland-basedCooper 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 EatonAlexander 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.[17] 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.[18]
On 17 Mar 2021, Eaton completed the acquisition ofTripp 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.[19]
Eaton'shydraulics 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 byDanfoss in August 2021 for $3.3 billion.[20]
From 1920s-1964 Eaton was based on East 140th Street in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1964, the company moved its headquarters into the newErieview Tower where it remained until 1983. In that year, Eaton Corporation moved into a 28-story Cleveland office tower which was renamed for it.[21] Eaton relocated to its new 580,000 square foot facility, named Eaton Center, inBeachwood, Ohio in early 2013.[22] 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.
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 ofneo-Nazi flyers at Eaton Corp.[23] 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 "nigger", made reference to slavery and lynching, and claimed his job was to get rid of Black workers.[24] The employee informed management of his hostile work environment, but management responded by disciplining the plaintiff himself.
Back when Eaton Corp was struggling with bankruptcy, various employees on long-term benefits suddenly found themselves terminated.[25] Eaton had failed to insure the plan that the employees had nonetheless paid for. This led to numerous suits against Eaton.[26][27][25]
In 2012, the acquisition ofCooper Industries made it possible for Eaton Corp to become an Irish company, which would sharply lower itscorporate tax rate.[28] The move was later denounced by bothPresident Obama andPresident Donald Trump.[29]
In 2004, Eaton Corp suedTriumph 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.[30][31]
A former software developer for Eaton began sabotaging its computer systems in 2018 in retaliation for the company reducing his role. This activity involved creating codes that deleted important files and slowed down the system by causinginfinite loops. In 2019, when the developer was laid off, akill switch he had created automatically activated, locking out Eaton users worldwide and allegedly costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars. The developer, Davis Lu, was convicted of criminal sabotage and faces up to ten years in prison.[32]
Recognitions include the following:
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