Altra Industrial Motion
 | |
| Public | |
| Industry | Manufacturing - Power Transmission |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Headquarters | Braintree, Massachusetts, United States |
Key people |
Carl Christenson, President & CEO Christian Storch, CFO Gerry Ferris, VP - Sales Craig Schuele, VP - Marketing & Bus Dev David Ebling, VP & General Manager Mark Stuebe, VP & General Manager Ed Novotny, VP & General Manager Bill Duff, VP & General Manager Mark Klossner, VP & General Manager |
| Revenue |
 $635M USD (2008) |
Number of employees | 3,000 |
| Divisions |
Electrical Clutches & Brakes Heavy Duty Clutches & Brakes Couplings Gearing Overrunning Clutches & Bearing Assemblies |
| Slogan | The Power of Experience |
| Website | www.altramotion.com |
Overview
Altra Industrial Motion is a manufacturer of mechanical power transmission products - brakes, clutches, couplings, and the like. While the products sound automotive to the layman, in fact most Altra products are used on industrial machinery, such as fail-safe brakes for elevators and forklifts, gearboxes on conveyors, heavy duty brakes on mining equipment, clutches for beverage capping equipment, etc.
Altra is a holding company, owning some of the power transmission industries strongest brands, amongst them: Ameridrives, Boston Gear, Warner Electric, TB Wood's Incorporated, Stieber Clutch, Twiflex, Matrix International, Warner Linear and Wichita Clutch.[1]
The company is headquartered in Braintree, Massachusetts. In 2008, they recorded sales of $635M USD.
History
The company was founded in 2004 through the acquisition of the Colfax Power Transmission Group (CPTG) by private equity firm Genstar Capital. At the time, CPTG was roughly $250M in sales per year, and consisted of the brands Ameridrives, Boston Gear, Formsprag, Marland, Nuttall/Delroyd, Stieber, Warner Electric, and Wichita Clutch. Following the sale, the company made several strategic acquisitions, including TB Wood's, Hay Hall (Bibby, Matrix, Twiflex, Huco, and Inertia Dynamics), and Bear Linear (now Warner Linear), doubling the size of the company.
Colfax was itself founded in 1996 by brothers Steven M. Rales and Mitchell Rales, founders of Danaher Corporation, with the strategy of bringing together leading brands in power transmission and pumps. Following the sale of their Power Transmission brands, Colfax retained their pump division, and itself went public in May, 2008.[2]
While Altra is a relatively young company, the brands have been in existence for many, many years.[3] The brands and the year they were founded are as follows:
| TB Wood’s (1857) Boston Gear (1877) |
Ameridrives (1928) Industrial Clutch Corp. (1930) |
Centric (1948) Wichita Clutch (1954) |
Altra Industrial Motion went public in December, 2006. It trades on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol AIMC.
Product Platforms
Altra's broad product range can be divided into five distinct platforms:[3]
- Electromagnetic Clutches & Brakes (ECB). Comprising the Warner Electric, Matrix International, Warner Linear, and Inertia Dynamics brands, these businesses produce electrically actuated and electrically released clutches and brakes. Key marketss include elevators, forklifts, medical mobility, turf & garden, material handling, aerospace & defence, and food processing. Together, these brands form the largest manufacturer of industrial clutches and brakes in the world.
- Heavy Duty Clutches & Brakes (HDCB). Comprising the Wichita Clutch, Industrial Clutch, and Twiflex brands, these businesses produce primarily heavy duty pneumatic clutches and brakes. Key markets include mining, energy, and marine, as well as applications involving tensioning.
- Overrunning Clutches & Bearing Assemblies. Comprising the Formsprag, Stieber, Marland, and Kilian brands, these businesses produce overrunning clutches, backstops, and bearing assemblies. Key markets include aerospace & defence, mining, metals, and power transmission.
- Engineered Couplings. Comprising the Ameridrives, TB Wood's, Bibby, and Huco brands, these businesses produce a wide range of couplings and universal joints. Key markets include power generation, metals, petrochemcial, and plastics. Together, these brands form the second largest manufacturer of industrial couplings in the world.
- Gearing & Belted Drives. Comprising the Boston Gear, Nuttall, Delroyd, and TB Wood's brands, these businesses produce a wide range of industrial gear boxes using both worm gear and helical gear technology, open gearing, and belted drives. Key markets include packaging, energy, material handling, and food processing.
Production Locations
Altra operates production facilities in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Since the companies founding in 2004, many of the factories produce more than one brand.[4] Key facilities include:
| USA | Europe | Asia |
|---|---|---|
| Belvidere, IL
Chambersburg, PA |
Bedford, UK Brechin, Scotland, UK |
Shenzhen, China |
The Altra Business System
The company credits much of its success to the Altra Business System (ABS), a comprehensive business management system designed to achieve world-class excellence. The Altra Business System has two key ingredients - The voice of the customer (VOC) and total associate involvement. ABS focuses on improvements in quality, delivery, and cost to drive customer satisfaction. It also provides the tools to achieve specific business objectives with the involvement of all associates.[5]
ABS was not invented by Altra .... it is based on the Toyota Production System.