Electrical Marketing's LiveWire

The Wall Street Journal has a piece on Schneider Electric, focusing on the company’s perspective that it’s beginning to see growth in its more dynamic markets and is ready to pursue acquisitions. The company expects to see emerging markets and its industrial and data center business grow first and is seeing the early signs.

DDI System’s Adam Waller will be hosting a free webinar on Tuesday, March 23rd at 1:00pm Eastern titled “10 Ways to Accelerate Your Business.” Waller will highlight the new innovations completed over the last year and how DDI’s inform software helps to drive sales, efficiencies and lasting success for thousands of distributors.

Eaton Corp., Cleveland, will supply $8 million worth of electrical products and services to support the consolidation of two medical centers in San Antonio, Texas, according to the San Antonio Business Journal. The products will be used as part of the construction of the new San Antonio Military Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston. The new med center is part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure action. The Department of Defense is consolidating operations at Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base and Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston.

Construction on the facility began in early 2009 and has a mid-2011 completion date. The project involves constructing a 700,000-square-foot medical trauma tower that will have 425 inpatient beds, 32 operating rooms, a Level 1 trauma/emergency room and bone marrow and organ transplant facilities. Eaton will supply low-voltage products such as panelboard and switchboards as well as services for start-up, testing and training.

Thomas & Betts Corp., Memphis, has agreed to acquire PMA AG, Zurich, Switzerland, a privately held European manufacturer of cable protection systems, for €85 million (approximately $120 million). The acquisition is expected to close within 60 days. PMA reported sales of approximately €33 million (approximately $45 million) in 2009.
PMA manufactures polyamide resin-based flexible conduit and fittings used in a broad variety of industrial applications to protect energy and data cables from external forces such as vibration, heat, fire, cold and tensile stress. Primary markets include cable protection systems for the rail car manufacturing and machine building industries and PMA has a growing presence in mining and infrastructure projects, according to T&B.
“PMA’s strong relationships with leading global industrial original equipment manufacturers and industrial distributors throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia will extend our access to several key — and growing — industrial markets,” said Dominic J. Pileggi, chairman and chief executive officer of Thomas & Betts. “Likewise, T&B’s leadership position in North America offers an opportunity to grow PMA’s presence in these markets.” Details

Pelco Structural LLC, a Claremore, Okla.-based manufacturer of utility poles, told the Tulsa World it may add 50 employees during the next 18 months as it ramps up its electrical transmission business.
Pelco President Phil Albert said the company signed a distribution deal with HD Supply Utilities, the largest supplier and distributor for electric utilities in the United States. “Electrical transmission poles really are the fastest-growing segment of our business,” Albert said.
“Pelco executives had hoped to get a big boost this year from federal stimulus dollars, but those projects just haven’t come through, he said. Instead, Pelco is turning its attention to electrical transmission, particularly connecting wind farms to larger grids.”

The European Union has approved the acquisition of General Electric’s security business by United Technologies. The deal, estimated at $1.82 billion, was announced back in November and is part of a larger restructuring at GE. The deal includes Edwards System Technology, a maker of fire detection equipment, which GE bought from SPX in 2004.