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| Industry | Factory Automation Equipment Manufacturer |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Compression Rheostat Company |
| Founded | 1903; 121 years ago (1903) in Wisconsin, United States |
| Founders | Dr. Stanton Allen and Lynde Bradley |
| Headquarters | Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States |
| Owner | Rockwell Automation |
| Website | ab |
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Allen-Bradley is the brand-name of a line of factory automation equipment owned by Rockwell Automation. The company, with revenues of approximately US $6.4 billion in 2013, manufactures programmable logic controllers (PLC), human-machine interfaces, sensors, safety components and systems, software, drives and drive systems, contactors, motor control centers, and systems of such products. Rockwell Automation also provides asset-management services including repair and consulting. Rockwell Automation's headquarters is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The Allen-Bradley Clock Tower is a Milwaukee landmark featuring the largest four-sided clock in the western hemisphere.
History
The company was founded in 1903 as the Compression Rheostat Company by Dr. Stanton Allen and Lynde Bradley with an initial investment of $1,000. In 1910 the firm was renamed Allen-Bradley Company; for nearly a century it provided the bulk of discrete resistors used for electronics and other products. In 1952 it opened a subsidiary in Galt, Ontario, Canada, that employs over 1000 people.
During the mid-20th century, mid-sized firms such as Allen-Bradley tended to embrace reactionary politics out of a fear that increased government regulation would cut into their profits. Unlike large, multinational corporations that dealt directly with customers, historian Rick Perlstein argues that these smaller companies were less concerned about potential public blowback. Allen-Bradley paid for propaganda posters that asked “Will You Be Free to Celebrate Christmas in the Future?” and circulated allegations that the Soviet Union was using mind-control techniques to keep communist nations in line. One of the company's founders, Harry Lynde Bradley, was a founding member of the John Birch Society and co-founded the Bradley Foundation, a right-wing think tank.
In 1968, the NAACP and the Latino community joined in a march to protest Allen-Bradley's discriminatory hiring practices, an event that marked the beginning of Latino activism in Milwaukee.
In 1985 a company record was set as the fiscal year ended with $1 billion in sales. In February 1985, Rockwell International purchased Allen-Bradley for $1.651 billion (equivalent to $3.97 billion in 2023), which is the largest acquisition in Wisconsin history. Allen-Bradley essentially took control of Rockwell's industrial automation division.
Rockwell eventually moved its headquarters to Milwaukee. In 2002, when Rockwell split into two companies, Allen-Bradley followed the automation division into Rockwell Automation.
References
- Perlstein, Rick (2020). "Chapter 10". Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-1980. New York: Simon and Schuster.
- Horwtz, Jeff (June 12, 2015). "Before Walker run, a conservative foundation set the stage". realclearpolitics.com. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
- John J. Miller (2003), "The Lynde & Harry Bradley Foundation", in How Two Foundations Reshaped America, Philanthropy Roundtable
- Garza, Jesse (9 August 2018). "Latino activism in Milwaukee was sparked 50 years ago by Allen-Bradley protest". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
- "Our History". Rockwell Automation. Archived from the original on May 11, 2015. Retrieved January 16, 2023..
- "Our History[2]". Rockwell Automation. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
External links
| Rockwell International | |
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