Business Description
Watts Regulator Co. was founded by Joseph E. Watts in 1874 in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Watts Regulator Co. started as a small machine shop supplying parts to the New
England textile mills of the 19th century and grew into a global manufacturer
of products and systems focused on the control, conservation and quality of
water and the comfort and safety of the people using it. Watts Water Technologies,
Inc. was incorporated in Delaware in 1985 and became the parent company of Watts
Regulator Co.
Our strategy is to be the preferred supplier of differentiated products and
systems that manage and conserve the flow of fluids and energy into, through
and out of buildings in the residential and commercial markets of the Americas,
EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia-Pacific. Within this framework,
we focus upon three themes: safety & regulation, energy efficiency and water
conservation. This strategy enables us to continue our growth of earnings via
increased sales, both organic and inorganic, and the systematic reduction of
manufacturing costs and operational expenses.
We intend to continue to expand organically by introducing new products in existing
markets, by enhancing our preferred brands, by developing new complementary
products, by promoting plumbing code development to drive the need for safety
and water quality products and by continually improving merchandising in our
wholesale distribution channels. We target selected new product and geographic
markets based on growth potential, including our ability to leverage our existing
distribution channels. Additionally, we leverage our distribution channels through
the introduction of new products, as well as the integration of products of
our acquired companies.
We intend to continue to generate incremental growth by targeting selected acquisitions,
both in our core markets as well as new complementary markets. We have completed
11 acquisitions in the last decade. Our acquisition strategy focuses on businesses
that manufacture preferred brand name products that address our themes of safety
& regulation, energy efficiency and water conservation in our primary or
related complementary markets. We target businesses that will provide us with
one or more of the following: an entry into new markets, an increase in shelf
space with existing customers, strong brand names, a new or improved technology
or an expansion of the breadth of our product offerings.
We are committed to reducing our manufacturing and operating costs using Lean
methodologies to drive improvement across all key processes, and consolidating
our diverse manufacturing operations and distribution centers in Americas, EMEA
and Asia-Pacific. We have a number of manufacturing facilities in lower-cost
regions. In recent years, we have announced several global restructuring plans
to reduce our manufacturing and distribution footprint in order to reduce our
costs and to realize additional operating efficiencies.
Additionally, a majority of our manufacturing facilities are ISO 9000, 9001
or 9002 certified by the International Organization for Standardization.
Many of our sales are for products that have been approved under regulatory
standards incorporated into state and municipal plumbing, heating, building
and fire protection codes in North America, Europe, and certain countries within
Asia-Pacific. We have consistently advocated for the development and enforcement
of plumbing codes and are committed to providing products to meet these standards,
particularly for safety and control valve products.