Business Description
The Company is one of only a few worldwide broad-line manufacturers of welding,
cutting and brazing products. Welding products include arc welding power sources,
plasma cutters, wire feeding systems, robotic welding packages, integrated automation
systems, fume extraction equipment, consumable electrodes, fluxes and welding
accessories. The Companys product offering also includes computer numeric controlled
("CNC") plasma and oxy-fuel cutting systems and regulators and torches
used in oxy-fuel welding, cutting and brazing. In addition, the Company has
a leading global position in the brazing and soldering alloys market.
The arc welding power sources and wire feeding systems manufactured by the Company
range in technology from basic units used for light manufacturing and maintenance
to highly sophisticated robotic applications for high volume production welding
and fabrication. Three primary types of arc welding electrodes are produced:
(1) coated manual or stick electrodes; (2) solid electrodes produced in coil,
reel or drum forms for continuous feeding in mechanized welding; and (3) cored
electrodes produced in coil form for continuous feeding in mechanized welding.
The Company has, through wholly-owned subsidiaries or joint ventures, manufacturing
facilities located in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia,
France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal,
Russia, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Venezuela.
Tthe Companys business units were aligned into five operating segments. The
operating segments consist of North America Welding, Europe Welding, Asia Pacific
Welding, South America Welding and The Harris Products Group. The North America
Welding segment primarily includes welding operations in the United States,
Canada and Mexico. The Europe Welding segment includes welding operations in
Europe, Russia, Africa and the Middle East. The Asia Pacific Welding segment
primarily includes welding operations in China and Australia. The South America
Welding segment primarily includes welding operations in Brazil, Colombia and
Venezuela. The Harris Products Group includes the Companys global cutting,
soldering and brazing businesses as well as the retail business in the United
States.
56.73 %