Rockwell Automation was initially founded in 1903 as the Compression Rheostat Company by Lynde Bradley and Stanton Allen

with an initial investment of $1,000. In 1910 the company was renamed the Allen-Bradley Company. In 1952 they opened a subsidiary in Galt, Ontario, Canada, that now employs over 1,000 people. In 1985 a new company record was set as they ended the fiscal year with $1 billion in sales. On February 20, 1985 Rockwell International (now Rockwell Automation) purchased Allen-Bradley for $1.651 billion, which is the largest acquisition in Wisconsin's history. Rockwell Automation spun off from Rockwell International in 2001. From there, Rockwell Automation went through a series of acquisitions, particularly Propack Data (now Rockwell Automation Solutions GmbH) in 2002, DataSweep in 2005, GEPA in 2006, ICS Triplex, ProsCon and Pavilion Technologies in 2007, and Incuity in 2008 and Lektronix Ltd in 2011. On January 31, 2007, Rockwell Automation sold off their PowerSystems Division which consists of Dodge mechanical and Reliance Electric motors with headquarters in Greenville, South Carolina, to Baldor Electric Company. In 2012 the company was named by Ethisphere Institute One of World's Most Ethical Companies for the fourth time. Automation or automatic control, is the use of various control systems for operating equipment such as machinery, processes in factories, boilers and heat treating ovens, switching in telephone networks, steering and stabilization of ships, aircraft and other applications with minimal or reduced human intervention. Some processes have been completely automated. The biggest benefit of automation is that it saves labor, however, it is also used to save energy and materials and to improve quality, accuracy and precision. The term automation, inspired by the earlier word automatic (coming from automaton), was not widely used before 1947, when General Motors established the automation department. It was during this time that industry was rapidly adopting feedback controllers, which were introduced in the 1930s. Automation has been achieved by various means including mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, electronic and computers, usually in combination. Complicated systems, such as modern factories, airplanes and ships typically use all these combined techniques. Allen-Bradley is the brand-name of a line of Factory Automation Equipment manufactured by Rockwell Automation (NYSE ROK). 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 made of these and similar products. Rockwell Automation also provides asset management services including repair and consulting. Rockwell Automation's headquarters is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Allen-Bradley Clock Tower is a Milwaukee landmark featuring the largest four-sided clock in the western hemisphere. The company was initially founded as the Compression Rheostat Company by Dr. Stanton Allen and Lynde Bradley with an initial investment of $1,000 in 1903. In 1910 the company was renamed the Allen-Bradley Company. In 1952 they opened a subsidiary in Galt, Ontario, Canada, that now employs over 1000 people. In 1985 a new company record was set as they ended the fiscal year with 1

billion dollars in sales. On February 20, 1995, Rockwell International (now Rockwell Automation) purchased Allen-Bradley for $1.651 billion, which is the largest acquisition in Wisconsin's history. Allen-Bradley is the same name associated with low temperature sensors, since a now obsolete line of carbon-composite resistors manufactured by Allen-Bradley show an approximately inversely proportional temperature dependence at low temperatures. This undesirable characteristic for commercial resistors (since an ideal resistor should have no temperature dependence) is suited for cryogenic measurement, which paradoxically has partly helped establish a name for Allen-Bradley among the lay electronics enthusiast. Allen-Bradley resistors are commercially available at a premium, often supplied with calibration data. Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate in the latter half of the 20th century, involved in aircraft, the space industry, both defense-oriented and commercial electronics, automotive and truck components, printing presses, valves and meters, and industrial automation. It was the ultimate incarnation of a series of companies founded by Willard Rockwell. At its peak in the 1990s, Rockwell International was No. 27 on the Fortune 500 list, with assets of over $8 billion and sales of $27 billion.