please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral . please help improve it by replacing them with more appropriate citations to reliable independent third party sources . march 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message this article needs more links to other articles to help integrate it into the encyclopedia . please help improve this article by adding links that are relevant to the context within the existing text . march 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message it has been suggested that norris production solutions be merged into this article . discuss proposed since june 2014 . dover corporation type public traded as nyse dov s & p 500 component industry conglomerate founded 1955 1 headquarters downers grove illinois usa area served worldwide key people robert w. cremin chairman of the board robert a. livingston president ceo & director revenue us 7 752.728 million 2014 2 us 7 155.096 million 2013 2 operating income us 1 215.484 million 2014 2 us 1 045.986 million 2013 2 net income us 775.235 million 2014 2 us 1 003.129 million 2013 2 total assets us 9 090.385 million 2014 2 us 10 855.181 million 2013 2 3 total equity us 3 700.725 million 2014 2 us 5 377.396 million 2013 2 number of employees 26 000 4 website www.dovercorporation.com dover corporation is an american conglomerate manufacturer of industrial products . 6 founded in 1955 in new york city 1 dover is now based in downers grove illinois 6 and employs more than 26 000 people worldwide . 1 dover s business is divided into four segments energy engineered systems fluids and refrigeration & food equipment . 6 each segment holds operating companies that are run like independent companies . dover is a constituent of the s & p 500 index 7 and trades on the new york stock exchange under dov . dover is ranked 346th on the fortune 500 . 8 contents 1 history 1.1 founding 1.2 acquisitions 1.3 2000s 2 segments and operating companies 2.1 energy 2.2 engineered systems 2.3 fluids 2.4 refrigeration & food equipment 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit founding edit in the 1930s and 1940s george ohrstrom sr. a new york city stockbroker bought four manufacturing companies c. lee cook company seals and piston rings rotary lift automotive lifts c. norris oil well pump sucker rods 5 and peerless space heaters . 9 dover corporation was incorporated in 1947 10 and in 1955 ohrstrom brought in the former owner and president of c. lee cook company fred d. durham to manage his four companies . later that same year the dover corporate offices opened in washington d.c. and dover corporation went public on the new york stock exchange . 5 as such the year 1955 marks the company s official founding . original research fred durham influenced dover s corporate culture emphasizing autonomy decentralization and few corporate staff members . as a result divisions were run in an independent fashion each with its own president . 5 today dover is still known for its decentralized management structure in its governance of operating companies and for its acquisitive approach . 11 between 1955 and 1979 dover acquired fourteen companies . 5 a great deal of this acquisition activity served to build the dover elevator business . this elevator growth began in 1955 as dover elevator split from rotary lift and became an independent operating company within dover . 9 dover s purchase of the shepard warner elevator company in 1958 marked the beginning of an effort to grow the elevator business . 12 in 1963 dover acquired acme elevator and then elevator service 9 hunter hayes elevator company and reddy elevator company in 1964 . with these purchases dover soon became the third largest elevator company in the u.s. and remained so for many years . 5 dover continued to expand its elevator division throughout the 1960s and 1970s with the purchases of moody & rowe burch turnbull burlington hammond & champness louisiana elevator and w.w. moore . 9 ultimately dover sold its elevator business in 1998 to thyssen ag for 1.1 billion . 13 dover elevator had a pretax operating profit of 93 million in 1997 14 and the sale was mutually beneficial it allowed dover to focus on building its other businesses and moved thyssenkrupp elevator americas to the number three spot worldwide in the elevator and escalator industry . 15 clarification needed acquisitions edit dover s acquisition history reaches beyond the elevator industry . with a focus on diversification in the 1960s 12 such as the acquisition of ohio pattern works & foundry company in 1961 came notable purchases of companies that continue to be a significant part of dover corporation today . the company was shorthanded to opw and in 1949 one of its engineers leonard h. duerr invented the automatic shutoff fuel dispensing nozzle valve . 16 today the basic technology of duerr s invention continues to exist in automatic shutoff nozzles 17 and opw is still a part of dover specializing in the design and manufacture of commercial and retail fueling solutions . 18 in 1962 dover made two notable acquisitions detroit stamping company now de sta co specializing in the design and manufacture of clamping gripping transferring and robotic tooling solutions ; 19 and alberta oil tool now part of dover artificial lift . 20 today alberta oil tool produces specialty drive rods norris tubular fittings norriseal control values and other products . 21 1964 marked a significant year as opw s former leader thomas sutton became president of dover and corporate headquarters were relocated to new york city . the 1970s were characterized by dover s intent to expand beyond its principle industries of building materials equipment and industrial components . a result of this effort included the acquisition of dieterich standard which manufactured liquid measurement instruments and whose president gary roubos went on to become dover s chief operating officer coo and president in 1977 . later roubos became dover s chief executive officer ceo in 1981 . 12 another significant acquisition included sargent industries a manufacturer of control devices for aerospace and industrial end markets purchased in 1984 for 68 million . today sargent aerospace & defense is a global supplier of precision engineered components and aftermarket services and performs critical functions on a variety of commercial and military aircraft submarines and land based vehicles . 22 in the 1980s dover also began to focus more on electronics . this period was marked by the acquisitions of k & l microwave in 1983 dielectric laboratories in 1985 and nurad in 1986 . 12 dover later chose to spin off dovatron in 1993 to shareholders 23 as the company specialized in circuit board assembly and had become a source of competition for dover customers . 12 that same year dover acquired phoenix refrigeration systems which then acquired hill refrigeration in 1994 to form hillphoenix . hillphoenix now manufactures commercial refrigeration systems and mechanical centers electrical distribution products walk in coolers and freezers and specialty display cases and fixtures . 24 the company is a partner of the epa s greenchill initiative which focuses on reducing refrigerant emissions and climate change impact . 25 hillphoenix has more equipment installed at greenchill certified retail stores than any other refrigeration manufacturer . 26 also in 1994 dover s coo and president thomas reece became ceo of the company . 12 the following year dover purchased an 88 percent interest in the french company imaje printing products for 200 million ; 5 this acquisition marks the largest in dover s corporate history . 12 in 2006 dover acquired markem corporation which specializes in identification solutions . 27 one year later the companies merged and were renamed markem imaje and have since focused on product coding labeling and traceability solutions . 28 2000s edit while dover acquired more than seventy companies between 1998 and 2002 the company s acquisition rate slowed in the early 2000s . dover sold eight companies in 2001 for a total of 400 million . the early 2000s also marked a leadership change ronald hoffman dover s vice president and former president and ceo of dover resources become president and coo of dover corporation in 2003 . in 2005 he was appointed to the position of ceo . 12 the financial crisis clarification needed hit clarification needed dover hard but the company clarification needed recovered quickly . 29 clarification needed dover focused on growing target areas from 2007 to 2009 including electronic communication energy and fluids product identification and refrigeration . 12 dover continued to grow its refrigeration business with the 2012 purchase of anthony international for 602.5 million . anthony designs and manufactures specialty glass commercial glass refrigeration and freezer doors lighting systems and display equipment . 30 in 2008 robert livingston was appointed dover s new ceo and president . livingston s dover career began twenty nine years earlier with the acquisition of k & l microwave where he was a vice president . 31 after joining dover livingston also served as coo and vice president of dover corporation president and ceo of dover engineered systems and president and ceo of dover electronics . 32 under livingston s leadership dover moved its corporate headquarters from new york city to the chicago area in 2010 . factors at play in this decision included chicago s central location wide variety of housing options for employees quality of life and nearby air service to national and global destinations . 33 the choice to move to downers grove illinois was also partially impacted by an effort to consolidate operations and reduce administration costs 34 as the move brought all four segment headquarters under one roof . 33 from 2008 to 2012 dover acquired almost twenty five companies . livingston s corporate development strategy sought to strengthen promising businesses and divest those that were either growing slowly or had significant exposure to highly volatile industries . as a result dover was able to apply greater focus to growing four or five targeted end markets . livingston also worked to reduced expenses by consolidating back office operations metal purchases and freight transportation . 31 inpro seal a producer of bearing isolators was purchased by waukesha bearings corporation in 2009 which included 150 991 shares of dover s common stock being issued to inpro seal shareholders . 35 in 2010 kmc inc. and bearings plus inc. were acquired by waukesha bearings corporation with the expectation of synergizing their bearing seal technologies with dover . 36 in addition between 2008 and 2010 dover spent approximately 436 million to purchase a total of sixteen businesses while only 100 million was earned from the sale of eight businesses . 29 in 2011 dover expanded its acoustic components business with the purchase of sound solutions a manufacturer of dynamic speakers and receivers for mobile phones and other consumer electronics for 855 million . 37 dover had acquired knowles a designer and manufacturer of hearing aid technology and other acoustical componentry six years earlier for 750 million . 38 together sound solutions and knowles gave dover the necessary scale to develop integrated solutions for the rapidly evolving mobile electronics industry . 31 in 2014 dover spun off knowles 39 which had a 2.6 billion market cap post spin . 40 today knowles continues to be a global supplier of communication technology components such as mems micro electro mechanical systems microphones speakers receivers transducers capacitors and oscillators . 41 dover ceo and president robert livingston described the spinoff as allowing both knowles and dover to more aggressively pursue their individual growth strategies . 42 segments