industry electronics automotive electrical and silicon founded 1927 founder edward v. sundt headquarters chicago illinois united states key people ceo gordon hunter products fuses gas discharge tubes varistors thyristors esd suppressors semiconductors protection relays sensors revenue 667.9 million usd 2012 net income 75.3 million usd 2012 number of employees 7000 12 2013 website http www.littelfuse.com littelfuse inc is a multinational electronic manufacturing company based in chicago illinois . 1 2 the company primarily produces circuit protection products but also manufactures a variety of electronic switches and automotive sensors . 2 3 gordon hunter serves as littelfuse ceo . 4 littelfuse is the developer of autofuse the first blade type automotive fuse . 5 contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 1970 1991 1.3 modern history 2 products 3 acquisitions 4 references 5 external links history edit early history edit edward v. sundt founded littelfuse in 1927 in chicago illinois as littelfuse laboratories . 5 prior to founding littelfuse sundt had worked for general electric and stewart warner where he found diagnostic equipment frequently experienced electrical failure . 5 sundt developed littelfuse s first product a small protective fuse to regulate current in diagnostic equipment and prevent electrical failure . 5 littelfuse was incorporated and renamed littelfuse inc. in 1938 . 5 littelfuse became a public company in 1962 . 5 6 the company retained founder edward v. sundt as the chairman of its board . 6 in 1963 littelfuse moved its headquarters from chicago to des plaines illinois . 5 sundt retired in 1965 and was succeeded by thomas blake . 5 tracor purchased the company in 1968 . 4 5 blake was made president of littelfuse which operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of tracor . 7 1970 1991 edit the company expanded its manufacturing base in the 1970s with new factories opening in watseka illinois and piedras negras mexico . 5 in 1974 the company also introduced littelites electronic indicator lights used in industrial and office machinery household appliances and computers . 5 in 1976 littelfuse developed autofuse which was the first blade type fuse used in automobiles . 5 the autofuse brand was counterfeited heavily and in 1983 the company obtained an exclusionary order from the united states international trade commission which barred the importation of counterfeit blade type fuses . 8 in 1987 westmark systems purchased tracor and its littelfuse subsidiary in leveraged buyout . 9 10 tracor filed for bankruptcy in 1991 and spun off littelfuse . 9 11 modern history edit littelfuse reincorporated in november 1991 with howard witt as its president and ceo . 12 witt had worked for littelfuse since 1979 and had been president and ceo of littelfuse since february 1990 when the company was still owned by tracor . 12 in 1991 littelfuse offered its second ipo in company history . 4 the company s profits rose throughout the 1990s and the company expanded its operations in europe and asia . 5 9 littelfuse also expanded into south america with a distribution and engineering center in s o paulo brazil . 5 gordon hunter replaced witt as president and ceo of littelfuse at the end of 2004 . 4 in 2008 littelfuse restructured its manufacturing operations closing 16 small manufacturing plants and opening 6 new larger plants . 13 the company moved its headquarters from des plaines illinois to chicago illinois the same year . 13 the company was recognized as product of the year by specifying engineer in 2010 2011 2012 and 2013 . arrow electronics recognized littelfuse with an award for supplier excellence in 2011 . the company received tti supplier s excellence award in 2010 2011 2012 and 2013 . littelfuse received the chicago innovation award in 2012 . in 2013 the company received processing magazine s breakthrough product of the year . littelfuse was recognized as one of the best places to work in illinois in 2012 2013 and 2014 . 14 15 16 17 products edit littelfuse designs and manufactures circuit protection products for the electronics automotive and electrical industries . 2 3 the company operates between three business unit segments electronics industrial and automotive . 3 products include fuses and protectors suppressors gas discharge tubes electronic switches solenoids battery management devices and protective relays . 3 with the acquisition of hamlin inc. in 2013 littelfuse expanded its product offering to include sensors for the automotive industrial and consumer industries . 1 2 acquisitions edit littelfuse has acquired multiple companies since 2003 including 2003 teccor a manufacturer of circuit and overvoltage protection products . 10 18 19 2004 heinrich industrie a german manufacturer of circuit protection products including the wickmann brand . 4 20 21 2006 taiwan based silicon manufacturer concord semiconductor inc. and catalina performance accessories which manufactures and distributes blade type automotive fuses . 22 23 2008 shock block corporation and startco engineering ltd. companies that develop and manufacture ground fault protection technology . 24 2010 cole hersee a maker of power management products heavy duty electromechanical and switches for commercial vehicles . 25 2011 selco a s a danish company which produces electrical equipment for use in maritime and industrial environments . 26 2012 accel ab a swedish company that manufactures advanced automotive switches and senors and terra power systems which manufactures electrical components for heavy duty vehicles and trucks . 27 28 2013 hamlin inc. an automotive sensors manufacturer . 1 2 2014 symcom a power voltage and current monitor developer and manufacturer . 29 2015 jrs mfg. ltd. a custom engineered products developer and manufacturer such as metal clad metal enclosed and arc resistant switchgear e houses mine power centers and mining substations . 30 te connectivity s circuit protection business 2016 a select product portfolio from on semiconductor a fortune 1000 semiconductors supplier company . 31 references edit a b c debbie cai april 15 2013 . littelfuse to buy hamlin for 145 million . wall street journal . retrieved october 3 2013 . a b c d e littelfuse buys sensor maker hamlin for 145m in cash . chicago tribune . april 15 2013 . retrieved october 3 2013 . a b c d form 10 k littelfuse . sec . retrieved october 3 2013 . a b c d e robert manor november 6 2004 . littelfuse s succession direction no surprise . chicago tribune . retrieved october 3 2013 . a b c d e f g h i j k l m n littelfuse inc. . international encyclopedia . retrieved october 3 2013 . a b sec ipo pdf . sec . retrieved october 4 2013 . 31 may 1968 page 14 . the daily herald . retrieved october 4 2013 . in the matter of certain miniature plug in blade fuses . united states international trade commission . retrieved october 4 2013 . a b c david young may 6 1995 . charged littelfuse seeks acquisitions . chicago tribune . retrieved october 4 2013 . a b company news ; invensys sells semiconductor unit to littelfuse . new york times . retrieved october 4 2013 . tracor files for protection from creditors . la times . february 19 1991 . retrieved october 4 2013 . a b form 10 k littelfuse inc. . sec . retrieved october 4 2013 . a b how gordon hunter successfully led littelfuse inc. through a series of pivotal changes . smart business . november 1 2012 . retrieved october 4 2013 . 2010 product of the year winners . retrieved 1 may 2014 . motor protection relays . retrieved 1 may 2014 . arc flash relay . retrieved 1 may 2014 . ground fault phase voltage indicator . retrieved 1 may 2014 . film capacitors market outlook pdf . passive component magazine . july august 2003 . retrieved october 4 2013 . form 10 k littelfuse . sec . retrieved october 4 2013 . littelfuse to increase ownership of heinrich industrie ag to 96.8 percent . electrical marketing . november 19 2004 . retrieved october 4 2013 . form 10 k littelfuse inc. . sec . retrieved october 4 2013 . h. lee murphy may 5 2006 . littelfuse s focus on asia to gain momentum . crain s chicago business . retrieved october 4 2013 . littelfuse buys catalina performance accessories in mountainburg . arkansas business . june 26 2006 . retrieved october 4 2013 . form 10 k littelfuse inc. . sec . retrieved october 4 2013 . littelfuse buys cole hersee for 50m . crain s chicago business . december 22 2010 . retrieved october 4 2013 . h. lee murphy july 16 2012 . why littelfuse finds dividends by going offshore . crain s chicago business . retrieved october 4 2013 . littelfuse acquires accel ab . chicago tribune . june 1 2012 . retrieved october 4 2013 . bellingham manufacturer acquired by global company . the bellingham herald . november 13 2012 . retrieved october 4 2013 . symcom . retrieved 25 may 2016 . custom engineered electrical equipment littelfuse . retrieved 25 may 2016 . by staff yahoo finance . littelfuse completes acquisition of select product portfolio from on semiconductor . august 29 2016 . august 30 2016 . external links edit official site retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title littelfuse & oldid 743337962 categories des plaines illinoiscompanies listed on nasdaqmanufacturing companies based in chicago navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 9 october 2016 at 05 07 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by 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