Littelfuse
 |
|
| Public | |
| Traded as |
NASDAQ: LFUS S&P 400 Component |
| 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) |
|
$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. The company primarily produces circuit protection products but also manufactures a variety of electronic switches and automotive sensors.
Littelfuse is the developer of AutoFuse, the first blade-type automotive fuse.
Edward V. Sundt founded Littelfuse in 1927 in Chicago Illinois as Littelfuse Laboratories. Prior to founding Littelfuse, Sundt had worked for General Electric and Stewart-Warner, where he found diagnostic equipment frequently experienced electrical failure. Sundt developed Littelfuse’s first product, a small protective fuse, to regulate current in diagnostic equipment and prevent electrical failure. Littelfuse was incorporated and renamed Littelfuse, Inc. in 1938.
Littelfuse became a public company in 1962. The company retained founder Edward V. Sundt as the chairman of its board. In 1963, Littelfuse moved its headquarters from Chicago to Des Plaines, Illinois. Sundt retired in 1965 and was succeeded by Thomas Blake.Tracor purchased the company in 1968. Blake was made president of Littelfuse, which operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Tracor.
The company expanded its manufacturing base in the 1970s with new factories opening in Watseka, Illinois and Piedras Negras, Mexico. In 1974, the company also introduced Littelites, electronic indicator lights used in industrial and office machinery, household appliances and computers.
In 1976, Littelfuse developed Autofuse, which was the first blade-type fuse used in automobiles. 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.
In 1987, Westmark Systems purchased Tracor and its Littelfuse subsidiary in leveraged buyout. Tracor filed for bankruptcy in 1991 and spun off Littelfuse.
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Wikipedia