Honeywell

Honeywell () is a major American multinational corporation that produces electronic control systems and automation equipment. It is a major supplier of engineering services and avionics for NASA, Boeing and the United States Department of Defense.

Honeywell is a Fortune 50 company with a workforce of over 100,000. The company is headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey. Its current chief executive officer is David M. Cote. Honeywell has many brands that consumers may recognize. Perhaps the most recognizable product is its line of home thermostats, particulary the iconic round type.

History

Honeywell Inc. was founded by and named after Mark C. Honeywell, a pioneer in automation technology. It was also founded by William R. Sweatt, who merged his company, Minneapolis Heat Regulator Company, with Honeywell Heating Specialties Company founded by Mark C. Honeywell, to make Minneapolis/Honeywell.

James H. Binger

The son of a doctor, James H. Binger grew up on Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended the Blake School, where he met his wife Virginia. He earned an economics degree from Yale University and a law degree from the University of Minnesota. On graduation, he joined Minneapolis law firm Dorsey & Whitney, where a client was Honeywell.

In 1943 he joined Honeywell, and became its president in 1961 and its chairman in 1965. On becoming Chairman of Honeywell, Binger revamped the company sales approach, placing emphasis on profits rather than on volume. he also stepped up the companies international expansion - it had six plants producing 12% of the companies revenue. He also officially changed the company's corporate name from Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co to Honeywell http://time-proxy.yaga.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,940743,00.html

From the 1950's until the mid-1970's, Honeywell was the United States importer of Pentax cameras and photographic equipment. These products were labeled in the U.S. Honeywell Pentax.

Under Binger's stewardship from 1961 to 1978 he expanded the company into such fields as defence, aerospace, computers and cameras. Through most of the 1960s, Honeywell was one of the six major computer companies (with IBM - the largest, Burroughs, UNIVAC, NCR, Control Data Corporation and Honeywell itself. Those, plus General Electric and RCA, would form the "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" of computing). In 1970, Honeywell bought General Electric's computer division. He retired as Chairman in 1978, but remained as a consultant thoroughout his life. Scientific Data Systems was a "sideshow" player.

Today

The current "Honeywell International, Inc." is the product of a merger between AlliedSignal and Honeywell Inc. in 1999. Although AlliedSignal was the larger of the two, the combined company chose the name "Honeywell" for its superior brand recognition. However, it adopted AlliedSignal's corporate headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey in preference to Honeywell's former headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In 1991 Honeywell's computer division was sold to Groupe Bull.

Corporate governance

Current members of the board of directors of Honeywell are: Gordon Bethune, Jaime Chico Pardo, David Cote, Scott Davis, Clive Hollick, James Howard, Bruce Karatz, Russ Palmer, Ivan Seidenberg, Brad Sheares, Eric Shinseki, John R. Stafford, and Michael W. Wright.

Divisions

Aerospace
Automation and Control Solutions
Specialty Materials
Transportation Systems

Stock

Honeywell is traded under the ticker symbol HON on the NYSE with a market capitalization of States dollar|US$" target="_blank" >^*30 billion (2006). The company is part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index

GE-Honeywell merger attempt

General Electric attempted to acquire Honeywell in 2001, at which time Honeywell was valued at over $40Bn. The merger was cleared by American authorities but was blocked by the European Commission's Competition Commissioner, Mario Monti. This decision was taken on the grounds that with GE's dominance of the small jet engine market (CF34), leasing services (GECAS) and Honeywell's portfolio of regional jet engines and avionics the new company would be able to "bundle" products and stifle competition, in much the same way that Microsoft has been accused of decimating its rivals by bundling Windows Media Player or Internet Explorer.

Onondaga Lake

As successor to the now-defunct Allied Chemicals, Honeywell International is being held responsible for the cleanup of Onondaga Lake in Syracuse, New York following Allied's mass depositing of mercury and salt over the years. The highest concentration of mercury is believed to be in the tributary of Onondaga Lake known as Nine Mile Creek, which was a major dumping ground for Allied Chemical.

References

External links

Company Web SiteHoneywell.com
World Socialist web Site US and Europe split on GE takeover of Honeywell 21 June 2001
IMNO Interviews Larry Bossidy Former CEO of Honeywell
History of Honeywell founded by Mark C. Honeywell
Minneapolis-based Honeywell's Future Thought Leadership CIO: Irma Wyman

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