During the 1990s, Franklin Electric blazed
a trail to the 21st century. Markets were
growing around the world. In 1990, nearly a third of
Franklin's sales came from outside the United States.
With more than a quarter of a century of experience
producing electric motors in Germany, Franklin was
superbly positioned to take advantage of the growth
potential of the total European market. The elimination
of trade barriers in Western Europe and the pent-up
demand in an awakening Eastern Europe created additional
opportunities during the balance of the decade. |
| In major news of the 1990s, almost on the brink of the new millennium,
Edward J. Schaefer, cofounder and revered longtime leader, died
in 1991. Back when Franklin Electric was born, Ed Schaefer was
everywhere, committed to the mission and shouldered every common
task. He was eminent in engineering, a world prominent inventor
with many patents, and a legend in his time. |
| In 1991, Franklin put in place a
distribution center at their European headquarters in
Wittlich, Germany, to support their growing market share.
Franklin also grew in the markets of Asia and the Pacific
in 1991. For the first time, eleven of Franklin's top 100
customers came from this area of the world. A new,
wholly-owned subsidiary, replacing an old joint venture,
was formed in Mexico to build on the existing excellent
reputation of Franklin in Latin America. Also in 1991,
Franklin exceeded their productivity improvement goals
and was able to voluntarily return a special, one time,
1% of sales productivity bonus to their domestic water
systems submersible motor customers. |
| Although Europe splintered
economically and headed into recession during 1992,
Franklin continued to gain market share. During 1992, an
agreement was reached to open a new company in Melbourne,
Australia, to replace their joint venture there. Franklin
Electric (International) Pty. Ltd., served as the first
company-owned operation for Southeast Asia and China. To
augment the South African product line, Franklin acquired
the assets of Sunwater Controller, a manufacturer of
solar-powered controls for remote water-pumping systems.
Also in 1992, sales at Oil Dynamics, Inc., Franklin's
50-percent-owned manufacturer of electric submersible oil
well pumping systems, rebounded at year-end as
significant new business in Russia was attained. In
addition, Franklin acquired land in central Indiana for a
new Electronics Technology Center to be constructed in
1993, acquired the gasoline submersible products business
of Tokheim Corporation and constructed a new, enlarged
manufacturing, engineering and distribution center in
McFarland, Wisconsin, for occupancy in early 1993. |
| In 1993, Franklin restructured the
European legal and operations structure to include a
Netherlands Holding Company and a European Trading
Company, headquartered in Switzerland. A new
manufacturing support center was also opened in the Czech
Republic. In addition, the Siloam Springs, Arkansas plant
was expanded and reorganized. |
 During
1994, Franklin extended the range of submersible electric
motors to include large submersible motors up to 250
horsepower, as well as electronically-controlled variable
speed constant pressure water system motors. FE Petro's
growth necessitated expanding its still-new
manufacturing, engineering and distribution headquarters
in Wisconsin. On November 28, 1994, Franklin Electric
acquired an additional 47 percent of the shares of Oil
Dynamics, Inc. (ODI), raising the total ownership
position to 97 percent. In December 1994, a letter of
intent was signed to acquire the assets of Sele, an
Italian manufacturer of large submersible motor stators
and other components.
In 1995,
Franklin purchased the assets of Sele's s.r.a., an
Italian manufacturer of large horsepower submersible
motor components which expanded Franklin's product line
and further strengthened its strong European market
position. New distribution and field service centers were
established in the Middle East and China. FE Petro, in
addition to expanding its global market coverage,
introduced an electronically-controlled constant
pressure, variable speed gasoline dispensing system.
During 1996, Franklin significantly
broadened the submersible motor product line to include
severe duty and large horsepower submersible motors.
These new products expanded market coverage, including
mine dewatering, steam flooding, municipal and other new
industrial applications. FE Petro gained domestic market
share and its global reach by using its technological
leadership in electronic variable speed, constant
pressure pumping systems and a patented variable length
submersible turbine pump. Franklin's Engineered Motor
Products Division (EMPD) earned record sales and
strengthened its technical leadership by drawing on its
electronic motor drive capability for applications in
vapor recovery and other integrated motor drive systems.
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 In 1997,
Franklin sold Oil Dynamics, Inc. (ODI) to Baker Hughes,
Inc. with a one-time gain. While ODI was beginning to
live up to its potential, Franklin concluded that the
risks associated with the international oil and gas
equipment market were not compatible with Franklin's
commitment to building consistent year-by-year
shareholder value. During 1997, Franklin steadily
extended their submersible motor market coverage with new
products, including severe duty and large horsepower
motors for mine dewatering, geothermal heating systems,
and other difficult water pumping applications. Drawing
on Franklin's extensive experience and growing scale in
electronic motor controls and drives, the Engineered
Motor Products Division introduced a new motor with an
Integrated Motor Drive System (IMDS) that continues to
gain good market acceptance. The IMDS joins an electric
motor with state-of-the-art electronic controls and
drives to provide a “smart motor” for a variety
of pumping, material handling, mixing, stirring, air
moving and medical uses.
Along with still being the world's
largest producer of submersible electric motors, Franklin
Electric is a leading producer of engineered specialty
electric motors and electronic controls used by original
equipment manufacturers in a wide variety of residential,
industrial and municipal applications.
Franklin Electric products are sold in every country of the
world, principally through a global team of company field
sales engineers. Franklin now has fifteen operations or plants
around the world. They are Bluffton Indiana, Jonesboro, Indiana;
Grant County, Indiana; Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa;
McFarland, Wisconsin; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (where
the former joint venture is now a Franklin plant); Monterrey,
N.L., Mexico; Siloam Springs, Arkansas; Wilburton, Oklahoma;
Muskegon, Michigan; Wittlich, Rhineland, Germany; Brno, Czech
Republic; Berzo Demo, Italy; Suzhou, China; and Tokyo, Japan.
Explosion-proof IMDS
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