Then...
Born in the Canadian province of Manitoba as the youngest child of a Baptist minister, Edward V. Sundt worked as a lumberman and farmer, and was also a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Graduating from Brandon College in Manitoba as an engineer, he moved to Chicago in 1923 and worked for General Electric and, later, Stewart-Warner. At those companies, he worked with vacuum tubes and lamps. Meters repeatedly burned out while testing these items, leading to frustration and long nights after-hours in the search for a solution. Necessity was, in fact, the Mother of Invention in this case as, in 1926, Sundt developed a fix: a small, fast-acting protective fuse which he later patented. He sold his Chevy for $150 in order to fund the startup of Littelfuse Laboratories. The rest, as they say, is history.
Sundt’s coworker, Ben Kollath, who had similar proclivities, developed several more fuses of varying ampere ratings, as well as mounting elements to easily use those fuses with common test meters of the time. By April of 1928, however, not a single fuse had been sold. That changed after an ad placement resulted in a sale worth the princely sum of $1.10. By the 1930s, the duo designed and sold similar fuses to automobile makers. Continued experimentation and product line expansion led to broadened applications—and increased sales—throughout the 1930s, when Industrial Equipment News was born. In 1938, Sundt and Kollath dropped “Laboratories” from the company and incorporated Littelfuse. Also, a new partner, Thomas Blake, who’d previously done the books for Littelfuse, joined the duo as a partner.
As nations went to war, Littelfuse expanded its line to serve communications and aviation. Many companies of the time closed their doors or nearly went out of business when peace broke out and military contracts ended. Littelfuse was well positioned, however, and at the dawn of the 1950s started producing fuses for the burgeoning U.S. television market, which grew to more than 15 million TV sets in 1951 and over 29 million by 1954. Wisely, the company also strengthened its presence in the growing automotive industry.
Littelfuse went public in 1962, with an IPO offering of 10 million shares at $7 apiece. That was a big year for the company, which also involved a move to a new facility in Des Plaines, IL—a move which shortly thereafter resulted in Factory Magazine’s Top Ten Plants award, the first in a string of many awards. Still in the early ‘60s, the company expanded from TV and automobiles—with their MICRO...
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...and PICO fuses—into outer space via NASA’s Gemini program. In ’64, Littelfuse was one of only 31 U.S. companies who supplied crucial parts for the Gemini launch.
By the end of 1965, the year many Americans became aware of the importance of electrical devices following the Ontario, Canada blackout which affected 30 million people, Littelfuse expanded its Illinois presence with a new manufacturing plant in Centralia, sales hit $7.43 million, and founder Edward Sundt retired. In ’68, Littelfuse was acquired by Tracor, Inc., an international technology company—an acquisition that pushed the global expansion of Littelfuse with two new facilities in England.
The 1970s started with not one but two additional manufacturing plants, one in Mexico and another in Illinois near the Indiana border. Littellites...
...introduced in 1974, expanded the company’s product line into many areas such as industrial machinery—as well as the fledgling personal and business computer markets.
Expansion continued in the early ‘80s with new facilities including a testing lab, as well as the acquisition of a Netherlands-based manufacturer of fuses and related components. Counterfeit products invaded the company’s space, and Littelfuse aggressively pursued legal action, particularly for their Autofuse fast-acting fuse...
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...for the automotive sector. Remedies came in the form of many exclusion orders in favor of the company, actions which substantially strengthened the company’s position. Awards continued rolling in from industry giants such as GM and Ford. In the late ‘80s, the highly-leveraged Westmark Sytems, Inc. bought Tracor and Littelfuse, later hurling most divisions into financial turmoil. Littelfuse innovations continued, however, with Littelfuse England being the first arm of the organization to receive ISO 9002 certification. Expansion continued into Switzerland and Singapore.
Now...
New CEO Howard B. Witt steered the company through rough financial waters into the 1990s, with Tracor and Westmark receiving bankruptcy protection. Littelfuse emerged a bit worse than bruised, and again went independent. This was a costly move—with its stock price dropping as low as $7 per share—but, by 1992, the company turned things around for the better with net income of $700,000 on sales of nearly $150 million—and share value jumping to $19.25. By ’93, Witt’s responsibilities grew to president, CEO, and chairman. Income increased to $19.3 million in 1995, and, celebrating its 70th year in business in ’96, income was up $13% to $21.7 million on sales of $241.4 million. International sales had tripled since 1991 and represented more than half of the company’s sales. Positive Temperature Coefficient devices, or PTCs, helped keep the company at the forefront of the electronics industries and opened more doors to other markets such as automotive. A stock split came in ’97, along with an all-time-high share price of $35.50. In the late nineties, the company acquired companies such as Samjoo, South Korea’s largest manufacturer of electronic fuses, and further expanded research and manufacturing operations.
Consistently growing and expanding, Littelfuse today includes respected brands such as Teccor®, Wickmann®, and Pudenz®. With global sales, distribution, manufacturing, and engineering capabilities, innovation continues fueling the company’s momentum as “the world leader in circuit protection,” a position likely to be maintained for years to come.
Littelfuse Timeline
1927 Edward V. Sundt starts Littelfuse Laboratories for $150 (Historical photo of Sundt or startup)
1964 MICRO fuse deemed life-saving component of NASA Gemini Man-in-Space program
1965 Founder Edward Sundt retires; Thomas Blake takes over
1968 Tracor acquires Littelfuse
1970 Company wins coveted GE Outstanding Supplier award
1974 Littellites indicator lights introduced the same year Paul Allen told Bill Gates that the microcomputer revolution was just beginning
1976 Littelfuse introduced innovative Autofuse blade-type, fast-acting fuse
1983 Counterfeit battles rage against companies selling bogus Autofuses; courts rule in favor of Littelfuse—the first of nearly 30 such grants
1986 Space-saving MINI® introduced for on-board electronics
1987 Dallas-based defense contractor Westmark Systems, Inc. over-leverages itself to buy Littelfuse and Tracor
1988 Littelfuse introduces world’s smallest glass tube fuse
1990 Company’s LDC Series Class “L” fuse is the only such product to meet UL specs for both ac and dc applications
1991 Under CEO Howard B. Witt, Littelfuse picks itself up after Westmark-related woes and again becomes independent
1997 All-time-high stock price of $35.50 achieved
2005 Littelfuse celebrates its 80th anniversary
2007 Annual sales surpass $536 million
2008 Company opens new Technical Center for Asia-Pacific region