no longer American

Frank Fusco

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Mountain Home, Arkansas
Story in business section of the paper this a.m.
Baldor Electric, which has several plants in Arkansas, is selling out to a Swiss company.
Now, the Swiss are known for precision and high quality. I'm sure the motors will remain among the best available.
Still sad.
 
It is very sad Frank. But it could be the one kind of deal that saves a company like that. They probably have a specialization that the Swiss can see a specific market for. I doubt we will see those motors in our kind of equipment any longer given the low cost competition from other parts.

Survival for speciality companies like these means moving into areas where they can dominate due to their inherent abilities rather than trying to be everything to everyone.

My bet is the Swiss have something lined up which allies to this approach.

I have family that work in a spring manufacturing company in Switzerland. They make springs like none of us ever see. But they dominate their sector of the spring market.
 
Sorry about that Frank, but better that than closing off don't you think?

A joke is told here about a metal swiss company. Their main competitor from Germany developed an ultra thin steel wire, thinner than a human hair, and in order to show off and scare them they sent them a sample.

A few days later they received the sample back with a hole from end to end.
 
Sorry about that Frank, but better that than closing off don't you think?

A joke is told here about a metal swiss company. Their main competitor from Germany developed an ultra thin steel wire, thinner than a human hair, and in order to show off and scare them they sent them a sample.

A few days later they received the sample back with a hole from end to end.

That's a good one.
If there is an upside to this, the Swiss company said this acquisition was an addition to their existing operations and no jobs would be lost. But, they also said, some operations would be sent overseas.
 
The company that is buying Baldor is ABB (Asea Brown Bravery) They are like largest electric machinery company in the world. They are an excellent company, I have had numerous dealing with them through the years. The are like the GE of Europe but I think bigger then GE.
 
From the web:

ABB Asea Brown Boveri, was the result of a merger between Asea AB of Sweden and BBC Brown Boveri Ltd. of Baden, Switzerland in 1988. The merged entity became the world’s leading supplier in the $50 billion electric power industry.

I worked with some of their people in the past and had good experience.
 
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