ROCKWELL AUTOMATION, INC (ROK)

Rockwell Automation, Inc. describes itself as the world's largest company dedicated to industrial automation and digital transformation. It aims to simplify customers' complex production challenges by combining technology with industry expertise, making them more resilient, agile and sustainable. The company continues the business founded as the Allen-Bradley Company in 1903, which the former Rockwell International Corporation bought in 1985. Rockwell Automation was incorporated in Delaware in a tax-free reorganization completed on December 6, 1996, in which the former aerospace and defense businesses were divested to Boeing.

The company has three operating segments. Intelligent Devices includes drives, motion, advanced material handling, safety, sensing, industrial components and configured-to-order products. Software & Control includes control and visualization software and hardware, digital twin, simulation and information software, and network and security infrastructure. Lifecycle Services includes digital consulting, professional services including engineered-to-order solutions, recurring services such as cybersecurity, safety, remote monitoring and asset management, and the Sensia joint venture. Key brands include Allen-Bradley, ControlLogix and CompactLogix control systems, PowerFlex AC drives, FactoryTalk, Plex Systems and Fiix software and cloud offerings, Clearpath and Otto mobile robots, and Verve for asset inventory and vulnerability management.

All segments serve discrete end markets (such as Automotive including Electric Vehicle and Battery, Semiconductor, and e-Commerce & Warehouse Automation), hybrid end markets (such as Food & Beverage, Life Sciences and Tire), and process end markets (such as Energy, Mining and Chemicals). The company does business in more than 100 countries, with its largest sales outside the United States in Canada, China, Italy, the United Kingdom and Mexico. It reaches the market through a strategy that includes distributors. Its business is not subject to significant seasonality, though results can be affected by customers' annual budgeting processes and working schedules.

The segments share common sales, supply chain and functional support organizations and operate globally. The company buys a wide range of equipment, components, finished products and materials from a broad base of suppliers and subcontractors, and the raw materials essential to its products are generally available at competitive prices. Competitors range from large diversified corporations to smaller firms with limited industrial automation portfolios; major competitors include Siemens AG, ABB Ltd, Schneider Electric SA, Emerson Electric Co., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Honeywell International Inc. and Dassault Systemes. Competitive factors include portfolio breadth and performance, technology differentiation, industry expertise, installed base, partner ecosystem, global presence and price. The company owns or licenses numerous patents and relies on trademarks such as Rockwell Automation and Allen-Bradley.