The Emerson Electric Company was founded in 1890 in Missouri as Emerson Electric Manufacturing Co. by John Wesley Emerson, who was a Union Civil War veteran. The company originally manufactured electric motors. In 1892 it was the first company to sell electric fans in the U.S.
During World War II Emerson grew to become the world’s largest manufacturer of airplane armament.
After the war, Emerson diversified its portfolio by acquiring 36 companies.
By 1973 the company had 31,000 employees, 82 manufacturing plants, and $800 million in sales.
During the 1990′s Emerson went through a series of acquisitions,totaling $2.5 billion, that strengthened the company’s position in providing backup power for the rapidly expanding telecommunications industry.
In 2001 Emerson expanded to the Asian market through the acquisition of two Chinese companies.
Through nine business segments, the company is a global manufacturer of heating, ventilation, cooling, and refrigeration systems, alternators, electric motors, food waste disposers, technology solutions in washers and dryers, residential, healthcare, food service and commercial storage systems, power tools, wet/dry vacs, tool storage equipment, and provides engineering and project management services for plants that produce power or that process oil, natural gas, petrochemicals, pulp and paper, pharmaceuticals, municipal water, and waste water systems.
Emerson has 133,000 employees worldwide and had $24.222 billion in revenue in 2011.