Anixter

Anixter International

Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: AXE
Industry	Distribution (business)
Founded	1957
Headquarters	Glenview, IL
Key people	Robert Eck, CEO
Products	Communication products and electrical and electronic wire and cable, and a leading distributor of OEM fasteners and aerospace hardware
Revenue	US$6.147 billion (FY 2011)
Operating income	US$362.8 million (FY 2011)
Net income	US$188.2 million(FY 2011)
Total assets	US$ 3.034 billion (FY 2011)
Total equity	US$1.001 billion (FY 2011)
Number of employees	8,200 (Dec 2011)
Slogan	Products, Technology, Supply Chain Services Delivered Globally
Website	www.anixter.com

Anixter International is a company based in Glenview, Illinois, USA and founded in 1957. The company supplies communications and security products, electrical and electronic wire and cable, fasteners and other small components. Anixter is a Fortune 500 company, with more than 5,000,000 square feet (460,000 m²) of warehouse space. In 2011, the company had $6.15 billion in revenue, operating in 260 cities in 50 countries. It is headquartered in Glenview, Illinois, and operates about 300 warehouses and sales centers in more than 50 countries. It sells 450,000-plus products, including electrical and electronic wire, cable,fasteners and security system components to some 100,000 customers, including original equipment manufacturers, engineers, contractors, installers, and wholesale distributors.

The company operates with three major divisions:

• Enterprise Cable & Security Solutions
• Electrical and Electronic Wire & Cable
• Fasteners

(Aerospace Hardware, once considered the fourth division, was sold by Anixter in 2011 to Greenbriar Equity for $155.0 million.[1]

Anixter's labs include the Infrastructure Solutions Lab, Aerospace Hardware Quality Lab and Fasteners Quality Labs. Anixter's Aerospace Hardware Quality Lab holds ISO9001:2000, Boeing-D14426, AS9000 and AS9100, FAA AC00-56, and NADCAP certifications. Through "Quality Labs", Anixter Fasteners provides routine inspection of customers’ products, full metallurgical evaluations and failure investigations.

In 2002 Anixter was named as a Forbes "Platinum 400" company,chosen by the magazine's editors as one of America's"best-performing" corporations by industry. In 2013, Fortune ranked Anixter 405 in the Fortune 500 list. Revenue for 2012 was at $6.2 billion.

Early History

Anixter was started in 1957 by brothers Alan and Bill Anixter. Known originally as Anixter Brothers, the two opened Anixter as a wholesale distribution company that bought cable by the mile and sold it by the foot. The two brothers received a $10,000 loan from their mother to get the business started, and within 10 years, Anixter Brothers snapped up other companies and grew revenue to $10 million. In 1969,Anixter moved its headquarters to Skokie and continued to buy assets. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Allan Anixter said he carried a list of acquisitions in his pocket, and by the end of the 1960s, Anixter acquired 19 companies. Anixter went public on the American Stock Exchange in1967 and became international with expansion to the U.K. in 1972. In 1975,Anixter gained a listing on the New York Stock Exchange, and by the end of the 1970s it had $268 million in sales and 38 warehouses in the U.S., nine in Canada, three in the U.K. and one in the Netherlands.

Telecommunications Era

With the breakup of AT&T in early 1984, Anixter went about hiring executives from phone companies and suppliers and invested heavily in its telecommunications business. Until this time, regional telephone companies had to buy their equipment directly from AT&T’s Western Electric Company; however, this ruling allowed a business like Anixter’s to sell direct to regional telephone companies. By the mid 1980s, telecommunications sales quickly made up 60 to 70 percent of Anixter’s business. In 1987, the holding company bought Anixter, which had moved into the data communications business. Itel was led by Chicago financier Samuel Zell, who had become chairman in 1985. In the late 1980s, Anixter created a program called Levels because no uniform standard of measurement existed to compare one brand of cable to the other. This laid the groundwork for future telecommunications standards from standards organizations. By the 1990s, the Levels program has become industry standard,and in 2003, Anixter sold the Levels program to Underwriters Laboratories. The Levels XP program that Anixter sold to Underwriters Laboratory can still be found in UL’s current literature. In 1989,Anixter crossed the $1 billion mark in sales. By the 1990s, Itel repositioned itself and shed its other subsidiaries, making Anixter its core operation. Itel then began to develop new markets in the burgeoning global communications industry. In 1995,Itel changed its name to Anixter. In the 1990s, Anixter continued to expand into different markets. It entered the Mexico market in 1991, Australia in 1992, and Eastern Europe and Asia Pacific in 1993. Anixter entered the South American market in 1995. In the later 1990s and 2000s, Anixter went on a purchasing spree, buying Pacer Electronics, Pentacon, Walters Hexagon, DDI,Infast Group, MFU, Eurofast, Total Supply Solutions, Quality Screw & Nut and Quality Screw de Mexico, World Class Wire & Cable, Sofrasar, CamilleGergen, CLARK Security Products and Jorvex.

Awards and recognition

• Awarded Silver LEED Certification for new Edmonton facility in August 2011
• In 2008, included in "Top 50 Green Fleets" by Automotive Fleet magazine

References

Financial information http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/FinancialIndustrial.jsp?tkr=AXE

• Anixter website

External links

• Anixter International SEC Filings