OTC Tools (originally Owatonna Tool Company) is a tool and equipment manufacturer. It was founded in Owatonna, Minnesota, by Godfrey Kaplan, who operated a small machine shop there. Kaplan's son Rueben, invented the "Grip-O-Matic" universal gear puller and received his first patent. [1] The tool remains virtually unchanged to this day. [2]
By 1934, OTC was selling a variety of mechanic's tools to farmers and service stations. The tools were sold directly to the customer from makeshift display boards fitted into panel trucks or converted autos. When World War II broke out in 1939, the U.S. Army and Navy bought large quantities of OTC tools and by 1945, the company had doubled its staff. In 1950, Kaplan began work in ultra-high-pressure fluid power technology, a new technology for hydraulics manufacturers of the day. One development was a twin-cylinder ram that operated at 10,000 psi—much higher than any other devices of the day. [3]
By 1985, OTC had an extensive line of tools and systems for both OEM and aftermarket customers. That success led to its acquisition by Sealed Power Corporation (now SPX Corporation) of Muskegon, MI. [4] In December 2012 SPX was purchased by Robert Bosch GmbH and OTC became part of their Bosch Automotive Service Solutions division. [5]
OTC is a global supplier of vehicle electronic diagnostic instruments; fuel systems service tools; special service tools; general purpose tools; pullers; heavy-duty tools; shop equipment and hydraulic components. [6] [7]
Owatonna is a city and the county seat of Steele County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 26,420 at the 2020 census. Owatonna is home to the Steele County Fairgrounds, which hosts the Steele County Free Fair in August.
Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited is a Canadian retail company which operates in the automotive, hardware, sports, leisure and housewares sectors. Its Canadian operations include: Canadian Tire, Mark's, FGL Sports, PartSource, and the Canadian operations of Party City. Canadian Tire acquired the Norwegian clothing and textile company Helly Hansen from the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan in 2018.
Robert Bosch GmbH, commonly known as Bosch, is a German multinational engineering and technology company headquartered in Gerlingen, Germany. The company was founded by Robert Bosch in Stuttgart in 1886. Bosch is 94% owned by the Robert Bosch Stiftung, a charitable institution. Although the charity is funded by owning the vast majority of shares, it has no voting rights and is involved in health and social causes unrelated to Bosch's business.
Craftsman is a line of tools, lawn and garden equipment, and work wear. Originally a house brand established by Sears, the brand is now owned by Stanley Black & Decker.
ZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, originally Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen, and commonly abbreviated to ZF, is a global technology company that supplies systems for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and industrial technology. It is headquartered in Friedrichshafen, in the south-west German state of Baden-Württemberg. Specializing in engineering, it is primarily known for its design, research and development, and manufacturing activities in the automotive industry and is one of the largest automotive suppliers in the world. Its products include driveline and chassis technology for cars and commercial vehicles, along with specialist plant equipment such as construction equipment. It is also involved in the rail, marine, defense and aviation industries, as well as general industrial applications. ZF has 168 production locations in 32 countries with approximately 165,000 (2022) employees.
The Benchmade Knife Company is an American knife manufacturer in Oregon City, Oregon.
FANUC is a Japanese group of companies that provide automation products and services such as robotics and computer numerical control wireless systems. These companies are principally FANUC Corporation of Japan, Fanuc America Corporation of Rochester Hills, Michigan, USA, and FANUC Europe Corporation S.A. of Luxembourg.
D'Addario is a family-owned and operated American multinational company that specializes in musical instrument accessories, headquartered in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York.
Gravely, of Brillion, Wisconsin, is a manufacturer of powered lawn and garden implements which it describes as "walk-behind, zero turn and outfront mowers". It started as a manufacturer of "walk-behind" or two-wheel tractors.
The PACE Award is an annual award from Automotive News. The focus of the award is an innovation (i) developed primarily by a supplier, (ii) that is new to the automotive industry, (iii) that is in use, and (iv) that "changes the rules of the game". Awards have been given for products, materials, processes, capital equipment, software and services. A panel of independent judges from industry, finance, research, and academia choose finalists from the initial applicants, make site visits to evaluate the innovation, and then gather to select winners, independent of the sponsors. Winners to date include suppliers from Japan, Korea, China, the US, Canada, Brazil, Germany, France, Italy, Poland and other European countries. Among the most awarded companies over the years are BorgWarner, Delphi Automotive, Federal-Mogul, Valeo and PPG Industries as well as Robert Bosch GmbH, Gentex Corporation, and Siemens.
Gleason Corporation is a prominent machine tool builder based in Rochester, New York, US. It has manufacturing plants in the US, Britain, India, China, Switzerland and Germany, and sales offices in those and additional countries.
General Signal Corporation was a publicly traded control equipment and systems company based in Stamford, Connecticut, and was listed in Standard & Poor's S&P 500 Composite Index of 500 of the largest public companies in the United States. It was a leading manufacturer of control systems technology primarily serving the transportation and telecommunication industries. In late 1998 it was bought for US$2 billion by a much smaller company, SPX Corporation.
Zexel is a Japanese auto-components manufacturer. It was founded in 1939 as Diesel Kiki Co., Ltd., under a Bosch license, for domestic production of fuel-injection pumps for diesel engines. Originally established with an investment from Isuzu Motors Ltd.,, this company was renamed ZEXEL Corp. in 1990. Diesel-Kiki entered into a joint venture in the United States with Wynns Climate Systems to begin manufacturing automotive HVAC systems in approximately 1987. The company was called Wynn-Kiki at the time and was the predecessor to ZEXEL USA. The ZEXEL rebranding was a two-year project involving a worldwide name search and complete marketing strategy analysis. The company logo featured red, white and blue colors picked to represent precision, technology and excellence. A CD was distributed to employees featuring a new company theme song. The name was compiled from the words zenith and excellence. The company is said to have reached the zenith of its performance under its old name of Diesel-Kiki, and has excelled well at customer satisfaction. In their translation, it came out ZEXEL instead of ZEXCEL.
SPX Corporation is a supplier of highly engineered infrastructure equipment and technologies. The company operates within four markets: heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), detection and measurement, power transmission and generation, and engineered solutions. Examples of SPX’s products include cooling towers and boilers, underground pipe and cable locators, power transformers, and heat exchangers. Brands include Waukesha, Dielectric, Fahrenheat, Radiodetection, and Pearpoint. SPX operates in 17 countries with a sales presence in 100 countries. In 2019, the company earned approximately $1.5 billion in annual revenue. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, SPX employs over 6,000 employees. Eugene Joseph Lowe is the CEO.
The ETAS Group is a German company which designs tools for the development of embedded systems for the automotive industry and other sectors of the embedded industry. ETAS is 100-percent subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH.
An automotive scan tool (scanner) is an electronic tool used to interface with, diagnose and, sometimes, reprogram vehicle control modules.
SawStop is an American table saw manufacturer headquartered in Tualatin, Oregon. The company was founded in 2000 to sell table saws that feature a patented automatic braking system that stops the blade upon contact with skin or flesh.
ATR is the corporate umbrella of one of the world's largest independent trading cooperations for automotive spare parts and a service center for four garage service concepts. The headquarters of ATR is located in Denkendorf (Baden-Württemberg). ATR companies provide auto shops and spare parts dealers with original spare parts and garage equipment.
The machine industry or machinery industry is a subsector of the industry, that produces and maintains machines for consumers, the industry, and most other companies in the economy.
Right to repair is a legal right for owners of devices and equipment to freely modify and repair products such as automobiles, electronics, and farm equipment. This right is framed in opposition to restrictions such as requirements to use only the manufacturer's maintenance services, restrictions on access to tools and components, and software barriers.