Hydraulics & Drives

Eaton traces its roots to 1911, when Joseph Eaton and his brother-in-law Viggo Torbensen invented the first gear-driven truck axle in Cleveland, Ohio, and founded the Torbensen Axle Company. The axle business grew into a diversified industrial manufacturer — axles, superchargers, engine valves, hydraulics — that supplied the early American auto industry. The company took the Eaton name in 1916 and went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1928, where it trades today under the ticker ETN. Eaton's modern identity was forged in the 2000s, when management made a series of bold moves to exit commodity businesses and bet the company on power management. The decisive step came in 2012 with the US$11.8 billion acquisition of Cooper Industries, which roughly doubled the size of Eaton's electrical business and made it one of the world's largest electrical equipment makers. As part of that deal, Eaton reincorporated in Ireland — the company's legal headquarters is now Dublin — while its operational headquarters and most executive functions remain in Beachwood, Ohio, near Cleveland. The business today is organized into three segments, all centered on electricity and motion: Electrical (switchgear, circuit breakers, transformers, busways, and the uninterruptible power supplies and power distribution racks used in data centers), Aerospace (hydraulics, fuel systems, and actuators for commercial and military aircraft), and Vehicle (transmissions and drivetrain components for commercial trucks). The data center business has become Eaton's growth engine in the AI era — hyperscale data centers consume enormous amounts of power, and Eaton's electrical gear is what keeps that power flowing. With about 85,000 employees, annual revenue near US$23 billion, and CEO Craig Arnold at the helm since 2016, Eaton is a classic industrial compounder: a 110-year-old company that reinvented itself around the electrification megatrend. For facility managers, data center operators, and electrical contractors, Eaton is the name on the switchgear, breakers, and UPS systems that keep buildings and server farms online.

Parker Hannifin began in 1918 with a brake system for trucks, but its true identity was forged in 1933, when Arthur Parker invented the machine that could reliably crimp hydraulic hose fittings — the breakthrough that made hydraulic power practical in industry. Hydraulic systems — using pressurized fluid to move heavy machinery — became the muscles of the 20th century, and Parker became their leading supplier. The company is now the world's largest maker of motion and control technologies: hydraulic pumps, valves, motors, and cylinders; pneumatic systems; fluid connectors and seals; and the filtration and instrumentation that keep industrial systems running. Its products move the landing gear of commercial jets, the booms of excavators, the arms of robot welders, and the flight controls of fighter aircraft — wherever something heavy must move precisely. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, with about 60,000 employees and annual revenue near US$20 billion, Parker has grown through 300+ acquisitions, integrating competitors and adjacent businesses into what it calls the 'Win Strategy'. Its aerospace division is one of the world's largest, and its industrial segment serves virtually every manufacturing sector — the company that makes the machines that make the machines.