Ideal Industries Explained

Ideal Industries is an American company that produces connectors, hand tools, testers, and meters for the electrical and telecommunications industries.^[2]

The company manufactures many of its products in the United States.^[3] It also owns Western Forge and Pratt-Read, the largest– and second-largest American-made producers of screwdrivers respectively at the time of their acquisitions.^[4]

It is a competitor to Klein Tools, and its tools are sold at Lowe's and Ace Hardware stores as well as many independent distributors.^[5]

History

Ideal was founded in 1916 by J. Walter Becker as the Ideal Commutator Dresser Company in Chicago, Illinois, manufacturing commutator dresser stones.^[6] In 1924, Becker relocated the company to its current location in Sycamore, Illinois.^[7] By 1949, it had become the United States' leading producer of wire nuts.^[8]

In 2010, Ideal acquired three American hand tool manufacturers: Western Forge in January,^{[9] [10]} Pratt-Read in March,^{[11] [12]} and SK Hand Tools in August.^{[13] [14] [15]}

IDEAL Subsidiaries

• Anderson Power Products
• Cree Lighting (formerly a segment of Wolfspeed)
• Enatel
• Lacelok
• Power Puck
• Pratt-Read Tools

Former Subsidiaries

• CMD^[16]
• Casella^[17]
• SK Hand Tools^[18]
• Western Forge^[19]

Notes and References

1. https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.ideal_industries_inc.3516613e8797bcda15b6474399a8c386.html Company profile
2. Web site: Ideal Industries. About Us. 2010-03-26. 2010-03-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20100305142831/http://www.idealindustries.com/about/. dead.
3. Web site: McCrea. Bridget. The Electrical Distributor Magazine. Tapping into the power of Made in the USA. 2012-10-24. 2014-01-16. https://archive.today/20140913060214/http://www.tedmag.com/news/Features/Tapping-into-the-power-of--Made-in-the-USA-.aspx. 2014-09-13. dead.
4. Web site: Varnon. Rob. Workers hope for aid in closing. The Advocate. 2010-06-25. 2014-01-16.
5. Web site: Murphy. H. Lee. Pliers Poker. Crain's Chicago Business. 1996-07-08. 2014-01-16.
6. Web site: Ideal Industries. Company History. 2010-03-26. 2010-05-19. https://web.archive.org/web/20100519150036/http://www.idealindustries.com/about/history.jsp. dead.
7. Web site: Ideal Industries. Recruiting brochure. 2010-03-27. 2010-10-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20101007155331/http://idealindustries.com/media/pdfs/about/ideal_recruiting_brochure.pdf. dead.
8. News: Wire Nuts for Radio City . . December 1949 . 36 .
9. Web site: Heilman. Wayne. The Gazette. Western Forge to be sold to Ideal Industries. 2010-01-04. 2014-01-16.
10. Web site: Heilman. Wayne. The Gazette. New owners to pump millions into Western Forge. 2010-01-05. 2014-01-16.
11. Ideal Industries. IDEAL Acquires Tool Manufacturer Pratt-Read. 2010-03-22. 2010-03-22.
12. Web site: Electrical Marketing. Ideal Industries Acquires Pratt-Read to Add Hand-Tool Lines and Made-in-U.S. Capacity. 2010-03-26. 2014-01-16.
13. Web site: Yue. Lorene. Crain's Chicago Business. SK Hand Tool assets sold to Ideal Industries. 2010-08-23. 2010-10-06.
14. Ideal Industries. IDEAL Acquires Premier Tool Manufacturer SK Hand Tools. 2010-08-23. 2010-10-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20100923215744/http://idealindustries.com/whatsnew/press_releases/view.jsp?news=2010-08-23_sktool. 2010-09-23. dead.
15. Web site: Deutsch. Stuart. ToolGuyd. It's Official – Ideal Industries Purchases SK Hand Tools!. 2010-08-23. 2014-01-16.
16. Web site: IDEAL INDUSTRIES, INC. Announces Divestiture of CMD Limited .
17. Web site: IDEAL INDUSTRIES, INC. Announces Divestiture of Casella .
18. Web site: SK Professional Tools Purchased by Great Star Tools .
19. Web site: Western Forge closing its doors in Colorado Springs . 20 February 2020 .