To improve. To take what you have and make it better. It's a simple strategy, central to every acquisition. But while the theory sounds simple, the practice is often far from.
At TT, acquisitions have been vital to our growth strategy – building on our expertise, knowledge, and reach to improve who we are.
And so it was with our most recent acquisition of Torotel, a leading custom magnetics supplier to the aerospace and defence industry. The November 2020 transaction immediately broadened TT’s Power Electronics capabilities, further expanding our footprint in the US market.
Success though should be measured by so much more than immediacy and it is only when you step back 12 months and look at how far the business has come in that time that you begin to get a true perspective on the progress that has been made.
We speak a lot as an organisation about the “right fit” and I have no doubt that this was critical to the acquisition’s success. Of course, we already knew a lot about the US-based Torotel - we had met leaders and worked in the same market for many years. We got to learn about the organisation and its business culture. We saw a lot of similarities between our two companies, including passion, a goal-orientated drive, a value on employees and a real dedication to customer service excellence. This certainly helped us hit the ground running, develop a way of working and position ourselves to quickly deliver.
For TT the investment kicked-off with the acquisition but that was only the beginning. We have continued to invest significant resources in building capability and capacity at the Kansas City facility and in employees’ professional development.
Fast forward to where we are today, and I am in the fortunate position to see first-hand the progress the Torotel team has made. From the operational framework put in place to establishing the Kansas City site as TT’s centre of excellence for Aerospace and Defense Power Supplies and Magnetics in North America to the creation of an expanded and unique product range that has already delivered a strong order book – our employees’ collective determination to make this venture succeed has been nothing short of phenomenal.
The business is growing rapidly as a result. Increasing technical capabilities and expertise have brought great opportunities for our team. Significant recent business wins have also led to the creation of new and exciting roles in the business. We are in the midst of an exciting and ambitious recruitment drive, welcoming the talented engineers, designers, administrators, and technicians of tomorrow.
Strategically the acquisition of Kansas has strengthened TT’s combined power offering. With the addition of Kansas City to our facilities in Minneapolis and Cleveland we have significantly expanded on our product and technology capabilities. These teams now work together to provide a value-added offering to customers – differentiating us from our competitors. A shared vision and drive to design, innovate, engineer, manufacture and support customers ensures that we are expertly positioned to deliver power critical solutions for the most demanding aerospace and defence applications.
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