Honeywell Keeping Sperian a Separate Division
Mark Levy, president of the Honeywell Life Safety business, says the acquisition completed Sept. 15 positions its 17,000 worldwide employees well for a global market where safety standards are quickly rising.
SAN DIEGO -- Honeywell Life Safety completed its $1.4 billion acquisition of Sperian Protection on Sept. 15 and is firmly established as the world's leading PPE manufacturer in a market estimated at $18 billion to $20 billion by Mark Levy, president of the business, in a news conference Monday at the 2010 National Safety Congress & Expo.
Levy and four representatives of business units within HLS presented new fall protection, head protection, arc flash protection, and gas monitoring products during the news conference, with Levy saying the company is poised to bring more intelligence -- including RFID and two-way communications -- to PPE overall.
Levy said Sperian will be a maintained as a division within HLS. "We were looking to complement the portfolio," Levy said as he described the decision to purchase Sperian. "The Sperian acquisition was an opportunity for global diversity and an incredibly complete product line. We're really feeling very excited about this opportunity.
"Sperian is a great company," he added. "It's not a business that was broken and needs fixing up."
He described the wireless gas detection system currently under development and set for beta testing next week as a two-way communications technology that will allow safety managers or technicians in a control center to monitor the location of remote workers and also the conditions of the environment where they are, showing data such as temperature and air monitoring levels. This new system will be available in late 2011, Ken Schmidt, Honeywell Analytics Portables Americas marketing manager, said after the news conference.
Safety standards worldwide are rising to Western levels, Levy said, citing gains in standards for manufacturing, construction, and firefighting done in India, China, Russia, Brazil, and elsewhere. "They want the highest standards in the world," he added, saying this is a prime opportunity for HLS. "It's right up our alley," he said.