Littelfuse history

Littelfuse was incorporated and renamed Littelfuse, Inc. in 1938.

Began construction on an El Monte, Ca, US manufacturing facility to serve aviation customers in 1940

Though the first "electronic brain" or automatic computer was developed in the United States back in 1942, few envisioned the role computers would later play in the lives of virtually everyone on the planet.

Developing circuit protection solutions for the communications and aviation industries drove business during World War II. By 1943, sales had reached $2.5 million.

Year-end sales for 1950 hit $1.96 million and Littelfuse's move into television fuses was an excellent choice.

By 1951 there were more than 15 million TV sets in American homes and just three years later, over 29 million.

Thomas Blake, who had been president since 1954, took over as chairman of the board.

Littelfuse became a public company in 1962.

In 1963, Littelfuse moved its headquarters from Chicago to Des Plaines, Illinois.

Sundt retired in 1965 and was succeeded by Thomas Blake.

Tracor purchased the company in 1968.

The same year the company opened its third Illinois manufacturing facility, in Watseka, west of Kankakee and near the Indiana border, then moved southwest in 1973, opening a new manufacturing facility in Piedras Negras, Mexico.

Filing suit against several outfits manufacturing, importing, and selling bogus Autofuses, Littelfuse sought and was granted an Exclusion Order to prohibit importation of the patented fuses--one of only 28 such grants issued since 1974--and a boon for the company and its products.

In 1976, Littelfuse developed Autofuse, which was the first blade-type fuse used in automobiles.

Acquisition and Its Aftermath, 1980-89

The Autofuse brand was counterfeited heavily and in 1983 the company obtained an exclusionary order from the United States International Trade Commission, which barred the importation of counterfeit blade-type fuses.

After returning to the drawing board for several new applications and design breakthroughs of its own, Littelfuse debuted the FLNR and FLSR Slo-Blo power fuse product lines in 1985.

The following year, 1986, Ford again presented the company with a Q1 for the Des Plaines headquarters plant, while General Motors awarded the company's Mexico plant with its coveted "Certified Supplier Award" for the enduringly popular appliance switch.

In 1987, Westmark Systems purchased Tracor and its Littelfuse subsidiary in leveraged buyout.

Littelfuse, meanwhile, continued to gain recognition and turn out increasingly sophisticated fuses, including the world's smallest glass tube fuse in 1988, a full one-third of the size of previous glass tubes.

Tracor filed for bankruptcy in 1991 and spun off Littelfuse.

By 1992 net sales were $149.8 million with net income of $700,000, while shareholder value leapt to $19.25 per share.

Littelfuse had also moved forward with a stock buy-back plan, repurchasing 3.5 million shares by the end of 1995.

In 1996 Littelfuse celebrated its fifth year of independence and 70th year in business with a jump in net income of 13 percent to $21.7 million on net sales of $241.4 million, up from the previous year's $219.5 million.

Gordon Hunter replaced Witt as president and CEO of Littelfuse at the end of 2004.

In 2008, Littelfuse restructured its manufacturing operations, closing 16 small manufacturing plants and opening 6 new, larger plants.

Arrow Electronics recognized Littelfuse with an award for Supplier Excellence in 2011.

Littelfuse received the Chicago Innovation Award in 2012.

In 2021, Littelfuse launched its five-year growth strategy, continuing the success of our previous five-year strategy.