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Emerson Process Management - Rosemount Division
8200
Market Boulevard
Chanhassen,
MN 55317
[1]
800 999-9307 (North America)
[1]
952 906-8888 (International)
[1]
952 949-7001 (fax)
www.rosemount.com
Overview
Emerson Rosemount, a division
of Emerson Process Management, is a worldwide leader in the manufacturing
of instrumentation and automation systems for industrial automation and
process control. In
temperature measurement, the company is the leading manufacturer of
temperature transmitters in the Americas, and is also a manufacturer of
RTDs and thermocouples. The
company, which was founded in 1956, is based in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
History
The formation of Rosemount is
linked to temperature measurement. Dr.
Frank D. Werner, an inventor and scientist, was researching temperature
and pressure sensors at the University of Minnesota when the U. S. Air
Force asked him to manufacture the temperature sensors he had created for
some high-performance airplanes. Werner
asked Vernon Heath, a business manager, and Robert Koppel, an engineer, to
work with him in the project. The
three started Rosemount Engineering Company in 1956, using $8,000 in seed
money. They produced their
first sensors in an old chicken hatchery.
The original Rosemount
temperature sensors could measure the heat generated by compression during
high-speed flights. This made
it possible to measure aircraft speed accurately during flight for the
first time. The new company generated almost $200,000 in sales in its
second year. After the
launching of Sputnik I in 1957, Rosemount’s sensors were in demand for
deep space applications. Company
revenues increased to $5.6 million by 1963.
During the 1960s, Rosemount continued selling its sensors to
high-performance aircraft and the space program.
By the end of the decade, sales had increased to $8.5 million.
Vernon Heath succeeded Werner
as president of Rosemount in 1968. The
company then became involved in several unsuccessful enterprises, one of
which involved the manufacturing of a ski boot line.
Another involved an effort to develop a public rapid transit
system. These two projects together cost the company about $3
million. At the same time,
Rosemount began increasing its industrial sales, especially in temperature
and pressure transmitters. Rosemount
began applying its space and defense technology to applications in the
aerospace, refining, and nuclear and electric power industries.
Industrial sales kept growing in the first half of the 1970s.
In 1976, Emerson Electric
purchased Rosemount for $54 per share.
At the time, Emerson Electric was a $4 billion conglomerate.
Rosemount’s sales continued to grow, exceeding $250 million in
1983. Four instrument
divisions were consolidated in 1987 into the Rosemount Measurement and
Control Instrumentation Group. By
1988, revenues reached $500 million.
In 1993, Emerson Electric purchased Fisher Controls International
for $1.25 billion. This
acquisition served as the basis for the subsequent creation of
Fisher-Rosemount. Fisher
Controls is a leading supplier of valves to industrial markets.
Emerson sold the Aerospace Division to B. F. Goodrich in 1993 for
$300 million.
Rosemount continues to
strengthen its technological leadership, especially in the areas of
pressure transmitters, temperature transmitters, and flowmeters.
The company has dedicated substantial resources toward developing
Foundation Fieldbus products. The
effort to develop a universal fieldbus to connect instruments to the
control room began in 1985.
For
more information on Emerson, go to www.flowresearch.com.
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