Profile: Brady Corp (BRC)

Brady Corporation (Brady) is an international manufacturer and marketer of identification solutions and specialty materials, which identify and protect premises, products and people. Brady's core capacities in manufacturing, channel management, printing systems, precision engineering and materials expertise make it a supplier to customers in general manufacturing, maintenance and safety, process industries, construction, electrical, telecommunications, electronics, laboratory/healthcare, airline/transportation, security/brand education, governmental, public utility, and a variety of other industries. Major product lines include facility identification; safety and complementary products; wire and cable identification products; sorbent materials; people identification products, regulatory publishing; identification products for product identification, and work-in-process identification; bar code labels and precision die-cut components for mobile telecommunications devices, hard disk drives, medical devices and supplies, and automotive electronics and other electronics. Products are marketed through multiple channels, including distributors, resellers, business-to-business direct marketing and a direct sales force. In December 2009, the Company acquired Stickolor Industria e Comercio de Auto Adesivos Ltda.

As of July 31, 2009, Brady operated 59 manufacturing or distribution facilities in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Company also sells through subsidiaries or sales offices in these countries, with additional sales through a team of international sales representatives in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Slovakia, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The Company further markets its products to parts of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Russia.

The Company markets and sells its products domestically and internationally through multiple channels, including direct sales, distributors, mail-order-catalog marketing, retail, and electronic access through the Internet. The Company also direct markets certain products and those of other manufacturers by catalog sales, outbound telemarketing, and electronic access via the Internet in both domestic and international markets. Such products include industrial and facility identification products, safety and regulatory-compliance products and original equipment manufacturer component products, among others. Catalogs are distributed in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and include foreign-language catalogs.

The Brady brand includes high-performance labels, wire identification products, printers, software, safety and facility identification products, lock-out/tag-out products, people identification products, precision die-cut parts and specialty materials. Other die-cut materials are marketed as Balkhausen products. Safety and facility identification products are also marketed under the Safety Signs Service brand, with some lockout/tagout products offered under the Prinzing and Scafftag brands. In addition, identification for the utility industry is marketed under the Electromark brand and spill-control products are marketed under the SPC and D.A.W.G. brands; poster printers and cutting systems for education and government markets are offered under the Varitronics name brand; wire identification products are marketed under the Modernotecnica brand and the Carroll brand; direct marketing safety and facility identification products are offered under the Seton, Emedco, Signals, Safetyshop, Clement and Personnel Concepts names; security and identification badges and systems are included in the Temtec, B.I.G., Identicard/Identicam, STOPware, J.A.M. Plastics, PromoVision, and Quo-Luck brands; hand-held regulatory documentation systems are available under the Tiscor name; automatic identification and bar-code software is offered under the Teklynx brand, and security sealing and transportation identification is offered under the Transposafe Systems name.

Facility Identification

The Company's informational signs, tags and labels and do-it-yourself printers are used in a range of industrial, utility, commercial, governmental and institutional applications. These products are either self-adhesive or mechanically mounted, designed for both indoor and outdoor use and are manufactured to meet standards issued by the National Safety Council, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and a variety of industry associations in the United States and abroad. The Company's sign products include admittance, directional and exit signs; electrical hazard warnings; energy conservation messages; fire protection and fire equipment signs; hazardous waste labels; hazardous and toxic material warning signs; transformers and power pole markers; personal hazard warnings; housekeeping and operational warnings; pictograms; radiation and laser signs; safety practices signs and regulatory markings, employment law posters, and photo luminescent (glow-in-the-dark) products. Brady's Warehouse identification products includes labels, tags, and printing systems used to locate and identify inventory in storage facilities, such as warehouses, factories, stockrooms and other industrial facilities.

Brandy's Pipe markers and valve tags, includes plastic or metal, self-adhesive or mechanically applied, stock or custom-designed pieces for the identification of pipes and control valves in the mechanical contractor and process industry markets. These products are designed to help identify and provide information as to the contents, direction of flow and special hazardous properties of materials contained in piping systems, and to facilitate repair or maintenance of the systems. The Company's asset identification products include self-adhesive or mechanically mounted labels or tags made of aluminum, brass, stainless steel, polycarbonate, vinyl, polyester, mylar and paper.

Safety and Security Products

Brady offers lockout/tagout products. Under OSHA regulations, all energy sources must be locked out, while machines are being serviced or maintained to prevent accidental engagement and injury. The Company's Security and traffic control products include a variety of security seals, parking permits and wristbands designed for visitor control in financial, governmental, educational and commercial facilities, including meeting and convention sites. The Company also offers a variety of traffic control devices, including traffic signs, directional and warning signs, parking tags and permits, barriers, cones and other products, including barricading, visual warning systems, floor-marking products, safety badges, and first aid cabinets/kits, among others. The Company’s Spill control and clean-up products include synthetic sorbent materials in a variety of shapes, sizes and configurations; spill kits, containment booms, industrial rugs, absorbing pillows and pads, barrier spill matting and granular absorbents, and other products for absorbing and controlling chemical, oil-based and water-based spills.

Wire and Cable Identification

Brady manufactures a range of wire and cable-marking products, including labels, sleeves, software that allows customers to create their own labels and printers to print and apply them. These products mark and identify wires, cables and their termination points to facilitate manufacturing, construction, repair or maintenance of equipment, and data communication and electrical wiring systems used in virtually every industrial, power and communication market.

People Identification

The Company's identification systems and products, including photo identification (ID) card systems that combine biometrics, digital imaging and other technologies to identify people; self-expiring name tags, which make use of migratory ink technology, which upon activation, starts a timed process resulting in an altered message, color or design to indicate expiration; software for visitor and employee identification; and identification accessories, including lanyards, badge holders, badge reels and attachments, as well as photo identification kits.

High Performance Identification

Brady produces a line of label materials and printing systems to meet customers' needs for identification requirements for product identification, work in process labeling and bar coding that perform under harsh or demanding conditions, such as extreme temperatures, or environmental or chemical exposure. Brady prints stock and custom labels and also sells unprinted materials to enable customers to print their own labels.

Precision Die-Cut Parts

The Company manufactures customized precision die-cut products that are used to seal, insulate, protect, shield or provide other mechanical performance properties in the assembly of electronic, telecommunications and other equipment, including mobile phones, personal data assistants, computer hard disk drives, computers and other devices. The Company also provides converting services to the medical market for materials used in in-vitro diagnostic kits, patient monitoring and bandaging applications.

Other Products

Brandy designs and produces software for bar-coding and inspection automation, industrial thermal-transfer printers and other electromechanical devices to serve the growing and specialized needs of customers in a variety of markets. Industrial labeling systems, software, tapes, ribbons and label stocks provide customers with the resources and flexibility to produce signs and labels on demand at their site. The Company also offers poster printers, laminators and supplies to education and training markets.