Steve Loranger Introduces ITT Corporation | Big Think

Steve Loranger Introduces ITT Corporation

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The CEO details the three branches of his company.

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Steven R. Loranger:

Steven R. Loranger is the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer ITT Corporation. A former U.S. Navy pilot, he currently sits on the board of FedEx Corporation.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Question: What does ITT do?

Steve Loranger: Yeah, ITT Corporation is a very diversified, multi-industry and multi-national corporation. Top statistics. We finished, last year, about $11.7 billion in sales. We have about 45,000 employees operating in a 130 countries around the world. What we do is, essentially, design, develop, and manufacture high technology, engineered components and services for a variety of essential needs throughout the world. Our portfolio is balanced in, really, 3 substantial legs or platforms, as we would call them.

First of all, we’re active in defending freedom. We’re a major supplier of sensing surveillance, electronic warfare, communications intelligence, and advanced engineering components primarily for the DOD, Department of Defense, but also for foreign militaries. We spend a lot of time defending freedom.

The second major platform we have is, what we call, global water leadership or our fluid technology. We are the world’s leader in high technology components and equipment to transport and treat water, whether it’s treating fresh water, whether it’s waste water, or whether it’s transporting and controlling all aspects of water, a technology is something that we do.

And then, finally, we have a motion in flow control business, that is designing high technology components in energy absorption, friction, aerospace controls for transportation, industrial, and some aerospace markets.

Question: How does ITT improve the distribution of water?

Steve Loranger: The water market is comprised of multiple levels of distribution, if you will. We’re not in the primary business of manufacturing large scale water treatment plants. We’re going to populate those plants with water equipment. So as a generality, somewhat like a municipality, a government, or a private municipality would develop a requirement for a new water treatment plant. They would contract with a large engineering company or a large installer of the brick and mortar and cement of the water treatment plant. They would then, in turn, contact us with respect to the supply of high technology equipment.

Question: Can you give us an example?

Steve Loranger: Well, I can give a number of them. Most recently, I was in Vienna, Austria. And they just had just completed a very, very significant waste water treatment infrastructure project. In fact, it’s the second largest in Europe. I forget the exact capacity but it was in the several hundred million gallon per day of water… of total waste water treatment, so all new capital structure. And we formed a partnership… we’re in partnership with the Vienna municipality, then supplied all of the pumps, all of the control systems, and some of the disinfection technology needed to operate that plant. That plant, today, is characterized by having the best water discharge back into the Danube River of many… of all of the water treatment plants. So it’s heralded, along the Danube, as something that is been a very, very environmentally successful.

Question: How does ITT get freshwater to people who need it?

Steve Loranger: There’s no doubt that access to fresh water and safe and sanitary water is a driving requirement for us to advance population growth in emerging markets, as well as providing the needed necessary environmental responsibility that we’re all working so hard for. What’s ITT doing? We’re doing a lot. You know, first and foremost, by listening to customers, we are working to advance both environmentally friendly and energy efficient components. An example is we are a leader in ultraviolet disinfection technology. And last year, we just invented and are, now, going to production with the world’s most energy efficient ultraviolet light bulb, which is transmitting ultraviolet radiation, just like the sun, over a period of time, which is disinfecting water. And so, that will be one example. I can give you many more in terms of pumping control systems and aeration technology, and other disinfection technology that’s really providing an edge for our company and our customers in terms of energy efficiency and environmental responsibility.