Powering Through The Downturn: Eaton's CEO has moved the company away from its auto-industry roots. Good timing. Now it just has to find away to grow

摘要

NOT THAT LONG AGO, a multicar pileup like the one that wrecked the American auto industry this year might have totaled Eaton Corp., too. As recently as 2003, the Cleveland-based company earned half its profits from making transmissions, brakes and other parts for cars and trucks. If you had even heard the name Eaton, it probably conjured an image of a big, greasy axle.