Culp

"Under those conditions, with two otherwise identical businesses, buying the highly cyclical company is going to generate less value for Danaher than the steadier, less cyclical one. Nothing was more frustrating to Culp than getting a company fully ramped up on Lean, only to see a recession unwind so much of the hard work, so he pushed for a change in the type of assets that he wanted to acquire. Culp’s best solution was to focus on businesses with high aftermarket content—selling the installed base equipment that pulled through a steady stream of consumables required to keep the equipment running. For Danaher, the up-front hardware could be a tad cyclical as long as the aftermarket consumables were steady. The deals under Culp’s tenure included Videojet (industrial printers that needed ink), Radiometer (imaging equipment), Vision Systems (medical instruments), ChemTreat (water treatment), AB Sciex (measurement equipment), and Beckman Coulter (testing equipment)."

"Much of Culp’s success can be traced to three important initiatives: (1) He worked with the board on a portfolio of businesses that exploited all the powers of DBS. (2) Unlike leaders who prefer to hire those who aren’t a threat, he increased the organization’s focus on talent and surrounded himself with people who would keep up with his fast pace. (3) He pushed DBS deeper into the organization. He and his colleagues developed an expanded toolkit touching every facet of the company."