Our History

1920s

• Founded as the Ohio Ball Bearing Company in Cleveland, Ohio – 1923

• Company shifted focus from auto and truck products to the broader market of bearings for industrial products – 1924

• Established branches in Youngstown, Ohio, followed by branches in Cincinnati, Akron and Columbus, Ohio – 1927

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1930s & 1940s

• First out-of-state branch established in Indianapolis, IN – 1937

• Company operations totaled six stores and 50 employees – 1940

• First branch in the South (Knoxville, TN) opened, known as Tennessee Bearing – 1947

1950s

• Merged with Pennsylvania Bearings, Indiana Bearings and West Virginia Bearings and became known as Bearings Specialists, Inc. – 1952

• Changed Company name to Bearings, Inc. after a merger with a company of the same name; Began trading on American Stock Exchange – 1953

• Company operations totaled 28 branches – 1956

• Acquired Dixie Bearings, Inc., which became the first subsidiary of Bearings, Inc.  – 1957

• Company promoted as authorized distributor for manufacturers of 31 bearings and 25 bearing specialties – 1958

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1960s

• Ten new branches added; Company operations totaled 54 locations – 1960

• A new subsidiary, Bruening Bearings, Inc. was established; Company’s stock appeared on the NYSE as BER – 1965

• Completed new building for the repair of high-speed spindles and live centers – 1967

• Acquired Bearing Sales & Service to expand distribution throughout the Pacific Northwest and increase servicing locations to 109 – 1968

• Formed advisory board to guide the Company’s further entry into the power transmission field – 1969

1970s

• Expansion activities brought total location count to 113 in 24 states – 1970

• Opened first distribution center in Cleveland; Sales exceeded $100 million for the first time – 1972

• Celebrated 50th anniversary – 1973

• Opened nine new sales / service centers bringing total to 131 in 25 states – 1974

• Developed minicomputer inventory control system to automate manual functions of a stocking center – 1977

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1980s

• Acquisitions of Advanced Bearing and Cottingham Bearing led to increase of service center location footprint by 20% – 1982

• Established OMNEX, a fully operational online information and processing tool that linked all locations – 1982

• Bearing maintenance seminars put on by Walt Sinclair reached over 100,000 people, live or via color-videocassette presentation – 1983

• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) was introduced to deliver transaction processing efficiency – 1985

• Each location was outfitted with a facsimile machine, seen as the most efficient method for order entry – 1988

1990s

• Acquired King Bearing, Inc., adding 94 service centers, three distribution centers and five specialty shops – 1990

• Recorded more than $1 billion in sales for the first time – 1995

• Expansion of fluid power business included acquisitions of Dees Fluid Power Corporation, Flood Industries, and PTE Division of Hines Motor Supply, Inc. (1995), followed by Engineered Sales, Inc. – 1996

• Bearings, Inc. officially became Applied Industrial Technologies; listed on the NYSE as APZ – 1997

• Gained the prestigious distinction of being ISO certified – 1997

• Expansion into Puerto Rico – 1998

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2000s

• Applied^® ticker on the NYSE became AIT – 2000

• Expansion outside the U.S. continued with locations added in Canada (2000) and Mexico – 2001

• Applied^® named one of the “Best Big Companies in America” by Forbes; a member of the InformationWeek 500 as a user of innovative technology; and one of the top four business-to-business sales forces by HR Chally Group – 2006

• Recorded more than $2 billion in sales for the first time – 2007

• Expansion continued with the acquisition of seven fluid power distribution businesses (2008) and additional product lines – 2009

2010s

• Applied Maintenance Supplies & Solutions^® (Applied MSS℠) platform began – 2010

• International expansion led to locations in Australia and New Zealand – 2012

• Expansion of oil and gas footprint with the acquisition of 4 oil and gas businesses – 2013-2014

• Acquired FCX Performance, Inc. to become the leading flow control solutions provider – 2018

• Acquired Olympus Controls Corp., expanding our capabilities to include automation technologies – 2019

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2020s

• Acquired four additional automation businesses, further enhancing our growing automation offering focused on next generation technologies – 2020-2022

• Continued to advance our ESG efforts, as documented in our 2022 Sustainability Report – 2022

• Applied celebrates 100 years of leadership in distribution – 2023