Donaldson Company, Inc. (Donaldson) is a global leader in technology-led filtration products and solutions, serving a broad range of industries and advanced markets.
Donaldson’s four regions and their contributing share of fiscal year 2024 revenue are as follows: the U.S. and Canada 44.1%; Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) 28.2%; the Asia Pacific (APAC) 16.8%; and Latin America (LATAM) 10.9%.
Strategic Priorities
The company has three primary strategic priorities to drive profitable g...
Donaldson Company, Inc. (Donaldson) is a global leader in technology-led filtration products and solutions, serving a broad range of industries and advanced markets.
Donaldson’s four regions and their contributing share of fiscal year 2024 revenue are as follows: the U.S. and Canada 44.1%; Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) 28.2%; the Asia Pacific (APAC) 16.8%; and Latin America (LATAM) 10.9%.
Strategic Priorities
The company has three primary strategic priorities to drive profitable growth. Below are each of the priorities and areas of focus related to each priority.
Extend Market Access - Grow Addressable Market by Extending Presence Across Adjacencies
Significantly grow presence in bioprocessing markets organically and inorganically within Life Sciences segment.
Strengthen position across alternative power solutions through innovated and differentiated products.
Expand Technologies and Solutions - Leverage Foundational Filtration Capabilities to Expand Best-in-class Technology and Service Offerings
Expand Industrial Solutions connected service offerings to gain additional aftermarket share.
Enhance digital experience through stronger data integration and navigation capabilities.
Pursue Strategic Acquisitions - Accelerate Long-term Growth Through Strategic Acquisitions in High-margin Areas
Strengthen presence in bioprocessing capabilities with disruptive technologies.
Penetrate underserved markets and expand service offerings.
Reportable Segments
The company’s reportable segments are Mobile Solutions, Industrial Solutions and Life Sciences.
The Mobile Solutions segment is organized based on a combination of customers and products and consists of the Off-Road, On-Road and Aftermarket business units. Within these business units, products consist of replacement filters for both air and liquid filtration applications and filtration housings for new equipment production and systems related to exhaust and emissions. Applications include air filtration systems, fuel, lube and hydraulic systems, emissions systems and sensors, indicators and monitoring systems. Mobile Solutions sells to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the construction, mining, agriculture and transportation end markets and to independent distributors and OEM dealer networks.
The Industrial Solutions segment is organized based on product type and consists of Industrial Air Filtration, Industrial Gasses, Industrial Hydraulics, Power Generation and Aerospace and Defense products. These products are further organized by the Industrial Filtration Solutions and Aerospace and Defense business units. Within the company’s industrial portfolio, Donaldson provides the widest product offering in the market to industrial customers consisting of equipment, ancillary components, replacement parts, performance monitoring and service globally, that cost-effectively enhances productivity and manufacturing efficiency. Industrial Air Filtration, Industrial Gasses and Industrial Hydraulics products consist of dust, fume and mist collectors, compressed air and industrial gasses purification systems, hydraulic and lubricated rotating filtration applications, as well as gas and liquid filtration for industrial processes. Power Generation products consist of air inlet systems and filtration sold to gas compression, power generation and natural gas liquification industries. Aerospace and Defense products consist of air, fuel, lubrication and hydraulic filtration for fixed-wing and rotorcraft aerospace applications and ground defense vehicle and naval platforms. Industrial Solutions businesses sell through multiple channels which include OEMs, distributors and direct-to-consumer in some markets.
The Life Sciences segment is organized by end market and consists of the Bioprocessing Equipment and Consumables, Food and Beverage, Vehicle Electrification and Medical Device, Microelectronics and Disk Drive markets. Within these markets, products consist of micro-environment gas and liquid filtration for food and beverage and industrial processes, bioprocessing equipment, including bioreactors and fermenters, bioprocessing consumables including chromatography devices, reagents and filters, polytetrafluoroethylene membrane-based products, as well as specialized air and gas filtration systems for applications including hard disk drives, semiconductor manufacturing, sensors, battery systems and powertrain components. Life Sciences primarily sells to large OEMs and directly to various end users requiring cell growth, separation, purification, high purity filtration and device protection.
Diverse Product Groups
The company sells a diverse group of products within each segment and the business units within the segments.
Mobile Solutions
Air Filtration
Air filtration systems are vital for safeguarding engine components against abrasive wear caused by dust particles. These systems play a pivotal role in supporting agricultural, construction and mining machinery, as well as commercial vehicles. Donaldson's air filtration solutions are globally renowned, featuring the standard in pleated cellulose filters. The company also offers advanced air filtration technologies, including PowerCore and Ultra-Web. PowerCore filtration technology surpasses standard pleated cellulose filters in efficiency and compactness, making it a preferred choice for OEMs’ engines and equipment. Ultra-Web media technology delivers robust filtration in the harshest environments, such as high-temperature and humid conditions frequently encountered by diesel, turbine, hybrid and other powered engines. The company’s Ultra-Web HD media technology further enhances the company’s fine fiber performance by ensuring consistent inter-fiber spacing at a microscopic level. This makes it ideal for extreme fine dust environments, commonly found in mining and high soot industries.
Fuel and Lube
Fuel and lube systems achieve optimal operations when contaminants are removed. The various components of the engine impacted include fuel injectors, valves, pumps, bearings and actuators. Fuel filters include primary and secondary particulate filters, coalescing fuel water separators, barrier fuel water separators and all-in-one filtration systems. The company’s technology includes Synteq XP filtration technology, which offers significantly higher fuel system protection and longer life under dynamic application conditions compared to commercially available alternatives. In addition, Donaldson’s Synteq DRY and Synteq XP coalescing technologies remove significantly more water in real-world conditions than current barrier or coalescing filters on the market. Fuel and lube filtration supports agricultural, construction and mining machinery and commercial vehicles.
Hydraulic
Hydraulic products provide filtration solutions typically for the same equipment that is filtered by fuel and lube systems. Applications include a suction strainer to protect the pump, high pressure filters, a charge pump or transmission filter, a return-line filter prior to the reservoir and a breather filter located on the reservoir.
The Duramax filter, the company’s primary mobile hydraulics filter, is renowned for its achievement of higher pressure in a spin-on configuration, allowing it to be designed on systems where other more costly, harder-to-service options were previously used. The Duramax filter is combined with Synteq XP media, a synthetic option for high performance.
Alpha-Web, the company’s hydraulic filtration media, features a first-of-its-kind fine-fiber layer to trap and lock particles during frequent flow-rate changes, delivering transformational improvement in hydraulic equipment protection. Advanced contaminant retention results in cleaner oil and helps ensure that equipment will continue to perform better, and longer, with a lower risk of wear, damage and unplanned downtime. Hydraulics Systems support agricultural, construction and mining machinery and transportation markets.
Emissions
Emissions products include sound-reducing mufflers used on machinery and vehicles, diesel-powered machinery and commercial vehicles. Emission control systems include diesel particulate filters, exhaust fluid mixers and catalytic reduction substrates to reduce emissions of particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and other greenhouse gases. Emissions products support agricultural, construction and mining machinery industries, as well as transportation markets.
Industrial Solutions
Industrial Air Filtration
Industrial air filtration systems collect dust, fume and mist within manufacturing facilities. Donaldson offers an innovative portfolio of cartridge-style or bag house collectors that support customers throughout the entire equipment lifecycle from original consultation, design and installation to post-sale maintenance and services. Customers are supported through a global network of channel partners and service centers, which provide a quality customer experience. Technology and features are continually added, such as the iCue Connected Filtration Technology, which proactively monitors a facility’s dust collection equipment to reduce unplanned downtime, supporting efficient operation and maintenance costs, and better connect Donaldson with its end market customers, enabling additional service opportunities. With continued acquisition activities, Donaldson has expanded its service capabilities and geographic presence, enhancing its ability to meet customer service needs.
Industrial dust, fume and mist collectors and filters are utilized globally across major industries including metals, mining, transportation, chemicals, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, construction materials and emerging markets, such as electric vehicle manufacturing, recycling and alternative power. For example, materials transformed in manufacturing, such as metal grinding, recycling, plasma cutting, mixing and welding, can create air contamination that may inhibit the production environment, which can be collected and filtered by Donaldson’s products.
Industrial Gasses
Industrial gasses provides solutions for challenging industrial gas purification objectives with premium filtration, drying and purification products. This includes delivering dust and particle collectors for air compressors at the inlet and output of air compressors and lube, fuel and air/oil separators used in a manufacturing environment.
Major product categories include dryers, compressed air, gasses and steam. Filtration involved in liquids, sterile and condensation management are part of the portfolio as well. Industrial gasses products are used within major industries including metals, mining, transportation, chemicals and construction materials.
Industrial Hydraulics
Industrial hydraulics helps to solve customers’ toughest contamination challenges with premium filtration products for hydraulics and lubrication. Hydraulic oil is adversely affected by contaminants such as wear metals, particulate, water and oxidation by-products. Contaminated fluid reduces performance and shortens lives of various system components including valves, pumps, bearings and actuators. Industrial hydraulic applications include steel mills, paper mills, refineries, oil and gas exploration, plastic molding, general manufacturing and power generation. Industrial hydraulics also supports the OEM fluid power and lubrication systems that support those industries.
Power Generation
Power generation provides leading OEMs air inlet equipment systems that deliver filtration and air handling performance. Power Generation filtration components are custom-engineered air intake systems for gas turbines and industrial compressors, for both new and retrofit applications. Aftermarket filters and parts are used in a variety of applications including cartridge filters, panel and compact filters, pulse systems, inlet hood components, filter retention hardware and accessories. Power Generation filtration components are in power plants, oil and gas delivery systems, other industrial applications and refining and processing machinery.
Aerospace and Defense
Aerospace and defense products are specifically designed to protect critical systems from contamination to ensure proper and efficient operation. The filtration portfolio includes engine intake, cabin air, avionics air, fuel, lubrication and hydraulics. Applications are found on fixed wing aircraft, helicopters, ground defense vehicles and naval vessels.
Life Sciences
Food and Beverage
Donaldson’s food and beverage business provides filtration solutions that enable process and product integrity for food and beverage manufacturing and support development of sustainable foods. Key products and applications include sterile liquid, air and steam filtration, compressed air dryers, bioreactors and fermenters and tangential and direct flow filtration.
Other Life Sciences
Bioprocessing Equipment and Consumables
Donaldson’s bioprocessing business provides equipment and consumables to support the development and production of biologic drugs and genetic medicines, including mAbs, mRNA and cell and gene therapies, along with many other applications that use a bioprocessing workflow.
In 2023, Donaldson acquired Isolere Bio, Inc. (Isolere), headquartered in Durham, North Carolina and Univercells Technologies (UTEC), headquartered in Nivelles, Belgium.
Isolere is an early-stage biotechnology company that has developed novel and proprietary IsoTag reagents used for the purification and streamlined manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals. Aimed initially at the purification of viral vectors used for cell and gene therapies, IsoTag reagents are designed to substantially improve product quality and purity with faster timelines compared to competing solutions.
UTEC is a global producer of innovative biomanufacturing solutions for cell and gene therapy research, development and commercial manufacturing. UTEC’s product offering includes the unique scale-X single-use structured fixed-bed bioreactor for the intensified production of viruses used in cell and gene therapy, viral vaccines and other therapeutics. In addition, UTEC’s automated NevoLine Upstream platform incorporates industry-standard filtration to provide integrated up-and mid-stream processing capabilities in a single unit, driving productivity improvements, a reduction in operational footprints and greater consistency of results.
During 2022, the company acquired Solaris Biotechnology S.r.l. (Solaris), headquartered in Porto Mantovano, Italy and Purilogics LLC (Purilogics) headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina.
Solaris designs and manufactures bioprocessing equipment, including bioreactors, fermenters and tangential flow filtration systems for use in pharma, food and beverage and many other applications that require bioprocess technology.
Purilogics is an early-stage biotechnology company that has developed novel and proprietary Purexa membrane chromatography products used for the purification and streamlined manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals. Aimed initially at the purification of pDNA, mRNA and mAbs, Purilogics’ platform is able to address a wide range of biologics. Purilogics’ Purexa membranes have significant competitive advantages over traditional resin and monolith technologies, enabling improved productivity, speed and production costs.
Vehicle Electrification and Medical Device
Vehicle electrification and medical device equipment provide a broad range of filters that protect devices and enclosures from pressure fluctuation, liquids and harmful contaminants. Key products include battery, powertrain and headlight vents for the automotive industry, including for electric vehicles, as well as venting solutions for hearing aids, ostomy bags and implantable devices.
Microelectronics
Microelectronics delivers product filtration solutions for gas phase molecular contamination at fabrication, tool and point-of-use locations. It offers protection and filtering for a broad spectrum of contaminants that can degrade tools, affect critical processes and impact production yield, which enables increased processing speeds and miniaturization of semiconductors. Key products/applications include lithography process air filtration, point-of-use chemical filtration, compressed air dryers and liquid filtration.
Disk Drive
Disk drive delivers products that have advanced materials and absorbent technologies to control moisture and contaminants in microenvironments. Disk drive filters work in the background to help protect critical components in cloud computing: streaming, storage, sharing and business-to-business interaction. Key products/applications include particle filters, chemical filters and relative humidity control.
Key Growth Drivers
The key growth drivers within each segment are as follows:
Mobile Solutions: Providing solutions to customers to address their higher performance requirements; utilization of technology to improve efficiencies and fuel economies in all end markets; and increased activity in construction, transportation, agriculture and mining markets driven by expansion in living standards.
Industrial Solutions: Complementing automation trends through expanded connected applications and service offerings; industrial equipment designed for optimized energy consumption and carbon footprint reduction; and growing operational efficiency needs to reduce costs associated with maintenance and downtime.
Life Sciences: Increasing need for cell and gene therapy as well as membrane applications for disease treatment and cures; changing customer preferences and regulatory standards driving demand for sustainable products, including food, materials, and use of alternative energies; and continually increasing demand for cloud computing capacity and need for highly technical solutions.
Seasonality
Many of the company’s end markets are generally stronger in the second half of the company’s fiscal year (year ended June 2024). In addition, the first half of the fiscal year contains more holiday periods, which typically include more customer plant closures.
Intellectual Property
The company protects its innovations arising from research and development through patent filings and owns a portfolio of over 3,000 issued patents, including utility and design patents. The company also owns various trademarks related to its products and services including Donaldson and the turbo D logo, Ultra-Web, PowerCore, Downflo, Torit, Synteq XP, LifeTec, iCue, Tetratex, IsoTag, scale-x and NevoLine, among others.
Research and Development
During the year ended July 31, 2024, the company spent $93.6 million on research and development activities.
Government Regulations
Donaldson is subject to a wide variety of local, state and federal governmental laws and regulations in the U.S., as well as the laws and regulations of other countries in which Donaldson conducts business, including securities laws, tax laws, data privacy, employment and pension-related laws, competition laws, U.S. and foreign export and trade laws, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (‘FCPA’) and similar worldwide anti-bribery laws, government procurement regulations and laws governing improper business practices. Donaldson strives to comply with applicable laws and regulations.
The company is also required to comply with increasingly complex and changing laws and regulations enacted to protect business and personal data in the U.S. and other jurisdictions regarding privacy, data protection and data security, including those related to the collection, storage, use, transmission and protection of personal information and other consumer, customer, vendor or employee data. Such privacy and data protection laws and regulations, including with respect to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’), the Brazilian General Data Protection Law, and the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (‘CCPA’), and the interpretation and enforcement of such laws and regulations, are continuously developing and evolving and there is significant uncertainty with respect to how compliance with these laws and regulations may evolve and the costs and complexity of future compliance.
History
Donaldson Company, Inc. was founded in 1915. The company was incorporated under the laws of the state of Delaware in 1936.
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