Company Profile: Molex

Company History

The late Frederick A. Krehbiel founded the Molex Products Company in Brookfield, Illinois, in 1938. He named the company after Molex, a plastic material he developed, and soon was manufacturing a variety of products from this material, including clock cases, flowerpots, valve wheels and salt tablet dispensers.

In 1940, one of Frederick’s sons, John H. Krehbiel, Jr., joined Molex and soon recognized the importance of this material’s excellent electrical insulating properties. Later in the decade, Molex added metal stamping to its molding processes, resulting in its first connector assembly for Hotpoint/GE home appliances.

In the 1950s, Molex rapidly penetrated the appliance market with its low-cost connector terminal blocks. The company launched its first plug-and-receptacle connector line in 1953. Through the rest of the decade, Molex continued to expand its product offerings in the commercial and consumer goods markets.

In 1960, the company introduced its first nylon plug-and-receptacle line, marking its evolution from a manufacturer of material called Molex to an electronics corporation named Molex.

By 1967, Molex had established an international division, opening its first plant in Japan in 1970 and its second in Ireland in 1971. Today, more than two-thirds of annual Molex revenues are derived from products manufactured and sold outside the United States.

Molex kept pace with the growth of the electronics industry in the 1980s by expanding its product lines to better serve the computer and business equipment markets. The company also established itself as a preferred supplier to the automotive industry.

In the early 1990s, Molex again proved its versatility by entering global growth industries such as telecommunications, industrial automation and premise networking.

More recently, Molex has expanded and strengthened its position in key markets through a variety of strategic acquisitions, as well as organic growth. In 2006, Molex made its largest acquisition to date by acquiring Woodhead Industries, increasing its presence in factory automation and other industrial, harsh-environment applications.

Company Today

Molex is a leading one-source supplier of interconnect products. Our team of more than 33,000 highly skilled individuals is focused on the design, development and distribution of innovative solutions critical to products that touch virtually every walk of life. Our portfolio is among the world’s largest with over 100,000 reliable products, including everything from electronic, electrical and fiber optic interconnect solutions to switches and application tooling.

We leverage extensive worldwide resources to meet customer needs on a local, regional and global level. We have strong, well-established sales, product development and manufacturing resources in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Our engineering, development and manufacturing capabilities are organized into product divisions.

• Transportation Products Division: Focuses on interconnection for advanced engine, cockpit and infotainment functions in automobiles and other transportation equipment.

• Commercial Products Division: Handles multi-market products for a diverse range of applications. Today, the division focuses its new product development on high-speed, high-density, high-signal-integrity interconnect applications.

• Micro Products Division: Known for developing the smallest connectors in the world, focused on the portable digital product applications. The division is headquartered in Japan.

• Automation and Electrical Products Division: Specializes in harsh-environment technology for factory automation, power, temporary lighting and ergonomic products in industrial, construction and other applications.

• Integrated Products Division: Produces higher-level assemblies utilizing Molex interconnect technologies, typically in printed circuit board, fiber optic, flex circuit, RF and other applications.

Within the Global Integrated Products Division is our RF Products Business Unit. This rapidly growing entity provides RF and Microwave Connectors and Cable Assemblies to a wide range of markets and geographies. In addition to standard coaxial connectors, Molex has developed an impressive offering of multi-port coax and custom solutions.

This business unit is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana and also manufactures products in Asia. Our customers and markets are global and cover many applications including wireless infrastructure, telecommunications, computer, automotive, HDTV/video, test and measurement, medical, military and more.

Company Product Categories

Molex RF Products include a wide range of styles and sizes, from our very small Microcoaxial RF, SSMCX, MMCX and MCX; up to DIN 7/16. Coaxial cable assemblies are available in 50 and 75 Ohm with flexible and semi-rigid cable options.