Suppliers of electrical control products experienced a dramatic profit turnaround in 1999. They accomplished this with a slightly smaller sales increase than the instruments sector as tabulated in Business Week magazine's 900-company Corporate Scoreboard for 1999. Instruments had an even greater turnaround in profits.

The supplier industries' composite showed a 13% sales increase with an imposing doubling of profits over 1998. Both supplier industry segments gained far more than the user industries. The users gained only 9% in sales with a profit shift of 18%, which fell short of the 11% sales increase and 19% profit increase by the scoreboard's all-industry composite. Double-digit purchases by the biggest controls users bodes well for suppliers because increased sales usually trigger expanded production.