ITW app for iPhone and iPad

This engaging, multimedia app provides an unprecedented inside look at Illinois Tool Works, the successful global industrial company. ITW’s story offers insight into the company’s business model and history as well as rich depictions of ITW’s workforce today

In 1912, four workers at a tooling company answered an ad in the Economist: “Wanted . . . a growing manufacturing business requiring additional capital.” These men had an idea for a revolutionary method for making hobs and cutters, and the individual who placed the ad, Byron L. Smith, had a prospering wealth management enterprise and the desire to diversify his family’s investments.

Together they founded Illinois Tool Works, today a global diversified manufacturer of engineered products and specialty systems.

Over the past century, Illinois Tools Works has grown and prospered by striking the balance between cutting-edge thinking and a respect for what already works: a decentralized approach, hands-on guidance, finding new opportunities for growth, and developing from within. ITW: Forging the Tools for Excellence tells the story of this unique organization, providing an understanding of the company’s past and capturing the essence of what it is today.

An anecdotal, engaging narrative imparts an understanding of the principles and practices that are central to ITW’s success. Punctuating the lively text are well-chosen historical photographs, documents, and objects as well as full-page, colorful imagery of the people of ITW and its business units today and short, narrated videos that feature scenes from the manufacturing floor as well as interviews with corporate leadership.