A strategic pivot is often found in the history of successful businesses, and Leviton is no different.
What began as a tinsmithing business in 1906 sparked a 120-year journey of innovation. With a goal of enabling smarter buildings and resilient infrastructure, the team at Leviton continues to look for new paths toward ever more sustainable growth.
To shed some light on the past 120 years and what’s ahead for the manufacturer, BUILDER caught up with Bob Becker, COO of electrical at Leviton.
Spanning 120 years, what do you think has mattered most in keeping innovation alive across so many different technological eras?
To remain innovative throughout the last 120 years, Leviton has focused on solving problems across the entire value chain, not just by developing new products. It starts with understanding our customers’ needs and implementing a process that engages people, both directly and indirectly, to solve real challenges. Part of this process is ensuring our team is inquisitive by following our brand behaviors: ask, seek, embrace, and anticipate. In the end, it’s our people that make the difference. We must empower them with the time and tools necessary for them to adapt and allow innovation to happen.
When you think of Leviton’s early days, starting with mantle tips, what lessons from that entrepreneurial beginning still show up in how the company operates today?
Isidor Leviton’s entrepreneurial spirit in 1906 still profoundly shapes our company today. He saw the trend of electrification and quickly adapted from manufacturing gas products to electric products. This early history taught us a crucial lesson: the key to long-term success is being open to adapting to the ever-changing needs of our customers and markets. This foundational principle has instilled within our company a DNA focused on effective transformation, allowing us to continuously evolve and deliver new solutions across all our product lines, from lighting and electrical to controls and networking.
From your perspective, what’s been the most significant shift in customer needs or expectations over the past decade?
As customers have become increasingly sophisticated, the most significant shift in their expectations is products that are not only easy to install and operate, but also intelligent and easily integrated across systems. Today’s customers are also highly conscious of energy efficiency and actively seek data to inform their decisions. What hasn’t changed, however, is their desire for high quality, safe products that provide real value. We believe that technology can be used to simplify things across the entire value chain, and the better we do this, the happier we make our customers.
With recent challenges to manufacturers like supply chain disruptions, tariffs, and global uncertainty, what has Leviton learned from navigating those pressures?
For manufacturers to successfully navigate challenges amidst global uncertainty, they need to be flexible and highly adaptable. For Leviton, this means that innovation isn’t just limited to our products. It extends to finding new and improved ways to manage our operations and supply. We swiftly pivot strategies, adjust production, and re-evaluate supply chains to meet evolving market demands and overcome unforeseen obstacles. We’ve learned the vital importance of being fully integrated from an operational standpoint, fostering seamless communication and collaboration across all departments. This deep integration helps us build robust mechanisms for operational resilience, such as diversified sourcing and proactive risk management. During challenging times, it’s important that we lean into the core values that make Leviton so special–commitment, ingenuity, quality, and safety.
Courtesy of Leviton
Leviton's electrical factory in Camargo, Mexico.
Were there any changes made during these years that you think will permanently strengthen how Leviton operates going forward?
Our 120-year history isn’t just about longevity, it’s about continuous improvement and a dedicated workforce focused on the needs of our customers. Our evolution from a single-product manufacturer to a global leader offering solutions across a variety of sectors has permanently strengthened how we operate and deliver the best solutions to the market.
As buildings become smarter and more connected, how does Leviton think about its role in shaping the infrastructure behind that transformation?
We see Leviton as the nerve center of every home, taking pride in providing safe, easy-to-install products. To address the evolving infrastructure of today’s homes and buildings, we develop solutions that can be tailored to each individual space. For example, we recognized the need for a new electrical panel, leading us to introduce the industry’s first modular smart load center. This unique solution allows homeowners to easily swap between traditional and smart breakers, effectively making the electrical panel itself a smart hub.
This smart load center seamlessly integrates into the MyLeviton ecosystem, which takes individual “smart points” throughout the home, such as smart lighting controls, receptacles, and EV chargers, and creates a comprehensive home solution. This allows homeowners to control and monitor points from one platform enabling them to tailor their homes to their specific needs.
For new builds, the Decora Evolve allows homeowners to quickly change the purpose of an in-wall receptacle or switch to meet their changing needs over time. We continue to evaluate what’s next in home electrification, working closely with our builder partners to anticipate what their customers might want and need in the homes of tomorrow.
How does Leviton collaborate with residential builders?
We work hand-in-hand with builders to introduce builder-specific products, like the Decora Evolve modular system, and recommend the right solutions for every distinct build. In addition to providing them with the solutions they need to best serve their customers, we are committed to helping builders drive their businesses forward.
We also recognize how crucial it is that the workforce has the necessary skills and knowledge to keep their jobs moving and on time. Therefore, we are committed to the growth and development of the electrical trade, offering in-depth online and in-person trainings, courses and resources to help set their electricians and contractors up for success.
How does Leviton balance honoring its legacy with staying agile in industries that are changing so quickly, especially around connectivity and electrification?
The Leviton name is synonymous with quality and safety, and it’s engrained in how we think and operate across all parts of our business–from engineering and manufacturing to operations, sales and support. When we put the Leviton family name on a product or packaging, it’s not just an honor to our past. It’s a commitment to carry on the ingenuity that propelled this company forward for 120 years so we can build what’s next for the century ahead.
This profound respect for our legacy is precisely what drives our agility in rapidly changing industries like connectivity and electrification. It compels us to maintain a clear vision, continuously evolve, and stay at the forefront of industry change, always building solutions to light, power, and connect spaces of the future while upholding the trust our name represents.
While innovation can mean new technology, it can also mean new ways of working, where do you see Leviton pushing boundaries internally?
As a company, we have made tremendous strides toward sustainability. In 2021, we launched our CN2030 program, our goal to achieve company-wide carbon neutrality by the year 2030. This has been a tremendous effort by our entire organization, and we are proud to say that we have achieved 37% reduction on CO2e emissions through 2024. This transformation and boundary pushing is the direct result of our employees and their commitment to this very important goal. These initiatives not only strengthen our own operations, but they also deliver customer benefits, like helping reduce jobsite waste.
Looking ahead, what emerging trends or technologies are you most excited about Leviton engaging with over the next 10 to 20 years?
Leviton is all about what’s next. Our commitment is to build what’s next to light, power, and connect everyday spaces. As the world becomes more connected and AI continues to integrate into our daily lives, there will be so much innovation ahead to meet the increased needs of optimized power, lighting, and connectivity in the spaces where we live, work, and play. We are also continually improving operations by increasing automation and providing faster customer and technical service. We are incredibly optimistic about the next 120 years and what’s next for not only Leviton, but for our industry.
If someone joined Leviton today, what would you say is the one mindset or value that has helped the company thrive for more than a century?
Being a privately held company that values its employees and has had such steady leadership is something that is not common in today’s world. We have had so many employees that have worked their whole career here and have collaborated on such amazing innovations in our business. I believe our employees bring a mindset of and unwavering commitment to innovation and transformation, and we have thrived because we are driven by an entrepreneurial spirit and a clear vision to continuously evolve and provide our customers with the best possible products and services.
