UK's Smiths Group names Alcoa's Williams as next chair

Smiths Group plc is an industrial group organized around 4 product families: - industrial equipment (35.5% of net sales; John Crane): mechanical linings, auxiliary sealing systems for pumps and compressors, bearings, power transmission couplings, etc.; - detection equipment (26.5%; Smiths Detection): for detecting and identifying explosives, weapons, chemical and biological agents, etc.; - tubular and thermal systems (25.3%; Flex-Tek); - electric and electronic interconnection equipment (12.7%; Smiths Interconnect): primarily for the defense, telecom and transportation sectors. Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Europe (18.5%), the Americas (54%), Asia/Pacific (16.2%) and other (11.3%).