Item 1A.  Risk FactorsTable

In the ordinary course of Contentsour business, we face various strategic, operating, compliance and financial risks.  These risks could have a material impact on our business, reputation, financial condition or results of operations.  Our most significant risks are set forth below and elsewhere in this Report.  These risk factors should be considered in addition to our cautionary comments concerning forward-looking statements in this Report, including statements related to markets for our products and trends in our business that involve a number of risks and uncertainties.

Our operating results could fluctuate significantly.

Our quarterly and annual operating results are affected by a wide variety of factors that could materially adversely affect revenues and profitability, including:  the timing of customer orders and the deferral or cancellation of orders previously received, the level of orders received which can be shipped in a quarter, fulfilling backlog on a timely basis, competitive pressures on selling prices, changes in the mix of products sold, the timing of investments in engineering and development, development of and response to new technologies, and delays in new product qualifications.

As a result of the foregoing and other factors, we may experience material fluctuations in future operating results on a quarterly or annual basis which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results and stock price.

Our growth could suffer if the markets into which we sell our products and services decline, do not grow as anticipated or experience cyclicality.

Our growth depends in part on the growth of the markets which we serve.  Any decline or lower than expected growth in our served markets could diminish demand for our products and services, which would adversely affect our financial statements.  Certain of our businesses operate in industries that may experience periodic, cyclical downturns.  Demand for our products and services is also sensitive to changes in customer order patterns, which may be affected by announced price changes, changes in incentive programs, new product introductions and customer inventory levels.  Any of these factors could adversely affect our growth and results of operations in any given period.

Our business operations may be adversely affected by information systems interruptions, intrusions or new software implementations.

We are dependent on various information technologies throughout our company to administer, store and support multiple business activities.  Disruptions or cybersecurity attacks, such as unauthorized access, malicious software and other intrusions may lead to exposure of proprietary and confidential information as well as potential data corruption.  Any intrusion may cause operational stoppages, diminished competitive advantages through reputational damages and increased operational costs.  We are committed to a multi-year enterprise resource planning system implementation along with the standardization of our business systems.  This endeavor will occupy additional resources, diverting attention from other operational activities, and may cause our information systems to not perform as expected.  While we expect to invest significant resources throughout the planning and project management process, unanticipated delays could occur.

If we do not respond to changes in technology, our products may become obsolete and we may experience a loss of customers and lower revenues.

We sell our products to customers in several industries that experience rapid technological changes, new product introductions and evolving industry standards.  Without the timely introduction of new products and enhancements, our products and services will likely become technologically obsolete over time and we may lose a significant number of our customers.  Our product development efforts may be affected by a number of factors, including our ability to anticipate customer needs, allocate our research and development funding, innovate and develop new products, differentiate our offerings and commercialize new technologies, secure intellectual property protection for our product and manufacture products in a cost effective manner.  We would be harmed if we did not meet customer requirements and expectations.  Our inability, for technological or other reasons, to successfully develop and introduce new and innovative products could result in a loss of customers and lower revenues.

We face competition that could harm our business and we may be unable to compete successfully against new entrants and established companies with greater resources.

Competition in connection with the manufacturing of our products may intensify in the future.  The market for our technologies is competitive and subject to rapid technological change.  We compete globally on the basis of product performance, customer

service, availability, reliability, productivity and price.  Our competitors may be larger and may have greater financial, operational, economies of scale, personnel, sales, technical and marketing resources than us.  Certain of our competitors also may pursue aggressive pricing or product strategies that may cause us to reduce the prices we charge for our original equipment and aftermarket products and services or lose sales.  These actions may lead to reduced revenues, lower margins and/or a decline in market share, any of which may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We intend to develop new products and expand into new markets, which may not be successful and could harm our operating results.

We intend to expand into new markets and develop new and modified products based on our existing technologies and engineering capabilities, including the continued expansion of our Motion Control Systems.  These efforts have required and will continue to require us to make substantial investments, including significant research, development and engineering expenditures and capital expenditures for new, expanded or improved manufacturing facilities.  Specific risks in connection with expanding into new products and markets include: longer product development cycles, the inability to transfer our quality standards and technology into new products, and the failure of our customers to accept the new or modified products.

Our competitiveness depends on successfully executing our growth initiatives and our globalization strategies.

We continue to invest in initiatives to support future growth, such as the creation of an effective corporate structure, implementation of our enterprise resource planning system, launch of a new integrated website, implementation of a structured approach to identify target markets, and the expansion of our Allied Systematic Tools.  The failure to achieve our objectives on these initiatives could have an adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.  Our globalization strategy includes localization of our products and services to be closer to our customers and identified growth opportunities.  Localization of our products and services includes expanding our capabilities, including supply chain and sourcing activities, product design, manufacturing, engineering, marketing and sales and support.  These activities expose us to risks, including those related to political and economic uncertainties, transportation delays, labor market disruptions and challenges to protect our intellectual property.

We depend heavily on a limited number of customers, and if we lose any of them or they reduce their business with us, we would lose a substantial portion of our revenues.

A significant portion of our revenues and trade receivables are concentrated with a small group of customers.  These customers have a variety of suppliers to choose from and therefore can make substantial demands on us, including demands on product pricing and on contractual terms, often resulting in the allocation of risk to us as the supplier.  Our ability to maintain strong relationships with our principal customers is essential to our future performance.  If we lose a key customer, if any of our key customers reduce their orders of our products or require us to reduce our prices before we are able to reduce costs, if a customer is acquired by one of our competitors or if a key customer suffers financial hardship, our operating results would likely be harmed.

Our inability to adequately enforce and protect our intellectual property or defend against assertions of infringement could prevent or restrict our ability to compete.

We rely on patents, trademarks and proprietary knowledge and technology, both internally developed and acquired, in order to maintain a competitive advantage.  Our inability to defend against the unauthorized use of these rights and assets could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.  Litigation may be necessary to protect our intellectual property rights or defend against claims of infringement.  This litigation could result in significant costs and divert our management’s focus away from operations.

Increased healthcare, pension and other costs under the Company’s benefit plans could adversely affect the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.

We provide health benefits to many of its employees and the costs to provide such benefits continue to increase annually.  The amount of any increase or decrease in the cost of Company-sponsored health plans will depend on a number of different factors including new governmental regulations mandating types of coverage and reporting and other requirements.

We also sponsor defined benefit pension, defined contribution pension, and other postretirement benefit plans.  Our costs to provide such benefits generally continue to increase annually.  We use actuarial valuations to determine the Company’s benefit obligations for certain benefit plans, which require the use of significant estimates, including the discount rate, expected long-term rate of return on plan assets, mortality rates and the rates of increase in compensation and health care costs.  Changes

to these significant estimates could increase the cost of these plans, which could also have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.

If we are unable to attract and retain qualified personnel, our ability to operate and grow our company will be in jeopardy.

We are required to hire and retain skilled employees at all levels of our operations in a market where such qualified employees are in high demand and are subject to receiving competing offers.  We believe that there is, and will continue to be, competition for qualified personnel in our industry, and there is no assurance that we will be able to attract or retain the personnel necessary for the management and development of our business.  The inability to attract or retain employees currently or in the future may have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our future success depends in part on the continued service of our engineering and technical personnel and our ability to identify, hire and retain personnel.

Our success will depend in large part upon our ability to attract, train, retain and motivate highly skilled employees.  There is currently aggressive competition for employees who have experience in technology and engineering.  We may not be able to continue to attract and retain engineers or other qualified personnel necessary for the development and growth of our business or to replace personnel who may leave our employ in the future.  The failure to retain and recruit key technical personnel could cause additional expense, potentially reduce the efficiency of our operations and could harm our business.

We rely on suppliers to provide equipment, components and services, which creates certain risks and uncertainties that may adversely affect our business.

Our business requires that we buy equipment, components and services.  Our reliance on suppliers involves certain risks, including poor quality or an insecure supply chain, which could adversely affect the reliability and reputation of our products; changes in the cost of these purchases due to inflation, exchange rates, or other factors; shortages of components, commodities or other materials, which could adversely affect our manufacturing efficiencies and ability to make timely delivery.

Any of these uncertainties could adversely affect our profitability and ability to compete.  The effect of unavailability or delivery delays would be more severe if associated with our higher volume and more profitable products.  Even where substitute sources of supply are available, qualifying the alternate suppliers and establishing reliable supplies could cost more or could result in delays and a loss of sales.

Our operating results depend in part on our ability to contain or reduce costs.  There is substantial price competition in our industry, and our success and profitability will depend on our ability to maintain a competitive cost and price structure.

Our efforts to maintain and improve profitability depend in part on our ability to reduce the costs of materials, components, supplies and labor, including establishing production capabilities at our low cost regional subcontractors.  While the failure of any single cost containment effort by itself would most likely not significantly impact our results, we cannot give any assurances that we will be successful in implementing cost reductions and maintaining a competitive cost structure.

There is substantial price competition in our industry, and our success and profitability will depend on our ability to maintain a competitive cost and price structure.  We may have to reduce prices in the future to remain competitive.  Also, our future profitability will depend in part upon our ability to continue to improve our manufacturing efficiencies and maintain a cost structure that will enable us to offer competitive prices.  Our inability to maintain a competitive cost structure could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our profits may decline if the price of raw materials continues to rise and we cannot recover the increases from our customers.

We use various raw materials, such as copper, steel and zinc, in our manufacturing operations.  The prices of these raw materials have been subject to volatility.  As a result of price increases, we have implemented price surcharges to our customers; however we may be unable to collect surcharges without suffering reductions in unit volume, revenue and operating income.  There can be no assurance that we will be able to fully recover the price increases through surcharges in a timely manner.

We face the challenge of accurately aligning our capacity with our demand.

We can experience capacity constraints and longer lead times for certain products in times of growing demand while we can also experience idle capacity as economies slow or demand for certain products decline.  Accurately forecasting our expected volumes and appropriately adjusting our capacity have been, and will continue to be, important factors in determining our results of operations.  We cannot guarantee that we will be able to increase manufacturing capacity to a level that meets demand for our products, which could prevent us from meeting increased customer demand and could harm our business.  However, if we overestimate our demand and overbuild our capacity, we may have significantly underutilized assets and we may experience reduced margins.  If we do not accurately align our manufacturing capabilities with demand it could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

The manufacture of many of our products is a highly exacting and complex process, and if we directly or indirectly encounter problems manufacturing products, our reputation, business and financial statements could suffer.

The manufacture of many of our products is an exacting and complex process.  Problems may arise during manufacturing for a variety of reasons, including equipment malfunction, failure to follow specific protocols and procedures, problems with raw materials, natural disasters and environmental factors, and if not discovered before the product is released to market could result in recalls and product liability exposure.  Because of the time required to develop and maintain manufacturing facilities, an alternative manufacturer may not be available on a timely basis to replace such production capacity.  Any of these manufacturing problems could result in significant costs and liability, as well as negative publicity and damage to our reputation that could reduce demand for our products.

Quality problems with our products could harm our reputation, erode our competitive advantage and could result in warranty claims and additional costs.

Quality is important to us and our customers, and our products are held to high quality and performance standards.  In the event our products fail to meet these standards, our reputation could be harmed, which could damage our competitive advantage, causing us to lose customers and resulting in lower revenues.  We generally allow customers to return defective or damaged products for credit, replacement or exchange.  We generally warrant that our products will meet customer specifications and will be free from defects in materials and workmanship.  We reserve for our exposure to warranty claims based upon recent historical experience and other specific information as it becomes available.  However, these reserves may not be adequate to cover future warranty claims and additional warranty costs or inventory write-offs may be incurred which could harm our operating results.

We may explore additional acquisitions that complement, enhance or expand our business.  We may not be able to complete these transactions, and, if completed, we may experience operational and financial risks in connection with our acquisitions that may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our future growth may be a function, in part, of acquisitions.  We may have difficulty finding these opportunities, or if we do identify these opportunities, we may not be able to complete the transactions for reasons including a failure to secure financing.

To the extent that we are able to complete the transactions, we will face the operational and financial risks commonly encountered with this type of a strategy.  These risks include the challenge of integrating acquired businesses while managing the ongoing operations of each business, the challenge of combining the business cultures of each company, and the need to retain key personnel of our existing business and the acquired business.  The process of integrating operations could cause an interruption of, or loss of momentum in, the activities of the acquired business and our existing business.  Members of our senior management may be required to devote considerable amounts of time to the integration process, which will decrease the time they will have to manage our businesses, service existing customers, attract new customers and develop new products.  If our senior management is not able to effectively manage the integration process, or if any significant business activities are interrupted as a result of the integration process, our business could be adversely affected.

Future acquisitions could result in debt, dilution, liabilities, increased interest expense, restructuring charges and amortization expenses related to intangible assets.  In addition, any acquired business, technology, service or product could under-perform relative to our expectations and the price that we paid for it, or not perform in accordance with our anticipated timetable.

Our international sales and operations are subject to a variety of market and financial risks and costs that could affect our profitability and operating results.

We do business around the world and are continuing our strategy of global expansion.  Our international sales are primarily to customers in Europe, Canada and Asia.  In addition, our manufacturing operations, suppliers and employees are located in many places around the world.  The future success of our business depends in large part on growth in our sales in non-U.S. markets.  Our global operations are subject to numerous financial, legal and operating risks, such as political and economic instability; prevalence of corruption in certain countries; enforcement of contract and intellectual property rights and compliance with existing and future laws, regulations and policies, including those related to tariffs, investments, taxation, trade controls, product content and performance, employment and repatriation of earnings.  In addition, we are affected by changes in foreign currency exchange rates, inflation rates and interest rates.

Foreign currency exchange rates may adversely affect our financial statements.

Sales and purchases in currencies other than the U.S. dollar expose us to fluctuations in foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar and may adversely affect our financial statements.  Increased strength of the U.S. dollar increases the effective price of our products sold in U.S. dollars into other countries, which may require us to lower our prices or adversely affect sales to the extent we do not increase local currency prices.  Decreased strength of the U.S. dollar could adversely affect the cost of materials, products and services we purchase overseas.  Sales and expenses of our non-U.S. businesses are also translated into U.S. dollars for reporting purposes and the strengthening or weakening of the U.S. dollar could result in unfavorable translation effects.  The Company also faces exchange rate risk from its investments in subsidiaries owned and operated in foreign countries.

Our international operations expose us to legal and regulatory risks, which could have a material effect on our business.

Our profitability and international operations are, and will continue to be, subject to risks relating to changes in foreign legal and regulatory requirements.  In addition, our international operations are governed by various U.S. laws and regulations, including Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other similar laws that prohibit us and our business partners from making improper payments or offers of payment to foreign governments and their officials and political parties for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business.  Any alleged or actual violations of these regulations may subject us to government scrutiny, severe criminal or civil sanctions and other liabilities and could negatively affect our business, reputation, operating results and financial condition.

We are required to comply with various import laws and export control and economic sanctions laws, which may affect our transactions with certain customers, business partners and other persons and dealings between our employees and subsidiaries.  In certain circumstances, export control and economic sanctions regulations or embargos may prohibit the export of certain products, services and technologies.  In other circumstances, we may be required to obtain an export license before exporting the controlled item.  Compliance with the various import laws that apply to our businesses can restrict our access to, and increase the cost of obtaining, certain products and at times can interrupt our supply of imported inventory.

In addition to government regulations regarding sale and export, we are subject to other regulations regarding our products.  For example, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted disclosure rules for companies that use conflict minerals in their products, with substantial supply chain verification requirements in the event that the materials come from, or could have come from, the Democratic Republic of the Congo or adjoining countries.  These new rules and verification requirements will impose additional costs on us and on our suppliers, and may limit the sources or increase the cost of materials used in our products.  Further, if we are unable to certify that our products are conflict free, we may face challenges with our customers that could place us at a competitive disadvantage, and our reputation may be harmed.

Our indebtedness may limit our operations and our use of our cash flow, and any failure to comply with the covenants that apply to our indebtedness could adversely affect our liquidity and financial statements.

Our ability to service our indebtedness depends on our financial performance, which is affected by prevailing economic conditions and financial, business, regulatory and other factors.  Some of these factors are beyond our control.  Our debt level and related debt service obligations can have negative consequences, including requiring us to dedicate significant cash flow from operations to the payment of principal and interest on our debt, which reduces the funds we have available for other purposes such as acquisitions and capital investment; reducing our flexibility in planning for or reacting to changes in our business and market conditions; and exposing us to interest rate risk since a portion of our debt obligations are at variable rates. In addition, certain of our indebtedness will have significant outstanding principal balances on their maturity dates, commonly known as “balloon payments.”  Therefore, we will likely need to refinance at least a portion of our outstanding debt as it

matures.  We may incur significantly more debt in the future, particularly to finance acquisitions, and there can be no assurance that our cost of funding will not substantially increase.

Our existing credit agreements contain, and any future debt agreements we may enter into may contain, certain financial tests and other covenants that limit our ability to incur indebtedness, acquire other businesses and impose various other restrictions.  If we breach any of the covenants and do not obtain a waiver from the lenders, the outstanding indebtedness could be declared immediately due and payable.  If we are unable to obtain sufficient capital in the future, we may have to curtail our capital expenditures and other expenses.  Any such actions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity.

Economic and credit market uncertainty could interrupt our access to capital markets, borrowings, or financial transactions to hedge certain risks, which could adversely affect our financial condition.

To date, we have been able to access debt and equity financing that has allowed us to make investments in growth opportunities and fund working capital requirements.  In addition, we enter into financial transactions to hedge certain risks, including foreign exchange and interest rate risk.  Our continued access to capital markets, the stability of our lenders and their willingness to support our needs, and the stability of the parties to our financial transactions that hedge risks are essential for us to meet our current and long-term obligations, fund operations, and fund our strategic initiatives.  An interruption in our access to external financing or financial transactions to hedge risk could affect our business prospects and financial condition.

We may never realize the full value of our intangible assets, which represent a significant portion of our total assets.

These intangible assets consist primarily of goodwill, customer lists, trade names and patented technology arising from our acquisitions.  Goodwill is not amortized, but is tested annually or upon the occurrence of certain events which indicate that the assets may be impaired.  Definite lived intangible assets are amortized over their estimated useful lives and are tested for impairment upon the occurrence of certain events which indicate that the assets may be impaired.  We may not receive the recorded value for our intangible assets if we sell or liquidate our business or assets.  In addition, intangible assets with definite lives will continue to be amortized.  Amortization expenses relating to these intangible assets will continue to reduce our future earnings.

Failure of our internal control over financial reporting could limit our ability to report our financial results accurately and timely or prevent fraud.

We believe that effective internal controls are necessary to provide reliable financial reports and to assist in the effective prevention of fraud.  If we are unable to detect or correct any issues in the design or operating effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting or fail to prevent fraud, current and potential customers and shareholders could lose confidence in our financial reporting, which could harm our business and the trading price of our stock.

Unforeseen exposure to additional income tax liabilities may affect our operating results.

Our distribution of taxable income is subject to domestic tax and, as a result of our significant manufacturing and sales presence in foreign countries, foreign tax.  Our effective tax rate may be affected by shifts in our mix of earnings in countries with varying statutory tax rates, changes in reinvested foreign earnings, alterations to tax regulations or interpretations and outcomes of any audits performed on previous tax returns.

We are subject to a variety of litigation and other legal and regulatory proceedings in the course of our business that could adversely affect our financial statements.

We are subject to a variety of litigation and other legal and regulatory proceedings incidental to our business, including claims for damages arising out of the use of products or services and claims relating to intellectual property matters, employment matters, tax matters, commercial disputes, competition and sales and trading practices, environmental matters, personal injury, insurance coverage and acquisition matters, as well as regulatory investigations or enforcement.  We may also become subject to lawsuits as a result of past or future acquisitions or as a result of liabilities retained from, or representations, warranties or indemnities provided in connection with, divested businesses.  These lawsuits may include claims for compensatory damages, punitive and consequential damages and/or injunctive relief.  The defense of these lawsuits may divert our management’s attention, we may incur significant expenses in defending these lawsuits and we may be required to pay damage awards or settlements or become subject to equitable remedies that could adversely affect our operations and financial statements.  Moreover, any insurance or indemnification rights that we may have may be insufficient or unavailable to protect us against such losses.  We estimate loss contingencies and establish reserves based on our assessment where liability is deemed probable

and reasonably estimable given the facts and circumstances known to us at a particular point in time.  Subsequent developments may affect our assessment and estimates of the loss contingencies recorded as liabilities.  We cannot guarantee that our liabilities in connection with litigation and other legal and regulatory proceedings will not exceed our estimates or adversely affect our financial statements and reputation.

Our business is subject to environmental regulations that could be costly to comply with.

Federal, state and local regulations impose various environmental controls on the manufacturing, transportation, storage, use and disposal of batteries and hazardous chemicals and other materials used in, and hazardous waste produced by the manufacturing of our products.  Conditions relating to our historical operations may require expenditures for clean-up in the future and changes in environmental laws and regulations may impose costly compliance requirements on us or otherwise subject us to future liabilities.  Additional or modified regulations relating to the manufacture, transportation, storage, use and disposal of materials used to manufacture our products or restricting disposal or transportation of our products may be imposed that may result in higher costs or lower operating results.  In addition, we cannot predict the effect that additional or modified environmental regulations may have on us or our customers.

We face the potential harms of natural disasters, pandemics, acts of war, terrorism, international conflicts or other disruptions to our operations.

Natural disasters, pandemics, acts or threats of war or terrorism, international conflicts, political instability, and the actions taken by governments could cause damage to or disrupt our business operations, our suppliers or our customers, and could create economic instability.  Although it is not possible to predict such events or their consequences, these events could decrease demand for our products or make it difficult or impossible for us to deliver products.

Item 2.  Properties.

As of December 31, 2014,2015, the Company occupies facilities as follows:

The Company'sCompany’s management believes the above-described facilities are adequate to meet the Company'sCompany’s current and foreseeable needs.  Most of the manufacturing facilities described above are operating at less than full capacity.

Item 3.  Legal Proceedings.

The Company is involved in certain actions that have arisen out of the ordinary course of business.  Management believes that resolution of the actions will not have a significant adverse effect on the Company'sCompany’s consolidated financial position or results of operations.