Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories
 | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement. (August 2012) |
| Company type | Private/employee-owned |
|---|---|
| Industry | Electric Power |
| Founded | 1982 |
| Founder | Edmund O. Schweitzer III |
| Headquarters | Pullman, Washington, U.S. |
| Products | Power system protection, control, automation, integration and sensing solutions, including protective relays, meters, control enclosures and panels, GPS clocks, multiplexers and switches, fault indicators, and rugged computers |
| Services | Power Management Solutions Protection and Automation Services Cybersecurity Analysis Services |
Number of employees | More than 3,000 |
| Website | http://www.selinc.com/ |
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. (SEL) designs, manufactures, and supports products and services ranging from generator and transmission protection to distribution automation and control systems. Founded in 1982 by Edmund O. Schweitzer III, SEL shipped the world's first digital protective relay [citation needed]. Presently, the company designs and manufactures embedded system products for protecting, monitoring, control, and metering of electric power systems. E. O. Schweitzer Manufacturing, a manufacturer of fault indicators and sensors started by Edmund O. Schweitzer, Jr. in 1949, became a division of SEL in 2005.
History
SEL was founded in Pullman, Washington in 1982 when Dr. Edmund O. Schweitzer III invented and marketed the first all-digital protective relay, reducing the cost and complexity of power protection and revolutionizing the industry. Schweitzer created the relay as a Ph.D. project while at Washington State University. The company shipped its first products to Otter Tail Power Company in Fergus Falls, Minnesota in 1984. In 1985, SEL built its first building and employed eleven people. The company continues to grow and today provides products and services in 142 countries. In 2009, SEL became 100% employee-owned under an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).
SEL manufactures products for communications, and protection for transmission and distribution systems and apparatus protection. They also manufacture controllers for distribution voltage regulators.
In 2010, SEL published its first textbook, Modern Solutions for Protection, Control, and Monitoring of Electric Power Systems. SEL's quarterly Journal of Reliable Power also began in 2010.
In January 2012, Fortune 100 listed Schweitzer Engineering as #97 in "The 100 Best Companies To Work For."