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ITT Inc. (ITT)

Q3 2014 Earnings Call· Fri, Oct 31, 2014

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Welcome to ITT's Third Quarter 2014 Earnings Conference Call. On the call today from ITT is Melissa Trombetta, Vice President, Investor Relations. She is joined by Denise Ramos, Chief Executive Officer and President; and Tom Scalera, Chief Financial Officer. Today's call is being recorded and will be available for replay beginning at 12:00 p.m. Eastern. [Operator Instructions] It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to Melissa Trombetta. You may begin.

Melissa Trombetta

Analyst

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to ITT's Third Quarter 2014 Investor Review. I'd like to highlight that this morning's presentation, press release and reconciliations of GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures can be found on our website at itt.com/ir. During the course of this call, we will make forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. No forward-looking statements can be guaranteed, and actual results may differ materially from those projected. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Forward-looking statements made on this call should be evaluated together with the risks and uncertainties that affect our business, particularly those disclosed in our SEC filings. So let's now turn to Slide #3, where Denise will discuss our results.

Denise L. Ramos

Analyst

Good morning, everyone. I appreciate you joining us as we announce our strong financial results for the third quarter of 2014. Q3 was another solid quarter for ITT, with better-than-expected operational results and earnings. Our financial performance highlights the benefit of our diversified portfolio, which is nicely aligned around key strategic end markets, geographies and customers. So let me put our diversification in context. In the quarter, our revenue was 43% in transportation, 34% in industrial and 23% in energy. From a geographic perspective, we were also nicely diversified, with 40% in North America, 20% in other developed markets and 32% in emerging markets. Our strategically integrated operating company model has continuously delivered value across our multi-industrial platform as we've built a solid, longer-term operating foundation over the last 3 years since the spin-off. The results in the quarter and over the last 3 years also highlight our ability to effectively manage in an unpredictable economic environment by leveraging a more efficient cost structure that we drove through our relentless ongoing focus on productivity improvements, advancing our lean initiatives, strengthening our culture and driving a premier experience for our customers. As a result of this sustained operational intensity all across ITT, in Q3, we grew our adjusted segment operating margins at 190 basis points, 15.1%, which is a new record for today's ITT. This growth was driven by strong net operating productivity, strong volume gains at Motion Technologies and the result of the efforts the entire organization has been making to optimize our cost structure and to achieve our goal of a lean enterprise. The payoff from these efforts is highlighted in the 130 basis points of adjusted gross margin expansion as well as in our 190 basis points of adjusted segment margin expansion, where 3 out of 4 of…

Thomas M. Scalera

Analyst

Thanks, Denise. Now let's turn to Slide 5 for a detailed review of our third quarter results. In Q3, we had total and organic revenue growth of 4%. Motion Technologies led the way with another exceptional quarter, up 11% organically. This growth included a 6% increase in auto brake pads and a 45% increase in KONI shock absorbers. The auto brake pad growth was the result of an increase in the aftermarket of 9%, mostly in our European dealer service channel as well as market growth and share gains in China and North America. The KONI performance was mostly driven by share gains in the global rail market. Industrial Process also delivered solid organic top line growth of 3%. This growth included a 17% increase in oil and gas pump projects, which was partially offset by a 1% decline in our chemical and industrial end markets due a large prior year industrial valve shipment and softness in our North American short-cycle base pump business, as well as a 5% decline in mining. The top line increases we saw in 3 out of 4 of our segments were partially offset by a 5% decline at Interconnect Solutions, that reflected defense and communication weakness and an expected decline in our other nonstrategic connector product line. Moving on to orders. Total and organic orders increased by 2%, driven by strength in automotive friction, rail shock absorbers, commercial aerospace, North American petrochemical and mining pumps, and a 5% increase in our industrial pumps aftermarket. These gains were partially offset by oil and gas pump project delays in emerging markets, a large prior year project compare and an 8% decrease in our Interconnect Solutions business due to expected declines in communications and other nonstrategic connectors. Q3 adjusted segment operating income of $99 million represents a…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Mike Halloran of Robert W. Baird. Michael Halloran - Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Research Division: So how are you guys thinking about growth heading into next year? You've got a lot of positive internal momentum that you're driving through your portfolio today, but certainly, the end market trends are a little bit more mixed. There's certainly concerns over oil and gas related to CapEx, and if you think about it from a growth perspective, 4Q -- implied 4Q revenue is flattish to modestly positive. And so as we get towards next year, maybe if you could just talk about some of the puts and takes you're seeing in the environment as it stands today.

Denise L. Ramos

Analyst

When we think about 2015, obviously, we're just working through those plans right now for 2015. So we're not ready to give guidance on what's happening in 2015. When you think about some of the end markets that you've got out there, China, the automotive market, we've done well this past year, and we're looking at even expanding our capacity in Wuxi next year in China because we see that that's going to be continued growth for us. We're hopeful with the oil and gas and chemical and petrochemical projects that we're going to see strengths going into next year with that, where we've seen in October some projects are now getting awarded. So we feel relatively good about that. We are -- we do -- there are some challenging markets out there when you think about defense, and what's happening with the defense market and the fact that we've declined in defense and -- it's really going to be a lot on the various programs that are out there. And mining still tends to be a challenging market, too, based on what's going to happen with capital spending that occurs there. Aerospace continues to do well for us based on the platforms that we have out there. So it's really a mix right now, very hard to talk through. Internally, what we are doing is we are driving productivity because we don't know yet where the top line is going to go. There's a lot of factors and a lot of dynamics out there, but what we do know is that we can control a lot of the productivity within this company that we've been doing for the last 3 years, which is proven in the operating margins that we've demonstrated that we've improved. So we're going to continue to do that. We're going to continue to drive that. We'll continue to make investments where it makes sense, and then we'll give you more color on 2015 when we've got our year-end call in February. Michael Halloran - Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Research Division: Makes sense. And then 2 margin questions, first, on the motion side, obviously, very impressive margins there. How are you thinking about the mix within that portfolio? How much did the KONI turnaround help you? And obviously, aftermarket mix is going to help a little bit. And what kind of numbers should we be thinking about using on a forward basis from here? I obviously understand the seasonal component to the 4Q drop, but what's the right run rate when we kind of take all those things together?

Thomas M. Scalera

Analyst

Yes, Mike. Just exceptional performance from Motion Technologies in Q3, really everything was hitting on all cylinders. So we did benefit from the strong aftermarket, as you pointed out, plus KONI on an upward momentum. Clearly, mix is one of the issues that is a constant -- that cycles through the year, plus there is the ever-present pricing headwind that we have on the automotive side. So when we kind of look out forward, I think the opportunity is for us to continue to drive margin expansion at Motion Technologies and kind of where we end this year. Our Wuxi facility is really powering up right now. We are likely to continue to expand our investments in Wuxi in 2015 based on the volume gains that we have projected into 2015 and beyond. So one of the areas is to continue to drive volumes through Wuxi and to start to bring the margins up from that facility to be more in line with the margins we have elsewhere at Motion Technologies. There's a tremendous operation right now in Wuxi, and they're going to benefit significantly over time as we continue to increase volumes off a strong operating foundation. We'll continue to drive lean through the operations within our core businesses in Motion Technologies, which are highly automated. We continue to find new ways to drive productivity in that environment with really solid utilization rates. When you put those 2 kind of foundational elements together, we like the jumping-off point we have at Motion Technologies right now, including some future sourcing opportunities, we think, to drive global strategic sourcing. And then lastly, just to finish off on KONI, they're getting into the mid-teen levels. We think there is even more upside. We're continuing to stay aggressive in driving KONI margins to…

Denise L. Ramos

Analyst

When we think about over the past year or so, we've been making investment in our IT business. So we've been investing there to have an operation that we can run in a much more efficient and effective way. We've had such tremendous growth in that business, in the highly engineered complex projects that we've got, and so what we're doing is -- so we made the investments with the expanded product portfolio that we've got. We built a new state-of-the-art facility in Korea, which is now our Eastern Hemisphere Center of Excellence. We've improved our packaging and testing facility in Seneca Falls, which we now call our Western Hemisphere Center of Excellence, and we've been building out our supply chain and our project management skills. So the goal that we have there is to be able to execute these projects in a much stronger way as we go forward because we've made these incremental investments that we've got there. Right now, there's the -- some operational complexity. There's complexity with our customers, in change orders that we have there. We've had some complexity in the supply chain, but that's all opportunity for us as we go forward and as we improve this business and as we improve the project side of the operation.

Thomas M. Scalera

Analyst

And I would just add to that, Mike, that on the mix side, the aftermarket activity is slowly starting to gain some recurring momentum. Projects that we brought online in 2008, '09, '10 are just now starting to enter the aftermarket cycle in a more repeatable way, but the recent project growth that we've had really in emerging markets and energy and chemical on a global basis, those projects have not quite yet entered the aftermarket cycle. So one of the other stabilizing factors from a mix perspective is just letting these projects that have been installed get up and running and start to drive some aftermarket part opportunities in the future.

Denise L. Ramos

Analyst

And then when we think about the growth in North America and what's happening in North America, we have a strong North America presence and a North American business, and so when we think more of our baseline pumps that we have there, we expect to see continued improvement there also.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from John Inch of Deutsche Bank.

John G. Inch - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst

So if I recall, I think 1/3 of Industrial Process is tied to oil and gas, and obviously, with oil prices where they are, I realize there's a lot of puts and takes, but maybe, it might be helpful if you could remind us what the mix of unconventional is because I think the cost threshold of those projects is much higher. So in theory, there is risk of cancellation. Just curious how you're thinking about the outlook. I understand the aftermarket dynamic. I'm more sort of -- in terms of IP, I think, there's a lot going on. Just more concerned about -- if oil prices sustain themselves at these levels, what could be the impact? And then what's ITT's response?

Denise L. Ramos

Analyst

Yes, good question, John. So let's first remember that this -- we believe for -- oil and gas for us is a long-term growth market. You're going to have some dislocations. You're going to have some volatility in it, but we like it is as a long-term growth market. The other thing to remember is we're very diversified. We've got global customers. We've got a higher weighting of national oil companies versus independent oil companies, and as you know, there is less risk of project cancellations with the national oil companies because they need it for their own economic benefit. And we're across all sectors in here. So we're in the upstream. We're in the midstream. We're in the downstream. We do expect what's currently producing in the upstream to stay strong, and we believe that because lower oil prices tend to lead to increased midstream and downstream oil and gas activity. We also think that there is some secondary benefit that flow from cheaper feedstock that goes into petrochemical and chemical markets. So when we look at the upstream, we don't see a huge exposure today because the majority of our activity is tied to existing production, where the goal there is to continue to increase production out of those wells. We're going to continue to watch the smaller part of our upstream business, because that's the one that's tied to new wells and new production, which we think is the area that will be most impacted by lower oil prices. But now counter to that is we're also watching the midstream and downstream exposure because we do believe that as oil prices get lower, that, that could benefit from higher refinery utilization. As of this point, we've not seen any impacts to date. There's been no cancellations, and we haven't heard that there's any challenges right there in the marketplace, but it's something that we are obviously watching very closely.

John G. Inch - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst

And then, well, we can obviously watch Weatherford for stock prices. You're saying -- I think that was a great answer. So just remind me though, what would be the new well, new production kind of element to this? Like what is the -- what is it in terms of the mix?

Thomas M. Scalera

Analyst

Yes, John, so some of that, for us, is really in Canada and it is in the unconventional space. We're talking anywhere in the neighborhood, maybe $40 million of orders, right. So we're looking out forward. We're looking at our order book and our visibility forward and into 2015. Some of those projects, generally in Canada, we would say we're watching. No indications, no signals, but I would say it's about $40 million in orders next year that is in this unconventional risk category. It's generally within Canada, and typically, these kind of large projects, as you know, have a much lower margin profile. So it has even less of a flow-through impact on the margins than the OI.

John G. Inch - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst

Okay. That's helpful. So then if we switch to ICS, was there any associated profit benefit from the move from California to Mexico this quarter? And if so, how much was it? And does that -- does it kind of grow into fourth quarter next year? Or is it, sort of, at steady run rate?

Denise L. Ramos

Analyst

First, let me say that we're very happy with ICS and the performance that we're seeing out of ICS and the productivity that we're seeing out of that business. These footprint moves that we've been making and the restructuring that we've been taking there, obviously, you see flowing through the results for that business. The move out of Santa Ana into Nogales is going to be completed, I think, sometime around the first quarter of next year. So there are some benefits flowing through into this year, and we'll continue to see a full set of benefits or almost a full set of benefits that's going to impact us in 2015.

John G. Inch - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst

There wasn't any Venezuelan charges, were there, Tom, in the quarter?

Thomas M. Scalera

Analyst

No, not in the quarter. We're certainly watching, just -- could there be some devaluation impacts as the year progresses, but there was nothing unusual in the quarter from Venezuela.

John G. Inch - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst

Okay. But just lastly, SPX has decided to spin their flow business. I think there, probably, is a little bit of, perhaps, competitive overlap with ClydeUnion and maybe their valves businesses. I guess, my question is, given the risks that SPX distraction caused, do you see the opportunity for some shared gain much like when Honeywell sold its brake business to Federal Mogul or even, let's just say, an opportunity to pick up a manager or 2 from them?

Denise L. Ramos

Analyst

John, there's always the opportunity out there because we went through this, and it was actually 3 years ago today that we were spun off. First, let me say I know the value of doing a spin because you get a lot of value creation and greater focus associated with it. I also remember, when we were going through it, we announced it in January and we completed it in October, and what basically happened is you've got a management team that just focuses on splitting up the company. So there's -- and you can't -- it's hard to make strategic decisions as you go forward because you need the breakup to occur and you've got -- you're signing people. You've got new organization structures in place. You have new assets in place, and so all of that would -- can result, in just -- from a strategic decision-making standpoint, you can't really go forward with the business until you split the organization. But to the extent that there could be some dislocations associated with it? It could be, and that's something that would -- could potentially be an opportunity for us.

Thomas M. Scalera

Analyst

Yes, I do think, John, too -- you alluded to Motion Technologies. I think our businesses today, based on the solid operating foundation, are much more in tune with these kind of market opportunities, and when we see our competitors going through some changes, our teams are very quick to identify an opportunity list and go out and make it happen, and motion tech is another example. Particularly this year, where we've been successful in doing that.

John G. Inch - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst

Yes -- no, I thought your experience based on your own spin would be helpful.

Operator

Operator

The next question comes from Brian Konigsberg of Vertical Research.

Brian Konigsberg - Vertical Research Partners, LLC

Analyst

Just touching on Industrial Process margins. Maybe -- I don't know if this is a significant impact or if you could quantify it, but to the extent that you're experiencing under-absorption because you do have Korea and Seneca Falls kind of just starting on the ramp of volume, how much of that is kind of playing into the margins that we see today? And as that does get fully ramped, what -- how should we think about the benefits to that?

Denise L. Ramos

Analyst

Sure. So as I said, we've been ramping up these investments that we've got. We feel really good about how we've designed the footprint IP because it's very tight. We've got the 2 main facilities that we have there. So we like the footprint that we've got. We like the investments that we've made. It is -- right now, we're trying to work through those new investments and realigning some of our facilities and some of our new processes, which is going to benefit more new orders that we have coming through the pipeline associated with that. But as a result of the investments that we've had, as a result of the customers and complexities that the customers have in their equipment and within the supply chain, we've been experiencing some additional scrap and rework and freight and customer delays, and we think that that's an impact to us that could be an opportunity for us in the future of about 100 basis points or so on the IP margins. So we look forward in the future to be able to capture that opportunity.

Brian Konigsberg - Vertical Research Partners, LLC

Analyst

Actually, I was thinking more on the lines of not just the investment that you're making in there and getting up the learning curve but just having unabsorbed overhead cost because you're not fully ramped. Is that incremental to what you're referring to on the 100 basis points? Or is that inclusive?

Thomas M. Scalera

Analyst

That's inclusive, Brian, and I think the point -- the $100 million is looking back at what we expected to kind of deliver this year from efficiencies. I think when we fully continue to load these locations, that will give us even better absorption going forward that were kind of relative to what we expected this year. That's the 100 basis points, and that was -- some of that is market driven, changing with our customers and the engineering complexity. Some of it was our internal efficiencies that we're improving, but to your point, down the road, as we start to fulfill more volumes in here, I think we'll have even greater absorption. So the 100 basis points is kind of relative to the volume levels we have today. As we increase volumes in the future, that would be additive to, I think, this 100 basis points that we're articulating.

Brian Konigsberg - Vertical Research Partners, LLC

Analyst

Okay. And then just on to motion tech in China, so I think you entered the year at a run rate of around 4 million brake pads, maybe 2 million to 4 million in that range, or you're looking maybe 10 million to 12 million. Maybe can you just give us an update on kind of where you stand on that volume and maybe your preliminary look into 2015, where you think that could go?

Denise L. Ramos

Analyst

So we've been ramping up, as you indicate, all year in Wuxi. We're -- at the end of the year, we will be close to a forward-looking run rate of about 18 million brake pads going forward, which is -- and the capacity of the facility that we have today, what we've built out, is about 20 million or so brake pads, which is why we're now looking at expanding the facility from where we are today because we've won so many new platforms in China. We have visibility into the fact that we're going to need more production capability going forward. So that's about where we are right now. We'll continue to ramp up as we go into next year, and it will just be a slow climb. It's what we've been doing to date.

Thomas M. Scalera

Analyst

Yes, and, Brian, we -- the facility we have today, we'd just be adding additional equipment into it. So it's not a brick-and-mortar investment. It's more about the equipment and the processes that we use. And just to kind of put the motion tech China opportunity into some context, right now, we're on 5 of the top 20 platforms in China. We have visibility to awards at this point that would bring us to 10 of the top 20 platforms in China. So we're going to continue to scale up that motion tech production rate in anticipation of those wins that, quite frankly, are probably coming sooner than we had initially planned. So for 2015, one of the biggest areas of CapEx investment will absolutely be to significantly increase the amount of brake pads we produce in Wuxi in 2015.

Denise L. Ramos

Analyst

The market continues to stay strong there. We see increasing demand for premium automotive. We also -- they've put in a government program where they're going to be scrapping 5 million cars there for environmental reasons, and that's going to create additional opportunity for us in China.

Brian Konigsberg - Vertical Research Partners, LLC

Analyst

If I could just sneak one more in, just on the point on CapEx. I mean -- so you're coming in 2014 around a little bit over 5% of sales. Should it take a meaningful step lower in '15? Or do you anticipate that, that remains at kind of these elevated levels into next year based on the opportunities you just mentioned?

Thomas M. Scalera

Analyst

Yes. We were expecting it to step down, and then I think the counterbalance has been the acceleration at Motion Technologies. So we've always kind of viewed the base businesses, if you will, that we have made most of the foundational investments in the Industrial Process production capabilities and Interconnect Solutions and CT. So a lot of the foundational investments have been put in place. So those rates of investment will start to come down in a meaningful way over the next year or 2. Where you will see the continued investment, where you have the counterbalance, is certainly accelerating Motion Technology. So our view is to probably get this expansion done in about half the amount of time that we initially planned. So we will continue to see a high level of investment in Motion Technologies next year with a ROIC profile on that investment, which is very, very solid. So I would say, Brian, it would step down. The reason why I wouldn't say meaningfully is because we're going to significantly increase our investment in Wuxi next year, which is a counterbalance of those other forces, but that's an investment with good visibility and great return profile.

Brian Konigsberg - Vertical Research Partners, LLC

Analyst

Do you know where your natural run rate is after kind of these extraordinary investments are made?

Thomas M. Scalera

Analyst

I would say motion tech is the anomaly from the calculation. I think at this point, on a go-forward run rate, we're looking between 2.5 million to, I would say, 4 million, and the flex is really the amount of Motion Technology investment that we're making at different points in the cycle. It is a very highly automated business for us. We do invest significantly in that platform. So it's a different business model, but I think the normal run rate, once we get through this wave of build out, comes back between 2.5 million to 4 million based on how much investment we're making in any given year for Motion Technologies.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Joe Ritchie of Goldman Sachs.

Joseph Alfred Ritchie - Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst

So my first question, maybe kind of broader, if you take a look at your growth this quarter, it decelerated a little bit across your portfolio, and I know that there's some pretty significant margin expansion opportunities as well. I just wanted to get a sense, by segment, how much of your margin expansion is dependent on revenues maintaining at current levels? And maybe you can start there.

Thomas M. Scalera

Analyst

Sure. Joe, on the 2 turnaround businesses, ICS and KONI in particular, the turnaround model was predicated on a dramatically lower top line expectation. So we reset breakeven levels for those businesses dramatically below volume levels that we were projecting. So that has been the philosophy that we've been using, and that is, I think, pretty well incorporated into the way that we're building out the long-term footprint and processes for ICS. So the connector business is kind of advancing through this journey. As Denise mentioned, we'll be moving out of California more so into Mexico next year. We still have some important activities in California, but we'll have some production moving into Nogales next year. So we're going to start to have that blueprint continuing to play through but with a focus on driving higher-margin performance on volumes that we expect to come down because the other part of the equation for us, Joe, is we want to focus in the key end markets where we see the most margin opportunity, and that opportunity kind of create value for our customers. So in addition to that cost structure rebalancing, we are aligning the end markets in all of these businesses to make sure that we have market-facing leaders that are really going after where we can create the highest value, which is another opportunity for us to drive higher-margin volumes into the future. And I would say lastly, Industrial Process, we're still kind of going through the digestion of these investments, as Denise mentioned, and I think we're kind of recalibrating those operations for the longer-term margin expansion as we incorporate this more complex mix.

Joseph Alfred Ritchie - Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Is it fair to say, I guess, in Industrial Process that you do still continue to need to see the volumes come through in order to get your absorption levels to a higher level to really drive the strong margin expansion over the long term? I think you guys have talked about a mid-teens-type operating margin in that business over the long term, at least as an aspirational target.

Denise L. Ramos

Analyst

Yes, we have talked about that, Joe, and that's what -- that's still what the target is for Industrial Process. There's the 2 elements to Industrial Process that we've talked about. One is just getting the operation functioning now with these new facilities and new investments that we've made, which is some benefit that we would have associated with that, and then as we go out into the future, that's where you would see some volume then that would come into play, that would drive the margins even more than that, along with some mixed adjustment as we're investing in the aftermarket capabilities of this business, which is also going to tend to drive higher margins at IP.

Joseph Alfred Ritchie - Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Okay. And how do I square the commentary on the project activity? It seems like the fourth quarter in IP had started to pick up. You guys had mentioned large project activity in Q4, and squaring that with your initial comments that you're continuing to see project delays in oil and gas and that there was also some softness in your base pump business. So can you just provide a little bit more color there?

Thomas M. Scalera

Analyst

Yes, sure. Just on the base pump business, Joe, what we've been seeing all year is this destocking and restocking phenomenon that is really taking place throughout that business. So we had a weak Q1, a strong Q2 and then a little weaker Q3, but our baseline business was up 5% in Q3, with some international strength there as well. So it's a little weaker in North America, little stronger overseas, if you will, but it's still relatively healthy. But what we've been experiencing is just some unusual quarter-to-quarter variation in that business. So that was kind of one of the areas. The project backlog remains strong. We're continuing to see good order activity, as Denise mentioned, and we're going to -- these are lumpy, the delays are for a whole host of reasons. It could be engineering delays, other complexity that are rolling through the system. We haven't seen our customers pull back on activities based on the economic environment. So we're expecting some of the activities that are late into the process to continue to move forward. So what you hear, I think, us talking about Q3 into Q4 is just the timing of those activities coming through, which could be hard to predict.

Joseph Alfred Ritchie - Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Just to clarify that one last -- the one last clarification. So in Q4, as we've started Q4, you've already started to book some work or you see work on the horizon in IP?

Thomas M. Scalera

Analyst

We're seeing good activity in October, and we expect to see some nice projects continue to come through. And just to remember, from an order perspective, Q3 of last year was Industrial Process's largest order quarter ever. So we do face a pretty tough compare, and we actually got really close with some nice wins in Q3 on the project side. We would expect to see some continued, good activity in -- on the project side. That's oil and gas, petrochemical and chemical, in particular.

Operator

Operator

Our final question comes from the line of Nathan Jones of Stifel. Nathan Jones - Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, Research Division: I guess I'll start with another one on the China motion tech facility. I know you've built that with additional capacity in mind and a modular structure so it doesn't cost as much to ramp that up. What could you potentially produce out of the facility that you have there now?

Denise L. Ramos

Analyst

Out of the existing facility, without any more investment, it's the 20 million brake pads. Nathan Jones - Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, Research Division: I mean, under that roof, yes?

Denise L. Ramos

Analyst

Under that roof. And then under that roof, the next investment that we're making takes us up to 40 million brake pads in that same facility, just building it out with additional equipment. At that point, that's -- maybe 40 million, maybe 45 million brake pads depending on efficiency and lean and applying all of that, but then we've really maxed out that facility and we'd have to look at where we go next. Nathan Jones - Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, Research Division: Okay. You guys have been pretty consistently investing that 50, 60 basis points into growth investments. How long is the runway for you to continue to invest at that level?

Thomas M. Scalera

Analyst

Yes. Nathan, we think it's kind of the operating rhythm that we have. Our strategic plan generates that level of growth opportunities each year, quite frankly, there are more ideas out there. I would certainly say going into 2015, as we go into our operating plan process, we'll certainly be looking at those investments very closely and trying to determine which ones we think makes sense in the current environment, but I would tell you naturally, that is about the run rate that's requested. And certainly, we'll use our processes to determine what we'd greenlight this year. We'll probably want to stage-gate some ideas and see how the year unfolds in 2015 and then move more systematically through the investments as we get more clarity around 2015. Nathan Jones - Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, Research Division: Okay. And just one on the M&A outlook. I know, Denise, you hired a new M&A guru and that your focus was shifting towards M&A. Can you talk about how the pipeline is developing and what you see out there that is possibly executable next year?

Denise L. Ramos

Analyst

Yes. We have been -- as you indicate, Nathan, we've been improving our cultivation capabilities really throughout ITT. So we've hired some new individuals here at corporate. We have dedicated some business development folks at the different businesses that we have. So we've got dedicated resources associated with that, with the goal of really opening up the aperture in all of our core markets, and it's really time for us to do more of that because we're well underway with these operational turnarounds we've talked about at KONI and ICS. We've built a very strong functional foundation and balance sheet, and so what we're doing now is building out more opportunities for us. There are some smaller-sized deals that are out there right now. As you know, the timing is very -- always -- it's always hard to predict with these things. We've been very active in the process. We've walked away from a handful of deals that we've been engaged in because we're remaining disciplined, and we see that there is still pretty high multiples that are out there right now. So we've got the team focused on this. We're looking at a number of different opportunities, as I said, we've been engaged in a number of different processes, and when the right thing comes along with the right price, then we'll let you know, and we'll be able to execute on it.

Operator

Operator

This concludes the question-and-answer portion of today's conference. I would now like to turn the floor back over to Denise Ramos for any additional or closing remarks.

Denise L. Ramos

Analyst

Well, let me just thank everyone for joining us on the call today. You've heard this morning, we are very pleased with our Q3 performance and how we have been able to once again deliver on our commitments even in these uncertain market conditions. This really is the result of very strong focus and strong execution, and that's going to continue to propel our strategy forward and it's going to continue to create ongoing long-term value for all of our stakeholders. And I look forward to updating you on our progress next quarter. Until then. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. This does conclude today's teleconference. Please disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day.