POWELL INDUSTRIES INC 10-K

Item 1. Business Overview Powell Industries, Inc. is a Delaware corporation founded by William E. Powell in 1947. We develop, design, manufacture and service custom-engineered equipment and systems that (1) distribute, control and monitor the flow of electrical energy and (2) provide protection to motors, transformers and other electrically powered equipment. We are headquartered in Houston, Texas, and our major subsidiaries, all of which are wholly owned, include Powell Electrical Systems, Inc.; Powell (UK) Limited; Powell Canada, Inc.; and Powell Industries International, B.V. Our website is powellind.com . We make available, free of charge on or through our website, copies of our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports, filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as soon as is reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Additionally, all of our reports filed with the SEC are available via their website at sec.gov . References to Fiscal 2023, Fiscal 2022 and Fiscal 2021 used throughout this Annual Report relate to our fiscal years ended September 30, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Products and Services Our principal products include integrated power control room substations (PCRs®), custom-engineered modules, electrical houses (E-Houses), traditional and arc-resistant distribution switchgear and control gear, medium-voltage circuit breakers, monitoring and control communications systems, motor control centers, switches and bus duct systems. These products are designed for application voltages ranging from 480 volts to 38,000 volts. We are headquartered in Houston, Texas and serve the oil and gas and petrochemical markets, which include onshore and offshore production, liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities and terminals, pipelines, refineries and petrochemical plants. Additional markets include electric utility, light rail traction power as well as mining and metals, pulp and paper, data centers and other municipal, commercial and industrial markets. Our product scope includes designs tested to meet both United States (U.S.) and international standards, under both the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). We assist customers by providing field service inspection, installation, commissioning, modification, and repair services, as well as spare parts, retrofit and retrofill components for existing systems, and replacement circuit breakers for obsolete switchgear no longer produced by the original manufacturer. We seek to establish long-term relationships with the end users of our systems as well as design and construction engineering firms contracted by those end users. We believe that our exemplary culture of safety and focus on customer satisfaction, along with our financial strength, allow us to continue to capitalize on opportunities in the industries we serve. Products and services are principally sold directly to the end user or to an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm on behalf of the end user. Each project is specifically engineered and manufactured to meet the exact specifications and requirements of the individual customer. Powell’s expertise is in the design, engineering, manufacturing, project management and integration of assorted systems into a single, custom-engineered deliverable. We market and sell our products and services, which are typically awarded in competitive bid situations, to a wide variety of customers and governmental agencies spanning diverse markets and geographic regions. Contracts often represent large-scale and complex projects with an individual customer. By their nature, these projects are typically non-recurring. Thus, multiple and/or continuous projects of similar magnitude with the same customer are not predictable. The timing of large project awards may cause material fluctuations in our revenues and gross profits. Occasionally our contracts may operate under a consortium or teaming arrangement. Typically, we enter into these arrangements with reputable companies with whom we have previously conducted business. These arrangements are generally made to leverage competitive positioning, or where scale and/or size dictates the use of such arrangement. Due to the nature and timing of large projects, a significant percentage of our revenues in a given period may result from one specific contract or customer. We believe the reduction in business volume from a particular industry or the loss of a major customer could have an adverse effect on our business. From time to time, an individual manufacturing facility may have significant volume from one particular customer that would be material to that facility. If during that time the customer were to experience financial distress, a decline in business or circumstances that would otherwise necessitate a cancellation of a project with us, our revenue could be adversely impacted. No single customer accounted for more than 10% of our consolidated revenues in Fiscal 2023. 4 Research and development activities are critical to Powell’s future and are focused on both the development of new products and services as well as enhancing current product offerings. Our expertise in vacuum circuit breaker engineering is internationally recognized, and we are committed to incorporating continuous product improvements that will ensure sustained operational safety and reliability across the markets we serve. Markets We strive to be the supplier of choice for custom-engineered system solutions and services to a broad array of customers and markets. Demand for our products and services is driven predominantly by the oil and gas, petrochemical and electric utility industries, but we also serve other commercial and industrial markets where customers need to manage, monitor and control large amounts of electrical energy through a complex network of electrical components and systems. The majority of our business is in support of capital investment projects that are highly complex and competitively bid. Our customized systems are designed to meet the specifications of our customers. Each system is designed, engineered and manufactured to the specific requirements of the particular application. We consider our engineering, project management, systems integration and technical support capabilities vital to the success of our business. In the oil, gas and petrochemical markets, we serve the upstream, midstream and downstream end markets. Within the downstream market, our primary customers typically are engaged in refining activities and/or leveraging natural gas feedstocks for the production of petrochemical or LNG products. The North American market is responding to increased international demand for LNG and gas-to-chemical processes utilizing low-cost gas feedstocks. Strong relationships have developed with our customers over the years and we are recognized as a preferred service provider to solve our customers' complex electrical needs. One element of our strategic focus is to strengthen our project portfolio beyond our core oil, gas and petrochemical markets. Diversification efforts outside of our core oil, gas and petrochemical markets have resulted in an increase in backlog across the utility and commercial and other industrial markets. We believe that our products and services, integration capabilities, technical and project management acumen, application engineering expertise and specialty contracting experience, together with our financial strength and responsiveness to the needs of our customers, give us a sustainable competitive advantage in our markets. We compete with a small number of multinational competitors that sell to a broad industrial and geographic market, as well as smaller, regional competitors that typically have limited capabilities and scope of supply. Some of our competitors are significantly larger and have substantially greater global resources such as engineering, manufacturing and marketing. Our principal competitors include ABB, Eaton, Schneider, and Siemens. The competitive factors used during bid evaluation by our customers vary from project to project and may include technical support and application expertise, engineering and manufacturing capabilities, equipment rating, delivered value, scheduling and price. While projects are typically non-recurring, a significant portion of our business is from repeat customers and many times involves third-party EPC firms hired by the end user and with whom we often have long, established relationships. Ultimately, our competitive position is dependent upon our ability to provide quality custom-engineered products, services and systems on a timely basis at a competitive price. Backlog Backlog represents management's estimate of the remaining unsatisfied performance obligation from work to be performed on our firm orders under uncompleted contracts and customer purchase orders, including approved change orders as well as new contractual agreements on which work has not begun. Our backlog will be recognized as revenue as we complete the remaining performance obligations. Our backlog does not include service and maintenance-type contracts for which we have the right to invoice as services are performed. Typically, our contracts may have an early termination for convenience clause at the discretion of our customers; however, most of these contracts typically provide for the reimbursement of our costs incurred and a reasonable margin in the event of such early termination. Our methodology for determining backlog may not be comparable to the methodology used by other companies. Our backlog at September 30, 2023 totaled $1.3 billion compared to $592.2 million at September 30, 2022. The increase in our backlog is across all of our end markets, and particularly driven by our core oil, gas and petrochemical markets. We anticipate that approximately $648 million of Fiscal 2023 ending backlog will be fulfilled during our fiscal year ending September 30, 2024. Backlog may not be indicative of future operating results as orders may be cancelled or modified by our customers and may not be indicative of continuing revenue performance over future fiscal quarters. 5 Raw Materials The principal raw materials used in our operations include steel, copper and aluminum, as well as various engineered electrical components. Material costs represented 49% of revenues in Fiscal 2023, 51% of revenues in Fiscal 2022, and 49% of revenues in Fiscal 2021. Unanticipated changes in material requirements, market conditions and disruptions in the supply chain or price increases could impact production costs and affect our consolidated results of operations. The equipment and materials that we use in our business are subject to availability and price fluctuations due to customer demand, producer capacity and market conditions. Uncertainty and demand disruptions have, in the past, resulted in considerable volatility across commodity markets. We have experienced supply chain disruptions driven predominately by availability and cost volatility across our raw materials, engineered components and labor force. As our procurement function seeks to address specific supply chain challenges, we continue working with our suppliers of key components and commodities to meet our customer commitments. While we have experienced, and may continue to experience, issues related to increased lead times for the purchase and delivery of key raw materials or components, we continue to monitor the availability (including transportation) and price of components and raw materials on a regular basis, as well as any potential impact on our operations. Additionally, we have adjusted our product pricing with our customers in response to the increased cost environment which has made a positive impact on our gross margins in Fiscal 2023. While the cost outlook for commodities used in the production of our products is not certain, we believe we can manage this volatility through contract pricing adjustments, with material-cost predictive estimating, hedging and by actively pursuing internal cost reduction efforts. Our supply base for certain key components and raw materials is limited. Many of our products require raw materials and components supplied by a limited number of suppliers, and in some instances, a single supplier. Changes in our design to accommodate similar components from other suppliers could be implemented to resolve a supply problem related to a sole-sourced component. Supply problems could result in delays in our ability to meet commitments to our customers and potentially result in delay damages assessed by our customers. We believe that sources of supply for raw materials and components are generally sufficient, and we do not believe a temporary shortage of materials will cause any significant adverse impact to our business and results of operations in the future. Human Capital At September 30, 2023, we had 2,363 full-time employees and 362 contract employees located primarily in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom (U.K.). Our employees are not represented by unions, and we believe that our relationship with our employees is good. Periodically, we find it challenging to source qualified personnel in certain geographic areas due to increased construction or economic activity. We continue to monitor our demand for skilled and unskilled labor and provide training and competitive compensation packages in an effort to attract and retain skilled employees. A decline in our employee relations, labor shortages or increased labor costs could impair our ability to maintain our business, meet customer commitments or grow our revenues, and may adversely impact our business and results of operations. Our top human capital priorities include the well-being, health and safety, and retention of our employees, as well as enhanced learning and leadership training opportunities, workplace safety, internal promotion and key employee retention. Powell emphasizes a culture of safety that runs throughout the Company. We establish annual goals and monthly operating metrics, which have resulted in a safety incident rate of 0.7 which is below the industry average, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. We believe that the nine-year average tenure of our employees is a reflection of our inclusive and supportive culture, and focused efforts on internal promotion, key employee retention and succession planning. Our annual Organizational Capabilities Review is focused on succession planning within our organization and is reviewed annually by our Board of Directors. We measure our success based on the percentage of internal promotions to key positions and our ability to attract and retain key employees. Intellectual Property While we hold various patents, trademarks, servicemarks, copyrights and licenses, we do not consider any individual intellectual property to be material to our consolidated business operations. Seasonality Our operations are not generally affected by seasonality. However, weather and natural phenomena can temporarily impact the performance of our operations. Furthermore, quarterly operating results may fluctuate in our first fiscal quarter due to the reduction in the number of workdays related to the number of holidays and paid time off that is taken in that fiscal quarter. 6 Government Regulations We are subject to various government regulations in the U.S. as well as various international locations where we operate. These regulations cover diverse areas including environmental compliance, import and export controls, economic sanctions, data and privacy protection, transfer pricing rules, anti-bribery, anti-trafficking and anti-trust provisions. Our policies mandate compliance with applicable laws and regulations administered by various state, federal and international agencies. We have established a multi-faceted compliance program that includes educating employees and leadership, performing risk-based due diligence and evaluating our supplier base. We require legal and ethical practices in our everyday work. We do not believe that compliance with governmental regulations will have a material impact on our capital expenditures, results of operations or competitive position.