Quotes from the Manufacturing Summit

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Manufacturing and transportation executives met at Reuters' U.S. headquarters on Tuesday to talk about trends in their products and industries.

The following are selected quotes from the Reuters Manufacturing and Transportation Summit in New York.

DAVID SPEER, CEO, ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS INC. (ITW.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)

"Clearly what we saw here in the first quarter in North America, particularly in the U.S., was beyond what we had built into any of our plans and forecasts as we looked at 2006 unfolding."

"I don't think we can understand the math on some of the deals ... When I see deals going for 15-, 18-times EBITDA in markets that don't have double-digit top-line growth prospects, I frankly don't know what their financial metrics are," he said of the prices private-equity firms are willing to pay for companies.

"Western Europe continues to be target-rich from our standpoint, if you look at businesses under $100 million in size," he said of potential acquisition targets.

KEITH NOSBUSCH, CEO, ROCKWELL AUTOMATION INC. (ROK.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)

"China is a different market for Rockwell Automation because of the evolution of the economy there. The largest percentage of our business in China today is what we would call the infrastructure staples ... the mining industry, the power generation industry, things that are used to build economies and create infrastructure."

"Certainly over the last year, we've had a lot of struggles with the increases in steel and copper (prices). On the other side of the equation, we have the opportunity to help our customers save money. So it creates revenue growth opportunities."

DAVID COTE, CEO, HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC. (HON.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)

"If you had, four years ago, said, 'Gee, what happens with $70 a barrel oil,' I'd have been saying, 'Disaster, global disaster, global recession, no way business can stand that.' And here we sit and everything is going along fine. I'm not sure what that number is. I know there's one out there at which point it does create a problem, but I'm not the person to figure out what the number is."

"I'm deathly afraid of overpaying," he said of acquisitions.

GEORGE NOLEN, CEO, SIEMENS AG'S (SIEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) NORTH AMERICAN

OPERATIONS

"If it continues to rise as it has for the past four or five months, it's going to be problematic. It's too steep," he said of rising raw materials costs.

"I wouldn't say that we've walked away from too many transactions because of costs. Clearly there's a lot more money in the marketplace now," he said of private equity bidders in the M&A market.  Continued...