A. O. Smith history

The delivery of 10,000 A. O. Smith frames that August helped Ford introduce his popularly priced Model N late in 1906 and attracted ever more automobile manufacturers to the supplier.

By 1908, more than 60 percent of new passenger cars in the United States was built on an A. O. Smith frame.

1910: Company has grown to become the largest auto frame maker in North America.

As the Company grew at breakneck speed, Arthur’s eldest son Lloyd Raymond joined the Company, and after Arthur’s unexpected death in 1912, Ray carried the family company into a new era.

The 23-year-old former company secretary had previously proposed manufacturing improvements that multiplied A. O. Smith’s production rate seven times: by 1916, the company was manufacturing 800,000 frames per year—half the auto industry’s needs.

L. R. Smith’s reluctance to pay for the marketing support necessary to maintain such products’ popularity, combined with the fact that the United States was thoroughly embroiled in the First World War, brought diversification to a halt in 1919.

Although expensive—construction consumed $6 million by 1920—the “Mechanical Marvel” they created produced 7,200 frames on two 180-man shifts per day.

In 1921, A. O. Smith introduced the Mechanical Marvel, the world’s first automated frame production line, capable of producing 10,000 auto frames per day, one every eight seconds.

In 1930, sales plummeted from $57 million to $9 million and the company suffered an operating loss of $5 million the following year.

1936 A.O. Smith patents the process of the glass-lined water heater.

Smith began to expand through acquisitions before World War II, purchasing Smith Meter Co., a Los Angeles firm that produced petroleum line measuring devices in 1937.

1940: Company diversifies into electric motors through the purchase of Sawyer Electrical Manufacturing Company.

By the time the United States entered the Second World War in 1941, A. O. Smith had already submitted proposals for aerial bombs made of welded pipe, won the government contracts, and built a factory to produce them.

In 1942, it once again began to produce bomb casings, as well as aircraft propellers, undercarriages, torpedoes, and air flasks.

By 1945, the company had built 4.5 million bombs, 16,750 sets of landing gear, and 46,700 propeller blades.

In 1946, they built a 400,000 square foot residential water heater plant in Kankakee, Illinois.

In 1948, they entered the commercial water heater market after acquiring The Burkay Company of Toledo, Ohio.

In 1949, the company began producing Harvestore, a glass-fused-to-steel silo, targeted at dairy and livestock operations.

The investment of over $50 million in new plants and equipment before 1950 propelled A. O. Smith to unprecedented success in the booming postwar American economy.

By 1954, the water heater division introduced the first glass-lined commercial water heater, the A. O. Smith Burkay B-65.

When A. O. Smith’s patent on the glass-lined water heater expired in 1955 and competition was opened, Smith eased out of the private-label segment, and scaled back efforts in the residential market to concentrate on the commercial segment with its leading Burkay brand.

1959: A.O. Smith establishes glass fiber division, which begins making fiberglass pipe and fittings.

In 1965, the Motor division invented the enclosed canopy, two-compartment motor, a design that improved the reliability in pool pump motors by separating the switching components from the motor windings.

In 1967, fourth generation Smith family member, Lloyd B. Smith, was elected chairman and chief executive officer of the company.

In 1969 alone, A. O. Smith acquired Layne & Bowler Pump company in Los Angeles, Bull Motors of the United Kingdom, and a majority interest in Armor Elevator, the sixth-largest elevator manufacturer in the United States.

A ten-month strike at Armor Elevator, which had just completed two years of acquisitions, crippled that subsidiary in 1972.

In 1974, the Conservationist line of residential water heaters was introduced.

L.B. Smith and President Jack Parker divested Armor Elevator, Bull Motors, and Meter Systems in 1975.

In 1976, the Motor division opened a plant in Bray, Ireland, to supply hermetic motors.

In 1978, A.O. Smith began manufacturing storage tanks, beginning with Aquastore, a glass-fused-to-steel tank.

Inefficient plants cost the Water Products Division $10 million in 1981 alone.

1982 Company produces its 100 millionth passenger car frame.

The subsidiary closed one factory and opened a more efficient one, and other cost-cutting measures helped it achieve profitability in 1983 after four successive years of losses.

The unit set a profit record of $45 million in 1985.

1986: Small motor division of Westinghouse is acquired.

Although the plan initially met resistance from union leaders, six years of gradual change yielded impressive results: the productivity growth rate doubled in 1988 and defects were reduced to 3 percent.

In 1990, it developed the first hermetic motor insulation system compatible with R-134a non-ozone-depleting refrigerant.

Although the firm recorded a net loss in 1992, its return to profitability the following year coincided with a general economic recovery in the United States.

The company's automotive operation also sought new business with Japanese automakers, opening a sales and engineering office in Yokohama in 1993 and landing a major contract with Nissan for the manufacture of components for the sides of pickup trucks.

In 1995, they acquired Peabody TecTank of Parsons, Kansas, allowing A.O. Smith to enter the bulk dry storage market.

In 1996, the Water Products division introduced the Cyclone XHE commercial water heater.

In 1997, after 90 years in the automotive industry, A.O. Smith sold its Automotive Products Company to Tower International.

Meantime, the company began manufacturing residential water heaters in Nanjing, China, in 1998, having bought out its joint venture partner.

By 1999 it had achieved $13 million in sales of A.O. Smith brand water heaters in that country.

2000: Fiberglass pipe business is sold to Varco International Inc.

2001: Company sells its storage tank unit to CST Industries, Inc.

In 2009, the company entered the water purification industry with a new venture, A. O. Smith (Shanghai) Water Treatment Products Co.

2010 A.O. Smith and Takagi Industrial Company enter into agreement under which A.O. Smith would acquire Takagi’s North American operations as part of a joint venture to market and manufacture tankless water heaters in North America.

In 2011, the Company sold its electric motor business and embarked on a strategy to become a leading global water technology company.

On August 8, 2016, A.O.Smith, acquired Austin-based Water filtration Company Aquasana (previously known as Sun Water Systems) from L' Catterton for $87 Million.