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The Scott Fetzer Company history
The Scott Fetzer Company company history timeline
1914 The Scott & Fetzer Machine Company, a manufacturer of parts and tools, incorporates.
It incorporated as the Scott & Fetzer Machine Co. on November 30, 1917, and moved to a bigger facility near Edgewater.
In 1922, it began manufacturing and selling Kirby vacuum cleaners, invented by James Kirby.
In 1925, Scott & Fetzer produced for Kirby the Vacuette Electric, which had a removable handle and nozzle attachment.
In September 1946, when Niles joined the company as treasurer, it was a one-product line company with sales of $1.7 million.
At the close of that year, World Book introduced its most extensively revised edition since 1962.
In 1967, the company purchased manufacturer FRANCE, which produced neon transformers for lighted signs.
In 1969, the company acquired Meriam Instruments which made gauges and other instruments to measure pressure, calibration, and flow.
Carefree of Colorado, a maker of awnings, joined Scott Fetzer in 1974.
On November 30, 1976, Niles Hammink retired as chief executive officer, completing 30 years of service to Scott & Fetzer.
In 1978, it bought World Book-Childcraft Intl.
A dramatic change came in 1980, when Kirby eliminated half of its distributors.
As the sales force of World Book was reorganized in 1981, Scott Fetzer also revised its traditional selling strategies.
Encyclopedia sales were up 45 percent over 1982.
Financier Ivan Boesky began accumulating shares of the company before the spring of 1984, when Schey announced a plan by a group he led to take the company private in a leveraged buyout.
In 1986, World Book's unit volume increased for the fourth consecutive year.
1986 Berkshire Hathaway purchases Scott Fetzer for an estimated $320 million.
In 1986, it was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway, a multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.
The company’s export business was particularly strong in 1988, when World Book became available in the Soviet Union.
In 1989, Western Enterprises became Western Plastics to focus on manufacturing for the Kirby brand.
If Scott Fetzer had been an independent company, it would have ranked close to the top of the Fortune 500 in 1990 in terms of return on equity.
International business remained strong, with another 20 percent sales gain in 1990.
1990 Scott Fetzer releases the first World Book available on CD-ROM.
Northland, a division of Scott Fetzer based in Water-town, New York, also kept the company tradition of quiet excellence. It won a design award in 1990 for a redesigned bypass cover that cut production costs by up to $8,000 annually, while producing a more consistent product.
In 1991, pre–tax earnings declined for World Book and the rest of Scott Fetzer, except Kirby.
Dorr, Robert, "Critics Charge Omaha, Neb., Firm's Vacuum Seller with Pressure Tactics," KRTBN Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News, October 12, 1999.
Moving further into the electronic realm, in 1999 World Book entered into an agreement with the American Education Corporation, the creators of the A+dvanced Learning System.
On December 31, 2000, Scott Fetzer's CEO and chairman, 76-year-old Ralph E. Schey, retired.
As the United States economy slumped after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Kirby distributors were able to be more selective about whom they hired as their door-to-door sales representatives.
Sales: $1 billion (2004 est.)
In 2006, its ReadiVac hand held, battery-powered vacuum brand was launched.
2018 was the beginning of SFCB, and it is positioned for success across all its categories.
Keeley, Carol; Teague, Kevin "Scott Fetzer Company ." International Directory of Company Histories. . Retrieved June 22, 2022 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/scott-fetzer-company
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The Scott Fetzer Company competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Campbell Hausfeld | 1836 | $137.0M | 150 | - |
| Alticor | 1959 | $9.2B | 13,000 | - |
| Steel Dynamics | 1993 | $17.5B | 9,625 | 337 |
| Atlantic American Corporation | 1937 | $199.6M | 140 | 4 |
| Barnes Group | 1857 | $1.5B | 5,000 | 52 |
| GenTek | - | $151.4M | 1,000 | - |
| Scitec Nutrition | 1996 | $830,000 | 50 | - |
| LAMITECH | 1994 | $6.7M | 34 | - |
| Granite Resources Incorporated | - | $1.1M | 15 | - |
| SAVWATT USA | - | $60,916 | 17 | - |
The Scott Fetzer Company history FAQs
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