The Scott Fetzer Company, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, is an American diversified manufacturer and marketer of products for the home, family, and industry comprising 33 brands, headquartered in Westlake, Ohio. The company was founded by George H. Scott and Carl S. Fetzer in 1914 as a machine shop under the name George H. Scott Machine Co.; the name changed to Scott & Fetzer Machine Co. in 1917 and again in 1919 to Scott & Fetzer Co. In early 1986, Berkshire Hathaway acquired the company for about $400 million. Through its various brands, the company offers home cleaning systems, air compressors, paint sprayers, generators, pressure washers, educational products, electric motors, commercial truck and forestry equipment, cleaning products, patient monitoring equipment, and knives.
History
The Scott Fetzer Company was founded in Cleveland, Ohio by George H. Scott and Carl S. Fetzer. It began in a small machine shop as the George H. Scott Machine Co. in 1914. It incorporated as the Scott & Fetzer Machine Co. on November 30th, 1917, and moved to a bigger facility near Edgewater. In 1918, it shortened its name to Scott & Fetzer Co. In 1922, it began manufacturing and selling Kirby vacuum cleaners, invented by James Kirby. As the company grew steadily into the 1950s, its Kirby brand remained its mainstay product, with over 4,000 door-to-door sales people marketing the product in 1956. By the 1960s, the company diversified by acquiring companies including PLM Products, the Adalet Co., the Halex Die Casting Co., and the Cleveland Wood Products Co. In 1964, Quikut, a manufacturer of cutlery and plastics of Fremont, Ohio was purchased, and began a core group to produce plastic injection molded components for other Scott Fetzer divisions, mainly The Kirby Company and Wayne Home Equipment. In 1971, it acquired ScotLabs, a carpeting and floor care solutions company, founded in 1962 in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. It also acquired Campbell Hausfeld that same year. In 1978, it bought World Book-Childcraft Intl. Co., from Field Enterprises, for $50 million boosting sales to $697 million a year later. In 1978, the plastic portion of Quikut was spun off into a new company, Western Enterprises. The company has been recognized for its consistently high record of return on equity in financial analysis reports; in 1984, it had sales of $695 million and a net income of $40.6 million from 12 subsidiaries, operating 42 plants that employed more than 16,000 people in the U.S. and Canada. In 1986, it was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway, a multinationalconglomerateholding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. In the same year it acquired American Angler, manufacturer of fishing fillet knives and accessories. In 1989, Western Enterprises became Western Plastics to focus on manufacturing for the Kirby brand. From 1986 to 2002, which is the last year Berkshire reported its Scott Fetzer division's income separately, the company had an average net income of $51.1 million. In 2006, its ReadiVac hand held, battery-powered vacuum brand was launched. In 2010, Scott Fetzer Company combined three businesses: France Power Solutions, Northland Motor Technology, and Kingston Products to form Scott Fetzer Electric Group, known as SFEG, precision manufacturer of electric motors, power supplies, and transformers, located on the outskirts of Nashville in Fairview, Tennessee. In 2015, Campbell Hausfeld was sold to Marmon Group, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, that operates more than 125 autonomous manufacturing and service businesses in 11 sectors including crane, electrical, food service, industrial, medical, metal, plumbing & refrigeration, retail solutions, transportation, and water technologies. In 2017, Douglas Quikut, manufacturer of the Ginsu knives rebranded as Ginsu to refresh the brand. In 2018, Scott Fetzer sold Scot Labs to State Industrial Products of Mayfield Heights, Ohio.
Organization
Many of Scott Fetzer's companies manufacture products for other companies within the brand portfolio. Operating under the Scott Fetzer Floorcare Group, a number of the company's brands manufacturer components for its Kirby vacuums. These brands include CWP Technologies, Western Plastics, Western Enterprises, and ReadiVac. Scott Fetzer Electric Group consists of France Power Solutions, Northland Motor Technology, and Kingston Products. To better focus on providing consumer goods for end user's home needs, Scott Fetzer Consumer Brands was formed. SFCB's brands include Wayne Pumps, Blue Angel Pumps, Halex, Ginsu Brands, and American Angler.
