Akron Brass Company

Akron Brass Company

Type	Private
Industry	Fire Protection Equipment & Sppls (Whls)
Predecessor(s)	Akron Brass Manufacturing Company
Founded	Wooster, Ohio(1918 (1918))
Headquarters	Wooster, Ohio, United States
Number of locations	4
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Sean Tillinghast (President)
Brands	Zero Torque Night Breaker SaberMaster AkroFoam Akromatic
Parent	Premier Farnell Company
Divisions	Akron Manufacturing (Canada) Ltd Alymer West, Ontario
Website	www.akronbrass.com

Location

• 1450 Spruce St., Wooster, Ohio Main Corporate offices and Research & Development Activities
• 1415 Bowman St., Wooster, Ohio Machine shop and foundry
• Old Mansfield Rd., Wooster, Ohio Other operations

History

1914-1933, War, Prosperity, and Depression

• 1918 - Opened in Akron, Ohio, in a leased portion of an American cereal company building in Akron, Ohio. B.F. Goodrich Rubber company employees formed the Akron Brass Manufacturing Company with the intent of producing couplings for the rapidly growing rubber lined fire hose market.
• 1921 - Relocated to Wooster, Ohio, The company outgrew the least quarters in Akron Ohio and relocated to Wooster, Ohio

1933-1945, New Deal and WWII

• 1935 - July 5, The company continued to grow and prosper and high demands for additional expansion capital forced the management to incorporated.
• 1935 - Constant improvements in the products and plant methods resulted in rapid growth in sales and profits throughout the years.

1945-1960, Postwar America

• 1959 - Sales exceeds all previous records for sales and profits, leading to the establishment of two new division. Akron Manufacturing (Canada) Ltd. in Alymer West, Ontario, began the manufacture of the standard line of fire equipment, and Akron couplings, Riceland, Ohio, began to produce fittings for the petroleum and aircraft industry.

1960-1980, Vietnam Era

• 1962 - May 21, Akron Brass merged into the Premier Industrial Corporation of Cleveland, Ohio.
• 1964 - Under Premier, continued growth of sales and profits results in the increased need for manufacturing capacity and the facilities were expanded by the addition of 24,000 square feet on Spruce Street and 42,000 square feet on Old Mansfield Road in Wooster, Ohio which included a new $100,000 technology center.
• 1965 - Introduced the first electronically controlled aerial ladder fire fighting monitor the style 666 ladder pipe.
• 1967 - Changed firefighting history with the introduction of the Turbojet Nozzle. This combination fog nozzle provided the firefighter with the ability to directly control the water flow from the nozzle.
• 1971 - Akron Brass patent for the Self Locking Value is published
• 1972 - The patented Swing-Out Value revolutionizes the Fire Apparatus Value market becoming an industry standard and icon for North America Fire Service.

1980-2000, End of the Century

• 1994 - Introduced the Assault Nozzle, one of the industry's first full computer designed nozzle.
• 1996 - Premier Industrial merged with Farnell plc of the United Kingdom to become Premier Farnell plc. Premier Farnell plc, Akron's parent company, is a leading, high service, electronic distribution group.
• 1997 - Accredited as an ISO 9001 Registered Company.

2001- , New Millennium

• 2001 - The revolutionary Patented SaberJet Nozzle was introduced. This nozzle eliminates the debate as to what is the best nozzle design a Smooth Bore or a Combination Nozzle.
• 2001 - September 10, held a special ribbon-cutting ceremony for its 62,000 square foot building expansion project off Old Mansfield Road. This recent addition provides 42,000 square foot of the new manufacturing facility, 20,000 square foot of office space, and a world class indoor/outdoor testing facility.
• 2001 - September 11, a tragic day in our nation's history where terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Flight 93 claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 victims including the 343 firefighters from FDNY. In the days following September 11th, Akron demonstrated team work by fulfilling an emergency equipment request by FDNY.
• 2001 - September 13, at 2 pm, received a request for 200 nozzles, monitors and other firefighting equipment. By 5:30 pm the same day, the product boarded a plane en route to NYC. These nozzles were used to battle ongoing fires as well as knock down, the horrible dust and particles in the days to follow the attacks.
• 2002 - pays tribute to those firefighters who lost their lives during the 9/11 attacks and changed their physical address on Venture Blvd. to the number 343, to signify the 343 fallen firefighters that day.
• 2004 - expanded its product range to include scene lighting, junction boxes, reels, and hand tools when it acquired GFE Manufacturing and its 22,400 square foot located in Washington, Illinois.
• 2005 - Product ranges expanded to include vehicular lighting, warning lights, electrical controls and vehicle multiplexing as Akron Brass acquired Weldom Technologies, Inc. and its 57,000 square foot facility located in Columbus, Ohio.
• 2010 - Expands the sales operations by opening offices in Beijing China and Dubai UAE.
• 2010 - Accredited as an OHSAS 18001:2007 Company. This distinguished certification verifies the Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems of Akron Brass.

Newspaper articles

• 2 Ma 1920 - "Start to Build the Brass Factory Walls" The Daily Record, p. 3.
• Aug - "In Wooster Factories: Today The Akron Brass Mfg. Co.
• 5 Dec 1936 - "Wooster Industries" The Daily Record
• 4 Apr 1964 - "Akron Brass Does More Development" The Daily Record.
• 28 Jul 1964 - "Akron Brass Looks Ahead"
• 25 Sep 1967 - "Akron Brass Grown From Early World War I Beginning" The Daily Record, Guy Richard.
• 5 Oct 2000 - "Akron Brass double size, adds a lake at new site"
• 4 Mar 2002 - "'They were friends' Akron Brass Celebrates Growth" pp. 1-2.

SIC Code

• 5063.15, 3569-17, 5961-04, 8742-13, 9999-66

NAICS Code

• 423610, 333999, 454111, 541613, 999990

References