A proud old name is no more (Dan H.)

mtfallsmikey

I still have an A/S wall clock with Dad's company name on it. That was all we sold in the line of plumbing fixtures. Dad hated Kohler, Crane, and all of the rest. Sold many A/S furnaces, boilers, A.C. Yes,some junk, but most stuff was the best...truly THE "American Standard". I'll drink to that!

DanHolohan

This just in:

American Standard bites the dust.

jackchips_2

American

Standard, Oldsmobile-what's next?

Before you know it we'll be buying our product from something called a "big box" store.

Are we all in a Dilbert cartoon?

Jack

Dave_4

??????????????????

This is confusing as hell!

A/S made porcelain plumbing goods. Then boilers. Then went out of the boiler business - selling the line to Burnham, who before that was nobody I recall.

Then A/S wanted to get into the johnny homeowner scorched air biz and bought the small units division from Trane, who was sick of johnny homeowner large volume - low profit markets. A/S assumed the Trane homeowner product line which a million years ago was G.E Heating in Lexington KY, then Tyler TX.

Trane today claims they never were part of the johnny homeowner production, despite them branding the same products (scorched hot air in the under 200MBTU range) with the Trane name. Trane builds larger than residential products of high quality and always has.

Meanwhile, "Standard" continues to make porcelean fixtures in Canada and may continue to be the maker of faucets and similar goods?

Someone straighten me out on who makes/made what and during what time period(s) - starting with the 100+ year old American Standard urinals we saw since birth - vs. the American Standard furnaces they branded for Trane all along anyway!

Lastly, why didn't Mestek buy the heating line? They bought everyone else on the verge of dissapearence - including Jimmy Hoffa (;-o)

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Dave_4

More confusion.

This is posted on the A/S website regarding a name change - NOT a sale!

"American Standard Companies is renamed to focus on its heating and air conditioning business
November 28, 2007
Homeowners can continue to rely on American Standard Heating & Air Conditioning for quality products, systems and service
American Standard Companies has changed its name to Trane to reflect the company’s focus on its heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) business, which includes American Standard Heating & Air Conditioning. Changing the name and stock symbol (TT) marks the completion of the company’s separation plan that was announced in February 2007. Since then, the company spun off its vehicle control systems business as an independent company called WABCO (NYSE: WBC) on July 31, and sold its bath and kitchen business to funds advised by Bain Capital Partners, LLC, on Oct. 31.

If you’re a current customer or homeowner seeking home comfort solutions, we wanted you to know that American Standard Heating & Air Conditioning remains a strong, trusted brand within the renamed company. You can continue to depend on your local, independent American Standard Heating & Air Conditioning dealer to provide outstanding service and offer our quality American Standard-branded products and systems. Our commitment to helping families feel more comfortable and breathe easier in their homes hasn’t changed.

For more information about the company’s name change, you can read the following news release. Trane launch news release."



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ALH_4

American Standard

I dont remember where I saw this a while back. Press Release

Dave_4

Thanks Andrew!

The relevant point(s) seem to be this:

"On Feb.1, 2007, American Standard Companies announced plans to separate its three businesses.

Since then, the company has completed the spinoff of its Vehicle Control Systems business as an independent company known as WABCO (NYSE:WBC) and then sold its Bath and Kitchen business to funds (private equity) controlled by Bain Capital Partners, LLC.

To reflect its focus on the Air Conditioning Systems and Services business, the company plans to change its name to Trane by year-end. In 2006, Air Conditioning Systems and Services, sold under the Trane® and American Standard® brands, generated revenues of $6.8 billion with 29,000 employees."

Given the release above, one wonders who is "The Trane Company" we have known as Trane - now - and for the past 100 years? There must be some corporate nuances between Trane besides the blurb that they were bought out by A/S in 1984.

Mysterious indeed...

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scrook_2

Trane & A-S history

1864 James Trane immigrates to La Crosse, WI from Norway

1885 Trane, a steamfitter/plumber starts a plumbing shop in La Crosse, WI

1913 Trane Corp founded by James and his son, Reuben (a recent mech eng graduate) to mfg/sell their "Trane Vapor Heating System"

1923 introduces convection 'radiator'

1931 starts work on A/C for commercial bldgs

1982 buys GE's residential A/C division

1984 Trane bought by American Standard Companies

******

1872 John Pierce starts tinware shop in Ware, MA

(n.d.) Pierce starts "Pierce Steam Heating Company"

1892 Pierce Steam Heating and 2 other compnies merge forming "American Radiator Company"

1929 American Radiator merges w/ Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company, to form "American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corporation"

1948 name is officially shortened to "American-Standard"

1968 name changed to "American Standard" (no hyphen) & buys WABCO (George Westinghouse's "Westinghouse Air Brake Company")

1988 American Standard goes private via leveraged buyout to avoid hostile takeover

1990 American Standard sells locomotive braking div of WABCO

1995 American Standard goes public again

No doubt Dan can fill in much more about both their products & innovations over the last century, but that's a quick overview anyway.

ALH_4

Names

From what I can tell, Bain will use the American Standard name for their plumbing products, and all of A/S's heating and cooling equipment will now be sold under the Trane name.

Apparently this is all to appease the stock market? I'm sure someone at the top is making $$ off this move.

DanHolohan

More on Mr. Pierce

From the Library:

Mr. Pierce

Unknown

Am I the only one...

who gets the urge to urinate on American Standard A/C equipment?

hot_rod

Bain Capital, Bain Capital, oh yeah that's where Mitt

Romney did all his corporate raiding that made him a multi millionaire Buying and dismantling American companies and putting thousands out of work...Now I remember.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/11/02/hunter-romney-should-denounce-bain-capitals-chinese-ties/

bob_46

It's Funny

how this stuff goes around and around. In the 60's if you saw an A.S. furnace on a service call it meant$$$$. It was almost a 100% bet that if you pulled the burners and stuck a light and a mirror in it you would find a hole. Their rooftop equipment sucked. They made little round steel boilers that were so cheap they didn't even use aquastats, they strapped Klixons to the side of the boiler. When they went out of the hvac buisness I thought hooray. I think Magic Chef got the residential furnace buisness and Singer bought the rooftop plant in Carteret N.J. I always thought Trane was top of the line. GE made high quality stuff except for the christmas tree garland they called a condensing coil. So what happens? Trane buys GE's residential buisness and A.S. arises like a pheonix and buys Trane! I thought, "beam me up Scotty" there goes Trane. Go figure. bob