From automobiles to water heaters

Once the provider of automobile frames to Henry Ford, a key player in the U.S. war effort and manufacturer of the very first glass lined water heater — A. O. Smith is celebrating 150 years in 2024. The company’s roots begin in 1874 as a skilled metalworker; C.J. Smith grew to become a major supplier of metal components for manufacturers of baby carriages and bicycles.

Carrying on the family business, Smith’s sons, Charles S., George H. and Arthur O., played an integral part in the automobiles revolution of the late 1890s. Arthur O. Smith engineered a new, lightweight pressed stele car frame and began selling them to major car manufacturers like Packard, Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Studebaker, Buick, Chevrolet and Ford. Soon after, more than 60% of new passenger cars in the states were built on an A. O. Smith frame.

The 150 years of A. O. Smith history is home to numerous fun facts and interesting anecdotes, but a favorite one of David Chisolm, vice president and general manager of APCOM, is the story of how the company planted its roots in Milwaukee in the first place.

C.J. Smith’s intention when emigrating from England was to move to New York and set up shop. Plans changed when he met a woman on the boat who was headed to Milwaukee. Smith changed his plans and headed to Milwaukee with his soon-to-be wife, and thus, A. O. Smith’s corporate headquarters was born.

A. O. Smith remains committed to its work as a leading global water technology company.

A. O. Smith’s patented glass lined Permaglas Water Heaters.

According to Chisolm, A. O. Smith has long been known for saying “yes,” and figuring out how to make things happen.

“Henry Ford approached A. O. asking to make 10,000 automobile frames — a scale the company did not yet have the capacity to produce,” he says. “But the answer was ‘yes,’ and A. O. figured out how to make it happen.”

This grit has carried on through the company’s history. “We’ve stayed committed to using our engineering minds to solve hard problems,” Chisolm says. “Problem-solving innovation is part of our DNA as an organization.”

Branch into water heating

So how did a metalworking company branch into water heating? Well, it all started with a patent in 1936 on the glass lining process and connections to the brewing industry. A. O. Smith discovered how to glass-line steel and became the creator of the first glass-lined water heater.

“As mass production of beer expanded, brewers needed larger storage vessels,” Chisolm explains. “But the problem with large vessels is you would see corrosion and flavor exchange.”

A. O. Smith discovered that glass lining these vessels would solve these issues, but due to navigating The Great Depression, company leadership told engineers to halt glass lining to focus on the company’s core projects.

“The engineers were so close to cracking the code that they kept working on the glass lining project on their own time,” he says. “They ended up figuring it out and patenting the process.”

The dedication of these engineers ended up being the company’s Segway into water heating.

Reinvention

A. O. Smith has been involved in numerous industries and product sectors, many of which it was the largest producer of its time, as with automobile frames and bicycle frames. According to Chisolm, the company has never been afraid to reinvent itself or push for innovation to solve problems.

“We’ve never been afraid to reinvent the wheel,” Chisolm says. “As important as automobiles were to our business, we decided that wasn’t the core of who we wanted to be, so we spun that off and reinvented ourselves to focus on other industries.”

Charles J. Smith opens a small machine shop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1874, producing metal parts for baby carriages and other hardware specialties.

Henry Ford, left, and A. O. Smith, sit in a Ford built on an A. O. Smith frame.

One example of this is A. O. Smith’s commitment to energy efficiency that, according to Chisolm, the company brought to market “before it was cool.”

“We’ve been into efficiency since the 1990s before it became the trend it is now,” he says. “We brought the first high-efficiency condensing commercial water heater, the Cyclone series, to market in the late 1990s.”

The company has also branched into water treatment via several acquisitions. “We’ve got a lot of expertise surrounding water treatment under our roof, and it’s exciting to see about the overlap between water treatment and water heating,” Chisolm says.

A. O. Smith recently launched its own design and engineered tankless product that doesn’t require annual maintenance — The Adapt Series.

“Something not talked about enough is that most of the U.S. has hard water, meaning our water heaters need annual maintenance to reduce scale buildup and product failure,” Chisolm says. “We used our water treatment/quality knowledge to create a tankless product from the ground up that doesn’t require annual maintenance.”

This tankless heater has integrated scale prevention and a heat exchanger with scale prevention. Innovations like this are examples of how the company is positioning itself has water technology experts in today’s marketplace.

Heat pump technology is taking off in the water heating space. According to Chisolm, A. O. Smith is “all in” on this technology.

“Standard electric water heaters are great, reliable products, and we will continue to make millions of them every year,” he says. “Heat pump technology isn’t new, but it’s starting to get more traction in the water heating sector, so we are working to educate on the annual cost-savings, benefits and installation of heat pump water heaters.”

An A. O. Smith display in China, built to help merchandise its products to Chinese consumers. A. O. Smith entered the Chinese market in 1995.

A. O. Smith expanded into the Indian market in 2005.

A. O. Smith has been a leader in training and education for quite some time with numerous live streaming and on-demand resources for contractors. The company even began putting QR codes — prior to their resurgence due to the pandemic — on every water heater with any and all product information a contractor could need.

“We’re always looking to solve the problems or contractors face day in and day out with new product innovations,” Chisolm says. “Making their lives easier and giving them the ability to add value to their customers is what drives us every day.”

Although A. O. Smith is a publically traded company, member of the Smith family are still very much involved in the business.

“We have Smith family members on our Board and we have Arthur O. Smith IV on our product development team,” Chisolm points out. “We have roughly 12,000 employees globally and we are publically traded, but we have connections that allow us to remain true to the Smith family and make decisions that reflect that of a family business.”

A 150-year milestone is surely one to celebrate. According to Chisolm, the company plans to celebrate all year long.

“We’re doing equal parts celebrating our history, our employees, our innovation and our connections to the Smith family,” he says. “And ultimately it’s about staying true to our core values: We’re going to be a good place to work, be respectful, treat people with dignity all while focusing on innovation and growth.”

Chisolm says A. O. Smith loves talking about its history, but it doesn’t plan to stay there.

“We’re a 150 year-old-company but we’re still hungry,” he says. “We aren’t resting on our laurels. We’re motivated to drive change and leave things better than we found them.”