Appliance Magazine - Special Edition January 1973: MAYTAG

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swestoyz

swestoyz

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For tonight's bedtime reading - the January 1973 copy of Appliance Magazine. For their 30th Anniversary they sponsored 10 major appliance manufacturers, starting with "That company out in the cornfields."

A fantastic read which hopefully will help paint the picture of the type of a company Maytag was at it's prime. I still feel they built the best quality machines in the early to mid-seventies, so to see captions and photos of that period of time - frozen - is a delight for myself and hopefully for others out there as well.

Oddly enough this copy came from someone in Newton. I should contact them to see if they were affiliated with Maytag in anyway and ask if they'd be willing to do an interview.... (hum, now I'm getting ideas!)

Tonight I'll post the first 14 pages. Tomorrow night I'll post the remainder.

Front Cover: A concentration on the basic values. Didn't know the avocado Model E was made this late!

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Page 1 -

Very important point is made on this page, which was asked about a few weeks ago: "Within these rules, the emphasis on meaningful changes in products is firmly translated into no annual models. Such changes are viewed as 'economic waste'."

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Page 4. Wonderful quote: Regarding production on private label merchandise, Krumm comments, "We always ask ourselves if what we do is in the Maytag tradition of quality and dependability, and if there is profitability for all involved. We have worked too hard and too long to achieve these goals to compromise them."

I wonder, at what point, did the board forget what they were compromising. If they had kept this mission statement in mind, we'd still be able to drive to Newton and see Maytag in some form or another in operation. Such a shame.

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Page 10 - Thomas R. Smith. The genius of the modern-era Maytag. Attended both MIT and U of I for his BSc in engineering.

Here is a small sample of patents this guy has under his belt:

Maytag AMP Design
Maytag Neptune Top Loader Design
Maytag Helical Drive
Maytag Glide Motor mount
Maytag Timed Bleach Dispenser
Maytag Combination Washer-Dryer

An assumption, but I wish he was still around for a nice Sunday afternoon chat.

Heck, the guy worked in a building with no windows for decades! I'm sure there are stories....

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Page 12 -

That's it for tonight! Tomorrow's night reading digs even deeper into the company, discussing:

Multiple production lines, including finishing, rubber, aluminum, porcelain coating, etc.
Marketing
Employee programs
OSHA
Physical growth
And a small snip-it about a very cool IBM computer in the Corporate building!

And much, much more!

Ben

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Anyone got a bag of nails they need to get rid of?

LOL!

I picked up an FC-10 last December for $50. It has gone through at least 2 owners, but was never installed. LE= March of 1983.

Waiting for the current one to die so I have an excuse to install it.

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APPLIANCE MAGAZINE

Ben thanks for sharing the appliance magazine brought back memories. I have a copy of this some where this was a special reprint that MT ordered thousands of copies of, we had them laying around the MT home appliance store I worked in the mid 1970s. I remember reading it when I was in sales there.
 
I thank you, Ben!

THIS is the Maytag I love.

The Maytag that didn't rush, but got it right the first time.

Yeah, the A208 we bought in August of 1978 was 359, including delivery and hookup and haul away of the Whirlpool....and 359 run through the inflation calculator at westegg.com would have it be over 1000 now, I think some would still pay that price for quality made in America goods. Maybe not as many, but some......

Link to The Inflation Calculator included.

Lawrence/MAYTAGbear

http://westegg.com/inflation
 
Terrfic Doctrine Ben

What a window on American success. All those executives only one went on to a degree above Bachelors! They built one of the finest companies and products on experience and bachelor degrees.
They sought unskilled labor, who would ever say that today???
They promoted from within, who does that today??

Corporations today by giving up the 3 above things have gone 3 major shifts towards stupidity in American business today!

Absolutely fascinating document!
 

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