D&M stands for Design & Manufacturing, which at one time produced an estimated 25% to 37% of the dishwashers sold in the world.
The origins of the company are rather complex, the result of a series of mergers and consolidations, and eventual purchase by one Sam Regenstrief, who formerly ran Philco's appliance division.
The company's history can be traced as follows:
Central Manufacturing Company, 1898-1929; Central Manufacturing Co./Cord Corp. 1929-1937; American Kitchens Division, Auburn Automobile Co. 1937-1940; Auburn Central Manufacturing Co., 1940-1942; American Central Manufacturing Co. 1942-1946; American Kitchens division, AVCO Manufacturing 1946-1959 - Design & Manufacturing Corp. 1959-1987 - Connersville, Indiana
Here's a partial history that jumps in at the end of WWII, when the former company's resources were switched from producing jeeps and other war materiel back to consumer appliances:
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Excerpted below is a portion of an American Central Visitor’s Brochure dated 1948:
“Welcome to American Central Division AVCO Manufacturing Corporation, Home of American Kitchens, Styled in Steel.
“Too often people think of a manufacturing plant as a collection of bricks, steel, machinery, railroads, statistical departments, and so forth... We here at American Central are very conscious that our plant is primarily dependent on the people who make it live.
“We start in building 28 with die storage—a veritable treasure house. These dies, many worth thousands of dollars, mold or shape the parts required by their various products. They are the acme of the machinist’s art. Next stop is building 2, the steel storage warehouse. Here are great piles of sheet steel, tons of it, to meet the hungry demands of the production lines. Steel is brought to the warehouse in trucks and railroad cars. A private railroad siding shunts the cars into the unloading area, where steel is removed in slings suspended from powerful overhead cranes.
“In building 1 we encounter the press room. A thundering, clanking rumble echoes about this building as the big and little presses thump out a thousand different sheet metal parts used in the manufacturing process. This is a building of strong contrasts: A 500-ton capacity press that weighs 464,000 pounds and cost $169,204 sits close by a 5-ton capacity press that weighs 750 pounds and cost $450. A big hydraulic press requires ten men to operate it, while many small presses are controlled by a lone operator.
“In the jeep body assembly department, we find steel banging on steel, welding arcs sputtering and sending forth dancing showers of sparks. We see hundreds of small parts joined into front and rear sections of the jeeps’ steel bodies. As the bodies gradually assume recognizable shapes, they reach the joining tables, where they are welded into a complete body. Then it’s on to the metal cleansing cabinets, the paint booths, the drying ovens, final inspection, and at last the loading docks.”
In addition to Admiral Refrigerators, American Kitchens manufactured kitchen sinks, faucets, kitchen shelving, and modular kitchen base & wall cabinets. AVCO had purchased the Crosley Appliance Co. from its founded Powell Crosley Jr. in 1945. During the early 50s AVCO introduced their Crosley Kitchens line of metal kitchen cabinets and appliances in the early 50s. The Crosley kitchen cabinets were built alongside the firm’s American Kitchens products in Connersville.
In the early 50s AVCO Manufacturing introduced a line of prefabricated gasoline service stations that were built in the American Kitchens plant in Connersville, and Crosley Kitchens automatic dishwasher was added to the American Kitchens assembly line at about the same time.
In the mid-50s American Kitchens expanded their dishwasher business and began selling re-branded units to the Sears, Roebuck Co., Whirlpool and Westinghouse. However, competition from AVCO’s other appliance divisions hurt them in the marketplace, and they struggle to find new avenues of distribution. By the late 50s, AVCO Manufacturing’s dishwashers held a paltry 11% share of the market and Sears was being courted by Whirlpool, who had recently announced they were getting into the dishwasher business.
AVCO’s appliance division had also started losing money, and the Connersville facility was underutilized. AVCO quietly let it be known that the Connersville operation was for sale.
On January 1, 1959, Sam Regenstrief (1911-1988) purchased the bulk of AVCO’s Connersville operations for $2.6 million. He bought the former plants of the Central Manufacturing Co., Indiana Lamp Co. and Anstead Engineeering Co. Regenstrief down $500,0000 in cash and AVCO agreed to finance the rest.
Regenstrief was a marketing genius who had amassed a small fortune while serving as president of the Rex Manufacturing Co and vice-president of Philco. The opportunities that presented themselves in the poorly marketed American Kitchens line were too much to resist and he decided to purchase the company after taking a tour of he plant in 1958.
Regenstrief assumed the presidency of Connersville’s Rex Manufacturing Co. in 1939. Rex was still owned by members of the Ansted family and had progressed from manufacturing convertible tops to producing stamped steel refrigerator cabinets for Philco and Stewart Warner. He turned the floundering firm around and in 1944, it was taken over by Philco.
At Philco Regenstrief became vice-president of their refrigeration division, then later on senior vice-president of the entire appliance division. After being passed over as Philco’s president, he resigned when Philco announced their pending merger with the Ford Motor Co in 1958.
When he took over American Kitchens, it employed 2,500 and the plant consisted of 920,000 square feet of space spread across 93 acres. Regenstrief named his new firm the Design and Manufacturing Corporation (D&M).
The Architectural Products Division of the H.H. Robertson Company purchased the last remaining property, originally the Lexington Motor Car Co., on February 8, 1960.
D&M decided to concentrate on dishwashers and by the end of the decade, they were manufacturing re-branded portable and undercounter units for Sears, Philco, Admiral, Kelvinator, Hotpoint, Frigidaire, Chambers and Preway. By 1972, D&M controlled 25% of the nation’s dishwasher market.
D&M purchased the former Crosley appliance plant in Richmond, Indiana from AVCO in 1975. By the time of his death Sam Regenstrief had amassed a $50 million fortune which passed to the Regenstrief Foundation when he died in January of 1988. Design & Manufacturing’s assets were sold to White Consolidated Industries in 1987 and the firm was dissolved in 1990.
The origins of the company are rather complex, the result of a series of mergers and consolidations, and eventual purchase by one Sam Regenstrief, who formerly ran Philco's appliance division.
The company's history can be traced as follows:
Central Manufacturing Company, 1898-1929; Central Manufacturing Co./Cord Corp. 1929-1937; American Kitchens Division, Auburn Automobile Co. 1937-1940; Auburn Central Manufacturing Co., 1940-1942; American Central Manufacturing Co. 1942-1946; American Kitchens division, AVCO Manufacturing 1946-1959 - Design & Manufacturing Corp. 1959-1987 - Connersville, Indiana
Here's a partial history that jumps in at the end of WWII, when the former company's resources were switched from producing jeeps and other war materiel back to consumer appliances:
<i>
Excerpted below is a portion of an American Central Visitor’s Brochure dated 1948:
“Welcome to American Central Division AVCO Manufacturing Corporation, Home of American Kitchens, Styled in Steel.
“Too often people think of a manufacturing plant as a collection of bricks, steel, machinery, railroads, statistical departments, and so forth... We here at American Central are very conscious that our plant is primarily dependent on the people who make it live.
“We start in building 28 with die storage—a veritable treasure house. These dies, many worth thousands of dollars, mold or shape the parts required by their various products. They are the acme of the machinist’s art. Next stop is building 2, the steel storage warehouse. Here are great piles of sheet steel, tons of it, to meet the hungry demands of the production lines. Steel is brought to the warehouse in trucks and railroad cars. A private railroad siding shunts the cars into the unloading area, where steel is removed in slings suspended from powerful overhead cranes.
“In building 1 we encounter the press room. A thundering, clanking rumble echoes about this building as the big and little presses thump out a thousand different sheet metal parts used in the manufacturing process. This is a building of strong contrasts: A 500-ton capacity press that weighs 464,000 pounds and cost $169,204 sits close by a 5-ton capacity press that weighs 750 pounds and cost $450. A big hydraulic press requires ten men to operate it, while many small presses are controlled by a lone operator.
“In the jeep body assembly department, we find steel banging on steel, welding arcs sputtering and sending forth dancing showers of sparks. We see hundreds of small parts joined into front and rear sections of the jeeps’ steel bodies. As the bodies gradually assume recognizable shapes, they reach the joining tables, where they are welded into a complete body. Then it’s on to the metal cleansing cabinets, the paint booths, the drying ovens, final inspection, and at last the loading docks.”
In addition to Admiral Refrigerators, American Kitchens manufactured kitchen sinks, faucets, kitchen shelving, and modular kitchen base & wall cabinets. AVCO had purchased the Crosley Appliance Co. from its founded Powell Crosley Jr. in 1945. During the early 50s AVCO introduced their Crosley Kitchens line of metal kitchen cabinets and appliances in the early 50s. The Crosley kitchen cabinets were built alongside the firm’s American Kitchens products in Connersville.
In the early 50s AVCO Manufacturing introduced a line of prefabricated gasoline service stations that were built in the American Kitchens plant in Connersville, and Crosley Kitchens automatic dishwasher was added to the American Kitchens assembly line at about the same time.
In the mid-50s American Kitchens expanded their dishwasher business and began selling re-branded units to the Sears, Roebuck Co., Whirlpool and Westinghouse. However, competition from AVCO’s other appliance divisions hurt them in the marketplace, and they struggle to find new avenues of distribution. By the late 50s, AVCO Manufacturing’s dishwashers held a paltry 11% share of the market and Sears was being courted by Whirlpool, who had recently announced they were getting into the dishwasher business.
AVCO’s appliance division had also started losing money, and the Connersville facility was underutilized. AVCO quietly let it be known that the Connersville operation was for sale.
On January 1, 1959, Sam Regenstrief (1911-1988) purchased the bulk of AVCO’s Connersville operations for $2.6 million. He bought the former plants of the Central Manufacturing Co., Indiana Lamp Co. and Anstead Engineeering Co. Regenstrief down $500,0000 in cash and AVCO agreed to finance the rest.
Regenstrief was a marketing genius who had amassed a small fortune while serving as president of the Rex Manufacturing Co and vice-president of Philco. The opportunities that presented themselves in the poorly marketed American Kitchens line were too much to resist and he decided to purchase the company after taking a tour of he plant in 1958.
Regenstrief assumed the presidency of Connersville’s Rex Manufacturing Co. in 1939. Rex was still owned by members of the Ansted family and had progressed from manufacturing convertible tops to producing stamped steel refrigerator cabinets for Philco and Stewart Warner. He turned the floundering firm around and in 1944, it was taken over by Philco.
At Philco Regenstrief became vice-president of their refrigeration division, then later on senior vice-president of the entire appliance division. After being passed over as Philco’s president, he resigned when Philco announced their pending merger with the Ford Motor Co in 1958.
When he took over American Kitchens, it employed 2,500 and the plant consisted of 920,000 square feet of space spread across 93 acres. Regenstrief named his new firm the Design and Manufacturing Corporation (D&M).
The Architectural Products Division of the H.H. Robertson Company purchased the last remaining property, originally the Lexington Motor Car Co., on February 8, 1960.
D&M decided to concentrate on dishwashers and by the end of the decade, they were manufacturing re-branded portable and undercounter units for Sears, Philco, Admiral, Kelvinator, Hotpoint, Frigidaire, Chambers and Preway. By 1972, D&M controlled 25% of the nation’s dishwasher market.
D&M purchased the former Crosley appliance plant in Richmond, Indiana from AVCO in 1975. By the time of his death Sam Regenstrief had amassed a $50 million fortune which passed to the Regenstrief Foundation when he died in January of 1988. Design & Manufacturing’s assets were sold to White Consolidated Industries in 1987 and the firm was dissolved in 1990.
Central Manufacturing Co., Central Mfg., Central Bodied, Cord Corp., E.L. Cord, E.W. Ansted, Auburn Automobile Co. - Coachbult.com
Central Manufacturing Co., Central Manufacturing Company, Central Body, Central Bodied, Cord Corp., Errett Lobban Cord, E.L. Cord, E.W. Ansted, Auburn Automobile Co., American Kitchens Division, Auburn Central Manufacturing Co., American Central Manufacturing Co., AVCO/American Kitchens...
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