Elkay Manufacturing Company, a manufacturer of stainless steel sinks, faucets and kitchen cabinets, was started in 1920 by Leopold & Louis Katz and Eleth Robarth, a tinsmith who came up with an idea to hand fabricate German silver sinks and deliver them in Chicago. Today, still privately owned by the founding family, Elkay has 3,500 employees worldwide and is America's largest stainless steel sink company. Over the years the products Elkay manufactures have expanded to include sinks, faucets, water coolers, drinking fountains, water bottle fillers, and residential and commercial kitchen and bath products.
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History
The Elkay Manufacturing Company was founded in 1920 by Leopold Katz and his son Louis. It started with three employees in rented premises in Chicago's Near North Side. During World War II, Elkay supplied sinks and commodes to equip the U.S. Military.
In 2010, Elkay launched the EZH2O Water Bottle Filler, which is recognized for contributing to keeping plastic bottles out of landfills. The unique counter on the unit allowed for users to see how many bottles had been saved from landfills at a particular location, which had the effect of "making the thing go viral". The EZH2O first came about when Elkay business travelers started noticing their fellow travelers doing "the airport dance." More people were toting plastic water bottles. Rather than drinking from the fountain, they wanted to refill those jugs. It wasn't working. The dance was a sort of shuffle done by travelers trying to tilt bottles at the proper angle for refilling without splashing water on their shoes.
In 2013, Elkay Manufacturing, won an international trade case involving anti-dumping and anti-subsidy petitions filed by the company and "unlawful pricing by Chinese producers of drawn stainless steel sinks which caused material injury to ELKAY Manufacturing Company and other domestic producers."
Products
Elkay currently has four main product categories - Coolers; Sinks, Faucets and Accessories; Cabinetry; Foodservice and Millwork. Their breadth of plumbing products includes 4,000 SKUs of kitchen sinks made of a variety of different materials. Elkay manufactures residential kitchen and commercial products, such as sinks, bars, faucets, cabinets and commercial kitchen appliances. The company has the largest water cooler offering in the market, and recently shipped its five millionth water cooler. Most recently, Elkay elaborated on water cooler units by creating bottle filler units that can both retrofit to existing water cooler units, or stand alone. These units decreased plastic waste through promotion of using reusable plastic bottles. Their most popular bottle filler unit model is the ezH2O. Elkay products are sold through distributors, designers, home center establishments and various internet retailers.
Divisions
Elkay Manufacturing has several divisions:
- Elkay Plumbing Products manufactures Elkay sinks + faucets, Elkay commercial products, EZH2O, Halsey Taylor, Elkay foodservice products, and Revere sinks
- Elkay Wood Products manufactures products sold under the American Cabinetry Collection, InnerMost, DesignCraft Cabinets, Medallion Cabinetry, Mastercraft Cabinets, Schuler Cabinetry, Yorktowne names
- Eb Tecnica Mexicana manufactures kitchen products serving Latin America
- Quetzal manufactures residential and commercial fixtures serving Latin America
- Elkay China manufactures products for China and select Asian markets
Facilities
Elkay Manufacturing is based in Oak Brook, Illinois, with thirteen manufacturing facilities across the United States and international operations in China and Mexico.
Major competitors
Fortune Brands, Inc.; Kohler Co.; Masco Corporation.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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