John Kohler purchased a cast iron and steel foundry in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and later purchased 300 acres west of town and founded the town of Kohler. The firm hired the Olmsted brothers (think Central Park in NYC) to create a 50 year plan for the town which developed Kohler Village into one of the most beautiful residential-industrial communities in America. Decades later, the company hired the Frank Lloyd Wright Institute to develop the town's second fifty year plan, making it the country's longest-lasting planned community.
Kohler's first foray into fixtures involved taking a hog scalder/watering trough, enameling it and adding 4 legs, and selling it as the first Kohler bathtub -- he sold it for a cow and 14 chickens -- and eventually parlayed that into one of the oldest, largest privately held companies in the United States. Records show that prior to 1883, farm implements accounted for about 80 percent of sales, but by 1887, plumbing fixtures and other enamelware accounted for 70 percent.
Kohler always looked for improved products and production techniques. Their first new breakthrough came in 1911, when Kohler Co. introduced the one-piece built-in bathtub, a product we take for granted today. Prior to that time, built-in bathtubs were cast in two separate parts: the tub itself and the exposed side or apron. The two parts were fitted together by the plumber doing the installation. Overcoming technical challenges, Kohler Co. employees learned to cast the entire unit in a single piece. The one-piece bathtub eliminated crevices, joints and seams and is still the industry standard. Kohler Co. followed up quickly on that success by introducing the industry's first one-piece bathroom lavatory and the first one-piece kitchen sink.
The three hour factory tour was free, though a reservation was required, and included the Pottery, Brass, Foundry, and Enamel Shops. No photos are allowed on the tour so the photos included in this post are from the Kohler Design Center which is open daily to everyone and displays many of their products on the main and upper levels. The lower level houses a museum chronicling the history, development, and products of the company over its 130+ year history.
All of the factory buildings are on the national historic record. The first building we toured housed pottery manufacturing (or ceramic that is glazed, vitrified, and extremely smooth) where we saw the forms and machines and processes involved in making toilets and sinks of many styles and shapes. These are made of clays that are glazed and fired at extremely high temperatures, causing the glaze to fuse with the clay and become nonporous. Two types of clay are combined with feldspar and flint to create the sand used to make Kohler sinks and toilets. After being formed, huge ovens dry the products before spray painting. Custom designs can be applied to fixtures and baked on, and these special orders utilize artists who create the designs for the glazed sinks, stands, tubs, etc. The plant buildings are all clean, utilize computerized modern machines and even robotics, and always, safety is stressed.
As early as 1927, the company introduced bathroom sets– a bathtub, toilet and lavatory– in matching colors. The innovation showed a concern for aesthetics and manufacturing ingenuity for matching colors across a range of materials and dissimilar processes. From that point on, Kohler plumbing products meant beautiful form as much as reliable function. The Design Center features all their products and sports a 30 foot high wall of toilets along with the dozens of other fixtures, including numerous samples of its hand painted vanities...
32,000 Kohler Co. associates are employed on six continents, 18,o00 of whom live outside the United States. Inspection stations check every phase of production. Pottery fixtures which don't meet A-1 quality are recycled and transformed back into sand and used again. If they have already been glazed and then rejected for imperfections, they are broken into small pieces and used as base material for paving projects. Such recycling occurs all throughout every plant.
The Design Center men's restroom featured four different urinals, and the two on the right are waterless units...
In the foundry operation, Kohler hauls in scrap metal which is melted down to create its cast iron tubs and sinks. We saw the huge machines that hold the foundry forms for tubs and sinks, and the large vats that deliver and pour the molten metal into the forms. Other machines later bombard the tubs with BBs to remove the sand, and a series of robots later take red-hot tubs, powder them with enamel powder, reinsert them into the heat to fire the enamel onto the metal, then apply a second coating and repeat the firing. Yes, it's hot in there, but the building has a monstrous ventilation system to clean the air.
Another building creates the brass fittings, faucets, shower heads, drains, etc., and many of these are hand poured molten metal. All are then hand ground, sanded, plated, polished, and/or buffed. In another section of the building, they assemble whirlpool tubs and spas. Teams of two attach the motors and jets and piping and then water-test each for 20 minutes to check for leaking.
Kohler advanced the trend toward increased luxury in the home by fostering the master suite concept. Console tables and bath vanities shared a unity of design with bedroom furnishings; electronics and other technological improvements contributed to an array of stylish toilets, faucets and showerheads engineered to promote water conservation; innovative showering products and luxurious whirlpool baths transformed bathrooms into relaxing retreats in an otherwise fast-paced world; and decorative fixtures, textured surfaces and expressive colors elevated the rituals of everyday living to an art form. The Design Center also offers many sample "suites" to display products in realistic settings, including faucets, lavatories, toilets, cabinets, mirrors, whirlpool tubs, and spas...
During the past 15 years, Kohler Co. has provided more than 43,000 kitchen and bath products for Habitat for Humanity homes, and also helped fulfill needy families’ dreams by donating more than 8,000 products for the popular ABC show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
The tour was interesting and inclusive, and I highly recommend it for anyone traveling in the Sheboygan/Kohler area.
Thanks for sharing....I love your posting.
ReplyDeleteI knew someone that worked in the pottery for over 10 years. They have gatoraid dispensers everywhere to help with dehydration. Near the dryers it can easily reach 125 degrees F, and in the casting room it often hits 100F!
ReplyDelete