will the real electrolux please stand up !

silverado · Jul 24, 2011

will the ....

thanks for the nod .
i seem to remember this plaque and then again maybe not . there was so much going on at so many different levels of the company . local sales branches , district , divisional , corporate . so many promotions and awards ... impossible to follow it all . there was a lot of elbow room for local sales to promote within and i do mean honest training , promotions and awards . my father was strict on honesty and integrity . obviously there were times when certain individuals strayed from this simple yet effective philosophy . and when caught in the act .... you did not want to be there !!
not to knock the kirby followers but lux did not make you learn a "bible text book " on selling vacs verbatim .
moving on .... procol ... i am a analog man no doubt . my collection of restored 60's tube amps will support my statement ! but i have to admit all things not being equal , this new re-release of procol is pretty good sounding and not too digital harsh . check it out . i too like seeing the platter spin and a good reel to reel is very hard to beat !
and now really moving on ,
my bro from ga tells me his first store was called "electrolux home care center" located roswell ga and if i remember right it was on roswell road . i used to stay at the howard johnsons hotel near the highway or at the executive suite on roswell road when i was working there . my bro had a condo down the road .
then they opened another location at stone mountain ga and a 3rd at buckhead ga . sorry but i forgot the names of those places as we had a nice long conversation about lots of stuff and i do not do shorthand and shorthand memory is not much better!
info on the wet/dry vac is pending as my bro tells me another bro [ another bro not yet mentioned as part of my little tales so far ] was very much involved with the wet/dry vac and at one time sold them in his store . could this be possible ? selling new lux stuff in a non company storefront ? who knows, who still cares but i will fill you in when the word comes back .
i would prefer this stuff i email you with is not posted as a permanent log/story as someday i might need a few bucks and if i publish a book on all this it won't be as much fun or be a best seller if half of it is already posted all over the place. hold on ! let me check ... yeh i could use a few extra bucks . so maybe i cannot post anymore lux stories.
lol! kidding sorta ...

electrolux~137 · Jul 24, 2011

Well, I think my Electrolux History web site speaks for itself in terms of my great devotion to, and admiration of, "The Electrolux That Once Was."

I for one am tickled pink to have someone posting here who was so close to the company in its halcyon days and, sir, you never have to apologize for your postings or worry about boring me. And I do know I speak for others.

I fully agree that it was downhill from there when Electrolux became a part of Consolidated Foods. While the machines up to (but not including) the plastic Diplomat were still well made and great performers, the company itself lost a part of its soul when it was conglomerated.

I will say, though, to me, and this is just my opinion, the last really great machine they made -- in every aspect and sense -- was the Model G. They just never got better than that.

P.S.: You haven't said, and maybe it's a bit tasteless to ask, but is your dad still alive? I'd love to speak to him sometime if he is. That would be a great thrill and a high honor.

http://www.1377731.com/lux/luxnow.html

silverado · Jul 24, 2011

will t.....

first off , i did enjoy reading the article capsule of old lux . there are several errors in your writings . none of which i have any interest in discussing at the moment and none that take away from real stuff at hand : but there are some little areas that at some time we should update each other on . ok , one little one to start with : [ can't help myself ]
it was not consolidated foods[ nate cummings ] that brought lux down . it was a particular person and powers to be that did it in the form of sara lee foods well beyond the consolidated corp with ceo john bryant of bryant foods [ kinda like hormel stuff] .
in my fathers heyday at the helm , electrolux usa sold more cleaners in the usa then all others cleaners combined year by year ! [ that included the bissells , hoovers , kirbys , rainbows. airwave , royals etc etc etc and store bought included. talking about the ultimate household name !! and still the bottom line was quality . the model g is and old time fav of most vac lovers but it still did not perform as well as the super j or silverado . nor was it really made any better . it is my fav overall cuz it looks cool [ art deco/rock and roll fan that i am ] but functionality and 50-50 on reliability the silverado was as good and better and did not fall over all the time [ see earlier post on that ]
as i said before sorta kinda , if the model 30 has casters and a power nozzle , i would be a happy camper .
had it a hepa pull out filter ... oh man !!!!! lol !

silverado · Jul 24, 2011

wil........

i think the electrolux history website is fantastic ! minor errors aside :
it is not impolite or in bad taste to ask if my father is "still" alive . that is assuming you did not know .
my father passed on a several years ago and my mother a couple of years after and in the middle of all this my oldest brother [ vp of electrolux sales ] died . my only sister died in 1973 . the rest of us are waiting our turn .

silverado · Jul 24, 2011

w...

johnson , sheridan , dumas , dick brown ... etc etc and lots more of etc electrolux superstar vip's or hit the road salespersons and everyone in between ... they were the best of the best ! call 'em what you want : but if i had to collect a group of people to manage /run /prosper/ trust a business today , i would ask my god to lend me all these terrific people for just one more run !

Real1 · Jul 25, 2011

It's....

too bad that this isn't the rare case where all the ex-employees got together and reformulated/refound Electrolux. Probably the powers at be made sure no one on earth could ever use the name again-legally....which would cripple a new start of an old name. These ventures rarely work, but when they do, they are truly amazing...like Harley Davidson.

Your stories are incredible....I wait with baited breath for the next....and I'm sure I'm not the only one. An hell, since LUX was a household name across the US, Canada and beyond, maybe it's time for an inside book and look at the company in their finest hr. Just be careful that you're not sued by He Who Shall Not Be Named (or the surviving family). I figured by the way you talked about your dad, he had passed. Sounds like you and your surviving brothers could tell a hell of a story. Rope in some other surviving VIP's and you have your book!

Kevin

silverado · Jul 25, 2011

w.

hi kevin , do not hold your breath too much longer or you may turn blue like those bojack rebuilt model 30's ! lol !
again , i think the person who posted the link to their electrolux history site did an incredible job !
i guess it shows there are some mighty proud followers of the company still left out there.
there was talk at the time that some of the "family" might start up "competition" again . obviously though that did not happen for various reasons .
there were also talks and outlines for books from a few of my family [ me included ] but to date did not go further .
as for a law suit ! i do not think it is illegal to speak the truth !
besides the book has not been written ... yet ! lol !
i think it is terrific that there are still lots of people who are really into the history of cleaners and are fiercely loyal to their favorite brand of cleaner .
whether hoover , kirby , airwave , bissell or whomever ! just terrific !
f y i still working on lux wet/dry vac info . if and when i find anything i will post again .

electrolux~137 · Jul 25, 2011

I would really like to know what information in my Electrolux History is incorrect. I pride myself on that effort more than anything else I've done. It's the most thorough and most-researched. If there is wrong information in it, I want to fix it. If you'd prefer to email me privately that would be fine. You can reach me at [email protected].

99% of what's there came directly from Electrolux documentation. But if there are mistakes, that would not surprise me. That happened frequently in the telling and re-telling of company lore, not just with Electrolux but other brands as well.

You must have a very keen sense of detail -- quite a few other former Electrolux people have read my site and missed the mistakes.

Something I've always wondered about... in the factory there was a room with displays of prototype machines, 15 or 20 of them, arranged on a bench-like ledge that ran around the room.


And in another room on all four walls, wall-to-wall and floor to ceiling, were displays of prototypes and patent samples of attachments and accessories. 

I've seen these things in old photos from the Electrolux plant, and I've always wondered what became of all that stuff when the place closed. Did someone save it, or did all just get pitched into a dumpster? Ditto for what surely must have been vast paper files from all those years as well as blueprints, factory orders, etc. Oh, what I would give to have been able to save some of those materials.

And yes, there is a very special, very affectionate place in my heart for Electrolux. That was by far the most common vacuum cleaner in people's homes when I was growing up. I remember many, many XXXs, LXs, Es, AEs, Ss, Rs, Fs and Gs and at least one T. There were far more Electroluxes running around back then than any other brand. And I loved them all. And still do.

At one time I had a complete set of the first 50 years of American Electrolux tank machines, from the Model V to the Golden Jubilee, with all variations and sub-models (e.g., all the variations of the XXX, all four colors of the Model L, etc.) However, I had to greatly reduce that collection when I moved to a smaller apartment and lost my workshop and display space. But I still do have the best of them, with some very "rare birds."

You can't begin to imagine how fascinating your "Electrolux Recollections" are to me, and I'm glad you found our offbeat little corner of Cyberspace!

p.s. I have many Electrolux pages on my site in addition to the History. If you go to my main portal (link below) and scroll down, you'll see a list of those pages under the heading E L E C T R O L U X.


http://www.1377731.com

luxman107 · Jul 25, 2011

Being a true Electrolux fanatic, I love this thread..Charles, I have read your electrolux history link so many times...Thanks to both of you for the great information..
Silvarado, Do you have any pictures to post of the old manufacturing plant in Conn

electrolux~137 · Jul 25, 2011

p.s. to Silverado, it just occurred to me that I hadn't posted a link to the opening page of my Electrolux History site, only the "Electrolux Today" page. Here's the link, if you haven't seen it.




http://www.1377731.com/lux

silverado · Jul 25, 2011

will the ...

charles [ that is a real nice name ] i went back and re read the link to history of modern electrolux .
all i can say is i truly apologize as i misread/ interpreted some excerpts .
i do not see those several errors now. again my sincerest apology !
very well written ! i am sure charlie the tiger [ my father ] would have liked the article .
i have some pics somewhere when the duke of windsor came to visit the factory and my father . i thing they were outside shots in front of factory .
here is a tidbit : the old eckman center owned by electrolux and kiddy cornered the old greenwich plant was sold by lux to the town of greenwich for close to a half a mil back in 1966 and the name changed to greenwich civic center and may also be know now as west greenwich civic center .
eckman was a lux boss at one time i think but correct me if i am wrong . they had plant employee parties and what not and there was even an old time little bowling alley in the place . when greenwich took over the bowling was eventually taken out but it has a gymnasium and function rooms , commercial kitchen etc etc.
i even went to a couple of dances there as an underager and the last dance my dad got stuck with driving both ways ! there is at least one video of some people shooting hoop on youtube. just search as greenwich civic center. and enclosed i uploaded off the internet of a pic of what it looks like now and from what i remember the outside is not so different then it was when i was a little squirt .

electrolux~137 · Jul 25, 2011

In some of the issues of "Electrolux News" I have, there are photos and articles about Eckman Center. Nice to know it's still there.

btw does the name Charles MacMillan ring a bell? Back in the early 1980s before there was a Vacuum Cleaner Collectors Club, before I knew there was another soul on the earth with any interest in vintage vacuum cleaners, I wrote a letter to the Electrolux Plant in Greenwich asking if anyone there still had any old printed matter about Electrolux. My letter made its way to Mr. MacMillan (CEO at the time) and he replied to me, sending me a nice pack of stuff including xeroxes of articles from Electrolux News showing the prototype machines and attachments I mentioned earlier. He also sent me a bunch of instruction booklets but nothing really, really old. The oldest one was, I think, the 1205. He also sent a large color cutaway diagram of the 1205 showing the interior and motor. I still have all that stuff!

silverado · Jul 25, 2011

will the ....

charles , i know him but your spelling of last name is slightly off .
my brother the vp of sales had every lux news letter . i think his wife convinced him some time ago to chuck it all . i had a lot of that also . being in their repair service for a time , i had or had access to lots of manuals and so forth .
some got tossed out , given away or lost in moves it is not funny !

silverado · Jul 25, 2011

will the r...

charles , i disagree that electrolux went downhill after they "allowed" consolidated foods to buy them .
and certainly not a loss of heart and soul by any means . i feel if anything it was quite the contrary .
while maybe not making that "classic" design some us were used to and liked . times had to change and the "new" electrolux design did improve greatly especially considering carpet care .
there were more promotions within the company sales wise to motivate , just all kinds of stuff to make it more fun , yes , fun to sell the products .
the move to consolidated gave thew company the extra financial support to modernize their product and go beyond the same old same old [ not that there was anything wrong with the same old but at some point you really have to up and on ] .
my father had the chance to run consolidated as the big boss at one point but turned it down [ for various reasons ] and his love for electrolux ! [ granted he was vp and director but kept his main helm attention focused on lux ] .
again , from a point of view regarding a companies growth and financial success the consolidated years were luxs zenith !
anyways my opinion ....
the b-8 was the most fun machine i ever worked with . i used it to make more sales and it was fun to use and did a darn good job at buffing and "dry foam" shampooing . i still have the gold and silver versions . you just cant beat or kill a b-8 !
it is funny as when the upright first came out it had problems getting clogged up . the factory fixed that problem and that machine also made me a lot of sales whether converting from a upright to a canister or just the upright .
i am not saying it was as good a upright as i would have liked but it had some merit .
i would throw some rubber wheel covers on that baby and walk it down the road like walking a dog from house to house to office to wherever and just had a lot of fun with it . especially because you did not have to carry a big box and unpack everything and so forth . just roll that baby inside and dig of piles of dirt .
i did very little with commercial sales intentionally so did very very little with the cb . although i owned one once and it worked just fine . commercial accounts were a different animal all its own in my opinion .

electrolux~137 · Jul 25, 2011

Just to reiterate, my comments about Electrolux were all based on discussions and interviews with former Electrolux personnel, including a plant manager from the Bristol factory who, along with the rest of the work force, lost her job when the plant was summarily closed in 2003.

Most of the "old-timers" I've talked to have said -- emphatically -- that the Model G was the best machine the company ever made. However, I don't necessarily agree with that 100%. The Silverado is a fantastic performer and its understated color scheme is elegant and tasteful. I even developed a soft spot for the much-later Grand Marquise when I had the opportunity to acquire one at a very reasonable cost. That machine, with a new genuine Electrolux coiled vinyl electric hose, is now my "daily driver."

That having been said, all the models after the G, while, granted, are somewhat more powerful*, are also noisy and screechy -- the later plastic machines the worst offenders. 

And to me, the boxy, squared-off post-G machines [until the Renaissance] look ugly and ungraceful. The squared-off, flat fronts can get caught against table legs. That never happened with any of my earlier Luxes.

I have never had a problem with any Lux 'tipping over' -- not the Model G, nor even the early Model E (the later one had a stabilizer foot added), S or R. If people don't yank and tug on the machines, they will not topple over. It's a matter of treating the machines nicely.

-------
*I can't help but wonder if there's a diminishing point of return with more and more suction power. As Stan Kann once put it, "My God! The new vacuums scream so! Who can stand all that racket? Everyone wants more, more, more suction! They're nuts, all of them I tell you! Crazy!! You only need enough suction to move the schmutz from the floor into the vacuum cleaner bag!"

Then, switching gears...

Speaking of Bristol...

====================

Bristol Virginia plant closing, to idle 250 workers
Aerus Electrolux to shut down by end of May
By MIKE STILL
Bristol Herald Courier
March 14, 2003

The Aerus Electrolux plant in Bristol Virginia will shut down by the end of May, idling as many as 250 workers, officials of the vacuum cleaner manufacturer said Thursday.

Employees filed into the plant Thursday morning to attend a teleconference** with Aerus Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Joseph P. Urso, who told them of the shutdown.

"We are extremely grateful to our employees in Bristol and to the surrounding community for all of their support and efforts over the years," he said. "And we are very sorry for any adverse impact that this decision may have on our employees, their families and friends in the Bristol area."

Company officials said in a statement that Aerus had signed an agreement with The Eureka Co. -- a subsidiary of Swedish firm AB Electrolux -- to have Eureka's El Paso, Texas, facility take over assembly and some manufacture of Aerus vacuum cleaners, floor polishers, floor shampooers and air-filtration devices now made at the Bristol plant.

Aerus and AB Electrolux are separate corporations. The production shutdown and move were expected to start immediately and be complete in May.

Urso said implementing outsourcing opportunities -- such as the contracting of Aerus production to an outside firm -- would "lower the cost and improve the supply of Aerus products and services."

About 250 employees in the production side of the plant were given 60 days notice required under the federal Warren Act, said Aerus Vice President and General Counsel Jeff Harvey, although transfer of operations was expected to take between 90 and 120 days. The transfer to El Paso will include production equipment at the Bristol site, he said.

Aerus will continue handling product development, sales and marketing and franchise-ownership opportunities, according to the statement. About 100 support and administrative jobs were to remain at the Bristol plant.

Harvey, when asked whether any jobs were cut effective Thursday, said "not many, even if there were any." The statement called the closing and transfer a step in "Aerus' commitment to continuous improvement and cost-rationalization of all company activities."

The three-decade-old Bristol operation, which began as Electrolux, was bought in 1998 by Engles, Urso, Follmer Capital Corp. and renamed Aerus. Urso is a partner and CEO of Engles, Urso, Follmer. Aerus shut down its 200-employee plant in Piney Flats last year, followed by two rounds of Bristol facility layoffs totaling 100 employees from last August to November.

"We look for opportunities to realize economies of scale," Harvey said of the production transfer. "We specifically were concerned and sought an opportunity to improve outsourcing for our production." Harvey, when asked whether the remaining Bristol operation would be moved to a smaller facility and the existing Aerus plant sold, said the company had no "immediate plans to do so."

When asked whether the shutdown was due to foreign product competition, he said it was not.

Aerus President James Scott said in Thursday's statement that the company plans to "make the transition as smooth as possible and will involve the assistance of various state agencies and private outplacement services."

-------
**"Employees filed into the plant Thursday morning to attend a teleconference" -- what a cowardly, chicken-shit way to tell people they're losing their jobs.

====================

Employees react to news of plant closing
by MIKE STILL
Bristol Herald Courier
Friday, March 14, 2003

Employees of Aerus Electrolux in Bristol Virginia leave the building for lunch Thursday hours after learning that the plant will be closed in May.

Not many of the employees leaving the Aerus Electrolux plant in Bristol Virginia at lunchtime Thursday wanted to comment about the news they'd just received -- that the facility would be shut down.

But a few said they had concerns about how the company has been managed.

"I'm not angry at this place here," said 15-year employee Eva Hunt as she headed to lunch. "I'm angry at the company for the way they handled things."

Hunt, who works on the plant's hose manufacturing line, said she received her 60-day layoff notice that morning.

The shutdown notice followed layoffs last year of 300 workers at the Bristol plant and at a now-dormant sister facility in Piney Flats. Some remaining employees at the Piney Flats facility were transferred to Bristol at the time.

"We knew it was coming two years ago," Hunt said. "All these people who came from Piney Flats, single mothers and single fathers. I'm 50 years old. Who's going to hire me? Who's going to hire them?"

The Bristol plant, which opened three decades ago as Electrolux, has seen changes as its parent company found itself under new ownership in 1998, when Engles, Urso, Follmer Capital Corp. bought the company.

By 2001, Aerus had sold certain rights to the Electrolux brand name to Swedish-based AB Electrolux -- to "prevent confusion by distinguishing our company from" AB Electrolux.

"It was a good company up until five years ago," Hunt said before driving away.

"When they sold our name, they sold our integrity," said 25-year employee Annie Miller as she left the plant.

Carol Salcido, a 17-year employee, said she didn't know what she'd do next.

"It's been a good place to work," Salcido said.

Bristol Virginia Mayor Doug Weberling said city officials were aware that something was about to happen with the Aerus operation, although its timing was unknown until Thursday's announcement.

"The last few months (Aerus) brought people in to look at the property," Weberling said. "We're disappointed. It seems a shame because everyone said we had such a great work force."

Aerus planned to move production to a plant in El Paso, Texas.

"I don't think they'll find the same quality of work force in El Paso," the mayor said.

Weberling said he expects to see the the Aerus plant sold, although company officials said they had no immediate plans to sell the building, which was to continue housing about 100 support and administrative staff members.

"We'll offer (city Economic Development Coordinator) Jerry Brown any help we can to market the property," the mayor said. "We're hoping that the fiber-optic network we've installed in the city will lead prospects to see the potential uses for that site."

[this post was last edited: 7/25/2011-23:19]

will the real electrolux please stand up !

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