American Standard Brands

Infobox Company
company_name = American Standard Brands
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 1872
location = Piscataway Township, New Jersey, USA
key_people = Donald C. Devine, CEO
industry = plumbing fixtures
products = kitchen and bath fixtures, faucets and fittings; kitchen, bathing and wellness products; and bathroom furniture and accessories
homepage = [http://www.americanstandard-us.com www.americanstandard-us.com]
founder =
subsid =
slogan = American Ingenuity At Work

American Standard Brands is a closely held manufacturer of plumbing fixtures, sold under the American Standard, Crane, Fiat, Sanymetal, Showerite and Eljer brand names, based in Piscataway Township, New Jersey, United States. It is principally owned by Sun Capital Partners with Bain Capital Partners holding a minority stake. Bain Capital Partners owns a related and formerly co-owned plumbing fixture company, Ideal Standard which operates outside North America.

History

The "American Standard" brand name dates to 1929 when "Standard Sanitary Corporation" (founded 1875) merged with the "American Radiator Company" (founded 1892).

In 1999, American Standard purchased control of the U.K. based Armitage Shanks and Ceramica Dolomite of Italy from Blue Circle Industries for 430 million United States dollars.

American Standard breakup and formation of American Standard Americas

On February 1, 2007, American Standard Companies announced it would break up its three divisions. The plan included the sale of its kitchen and bath division and spin off WABCO, American Standard's vehicle controls division, while retaining The Trane Company.

On October 31, 2007 American Standard Cos. announced it had completed the sale of the kitchen and bath division to Bain Capital Partners, LLC. This announcement includes the sale of the American Standard name to Bain while American Standard retains the rights to use the "American Standard" name for HVAC products. American Standard changed its name to Trane on November 28, 2007. [http://ir.americanstandard.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=272232]

Bain Capital created American Standard Americas which sold a majority stake in the company to Sun Capital Partners on November 27, 2007. [http://boston.citybizlist.com/lstg/lstgDetail.aspx?id=27449]

Creation of American Standard Brands

On February 2008, American Standard Americas merged with two other plumbing fixture companies, Crane Plumbing and Eljer to create American Standard Brands. The Crane Plumbing unit includes the former Universal-Rundle product line which Crane continues to support with repair parts. [http://www.americanstandard-us.com/companyinfo/overview.aspx] [http://www.americanstandard-us.com/newsevents/pressroom_detail.aspx?pressid=364] Crane also has a Canadian subsidiary.

Toilet Mechanics

There are a multitude of American Standard toilet bowls available on the market, however, the design of the siphon mechanism varies from model to model. Several models containing overflow protection holes leading back into the siphon tube, while providing adequate performance for smaller waste quantities, are substantially difficult to plunge. This is due to the lack of water pressure buildup by the plunger as the inner-holes in the siphon tube divert water pressure back to the top of the bowl's open overflow protection holes. This issue, surprisingly, is in the higher-end models featuring overflow protection. Low-end models react adequately to plunging, however, at the expense of not having overflow protection. Careful flushing, while controlling the flush lever, is an easy solution to the low-end models if overflow is expected. Controlling the flush lever arm to stop water flow substantially reduces the risk of overflow in low-end models, while the toilet's ability to be easily plunged provides a substantial advantage over the high-end models.

External links

* [http://www.americanstandardbrands.com American Standard Brands official site]
* [http://www.craneplumbing.com Crane Plumbing official site]
* [http://www.eljer.com Eljer official site]