150 Years Celebration

A.O. Smith will celebrate the company’s 150th anniversary in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, on Thursday, Sept. 19. The festivities will focus on A. O. Smith’s rich history, the employees, its innovative transformations and the promising future ahead. The event will also celebrate the opening of the site’s third plant and an additional building expansion, which will Read more

A.O. Smith will celebrate the company’s 150th anniversary in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, on Thursday, Sept. 19. The festivities will focus on A. O. Smith’s rich history, the employees, its innovative transformations and the promising future ahead.

The event will also celebrate the opening of the site’s third plant and an additional building expansion, which will add hundreds of new jobs and produce more than 140,000 water heating units in the first year.

The Sept. 19 celebration will include food, festivities and a ribbon cutting ceremony with employees, elected officials and other key stakeholders. The event will include Claudia Escudero from the Mexican Consulate; Cristina Touché, president of Economic Development of Ciudad Juárez; Cruz Pérez Cuellar, mayor of Ciudad Juárez, and his private secretary, Ignacio Carmona Campirano; along with Isela Molina Alcay, president, and Mónica Leticia Luévano García, director, with Canacintra, the National Chamber of the Transformation Industry.

The program will feature Chairman and CEO Kevin Wheeler; Stephen O’Brien, president and general manager of North America Water Heating; Samuel Carver, senior vice president of global operations; Keith Auville, vice president of North America manufacturing; and Eduardo Gonzalez, Ciudad Juárez operations director. More than 1,000 employees are also expected to attend.

The company has had a presence in Mexico since 1984, beginning with electric motor assembly operations in Ciudad Juárez and Ciudad Acuna. In 1986, the company began manufacturing water heaters, and in 1995, the company withdrew from the automotive industry to focus on water heaters.