DIXON, Ill. — This year, the employees and management of the Plews/Edelmann Division of Tomkins Industrial and Automotive are celebrating 100 years of the company’s technological contributions to modern life through a diverse range of products. Plews/Edelmann’s contributions to modern life range from hydrometer syringes and four-in-one screwdrivers sold in the early years, to bio-based lubricants and tire pressure monitoring systems available today.
“As technology has grown and changed over the past century, Plews/Edelmann has also changed to keep pace,” said Steve Venghaus, general manager. “Our strength has always been our mastery of a variety of specialized processes — from design, testing and tooling to quality control, delivery and computer assisted programs — that help us tailor products to our customers’ exacting specifications. The unmatched quality of our products and our commitment to exceptional customer service will continue to help us adapt to ever-changing market conditions as we embark on our second century.”
E. Edelmann & Co. opened in 1909 in Chicago, where the company’s founder, Erich Edelmann, started a wholesale business selling air valves, air cocks, steam gauges and related products to area plumbing and heating contractors. Edelmann soon recognized the extraordinary growth potential of the nascent automobile industry and began offering aftermarket parts and service tools such as tire gauges, hose connections, oil gauges, hub caps, valve adjusters and silencers, windshield ventilators, grease guns, battery hydrometers and wrenches.
Today, Plews/Edelmann is a leading designer, manufacturer and distributor of a broad range of automotive parts and tools sold to mass merchant, hardware and retail auto parts stores as well as wholesale automotive parts and industrial distribution outlets. In 2008, the company demonstrated its ongoing commitment to innovation by introducing LubriMatic Green, a new line of biobased, biodegradable lubricants made from renewable vegetable oils grown in the United States.
