SIC 3631 Household Cooking Equipment

Contenidos

• NAICS CODE(S).
• INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT.
• ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE.
• BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT.
• CURRENT CONDITIONS.
• INDUSTRY LEADERS.
• WORKFORCE.
• FURTHER READING.

SIC 3631

This category covers establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing household electric and nonelectric cooking equipment, such as stoves, ranges, and ovens, except portable electric appliances. This industry includes establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing microwave and convection ovens, including portable. Establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing other electric household cooking appliances, such as portable ovens, hot plates, grills, percolators, and toasters, are classified in SIC 3634: Electric Housewares and Fans. Establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing commercial cooking equipment are classified in SIC 3589: Service Industry Machinery, Not Elsewhere Classified.

NAICS CODE(S)

335221

Household Cooking Appliance Manufacturing

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that a total of 97 establishments operated in this industry during the early 2000s. These companies shipped $4.6 billion worth of merchandise in 2003, of which electric appliances accounted for $2.1 billion and gas appliances accounted for $1.1 billion. Other types of appliances accounted for the remaining amount. About 55 percent of these operations employed at least 20 people, and about 35 percent had at least 100 employees. The largest concentrations of operations in this industry were in California and Tennessee.

ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE

Household cooking equipment was part of the appliance market that included washing machines, refrigerators, and other long-term appliances. Most appliances were purchased for new housing, replacement, or remodeling. Because people bought household cooking equipment to furnish their homes, housing slumps sometimes hurt the industry severely. By the 1990s this was a mature industry, with much consolidation occurring among the major appliance manufacturers. Replacement of old and worn-out appliances drove the market, since most major appliances lasted 10-15 years.

Five major corporations dominated the household appliance industry during the 1990s. Many of the main appliance manufacturers attempted to expand their markets globally, often by opening factories in Europe and Asia. By the mid-1990s about 98 percent of all major appliances, except microwave ovens, were American-made. Smaller appliances such as coffee makers, food processors, and toasters, were often imported from Europe.

BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT

Before the advent of the Franklin stove (invented by Ben Franklin), food was typically cooked in a fireplace or potbellied stove. Franklin's invention was only a slight improvement over open-hearth cooking, since his stove was only an iron box with flues.

During the nineteenth century, cast iron ranges that burned coal or wood were developed, but food still had to be monitored constantly because these heat sources were unpredictable. While these stoves enabled a variety of foods to be cooked at once, they were dirty and a fire hazard.

Gas burning stoves were also developed in the nineteenth century. They concentrated heat at the cooking source and ensured that food was cooked more evenly and all the way through. The transition to gas cooking, however, required a major plumbing overhaul as pipes had to be hooked up to a stove. Middle- and upper-class housewives used the first gas stoves. Thermostatically controlled gas ovens began appearing in 1915 and essentially freed cooks from the kitchen, since...