Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Floor care |
Founded | 1876 |
Founder | Melville Bissell |
Headquarters | Walker, Michigan, U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Mark J. Bissell (President) |
Products | Vacuum Cleaners (Hand-operated and Robotic), Carpet Cleaners, Floor Cleaners |
Number of employees | 2,500 (2021) |
Website | www |
Footnotes /references [1] [2] |
Bissell Inc., also known as Bissell Homecare, is an American privately owned vacuum cleaner and floor care product manufacturing corporation headquartered in Walker, Michigan in Greater Grand Rapids. [3] [4] The company is the number one manufacturer of floor care products in North America in terms of sales, with 20% marketshare. [5]
Melville Bissell developed an early carpet sweeping machine to aid in cleaning the crockery shop he and his wife Anna owned and operated. The device was patented as the Bissell Carpet Sweeper in 1876. In 1883, Bissell built the company's first manufacturing plant in Grand Rapids. [6] By the 1890s the company had an international presence and was producing 1000 sweepers per day. [7]
Melville Bissell died in 1889 and his wife Anna took over as leader of the company. She served as the company president from 1889 - 1919 and chair of the board from 1919 - 1934. [8]
Over the years the company expanded from manufacturing only mechanical sweepers to producing vacuum cleaners and carpet shampooers. [6]
In 2004, the company acquired a license for the Woolite trademark for all carpet and upholstery cleaning formulas for $62 million. It has also moved into the pet-care industry, manufacturing attachments and solutions designed specifically for cleaning up pet hair and stains. Whereas other competitors saw sales decline by numerous percentage points during the economic downturn, Bissell's sales remained steady. [2] In 2009, they outpaced Hoover to take the number one position for floor-care sales in North America. [5] Their top-selling carpet shampooer is Bissell ProHeat 2x Revolution Pet Pro [9] which is the market leader as of 2020.
It was the title sponsor for the Bissell Pro Cycling Team. [10] Bissell also has a pet foundation. [11] With every purchase, it donates some percentage to the foundation to save pets, and grant money and assistance to various animal non-profits in all 50 states. [12]
A vacuum cleaner, also known simply as a vacuum, is a device that uses suction, and often agitation, in order to remove dirt and other debris from carpets and hard floors.
The Hoover Company is a home appliance company founded in Ohio, United States, in 1915. It also established a major base in the United Kingdom; and, mostly in the 20th century, it dominated the electric vacuum cleaner industry, to the point where the Hoover brand name became synonymous with vacuum cleaners and vacuuming in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Hoover North America was once part of Maytag, but was sold by Maytag's new owners Whirlpool Corporation in 2007 to Hong Kong multinational manufacturing company Techtronic Industries for $107 million. Hoover International had already split from Hoover North America in 1993, and was acquired by Candy in 1995, which was acquired by Haier in 2019.
Kirby Opco, LLC, doing business as The Kirby Company, is a manufacturer of vacuum cleaners, home cleaning products and accessories, located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is a division of Right Lane Industries. Dealers, sales reps, service centers, and distributors are located in over 50 countries. Kirby Vacuums are sold via door-to-door or though arranged-scheduled in-home demonstrations via their website and the company is a member of the Direct Selling Association, the Kirby website can also take vacuum cleaner orders and ship directly to the customer as well, without having to arrange for a scheduled an in-home demonstration. All Kirby Vacuum Cleaners are built in both Edgewater, Cleveland, Ohio and Andrews, Texas, United States.
Swiffer is an American brand of cleaning products that is made by Procter & Gamble. Introduced in 1999, the brand uses the "razor-and-blades" business model, whereby the consumer purchases the handle assembly at a low price, but must continue to purchase replacement refills and pads over the lifespan of the product. Swiffer has become a half-billion dollar brand in fifteen countries.
A carpet sweeper is a mechanical device for the cleaning of carpets. They were popular before the introduction of the vacuum cleaner and have been largely superseded by them. However, they continue to be used in many home and commercial applications because they are lightweight and quiet, enabling users to quickly clean small messes up from the floor without disturbing patrons, patients, babies and pets, and because they do not require electricity to operate.
Numatic International Ltd is a British manufacturer primarily producing domestic, commercial and industrial cleaning and maintenance equipment distributed worldwide. It is one of the major producers of vacuum cleaners in the United Kingdom, producing the Henry domestic vacuum cleaner and its related models, which also shares a canister design with the "smiling face" appearance and human name.
Carpet cleaning is performed to remove stains, dirt, and allergens from carpets. Common methods include hot water extraction, dry-cleaning, and vacuuming.
Claude C. Hopkins (1866–1932) was an American advertiser and author. He introduced the slogan in advertising and popularised the use of test campaigns, especially using coupons in direct mail, to properly attribute marketing spend.
Anna Sutherland Bissell (1846–1934) was a Canadian-American businesswoman who was the first female CEO in the United States. She was CEO of Bissell, known for its carpet sweepers and vacuum cleaners.
Vax UK Ltd is a British based brand that manufactures electrical goods and cleaning products in the floor-care and air treatment sectors, and which has its headquarters in the United Kingdom. Since 1999 the brand has been owned by a company called TTI Co. Ltd Group, which is based in Hong Kong. Vax UK Ltd has its main headquarters and R&D centre located in the city centre of Birmingham, West Midlands and a service, warehouse and depot operation in the village of Hampton Lovett, near Droitwich, Worcestershire. Vax branded machines are manufactured in China. Vax employs over 400 staff across its Birmingham and Droitwich sites in the UK.
SEBO is the brand name of vacuum cleaners made by Stein & Co GmbH, a company based in the German town of Velbert. They produce a range of upright and cylinder vacuum cleaners for domestic and commercial use. SEBO stands for SEmigewerbliche BOdenpflege, German for semi-commercial floor care.
Ewbank is a brand of mechanical carpet sweepers sold in the United Kingdom since the 19th century. Originally owned by Entwisle and Kenyon Ltd, it is now owned by Earlex Ltd.
James Murray Spangler was an American inventor, salesman, and janitor who invented the first commercially successful portable electric vacuum cleaner that revolutionized household carpet cleaning. His device was not the first vacuum cleaner, but it was the first that was practical for home use. It was the first to use both a cloth filter bag and cleaning attachments. Spangler improved this basic model and received a patent for it in 1908. He formed the Electric Suction Sweeper Company to manufacture his device. William H. Hoover was so impressed with the vacuum cleaner that he bought into Spangler's business and patents.
Dry carpet cleaning involves the use of specialized machines to clean carpets with recently developed chemical technologies that permit no-moisture or "very low moisture" (VLM) cleaning, resulting in carpet beautification, and removal of stains, dirt, grit, sand, and allergens. Clean carpets are recognized by manufacturers as being more visually pleasing, potentially longer-lasting and probably healthier than poorly maintained carpets.
A robotic vacuum cleaner, sometimes called a robovac or a roomba as a generic trademark, is an autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner which has a limited vacuum floor cleaning system combined with sensors and robotic drives with programmable controllers and cleaning routines. Early designs included manual operation via remote control and a "self-drive" mode which allowed the machine to clean autonomously.
Woolite is an American brand of laundry detergent and cleaning products owned by the British multinational company Reckitt. The company acquired the Woolite brand when it bought Boyle-Midway from American Home Products / Wyeth in 1990. The company manufactures laundry accessories, among other consumer goods.
Melville Reuben Bissell was an American entrepreneur who invented the modern carpet sweeper. The Bissell corporation is named after him.
Grey Technology Ltd, which uses the trade mark Gtech, is an independent British company designing and manufacturing cordless home and garden appliances such as vacuum cleaners, floor sweepers, grass trimmers, lawn mowers, hedge trimmers and power tools.
Godfreys was an Australian retailer in the domestic and commercial floorcare and cleaning industry, headquartered in Melbourne. Founded by Godfrey Cohen in 1931, at its peak it had more than 220 company and franchise-owned stores combined across Australia and New Zealand.
2345 Walker Ave NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49544.