Nordyne joins "Ol' Reliable" Maytag

MANUFACTURER PROFILE

The average consumer doesn't know a lot about Nordyne even though the company has been in business for more than 80 years. However, consumers do know the brands that Nordyne began licensing in 1997-- Frigidaire, Tappan, Westinghouse, Kelvinator, Philco, Gibson, and the

Perhaps not coincidentally, 1997 is the same year that the aggressive St. Louis company started chewing away market share from some larger manufacturing competitors.

Nordyne seems to have leveraged their anonymity quite well, and with sound guidance from the company's sales and marketing leadership. Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Dennis Kloster, explains, "Once every 12 to 15 years, consumers replace their heating or cooling appliance. They don't really identify with any of the typical HVAC brand names because they don't have to - the purchase doesn't happen often enough. We wanted brands that would remain top-of-mind. What better way to do that than to hitch our wagon to established, quality brand names that consumers see in their homes every day?"