From tubs to tee-offs Kohler, Wisconsin: Population: 2,010. Nearest Pottery Barn: 50 miles away. Located in Sheboygan County, home to half as many dairy cattle as people and headquartersof one of the oldest and largest privately held companies in the nation, Kohler Company. With an eccentric blend of different trades, including plumbing and cabinet design, golf and resort destinations (including the Midwest’s only AAA Five Diamond Resort Hotel), real estate, electrical generators and even a grocery store, Kohler Company is an international business sensation unlike any other. Kohler Company, founded in Sheboygan in 1873, is a family-run business. Plumbing was not always the company’s focus. In fact, Kohler started out as a cast iron and steel plant, manufacturing farm equipment and cemetery ornaments. Kohler did not have anything to do with plumbing until 1883, when founder John Michael Kohler coated a horse trough with enamel, producing the company’s first bathtub. The company then moved to Riverside, which would soon become the town of Kohler, taking the namesake of the constantly expanding corporation. Today, the company’s holdings stretch across the globe, with divisions on all five continents. “Kohler Company employs approximately 26,000 people worldwide,” said Brenda Rood, an employee in kitchen and bath public relations division. Leading the industry Kohler is probably most known for its kitchen and bathroom design. From Canada to Costa Rica, Kohler products are everywhere. However, Kohler is not only a world leader in plumbing, Kohler generators and furniture subsidiaries also sit at the top of their class. Kohler’s plumbing designers are some of the best in their field and are always working on something new. One of their newest creations is the Bubble MassageBath, which allows the user to control the intensity and location of the tub’s 120 water jets. Other recent inventions include low-flow toilets that can save a family of four 5,000 gallons of water a year, a quiet-close toilet seat, and new, bright colors for their cast iron products. These shades, called Vapour colors, use innovative technology to bring some excitement into bathroom design. The new colors include light blue, green, pink, orange and indigo, and are applied to the cast iron products as enamel, but not in the usual way. “Enamel is a glass material that when handled differently, allows light into the [cast iron] surface,” said Mary Reid, director of concept development. “These five Vapour colors interact with light to bring a rich, deep visual effect to the surface.” Kohler Company is also cutting-edge in cabinet design. Canac, a Kohler subsidiary, follows a unique timeline when developing custom-made kitchen cabinets for consumers. The designers meet with the builders to get a vision for what the project entails. Then, Canac’s designers and builders create kitchen cabinets using already-made modules in combination with individual designs for the specific consumer. Each cabinet is unique, but still based on Canac’s high standards. Canac employs over 1,100 cabinet installers around the US, so every kitchen will have cabinets installed by people who are familiar with Canac’s designs. Although Kohler’s generator branch is not as familiar to the public as its plumbing divisions, Kohler generators are as prominent as Kohler plumbing products. Kohler generators have been used to give electrical power to high-profile events like the 2001 Grammy Awards, the one-year commemoration ceremony of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the Pentagon and the memorial service for the Space Shuttle Columbia, just to name a few. Los Angles International Airport relies on Kohler generators to provide electricity in case of a power failure. Kohler quality Part of the reason the Kohler name is synonymous with quality is the high standards the company sets in place for new employees. “To stay on the cutting edge, Kohler Company recruits talented, dedicated professionals in a wide range of career categories,” said Kohler Staffing Manager Tanya Lulloff. These career categories include engineering, information technology, accounting, human resources, design and public relations, among many other occupations. Since the company has many subsidiaries located around the world, Kohler receives applications from interested candidates from every corner of the earth. While the company hires employees from every continent, those in charge of hiring at the Wisconsin offices are always happy to see an application from Wisconsin. “At our corporate headquarters we are fortunate to receive a significant number of applicants who have left Wisconsin after graduation and are eager to return to be closer to family and friends,” Lulloff said. Destination Kohler Kohler’s hospitality division has blossomed over the last several years, thanks in part to their world-class golf courses, Blackwolf Run and Whistling Straits. Blackwolf Run hosted the U.S. Women’s Open Championship in 1998, and Whistling Straits hosted the 2004 Men’s PGA Championship last August. Blackwolf Run is divided into two 18-hole courses: the River Course and the Meadow Valleys Course. Blackwolf Run was named “Best in the Midwest” by Midwest Living for its River Course in 2003, and the course was ranked number 16 among the best golf courses in the US by Golf Digest in 2002. Whistling Straits also has two 18-hole courses: the Straits course and the Irish course. The courses are built along two miles of uninterrupted Lake Michigan shoreline. A flock of Scottish Blackface sheep roams the Straits course, adding Scottish atmosphere to the scenic course. Whistling Straits has also won its share of awards, among them, a third-place ranking for the Straits Course by Golf Digest on its list of “America’s Best Top 100 Modern Courses” in 2003. Together, Kohler’s golf and resort destinations pack a one-two punch, as Golf Digest named the combination of The American Club, Blackwolf Run, and Whistling Straits as number two in their “Top 75 Golf Resorts in America.” This combination was also named America’s best golf resort by Forbes FYI, and ranked number two in Conde Nast Traveler’s 2002 list of the “Top 75 Golf Resorts Around the World.” According to Jim Beley, general manager of the American Club, Kohler’s hospitality division started planning for the 2004 PGA Championship three years in advance. Organizing such a large event was challenging since those in charge needed to figure out how to market the tournament, transport thousands of people through country roads Haven, Wisconsin, and accommodate national and international press and work. All the planning paid off, since there were no major problems during the tournament giving Sheboygan County and Wisconsin even more positive publicity. The American Club stands on its own, even without the help of the highly publicized golf tournaments. Kohler Company built the American Club in 1918 as a dormitory for factory workers. In the early 1940s, the lodge was transformed into a hotel with two separate buildings. The main hotel has 185 guest rooms, each of which is dedicated to a different famous American. The Carriage House has an additional 52 rooms. Not surprisingly, the hotel’s bathrooms are just as elegant as the bedrooms. Each room includes a whirlpool and serves as a showcase for Kohler’s signature plumbing design. Because its rooms are expensive (a standard room costs about $250 on weeknights during the summer), the American Club mainly caters to older executives between 45 and 60 years old. According to Beley, many younger people would probably enjoy staying at the luxury resort, but since many are still paying off college debt, they are unable to stay there. However, the demographic changes during golf season (May to October), when young people who want to golf at championship courses are willing to splurge on staying at the resort. During the golf season, the average age of American Club guests drops slightly. The constantly expanding corporation recently added a new resort to its team. In October, Kohler bought the Old Course Hotel Golf Resort and Spa in St. Andrews, Scotland. The hotel is located on the 17th hole of the Old Course, probably the most famous hole in the world of golf. According to Beley, the company had been “interested in buying a facility with a strong influence in golf.” Although Kohler does not own the Old Course itself, the conglomerate bought the nearby Dukes Golf Course, which will introduce Kohler hospitality to a European audience. One might think Wisconsin hotel developers would be too intimidated by Kohler’s impressive vacation destinations to set up shop in Sheboygan County. However, Sheboygan County is home to several other top-notch resorts, including the Osthoff, a AAA Four Diamond resort in nearby Elkhart Lake, founded in 1886. Osthoff general manager Lola Roeh sees the American Club and Kohler’s golf courses as more of a complement to her business rather than a competitor. “Kohler Company has done a lot to increase demand for tourism in Sheboygan County,” said Roeh. “It’s like having a McDonald’s and a Hardee’s on the same block.” close this window to return to CURB |
