Hoover — fertilizer to foam
Hoover acquires Tillsonburg Machine Works
August 29, 1966 (PD: 201308)
The Tote Dry Bulk Fertilizer Spreader produced at the Hoover Tillsonburg plant
On August 29, 1966, the (Canadian) Financial Record announced that Hoover Ball and Bearing had purchased all the outstanding shares of Tillsonburg Machine Works, Ltd., a manufacturer of dry bulk fertilizer spreaders in Tillsonburg, Ontario.
Hoover intended to operate the newly acquired facility as a subsidiary of their Tote Systems Division, and planned to produce the full line of Tote fertilizer applicator equipment there. The machine and welding shop operations of Tillsonburg Machine were to continue as well.
By 1973, the Tillsonburg plant had added molded urethane foam for automotive seating to its manufacturing line. By 1979, the plant was devoted to automotive seating exclusively.
When Johnson Controls acquired Hoover in 1985, it continued Hoover’s automotive seating operations; however, the Tote bulk materials handling division was sold to Citicorp Venture Capital a few months after the acquisition.
Today, the company continues to maintain an automotive seating plant in Tillsonburg.
