<P> In 1940, the company acquired Sawyer Electric of Los Angeles, California, a manufacturer of electric motors . In 1942, it once again began to produce bomb casings, as well as aircraft propellers, undercarriages, torpedoes, and air flasks . By 1945, the company had built 4.5 million bombs, 16,750 sets of landing gear, and 46,700 propeller blades . They also built nose frames for the B - 25 bomber, water heaters, jeep frames, and components for the atomic bomb project . In 1946, they built a 400,000 square foot residential water heater plant in Kankakee, Illinois . In 1948, they entered the commercial water heater market after acquiring The Burkay Company of Toledo, Ohio . In 1949, the company began producing Harvestore, a glass - fused - to - steel silo, targeted at dairy and livestock operations . </P> <P> In the 1950s, A.O. Smith acquired Whirl - A-Way Motors of Dayton, Ohio, and consolidated its electric motor manufacturing operations there . The motor division later introduced the hermetic motor, a critical component of air conditioning and refrigeration compressors . Its water heater division introduced the first glass - lined commercial water heater, the A.O. Smith Burkay B - 65, and later the company established a glass fiber division to replace steel in many applications . It also expanded into supplying oil field pipe and pipe for service stations, eventually becoming Smith Fiberglass Products in 1986 . </P> <P> In the early 1960s, the company opened a commercial water heater and boiler plant in Stratford, Ontario, Canada . In 1965, the Motor division invented the enclosed canopy, two - compartment motor, a design that improved the reliability in pool pump motors by separating the switching components from the motor windings . In 1967, fourth generation Smith family member, Lloyd B. Smith, was elected chairman and chief executive officer of the company . By 1969, the company had produced its 10 millionth residential water heater, and by 1972, the company had expanded to Europe . In 1974, the Conservationist line of residential water heaters was introduced . In 1976, the Motor division opened a plant in Bray, Ireland, to supply hermetic motors . In 1978, A.O. Smith began manufacturing storage tanks, beginning with Aquastore, a glass - fused - to - steel tank . </P> <P> By the early 1980s, the Automotive Products unit had manufactured over 100 million passenger car frames, and 50 million truck frames, in Milwaukee, and soon after the company opened its first electric motor assembly operations in Ciudad Juárez and Ciudad Acuña, Mexico . In 1990, it developed the first hermetic motor insulation system compatible with R - 134a non-ozone - depleting refrigerant . In 1995, they acquired Peabody TecTank of Parsons, Kansas, allowing A.O. Smith to enter the bulk dry storage market . That same year the company expanded into Asia by entering two joint - venture agreements: Smith Fiberglass Products and Harbin Composites Corporation to make fiberglass pipes for the China's petroleum industry, and Water Products Company and Yuhan Water Heater to make residential water heaters . In 1996, the Water Products division introduced the Cyclone XHE commercial water heater . In 1997, after 90 years in the automotive industry, A.O. Smith sold its Automotive Products Company to Tower International . In 1997, they acquired UPPCO, Inc., making A.O Smith the world's leading manufacturer of C - frame sub fractional horsepower motors . In 1998, they acquired General Electric's domestic compressor motor business, as well as the electric motor division of Magnetek . By the end of the decade, Water Products Company had bought out its joint venture partner in Asia, and had opened a plant in Nanjing, China . </P>

Where are ao smith hot water heaters made