The Amana Corporation is an American brand of household appliances. It was founded in 1934 by George Foerstner as the Electrical Equipment Co. in Middle Amana, Iowa, to manufacture commercial walk-in coolers. The business was later owned by the Amana Society and became known as Amana Refrigeration, Inc. It is now owned by the

Whirlpool Corporation Whirlpool Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer and marketer of home appliances headquartered in Benton Charter Township, Michigan, United States. In 2023, the Fortune 500 company had an annual revenue ...

. Today, the Amana brand is marketed as the economy brand of Whirlpool Corporation, slotting below Whirlpool in the lineup. Its closest competitor in the United States is the

Hotpoint Hotpoint is a brand of domestic appliances. Ownership of the brand is split between Beko Europe (owned by Koç Holdings) which has the rights in Europe, and Chinese company Haier, which has brand rights in the Americas. History Pacific Ele ...

brand owned by

GE Appliances GE Appliances is an American home appliance manufacturer based in Louisville, Kentucky. It operates as an independent subsidiary of Chinese Haier Smart Home Company, a publicly traded affiliate of Haier, after an acquisition from General Electr ...

Haier Haier Group Corporation () is a Chinese multinational home appliances and consumer electronics company headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong. Its Haier Smart Home Company affiliate, of which it owns 35%, designs, develops, manufactures and se ...

History

In 1947, Amana manufactured the first upright freezer for the home, and in 1949 it added a side-by-side refrigerator. In 1950 the company was sold to a group of investors, including its founder, and became Amana Refrigeration, Inc. In 1954, it began making

air conditioners Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C (US) or air con (UK), is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior temperature, and in some cases, also controlling the humidity of internal air. Air c ...

. Amana was acquired in 1965 by

Raytheon Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. Founded in 1922, it merged in 2020 with Unite ...

, which had invented the

microwave oven A microwave oven, or simply microwave, is an electric oven that heats and cooks food by exposing it to electromagnetic radiation in the microwave frequency range. This induces Dipole#Molecular dipoles, polar molecules in the food to rotate and ...

in 1947, and introduced the commercial ''Radarange'' Model 1611 in 1954. In 1967, Amana introduced a consumer model of the ''Radarange'', the first popular microwave designed for home use. In 1997, the company was purchased by

Goodman Global Goodman Manufacturing is an American company operating as an independent subsidiary of Daikin Group, the world's largest manufacturer of heating, ventilation and air conditioning products and systems. Goodman is located in the $417 million Dai ...

(now part of Daikin North America), a heating-and-cooling manufacturer which sold it to

Maytag The Maytag Corporation is an American Home appliance, home and commercial appliance company. The company has been owned by Whirlpool Corporation since April 2006. History The Maytag Washing Machine Company was founded in 1893 by businessm ...

(now part of Whirlpool) in 2002. Goodman still owns Amana's air conditioner and furnace division, and Amana home appliances are now owned and manufactured by the

. Amana Under Counter Wine was spun off and is now marketed under the Aficionado marquee. Amana has since expanded into manufacturing a variety of other appliances, including furnaces, ovens, countertop ranges, dishwashers, and clothes washers and dryers. Whirlpool manufactures products under the Amana, JennAir, KitchenAid, Maytag and Whirlpool name at their factory in Amana, Iowa. The plant, in operation since 1940, was sold in October 2020 to Wramia001, a Chicago-based limited liability company. The company has a long-term lease agreement.

References

External links

* Amana Colonies Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning companies Manufacturing companies based in Iowa Whirlpool Corporation brands Maytag brands Raytheon Company Electronics companies established in 1934 1934 establishments in Iowa Benton Harbor, Michigan 1997 mergers and acquisitions American brands Daikin Manufacturing companies established in 1934 {{manufacturing-company-stub