The History of Briggs & Stratton
September 24, 2009 | Posted by admin In 1908 an informal partnership between Stephen F. Briggs and Harold M. Stratton began. This informal partnership, which flourished into Briggs & Stratton Corporation, is now reaching its centennial anniversary. The Company, with headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has prospered into an organization that produces engines and end products for a worldwide audience. Briggs Model F Engine
Within the initial partnership, Briggs was the inventor and Stratton was the investor. This partnership first ventured into the automobile manufacturing business. From there, Briggs & Stratton progressed to manufacturing automobile parts. Some of the parts the Company produced for the automobile industry included locks, switches, and igniters. In 1910 Briggs & Stratton incorporated, and due to the growing demand for automobiles, starter switches became the early mainstay of the Company’s business.
In 1919 Briggs & Stratton acquired and took over production of the A.O. Smith Motor Wheel. The Motor Wheel was used as a power source for bicycles and the Briggs & Stratton Flyer, a four-wheeled motorized vehicle comparable to a go-kart. With the Motor Wheel and subsequent Flyer, Briggs & Stratton succeededin providing consumers with one of the first low-cost means oftransportation. Briggs & Stratton Ingniter
It also led to the creation of the stationary Type “P” engine. This revolutionized the 4-cycle gasoline engine industry and set the coursefor Briggs & Stratton to become the world’s largest manufacturer of air-cooled gasoline engines. The manufacturer of the “P” engine and following models provided a portable, reliable, and convenient meansto power many applications of machinery.
The new engine powered applications included washing machines,garden tractors, cultivators, and generators. Because of this, Briggs & Stratton empowered people to accomplish whatever they needed to in their daily lives. Briggs Model P Engine
Briggs & Stratton was now providing power for people in every aspect of life. To accommodate the varied demand for small engines during the 1930s, Briggs & Stratton developed several new models. These portable engines were first used extensively in agriculture and military use, but soon found use in other applications.
In 1930 Briggs & Stratton established a nationwide service organization using independent authorized central service distributors. These distribution centers were operated by factory-trained personnel, and provided replacement parts, special tools, and engine repair service. Briggs Model U Engine
Design, manufacturing, and service are the components needed to obtain world-class manufacturing status. All were brought to bear under the leadership of Charles Coughlin. He was president of the Company from 1935-1972. Coughlin successfully navigated the Company through World War II, labor difficulties, and the incredible growth of the post-war boom years. His brilliance as an industrialist was subsequently recognized by the Harvard Business School.
With the onset of World War I, citizens and companies alike werecalled to action to support the United States. Briggs & Stratton was no exception, and aided the country in its efforts with the manufacturing, assembling, loading, and testing of defense products.
The Power Within™ flourished in several ways at this time – not only through the unquestioning support given to the United States Military, but with the introduction of women to the shop floor to aid in production. This commitment to the home front was once again revitalized with the occurrence of World War II. With the devastating effects of the war being realized, the Company’s manufacturing contributions were noted by the government.
Briggs & Stratton produced many products for the war effort, among them generators, fuse caps, the airplane magneto, the Graham transmission, and the B-5 two lever ignition switch. In 1942, Briggs & Stratton received the Army-Navy E-Flag forexcellence in war production. The E-Flag was a literal representation of The Power Within™, as it was a testamentto Briggs & Stratton’s pride in its work and shared values that enabled the Company to get the job done.
In 1953 Briggs & Stratton revolutionized the lawn and garden industry by developing the first lightweight aluminum engine. Lighter and less expensive than their cast iron counterparts, these new engines made lawn and garden equipment accessible to the masses of Americans moving to the nation’s new suburbs. Once again, Briggs & Stratton was able to empower consumers with the tools needed to power their everyday lives.
By 1957 the aluminum engine accounted for 80% of engines shipped The production of the aluminum engine led to the introduction of the Kool Bore™ engine, which sets the bar for engines today. Throughout the 1950s Briggs & Stratton produced an average of over 2,000,000 engines per year.
With the market for lawn and garden equipment growing tremendously because of the population’s expansion to suburbia, Briggs & Stratton engines were perfectly suited for the lawn mowers that would become an integral part of suburban life.
During the 1960s Briggs & Stratton expanded production in its Milwaukee plants due to the exploding demand for its product. Briggs & Stratton focused on two goals: improving the small engine and finding ways to keep up with market demand.
Leading the expansion and continuous product improvement effort during this period was Chairman Fred Stratton and CEO Vince Shiely. Some of these improvements included Easy- Spin® starting, Lo-Tone™ mufflers, and an automatic choke and starter. Briggs & Stratton also introduced many new product lines to meet the need of the growing marketplace. These lines included the Quiet Power engine, the opposed twin engine, and the I/C® family of engines.
With the onset of the mid-seventies, Briggs & Stratton faced its first serious challenge to its leadership position in the air-cooled engine market when Japanese engine manufacturers, encouraged by the weak yen, began competing in the small engine industry. However, even though small engines were the core of Briggs & Stratton’s business, some of the impact of the new competition was absorbed because automotive locks and keys still accounted for 10% of annual sales. Supplying 40% of the products in a $50 million market, Briggs & Stratton had to expand its lock and key location twice in order to keep up with production levels.
The fuel shortage of the 1970s combined with increasing environmental concerns, also prompted Briggs & Stratton to look into the manufacture of electric motors for use on lawn and garden equipment. In 1980 Briggs & Stratton developed an unusual prototype vehicle, the Gasoline/Electric Hybrid automobile. This electric car was equipped with a small, twin cylinder, 4-cycle engine. The two power sources could be used independently or in tandem according to the needs of the user. 1980 Briggs Gas/Electric Car
Continuing from the 1970s, the infusion of moderately priced premium Japanese engines and successful cost reduction efforts of its domestic competitors represented a critical challenge to the Company’s leadership position.
At the same time, the retail market for outdoor power equipment began to concentrate in the hands of a few powerful mass retailers who began to demand lower prices and greater product diversity. In the late 1980s Fred Stratton Jr., President and CEO at the time, led an effort to meet this challenge by reorganizing the Company into product-focused divisions. Briggs & Stratton also adopted the “economic value added” discipline in order to better manage operating and capital costs.
Briggs & Stratton expanded its product line and built new plants in order to better deal with the “mass marketization” of outdoor power equipment. New efficient product-focused facilities were built in Statesboro, Georgia; Murray, Kentucky; Auburn, Alabama; Rolla, Missouri; and Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
The largest principle market for a Briggs & Stratton engine has traditionally been the lawn and garden equipment market. However, with the emerging threat to engine sales came competitive intrusions into the industrial and commercial application markets. To counter this threat, Briggs & Stratton introduced several new lines of engines including the Industrial/Commercial line and the Vanguard™ line. These engine lines, which were launched in the 1980s, represented improvements in design and overall performance that helped strengthen Briggs & Stratton’s hold of its share in this market segment. Briggs & Stratton Daihatsu Diesel Engine
During this time period, Briggs & Stratton continued to explore and introduce alternative products such as the environmentally friendly Smart- Fill® Fuel Can, battery-powered lawn mower, and the electric power head.
In 1985 Briggs & Stratton along with the American Red Cross established a program entitled Knowing Mowing to educate children on safe mowing. Designed with children twelve and older in mind, it provided those involved with the knowledge and skills for safe operation of lawn mowers. As one of the first of its kind, it helped to raise awareness of the near 10,000 lawn mower accidents involving children that occur annually.
The Company has remained dedicated to ensuring that lawn moweroperators, parents, and other child caregivers are educated about the hazards that children face when lawn mowers are operated incorrectly.Most recently, Briggs & Stratton has been an avid supporter of the Safe Kids Know Before U Mow campaign. With the same focus on safety and prevention, education is key. Indeed, knowledge is power.
In 1993 Briggs & Stratton embarked on another new venture and entered the field of kart racing with the formation of the Briggs & Stratton Motorsports Division. The division provides engines, parts, racing gear, and information through a network of about 100 Briggs & Stratton Motorsports Centers in the United States and Canada.
From racing karts to dragsters, from asphalt speedways to off road, Briggs & Stratton makesthe engines that have been the choice of competition racers for years and years. The Company’s commitment to racing runs deep with long-standing relationships with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), and the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), the World Karting Association (WKA), and more.
Briggs & Stratton’s current Chairman, President, and CEO John Shiely, along with Executive Vice President and COO Todd Teske, have a vision for the Company that exemplifies the core values of Briggs & Stratton’s customers – people who have a can-do spirit, get satisfaction from a job well done, and pass their knowledge to the next generation. This vision, The Power Within™, also speaks to the commitmentBriggs & Stratton’s employees make when they work to provide power for all people; and of course, it speaks to the countless products powered byBriggs & Stratton.
Briggs & Stratton has a long legacy of giving back to the communities in which it has facilities, and this commitment has only grown with time. An example of this support is seen with the major sponsorship of Briggs & Al’s Run & Walk for Children’s Hospital. For the past 11 years, the Company has held the position of title sponsor with pride. Briggs & Stratton employees and their families, however, are the special element that ignites The Power Within™ by banding together as a team and participating in the run/walk. Wearing t-shirts that declare, “There is an engine inside each of us,” they embody what The Power Within™ is all about.
Throughout its history, the event has raised more than $8.5 million to help Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin provide medical care, conduct research to advance pediatric medicine, advocate on behalf of children, and educate medical professionals and the community about issues related to children’s health. Today, Briggs & Al’s Run & Walk primarily supports the Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care Units, each the most advanced of its kind in Wisconsin, and the Hematology/Oncology/Transplant Unit, where children with cancer and blood disorders are treated.
Briggs & Stratton’s Engine Power Products Group continues to manufacture and produce high-quality engines for outdoor power equipment. These engines may be used on various applications, from lawn mowers to go-karts. The Company remains the world’s largest producer of small gasoline engines for outdoor power equipment.
An important segment of Briggs & Stratton’s Engine Power Products group is its Commercial Power division. The days are long and the work is relentless for people who rely on commercial equipment to earn a living. These hard-working people need commercial equipment powered by robust, high-performance engines that never back down. Briggs & Stratton Commercial Power designs and manufactures, premium-grade Vanguard™ engines that are application-engineered to power equipment that works for a living.
Whatever the commercial application requires – single-cylinder, V-Twin, even a 3-cylinder that runs on diesel, propane or natural gas, horizontal or vertical shaft, air- or liquid-cooled – Briggs & Stratton has powerful, reliable engines that start fast, work long, and finish strong. Briggs & Stratton Commercial Power is all about the design, manufacturing and support of hard-working engines for people that work hard.
Briggs & Stratton Corporation’s Diamonds in the Rough program is open to youth baseball and softball players who nominate a mentor or unsung hero who helped him or her discover The Power Within™. In the competition’s first three years, Briggs & Stratton is proud to have donated more than $325,000 foryouth baseball.
Each year’s grand-prize essay winner receives $10,000 for field improvements, a Briggs & Stratton-powered tractor for field maintenance, and a clinic hosted by a former Major League Baseball player, such as Carlton Fisk, Lou Brock and Tino Martinez. This competition works to raise awareness among young people that The Power Within™ at work can help achieve many great things.
The largest principle market forBriggs & Stratton engines has been the lawn and garden equipment market. However, as the industry has changed, so has Briggs & Stratton. In 2000, Briggs & Stratton Corporation purchased Generac Portable Products and renamed it Briggs & Stratton Portable Products Group, LLC (BSPPG). The purchase allowed the Company to enter the end-products market. This group is the outdoor power equipment manufacturing division of Briggs & Stratton producing pressure washers, portable generators, standby generator systems, outboard motors, welders, and pumps.
In June 2004 Briggs & Stratton acquired Simplicity Manufacturing, Inc. of Port Washington, Wisconsin. Simplicity Manufacturing is a leading designer, manufacturer, and marketer of a broad range of premium outdoor power equipment used in both consumer and commercial lawn and garden applications. Simplicity’s products are widely distributed through independent dealers under the brand name Simplicity®, Snapper®, Ferris®, and Giant Vac®. This acquisition represents the Company’s first attempt in its history to serve the lawn and garden industry directly. This purchase helped to build closer relationships with its OEM and retail customers from an operational, sales, and marketing standpoint. Simplicity is the second acquisition that has focused on engine-powered products.
In 2007 the Company purchased an existing structure in Newbern, Tennessee for use in its manufacturing of yard power products. This new plant serves to make Briggs & Stratton’s manufacturing footprint more efficient than ever. Its optimal proximity to Briggs & Stratton’s other locations only works to optimize its manufacturing footprint.
In Briggs & Stratton’s goal to provide power for all people, the Company makes engines and end products available in emerging markets across the world. Globally, the Company’s engines can be found on diverse applications such as milking machines in Mexico, sugar cane crushers in Puerto Rico, fishing boats in Vietnam, rice harvesters in the Philippines, and cocoa pod grinders in Indonesia to name a few.
In 2002, as the Company was looking to grow its engine business, Briggs & Stratton identified Asian markets as having the greatest long-term potential. Agricultural mechanization in Asia has created the largest untapped small engine market in the world. These engines are traditionally more costly than their vertical shaft counterparts and therefore at a disadvantage when competing in the worldwide market. The competitive disadvantage was especially noticeable when compared to the low cost Chinese manufacturers.
In light of this, Briggs & Stratton decided that building a facility in China to manufacture horizontal shaft engines for sale in China, and the rest of Asia, was the best strategy to reach its goal of tapping the larger Asian market potential. Additionally, after a careful analysis it was decided that this facility should be situated in Chongqing, China and that the facility should be run by a reformulated Joint Venture with the existing partners in the PUYI-B&S JV. The reorganized Joint Venture company (Bai Li Tong Engines Chongqing) is 90% owned by Briggs & Stratton with each partner having a 5% stake in the business.
Most recently, Briggs & Stratton built its first manufacturing plant in Europe, located in Ostrava, Czech Republic. The factory, found in the Hrabova industrial zone, manufactures vertical-shaft engines for various lawn and garden applications. Production at the plant officially started in December of 2006. The Company is committed to remaining the industry leader of quality engines on a global basis. This investment in Central Europe further expands the ability to serve the special seasonal needs of the lawn and garden industry in Europe.
The European demand for Briggs & Stratton engines continues to increase, and this new facility will allow Briggs & Stratton to better fill this demand. Building engines closer to the customers’ factories lets the Company respond more quickly to their needs, just as having a comprehensive dealer network in Europe ensures fast Briggs & Stratton service after the engine is put into use.
Categories: Company Background, Engines | 
Tags: Briggs & Stratton, briggs engine, Diesel Engines, Lawn Mower History, Lawn mowers, Small Engine, small engine history | 
No Comments »
