In addition, a private community built around the company called Kenwood gave Oneida a sense of family that remained strong through the early decades of the 20th century; well into the s, descendants of the original Oneidans held almost 90 percent of company stock. Noyes sought to make Oneida and the community of Kenwood 'modern utopias' by increasing wages, improving work conditions, providing welfare and recreational benefits, and improving the physical environs of Kenwood.
By appealing to their sense of ambition, Noyes attracted children of Oneidans who had left the Community in favor of college education and careers in 'The World. The company's inventiveness and cooperation between labor and management have distinguished Oneida throughout its history. Indeed, the company's silverware operations have yet to suffer a work stoppage due to a labor dispute. The company's enlightened attitude was reflected in other ways as well. In Noyes proposed voluntary salary reductions for management when the company encountered financial difficulties.
In all salaried personnel took a ten percent pay cut, which remained in effect until early In larger cuts were necessary--Noyes reduced his own salary by half, the directors took 33 percent cuts, and other officials took smaller cuts corresponding to their salaries. The Great Depression necessitated similar sacrifices. In a further effort to strengthen its financial position, Oneida sold its chain business in , liquidated its silk industry holdings the following year, when man-made substitutes for silk were invented.
The company's canning business was discontinued in because it was unable to compete with large-scale modern production methods. But the consolidations enabled Oneida to open its first international factory, in Niagara Falls, Ontario, in Noyes resigned from the general managership in to let a younger generation into Oneida's management.
Oneida assisted the war effort by producing ammunition clips, lead-plated gas shells, and combat knives. The company also served as the principal source of a wide range of surgical instruments used in military hospitals. In Noyes returned briefly to Oneida after working with the U.
Amid financial crisis in , Noyes resumed the general managership of Oneida. After steering the company through that predicament, he bequeathed the position of general manager to his son-in-law, Miles E. Robertson, in But Noyes retained both the post of president and de facto control of the company. Oneida's trap business was sold in , which left the company entirely dependent on its silverware business.
In the company's name was changed to Oneida Ltd. The name change also signaled a new era at Oneida. Noyes ceded control of the company to Miles Robertson, although he did not formally hand over the presidency until Robertson was known for his 'toughness': despite the rigors of the Great Depression, Oneida made a profit in , when no other company in the silverware industry could.
By this time, Oneida had subsidiaries in Canada and Great Britain. Beginning in the s, Oneida became less community-oriented and more like a typical corporation with few family ties and less of a social-utopian bent. By , 33 percent of the board of directors were not from the Community. Robertson aggressively began to recruit new employees from 'The World.
Whereas Oneida's management had once sought personal satisfaction over personal wealth, the arrival of greater numbers of 'outsiders' inevitably altered these values. As competition for quality personnel escalated and the company grew more segregated from the Community, management salaries increased to match prevailing wages in the industry. World War II brought about other changes at Oneida as well. The company's contribution to the war effort included production of silverware for the Army and Navy and surgical instruments for military hospitals.
Oneida also manufactured products for the battlefield, including rifle sights, parachute releases, hand grenades, shells, survival guns, bayonets, aircraft fuel tanks, and chemical bombs. The company even purchased a separate factory in Canastota, New York, which produced army trucks, aircraft survival kits, and jet engine parts.
That plant stayed in operation for several years after the war. Although the Oneida of the s had accepted the wage scales of the outside world, it continued to operate by Noyes's principle that management should take salary cuts during difficult financial periods. The employees of the s had changed along with the times, however, and a cut in directors' salaries was perceived by employees not as a demonstration of management's vested interest in the welfare of the company, but as a drastic measure indicating impending financial disaster.
The directors restored their pay, but Oneida continued to be plagued by financial problems through , when the company posted its first annual deficit. That same year Pierrepont Trowbridge 'Pete' Noyes replaced his father as company president. Oneida had trouble adjusting to the loss of government orders that had supplemented silverware sales during World War II and the Korean War. The work force declined from a high of 3, in to 2, in Oneida responded by developing additional product lines, reorganizing production, and introducing new advertising and marketing strategies.
By the end of the decade, the work force had grown to more than 3, employees. During the s, Oneida began to focus more on stainless steel flatware, instead of on the more expensive and prestigious silver-plated and sterling flatware that had previously been its hallmark.
Technological breakthroughs in the late s allowed Oneida to introduce the first ornate stainless flatware that had a decorative pierced pattern similar to sterling and silver plate. Waterford extends Lismore Black Collection. Ginori introduces Reborn, a new creative initiative. BHETA updates members on bladed items legislation. Tableware International Awards to take place at Ambiente. Fiskars upgrades its outlook for Burleigh partners with Craven Dunnill Jackfield.
About Contact Privacy Policy Magazine. Beatriz Ball partners with Arbor Day Foundation. This new combination of brands and array of products will create unprecedented growth opportunities within our existing customer base, and open new distribution worldwide.
It has been a busy year for Lenox. It closed its Kinston, N. Editor-in-Chief Allison Zisko first joined HFN in and spent many years covering the tabletop category before widening her scope to all home furnishings. Supply Chain. Industry News. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies.
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