Category Archives: Company History
04) The First Electric Plant
In addition to being a mechanical genius and a humanitarian, D. W. Onan also was a philosopher. He was fond of putting down on paper his thoughts on a variety of subjects. He once wrote his 12 points for operating a successful manufacturing company: Product acceptance. Engineering. Experimental research. Tool & die excellence. Production and […]
Continue reading03) The Safty Saw
Like most entrepreneurs, D.W. Onan was a confident man. He was optimistic that his new business would grow and succeed, and he wasn’t concerned, or even aware, that he was pitifully short of capital for expansion or that he lacked solid business experience. In retrospect, it was fortunate Onan wasn’t the conservative type, because, in […]
Continue reading02) Birth of the Onan Company
One of the many difficult problems facing D.W. Onan during his 13 years at the Reinhard Brothers Co. was the lack of specialized tools and testing equipment to make the repairs on the electric parts of early Twentieth Century motor cars. He neatly solved most of these problems by inventing the tools and equipment he […]
Continue reading01) How it Started
At first glance, the story of the Onan Corporation is a story of machines — initially machines that helped people do their jobs of repairing automotive parts and components better. But a long, careful look into the history of the Onan Corporation shows that it really is a story of people, unusual people who dedicated […]
Continue reading00) Introduction
1982 Company History Hello, I am David Onan II, grandson of the founder, and I do family history. Three generations were involved. I want the founder?s descendants to have this information available to them. dated: November 2012 About This Work It is divided into two parts. The basic text was given to me by Tom […]
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