The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1916-04-13
BUILD GREAT WESTERN TRADE
Old Men Employed by Former Company
Are Retained But Many Kenosha Men
Will Go to 'sFrisco'' to Put Sim
mons Progress Into Plant There.

| Announcement is made today that
negotiations have been concluded for
the purchase by Simmons company of
this city of the plant of the Rudgear-
Merle company at San Francisco. The
negotiations for the purchase Of the
plant, which for years has been the
Manufacturing company have been I'M
| der way for more than two months.
| The consideration has not been an
nounced, but it is said that the price
the Kenosha company paid for the big
going industry was close to two million
dollars. The plant is declared to be
! the greatest metal bed and ornamental
metal iron making plant in the Pacific
coast district and it's purchase by the
Kenosha company will add greatly to
the prestige of this company through
out the west and northwest.
The wheels in the big plant never
stopped for a minute, as the Simmons
company have kept most Of the 500
men employed by the Rudgear-Merle
company and later on it is planned to
send to San Francisco large number
of men trained in the local plant of the
Simmons company to introduce more
progressive methods in the big Frisco
plant. These men are now being Sc
lected and it is expected that within a
year nearly all of the leading places in
| the western plant will be men schooled
in the Kenosha plant of the Simmons
company.
| While the plant purchased was a
mammoth plant, extensive additions
are now under way and Simmons COM
dred thousand dollars worth of modern
metal bed making machinery which is
being installed in the plant just as
rapidly as it can be manufactured. 1t
is declared that when the work Of re-
building and reequipping the plant is
completed it will be model.
The purchase included all of the
property with real and personal of the
Rudgear-Merle company and it was one
of the biggest deals of the kind ever
completed in the country.
The men who have been prominent
in the plant at San Francisco will be
added to the western organization of
Simmons company. Andrew Rudgear,
former president of the company, has
been named as a vice president of Sim
mons company and general manager of
the Pacific coast division. James F.
Leahey, who was sales manager for the
Rudgear company, has been named as
vice PRESIDENT Of the Simmons COM
ipany and he will be assistant general
manager of the Pacific coast division.
L. G. Lance, who was formerly Pacific
coast manager for the Kenosha COM
lpany, has been made assistant treasurer
and he will have charge of the financial
end of the business on the coast.
"The move was necessitated by the
expansion of the business Of the COM
lpany," said President z. G. Simmons
in discussing the purchase. "We found
| that even with our new big steel build
| ing our facilities to meet the demand
for our product was inadequate and
business extension showed that plant
to the west of the Rocky Mountains
was a necessity. We shall utilize it for
the manufacture of ali of the staple
products of the Simmons line, but we
shall continue to ship from the local
mi Eboac al a1-o
to a better advantage here We shall
spare no expense to make this great
western plant the biggest plant Of it's
kind west of the Rocky Mountains.
There is great business TO be taken
care Of in that section of the country
and we feel now that we have made
proper arrangements to meet the de-
mand. It will take some time to bring
about the complete reorganization of
the company but with the men on the
ground well versed in the work there
the task is being made much easier /"
Not only is the Simmons company ex-
banding to the west of the Rockies, but
following contracts for the new steel
tube mill contracts have been let for
equipment which will double the power
plant of the Kenosha factory Twenty
contractors are driving the work to get
the new mill and the new power plant
completed by the first Of July The
equipment is to be furnished by the
Allis- Chalmers company of Milwaukee
and the expenditure for the new power
plant will be close to 100000. 1t is
declared that the installation of this
new machinery will give the Kenosha
plant one of the finest power genera
tor in the world.