Quality is a way of life for The Hoover Company and its employees, whose high standards are reflected in the excellence of the products they manufacture. Emphasis is on designing quality into a product right from the beginning; buying the highest quality materials for use in the product; then building quality into the product by doing the job right the first time. Engineering and Manufacturing divisions work closely together during the development of new products to identify potential quality concerns and solve them before they reach the production stage. The Purchasing and Materials departments build relationships with material and component suppliers who have proven that they deliver only the highest quality goods.
Necessity and ingenuity have long been driving forces behind the world's great inventions, and the Hoover vacuum cleaner is no exception. The story begins in 1907. Murray Spangler, an inventor who worked nights as a janitor, was cleaning rugs in a Canton, Ohio, department store. But all the dust raised from his broom aggravated his asthma, and he called upon his inventor's creativity to find a solution to the problem.
Spangler gathered a tin soap box, a fan, a sateen pillow case and a broom handle, then assembled an odd-looking, cumbersome contraption that managed to pull the dust away from the air he breathed. He quickly realized that this "suction sweeper," as he called it, had enormous sales potential, and he began seeking financial backing.
Spangler's family friend, Susan Hoover, agreed to try the machine in her home. Before long, she was singing its praises to her husband, W.H. "Boss" Hoover, owner of a leather goods manufacturing shop. Hoover bought the patent from Spangler in 1908, retained him as a partner, and soon had six employees assembling six units a day in a corner of the leather goods shop.
