The Power Within
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Public | |
Traded as | : BGG S&P 600 Component |
Industry | Manufacturing |
Founded | 1908 |
Headquarters |
Wauwatosa, Wisconsin United States |
Key people
|
Todd J. Teske (CEO) David J. Rodgers (CFO) Thomas R. Savage (Sr. VP of Admin) William H. Reitman (Sr. VP of Sales & Customer Support) |
Products | Gasoline engines |
Revenue | US$1.8 Billion (2016) |
US$ 0.046 Billion (2016) | |
US$0.027 Billion (2016) | |
Total assets | US$0.741 Billion (2016) |
Total equity | US$0.494 Billion (2016) |
Number of employees
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5,445 (2016) |
Website | briggsandstratton |
Briggs & Stratton is a Fortune 1000 manufacturer of gasoline engines with headquarters in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.
Engine production averages 10 million units per year as of April 2015. The company reports that it has 13 large facilities in the US and 8 more in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Mexico, and the Netherlands. The company's products are sold in over 100 countries across the globe.
Launched in 1908 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the company is based today in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Briggs & Stratton engines are commonly used on lawnmowers, as well as pressure washers, electrical generators, and a wide variety of other applications. Their original cast-iron engines were known for their durability, but the company's success was established following the development of lightweight aluminum engines in 1953. The aluminum engine was the perfect solution for the recently invented rotary lawnmower due to its lighter weight and lower cost.
The company started in 1908 as an informal partnership between Stephen Foster Briggs and Harold M. Stratton. S.F. Briggs was born in Watertown, South Dakota, and graduated from South Dakota State College (now South Dakota State University) in Brookings in 1907. The idea for his first product came from an upper-level engineering class project at SDSC. This first product was a six-cylinder, two-cycle engine, which Stephen Foster Briggs developed during his engineering courses at South Dakota State. After his graduation, he was eager to produce his engine and enter the rapidly expanding automobile industry. Bill Juneau, a coach at South Dakota State, knew of Briggs' ambition and the entrepreneurial interests of Harold M. Stratton, a successful grain merchant who had a farm next to Juneau's farm, so he introduced the two. In 1922, their fledgling company set a record in the automotive industry, selling the Briggs & Stratton Flyer (the "Red Bud") at record low prices of US$125-$150.