no other articles link to it . please introduce links to this page from related articles ; try the find link tool for suggestions . february 2016 elkay manufacturing type private industry plumbing fixtures manufacturing founded chicago united states 1920 1920 founders leopold katz louis katz headquarters chicago illinois united states products plumbing fixtures foodservice fixtures cabinetry water coolers drinking fountains bottle filling stations number of employees 3 500 website www.elkay.com founders leopold and louis katz elkay headquarters in oak brook il elkay manufacturing company a manufacturer of stainless steel sinks faucets and kitchen cabinets 1 was started in 1920 by leopold & louis katz and eleth robarth a tinsmith who came up with an idea to hand fabricate german silver sinks and deliver them in chicago . 2 today still privately owned by the founding family 3 elkay has 3 500 employees worldwide and is america s largest stainless steel sink company . 2 over the years the products elkay manufactures have expanded to include sinks faucets water coolers drinking fountains water bottle fillers 4 and residential and commercial kitchen and bath products . contents 1 history 2 products 3 divisions 4 facilities 5 major competitors 6 references 7 external links history edit the elkay manufacturing company was founded in 1920 by leopold katz and his son louis . it started with three employees in rented premises in chicago s near north side . during world war ii elkay supplied sinks and commodes to equip the u.s. military . 5 6 in 2010 elkay launched the ezh2o water bottle filler which is recognized for contributing to keeping plastic bottles out of landfills . 7 the unique counter on the unit allowed for users to see how many bottles had been saved from landfills at a particular location which had the effect of making the thing go viral . 8 the ezh2o first came about when elkay business travelers started noticing their fellow travelers doing the airport dance . more people were toting plastic water bottles . rather than drinking from the fountain they wanted to refill those jugs . it wasn t working . the dance was a sort of shuffle done by travelers trying to tilt bottles at the proper angle for refilling without splashing water on their shoes . 9 in 2013 elkay manufacturing won an international trade case involving anti dumping and anti subsidy petitions filed by the company and unlawful pricing by chinese producers of drawn stainless steel sinks which caused material injury to elkay manufacturing company and other domestic producers . 10 products edit elkay currently has four main product categories coolers ; sinks faucets and accessories ; cabinetry ; foodservice and millwork . their breadth of plumbing products includes 4 000 skus of kitchen sinks made of a variety of different materials . 2 elkay manufactures residential kitchen and commercial products such as sinks bars faucets cabinets and commercial kitchen appliances . the company has the largest water cooler offering in the market and recently shipped its five millionth water cooler . 2 most recently elkay elaborated on water cooler units by creating bottle filler units that can both retrofit to existing water cooler units or stand alone . these units decreased plastic waste through promotion of using reusable plastic bottles . their most popular bottle filler unit model is the ezh2o . 11 elkay products are sold through distributors designers home center establishments and various internet retailers . divisions edit elkay manufacturing has several divisions elkay plumbing products manufactures elkay sinks faucets elkay commercial products ezh2o 12 halsey taylor elkay foodservice products and revere sinks elkay wood products manufactures products sold under the american cabinetry collection innermost designcraft cabinets medallion cabinetry 13 mastercraft cabinets schuler cabinetry 14 yorktowne names 15 eb tecnica mexicana manufactures kitchen products serving latin america quetzal manufactures residential and commercial fixtures serving latin america elkay china manufactures products for china and select asian markets facilities edit elkay manufacturing is based in oak brook illinois with thirteen manufacturing facilities across the united states and international operations in china and mexico . major competitors edit fortune brands inc. ; kohler co. ; masco corporation . 5 references edit yue lorene january 3 2008 . elkay manufacturing ceo . crain s chicago business . a b c d cimarusti sarah march 2015 . in for the long haul . the wholesaler magazine . tmb publishing . crain s list chicago s largest privately held companies pdf . the lake team . gudeman sarah . elkay ezh2o bottle filling station . green buildings.com . a b elkay manufacturing company . reference for business . advameg . spencer mark february 2 2000 . a sparkling success longtime sink maker elkay seen as best in business . daily herald . arlington heights il via highbeam research . subscription required help . lanum jamison february 17 2011 . drinking fountain to curb plastic waste . the daily beacon . knoxville tn university of tennessee . daft richard l. 2015 . management . boston ma cengage learning . p. 368 . isbn 978 1 285 86198 2 . haggerty james march 24 2013 . with bottle fillers in mind the water fountain evolves . wall street journal . reisman lisa april 2 2013 . elkay manufacturing interview how the company monitors imports dumping . metal miner . anderton sadie august 2016 . why add bottle fillers to your facility . equiparts drinking fountains . sadie anderton . retrieved august 17 2016 . chicago innovation award winner profiles . chicago innovation awards . signature kitchens additions & baths offers 50 % off cabinetry . woodworking network . march 11 2014 . schuler cabinetry celebrates 10 years at lowe s ; goes national . woodworking network . september 19 2012 . koenig karen april 28 2014 . stokes returns to elkay cabinetry as vp gm cabinet channels . woodworking network . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to elkay manufacturing . official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title elkay manufacturing & oldid 744003022 categories privately held companies based in illinoiscompanies based in chicagobuilding materials companies of the united statesmanufacturing companies based in illinoiscompanies established in 1920bathroom fixture companieshidden categories pages containing links to subscription only contentorphaned articles from february 2016all orphaned articlespages using infobox company with unsupported parameterscommons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages add links this page was last modified on 12 october 2016 at 14 30 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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