nyse plow industry auto parts founded 1952 founder douglas seaman headquarters milwaukee wisconsin united states key people michael w. wickham chairman of the board james l. janik president & ceo products snowplows spreaders parent douglas dynamics website www.westernplows.com western products is an american brand name for snow plows and other professional snow removing equipment manufactured by western welding and manufacturing . the company also manufactures a variety of truck mounted sand and salt spreaders snowplow replacement parts and snow removal accessories . western products employs approximately 250 people at its manufacturing facility in milwaukee wisconsin . headquartered in milwaukee wisconsin the company is a division of douglas dynamics group nyse plow which also owns the blizzard and fisher engineering brand names . contents 1 history 2 growth 3 expansion 4 references 5 external links history edit on september 5 1950 douglas seaman purchased western welding & manufacturing a small machine shop in milwaukee that was founded in 1943 . western mainly handled small one off welding jobs for large manufacturers . a friend suggested to seaman that he should start manufacturing snowplows as a way to diversify his business which he did . in 1952 western welding introduced its first snowplow at a time when the u.s. population was shifting toward suburb settings which increased the market for light trucks . this increased the demand for snowplows . 1 growth edit suburban areas continued to thrive through the 1950s and the light truck market continued to grow . 2 the demand for snowplows continued rising allowing western products sales to double between 1961 and 1968 . the 1970s also proved to be a profitable time for the company as its share of the national market for the type of snowplows mounted on light trucks rose from 33 percent in 1968 to 40 percent a decade later . 1 in 1977 douglas seaman incorporated as douglas dynamics incorporated which he placed as the parent company for western welding & manufacturing . 3 in 1984 douglas dynamics expanded purchasing fisher engineering a well respected competitor in the snow plow business . 3 expansion edit in november 2005 douglas dynamics purchased blizzard corporation including their complete line of snowplows and snowplow patents . among the patents was a patent for an adjustable wing snowplow that allowed the blade to extend from 8 feet out to 10 feet . douglas dynamics incorporated that technology into both its existing snowplow brands . 4 in the 3rd quarter of 2012 douglas dynamics profits declined considerably due to a record low snowfall . 5 references edit notes a b gurda john 2000 . built by seaman four generations of family enterprise . p. 65 . oclc 48645043 . jackson kenneth t. 1985 . crabgrass frontier the suburbanization of the united states . new york oxford university press . isbn 0 19 504983 7 . a b douglas dynamics incorporated time line . douglas dynamics incorporated . retrieved 6 march 2013 . douglas . the business journal . the business journal . retrieved 3 april 2012 . douglas dynamics 3q earnings fall more than 40 % . milwaukee journal sentinel . external links edit wisconsin portal companies portal official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title western products & oldid 743559319 categories companies based in milwaukeemanufacturing companies based in wisconsin 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 languages add links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 05 38 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view