Taco, Inc1160 Cranston St., Cranston, , Rhode Island, United States

Taco, Inc., headquartered in Cranston, RI, develops and manufactures hydronic-based components for use in heating and cooling applications across the building spectrum--residential, commercial, industrial and institutional.

Its wide range of hydronic and radiant systems and components include pumps, heat exchangers, expansion tanks, flow measurement devices, air separators and valves, and zone control products. It is also one of the best-known brands in the hydronic industry, long associated with continual product innovation and development.

Taco is proud to be an ISO 9001-registered company, producing products at internationally-recognized quality standards.

Key Facts:

• Established in 1920
• Continually owned and operated by the same family throughout its history
• Employs some 500 persons
• Annual sales in excess of $100 million
• Manufacturing, distribution and sales facilities in Cranston, RI, Fall River, MA and Ontario, Canada
• Sells direct to OEM's and to trade professionals in North America through distribution and a network of independent manufacturers' representatives; in Mexico, Central America, South America, the Middle East and Asia sells through a network of authorized sales agents.
• ISO-9001 Registered

Time Line:
1920's

• Company founded (1920) in Elizabeth, NJ, when Elwood White (grandfather of the current President John Hazen White Jr.) purchased the Thermal Appliance Company (T.A. Co.).
• Water heater inventor Robert Lincoln Blanding joins Taco, beginning company's tradition of product innovation.
• Taco moves to Providence, RI (1926)
• Blanding and White develop a tankless water heater
• Blanding and White develop the tempering valve
• Company obtains patent for year-round boiler control

1930's

• The "Taco Heater" becomes a generic name.

1940's

• Elwood White dies (1942). John H. White Sr. (father of the current president) takes control of Taco.
• During World War II, Taco built gun mounts for Navy warplanes and steel tube heat exchangers for navy warships.
• Taco awarded two Army-Navy "E Awards" for excellence in manufacturing and reducing costs to US government by 50%.

1950's

• Taco makes the vertical pump with bottle-stopper arrangement commercially practical and acceptable to the market. Pump forms the basis of today's Taco Model 110 Pump.
• Taco introduces the wet-rotor circulator (the "Perfecta") to the US market after nearly two decades of development.

1960's

• Company produces 1600 line of pumps with innovative cartridge design that simplifies field maintenance and distributor stocking.

1970's

• Taco introduces a major product innovation, the wet-rotor circulator with hollow shaft. Design minimizes interaction between circulator and system water to eliminate iron oxide contamination and greatly extend product life.

1980's

• Company introduces its first line of commercial pumps.
• Adds second manufacturing facility in Fall River, MA, for fabricated products, including heat exchangers and expansion tanks.

1990's

• Taco undergoes complete reorganization of manufacturing operations for greater quality, productivity and flexibility.
• Creates Taco Learning Center to improve employee productivity, education and civic awareness.
• Introduces ESP motorized zone valve, designed for hydronic closed-loop heating systems requiring quiet operation.
• Introduces Electronic Priority Zoning Circulator that allows the installer to prioritize a residential heating system with a flick of a switch.
• Acquires Sweet Controls to further expand Taco line of electronic control products.
• Introduces VorTech Air Separator that prevents air bubbles from corroding working parts and creating unwanted noise in residential heating systems.

2000's

• Taco introduces WAGS Valve (2000).
• John Hazen White Sr. dies (2001). John Hazen White Jr. becomes President.
• Introduces line of Radiant System products, including iSeries Mixing Valves, Radiant Mixing Block and Variable Speed "00"® Circulators.
• Introduces revolutionary LoadMatch® Hydronic Single-Pipe System.

Sales & Marketing

Taco's sales and marketing professionals are often the company's first contact with its customers. Focused, respectively, on commercial product sales and marketing and residential products sales and marketing, they are essential players in developing quality products and new product innovation to Taco's customer base in North America and, by extension, to markets across the globe. 

The Residential Sales & Marketing Division, led by Senior Vice President Todd Facey and Senior Vice President, Canada Robert Coons, focuses on the residential/light commercial market and on the plumbers and mechanical contractors who install Taco products. Residential products are sold through an extensive network of more than 3,000 HVAC wholesalers nationwide and in Canada, which then sell direct to plumbers and contractors. 

The Residential Sales & Marketing Division also works closely with independent manufacturer representative agencies to maintain inventory stocking and promotion of new products by wholesalers and to coordinate training and educational outreach to the wholesaler/contractor base. 

Residential products include circulators and pumps, valves, electronic controls and a wide range of hydronic accessories. Building applications include heating and cooling systems within homes, condos and smaller building structures for various use defined as light commercial. 

Residential products are also sold direct to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), like boiler manufacturers, which install the product components on their equipment assemblies. 

The Commercial Sales and Marketing Division, led by Senior Vice President Tom Lawrence, focuses on the commercial/industrial market and on mechanical contractors and specifying engineers. Commercial products are stocked by independent manufacturer representative agencies or provided direct to the worksite by Taco. Some manufacturer representative agencies also assemble Taco products in pre-fabricated pump systems sold directly to customers. 

Commercial products include a range of heavy pumps, valves and accessories, air separators and expansion tanks, heat exchangers and specialty products like LoadMatch; circulators and Twin Tees. Building applications include heating and cooling systems within a wide range of larger structures - office buildings, factories, churches, schools, hospitals, airports, hotels and more. 

Both divisions play a vital role in two-way communication between Taco and its various customers, eliciting new product needs from the field and overseeing development of new and innovative products and marketing initiatives.