What is A. O. Smith?
Water heaters, boilers, and water treatment company with $3.83B 2025 revenue, headquartered in Milwaukee, WI.
- Category
- Water heaters, boilers, and water treatment
- Headquarters
- Milwaukee, WI
- Founded
- 1874
- Employees
- Approximately 12,000
- Total funding
- Public company; no VC funding
- Status
- NYSE: AOS
What is A. O. Smith?
A. O. Smith is a public water heaters, boilers, and water treatment company with $3.83B 2025 revenue. It operates from Milwaukee, WI at mid-market to enterprise scale, serving plumbing contractors, wholesalers, builders, commercial facilities, homeowners, retailers, and international channel partners.
A. O. Smith is a mature public company in water heaters, boilers, and water treatment, not a venture-backed startup. Its latest public reporting shows $3.83B 2025 revenue, Approximately 12,000, and a business footprint described as global water technology manufacturer with residential and commercial water heaters, boilers, water treatment, and related products.
The company sells and operates across Residential water heaters, Commercial water heaters, Boilers, Water treatment, Tankless water heaters, Heat pump water heaters, with customers that include plumbing contractors, wholesalers, builders, commercial facilities, homeowners, retailers, and international channel partners. Its market position is shaped by installed base, service quality, channel depth, pricing discipline, operational reliability, and the ability to coordinate frontline operations with enterprise systems.
For B2B sellers, A. O. Smith should be treated as a multi-threaded public-company account. Strong pitches attach to measurable outcomes such as uptime, labor productivity, safety, energy efficiency, customer experience, route or plant efficiency, procurement savings, compliance, data quality, or lower cost to serve.
What does A. O. Smith offer?
A. O. Smith offers Residential water heaters, Commercial water heaters, Boilers, Water treatment, Tankless water heaters, Heat pump water heaters and related services, parts, software, channel programs, or support.
- Residential water heaters· Offering
- Commercial water heaters· Offering
- Boilers· Offering
- Water treatment· Offering
- Tankless water heaters· Offering
- Heat pump water heaters· Offering
- Parts and service· Offering
- China and India water products· Offering
How does A. O. Smith make money?
A. O. Smith makes money by manufacturing and selling water heaters, boilers, water treatment systems, parts, and related products through wholesale, retail, commercial, and international channels.
A. O. Smith makes money by manufacturing and selling water heaters, boilers, water treatment systems, parts, and related products through wholesale, retail, commercial, and international channels. The model is public-company operating revenue rather than SaaS ARR or venture-backed usage revenue.
Pricing is product-, channel-, efficiency-, capacity-, region-, and contract-specific; commercial systems are quoted by capacity, configuration, controls, and service requirements. Growth is driven by volume, price, mix, replacement demand, project timing, capacity utilization, acquisition integration, channel execution, and disciplined cost management.
Budget owners tend to fund technology and services when the case maps to a P&L owner and a measurable operating KPI. Vendor positioning should connect to revenue capture, asset utilization, supply-chain resilience, safety, compliance, energy use, inventory productivity, customer retention, or faster decision-making.
Who leads A. O. Smith?
A. O. Smith is led by Stephen M. Shafer, President and Chief Executive Officer, with finance, operations, commercial, legal, and technology leaders shaping enterprise buying decisions.
- Stephen M. ShaferPresident and Chief Executive OfficerCEO since July 2025Leads the next phase of A. O. Smith's global water strategy.
- Kevin J. WheelerExecutive ChairmanExecutive chairman since July 2025; former CEOProvides continuity after leading the company through portfolio expansion.
- Charles T. LauberExecutive Vice President and Chief Financial OfficerCFO through July 1, 2026 transitionLeads finance until Carrie Anderson's appointment becomes effective.
- Carrie L. AndersonIncoming Executive Vice President and Chief Financial OfficerCFO effective July 1, 2026Named to lead global finance after Lauber's retirement.
How do you contact A. O. Smith's leadership?
A. O. Smith publishes investor-relations, media, sales, or corporate contact routes, but a verified public personal-executive email format is not consistently available. Use the official route below and do not treat inferred personal addresses as verified.
No verified public personal-executive email format; use investorrelations@aosmith.com- Carrie L. AndersonIncoming Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officerinvestorrelations@aosmith.com
How much funding has A. O. Smith raised?
A. O. Smith is a mature public company (NYSE: AOS), so its capital profile is public equity, debt, operating cash flow, acquisitions, dividends, and buybacks rather than disclosed venture rounds.
A. O. Smith has no current VC-style funding history to enumerate. The relevant capital milestones are: 1874 Founded (A. O. Smith traces roots to a Milwaukee hardware business.); 1930s Water heater expansion (The company builds its water-heating product base.); 2011 Lochinvar acquired (Commercial boiler and water-heating portfolio expands.); 2025 $3.83B revenue (Revenue reflects North American water heater demand and international water treatment.); 2025 CEO transition (Steve Shafer becomes President and CEO.); 2026 CFO transition (Carrie Anderson is appointed CFO effective July 1, 2026.).
As of June 2026, the most useful capital signal is $3.83B 2025 revenue, NYSE: AOS, and the company's ability to fund operations, fleet or plant investment, acquisitions, technology, and shareholder returns from public-company resources. The page should not imply a private valuation because the company is publicly traded.
Seller signal: budget exists where a proposal maps to strategic priorities and measurable financial outcomes. Winning opportunities usually need security review, procurement proof, integration clarity, and a business case tied to operating performance rather than generic transformation language.
How did A. O. Smith get here?
A. O. Smith's history combines founding, public-company milestones, acquisitions or separations, and recent operating-cycle execution.
- 1874FoundedCompany roots begin in Milwaukee.
- 1939Glass-lined water heaterA. O. Smith develops a signature water-heater technology.
- 2011Lochinvar acquiredCommercial water systems expand.
- 2024Shafer joins as president and COOSuccession planning begins.
- 2025Shafer becomes CEOKevin Wheeler becomes executive chairman.
- 2026CFO transitionCarrie Anderson is named CFO.
Who are A. O. Smith's competitors?
A. O. Smith competes with public and private operators that overlap its customer base, channel partners, product lines, or transportation and industrial workflows.
- RheemResidential and commercial water-heating and HVAC competitor.
- Bradford WhitePrivate water heater and boiler manufacturer.
- NavienTankless water heater and boiler competitor.
- RinnaiTankless water heater and home-comfort systems peer.
- NoritzTankless water heater competitor.
- Bosch ThermotechnologyWater heating, boilers, heat pumps, and home-comfort competitor.
A. O. Smith — frequently asked questions
