Lowell and Lucille Shaum started Elkhart Supply Corporation (ESCO) in 1949, when their first products were electrical wires and cords. When the RV industry took off in the 1950s, the Shaums hopped on the bandwagon. They were already a player in the electrical supply market, selling products to RV OEMs, contractors and industrial companies.
Elkhart Supply expanded into OEM plumbing parts after acquiring Flair-It, whose plumbing, power cords and switches are ESCO’s best-selling products today. ESCO added plumbing products to the lineup in the late 1980s and partnered with national manufacturers and distributors to provide on-time delivery.
Lowell Shaum passed in 1982 and his sons took over the family companies. While Gary Shaum became Shaum Electric Company’s president, Lewis Shaum started the same role at ESCO in 1979.
In 1999, ESCO bought AI Manufacturing. Established in 1986, AI Manufacturing’s 12,000-square-foot facility made seven-way cords for ESCO. Today, AI Manufacturing is an ESCO brand and produces handle injection molding, wire bonding and striping.
ESCO and AI Manufacturing share one 50,000 square-foot Elkhart campus. ESCO’s main office houses its plumbing products and trailer cords, of which ESCO makes 350,000 every year for various industries. The supplier distributes more than 5,000 parts to RV, cargo and marine industries with less than one-tenth-of-a-percent defective rate for Elkhart-manufactured products.
