SIAM (an
acronym
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
from Sección Industrial Amasadoras Mecánicas, formerly SIAM Di Tella) is an
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
home appliance
A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation.
Appliances are divided into three ty ...
brand
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
, currently owned by "Grupo Industrial Newsan", a leader of the segment in the region. The original "Siam Di Tella" company was founded in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
by
Torcuato di Tella
Torcuato di Tella (18921948) was an Argentine industrialist and philanthropist.
Life and times
Torcuato di Tella was born in Capracotta, Italy, in 1892. He arrived in Argentina at age 13 and settled in Buenos Aires. A widespread, 1911 bakery work ...
in 1911, established as a manufacturer of mechanical
bread machines. Subsequently, production was diversified by incorporating the production of
refrigerator
A refrigerator, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment so th ...
s,
washing machine
A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, washer, or simply wash) is a home appliance used to wash laundry. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water as opposed to dry cleaning (which uses alternative cleaning fluids and ...
s,
kitchens,
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
s,
scooters, vans,
automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
s, and elements for private industry and the public sector, such as oil pumping equipment, large electrical transformers, steel pipes and generators for diesel-electric locomotives. By the 1940s, the company became the largest metalworking industry in
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
.
[De la mano del fabricante de electrodomésticos Newsan reabrieron la planta de SIAM en Avellaneda]
on Cronista.com, 1 May 2014
The company was nationalized in 1972 and in 1986, during the government of
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. He was the first democratically elected president after more than ...
, it was dismantled and sold separately to three private business groups (
Techint, Pérez Companc and Aurora). After securing rights to the "SIAM" brand name, Newsan reopened the former Siam Di Tella plant in
Piñeiro, Buenos Aires
Piñeiro is a town in Avellaneda Partido of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It forms part of the urban agglomeration
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastruc ...
on 30 April 2014, with an investment of more than
USD35 million.
[Con el impulso de una inversión millonaria SIAM reabrió sus puertas]
on Telam, 1 May 2014
Currently, Newsan (a company with more than 3,500 employees and licensee of
Sanyo,
Philco, and other electronics companies) manufactures refrigerators with the "SIAM" brand in the Piñeiro plant.
[
]
History
Early years and development
Founded in 1911 by Torcuato di Tella
Torcuato di Tella (18921948) was an Argentine industrialist and philanthropist.
Life and times
Torcuato di Tella was born in Capracotta, Italy, in 1892. He arrived in Argentina at age 13 and settled in Buenos Aires. A widespread, 1911 bakery work ...
, an Italian Argentine immigrant, the firm began as a manufacturer of bread making machine
A bread making machine or breadmaker is a home appliance for baking bread. It consists of a bread pan (or "tin"), at the bottom of which are one or more built-in paddles, mounted in the center of a small special-purpose oven. This small oven is ...
s, which came into great demand by local bakeries in the 1920s. Di Tella's friendship with Enrique Mosconi, the director of the newly established state oil concern YPF
YPF S.A. (, formerly ; English: "Fiscal Oilfields") is a vertically integrated, majority state-owned Argentine energy company, engaged in oil and gas exploration and production, and the transportation, refining, and marketing of gas and petr ...
, helped result in a contract to build their fuel dispensers and Siam di Tella's growth into a leading Argentine manufacturer.
A military coup in 1930 resulted in the contract's rescission, prompting di Tella to convert his new factory south of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
into the manufacture of industrial machinery and home appliance
A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation.
Appliances are divided into three ty ...
s (particularly refrigerator
A refrigerator, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment so th ...
s), becoming the largest, domestically-based industrial conglomerate in Latin America. The firm established a facility making commercial freezers under license from Westinghouse in 1935, and their trademark household refrigerator
A refrigerator, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment so th ...
unit in 1948. Advertised as ''la reina del frío'' ("The Queen of Cold"), these became popular among Argentine consumers and their production expanded from 11,000 units annually in 1948 to 70,000 by 1958. Expanding into an array of big ticket appliances, as well as their motorcycle and motor vehicle ventures, Siam diTella expanded to 13 manufacturing facilities employing 9,000 by the 1960s.[
]
Siambretta
Following the founder's death in 1948, the firm secured a licensing agreement with Italian motor scooter
A scooter (motor scooter) is a motorcycle with an underbone or step-through frame, a seat, and a platform for the rider's feet, emphasizing comfort and fuel economy. Elements of scooter design were present in some of the earliest motorcycles ...
maker Lambretta. This initially consisted of a deal to import 2,000 obsolete model A's that had failed to sell in Italy, 75 of which were donated to President Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine Army general and politician. After serving in several government positions, including Minister of Labour and Vice President of a military dictatorship, he was elected P ...
's youth group UES. Contemporary LD models were soon added to the range and in the early 1960s SIAM began producing an Li/TV Series 2 variant. Some of these were exported to Chile and Uruguay. Siambretta production ceased by 1970 with around 200,000 units having been sold.[
]
Automobile production
Reforms by way of a Law of Foreign Investment and an Automobile Industry Framework drafted by adviser Rogelio Julio Frigerio
Rogelio Julio Frigerio (November 2, 1914 – September 13, 2006) was an Argentine economist, journalist and politician.
Background and early career
Rogelio Frigerio was born in Buenos Aires in 1914 to Gerónimo Frigerio, an Italian immigra ...
and enacted by President Arturo Frondizi encouraged Siam to venture into the auto industry. A license obtained from the British Motor Corporation
The British Motor Corporation Limited (BMC) was a UK-based vehicle manufacturer, formed in early 1952 to give effect to an agreed merger of the Morris and Austin businesses.Morris-Austin Merger Company Named. ''The Times'', Friday, 29 February ...
led to the Siam di Tella 1500; based on the British BMC Farina series of the late 1950s, using the front-end design of the Riley model. The car followed the specifications of the BMC car in most respects, but was fitted with a low compression version of the 1489 cc B-Series engine with a single carburettor (the option of twin carburettors was offered, but very rarely specified).
The vehicle became very popular among taxi
A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...
drivers in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
due to its spacious interior and its fuel economy compared to the US-derived vehicles previously popular as taxis. The 1500 was followed by the ''Traveller'' station wagon
A station wagon ( US, also wagon) or estate car ( UK, also estate), is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door ( ...
and the ''Argenta'' pick-up truck
A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering) ...
, then the upmarket "Magnette". The proliferation of domestic subsidiaries of U.S. and European automakers led to the bankruptcy of Siam's vehicle line in 1966; in all, around 61,477 units had been produced between 1959 and 1966.[ The automobile production facility was sold to Industrias Kaiser Argentina. IKA revitalised production with a variant of the Morris Oxford sold with two-tone leather seats and 1622cc engine as the Morris 1650; the base model Siam di Tella 1500 and the Argenta pick-up were rebadged Riley 1500 and the Magnette was uprated with twin carburettors and individual leather seats as the MG 1650 - sales of the Morris were good, but IKA was taken over by Renault in 1967 and production of this British-derived range of cars was shut down.
]
Production figures
Electromecanics division
In the late 1960s, the Electromechanical section of SIAM signed two contracts, which would ultimately allow it to produce heavy machinery in the country. The first, with the US company WABCO (Westinghouse Air Brake CO), for the production of three models of WABCO motor graders at its Monte Chingolo plant: these were 440, 444 and 660.
This contract was in force until the mid-80's, where, since 1984, SADE (Sociedad Argentina de Electrificación) took over the production of 130 H and 160 H motor graders under the SIAM SADE brand until the decade Of 90 '.
The second was with the International Harvester, for the production of the front loader IH Payloader H60B, which extended until the end of the 1970s.
Decline and reactivation
Siam Di Tella focused on its appliance and machinery units, though losses stemming from its defunct vehicle unit led to growing debts with the state small business lender, BANADE. Paying the lender with company stock in lieu of cash, Siam gradually made the Argentine government its partner. The latter absorbed Siam in 1972, after which the firm expanded into foreign markets through exports of its refrigerators, and into the transformer
A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...
industry. The March 1976 coup
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...
and the free trade
Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...
and deregulatory policies enacted by the last dictatorship's Economy Minister, José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz, affected the company adversely, however.
Unable to compete with a flood of imported appliances in the late 1970s and beset by a national financial collapse in the early 1980s, Siam di Tella declared bankruptcy in 1981 and its facilities were sold by the National Government in 1986. The steel tube facility was sold to Techint, and their remaining appliance units to the Pérez Companc conglomerate and local appliance and electronics maker Aurora; another small appliance and parts facility in Monte Chingolo
Monte Chingolo is a town in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Located in Lanús Partido in the south of the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area.
History
Monte Chingolo was founded on 23 November 1815 by Juan Manuel de Rosas. The settlement w ...
was acquired by Newsan in a joint venture with Sanyo in 1991. A renewed boom in imports ultimately led to the bankruptcy of Aurora in 1997.
The remaining employees formed the Julián Moreno CIAM Cooperative, Ltd. in 1997. They resumed the manufacture of appliances at the Piñeyro facility in 2002 and employ around 200 production workers. Newsan, which had reinaugurated Aurora's Ushuaia facility in 2011,[ announced the reintroduction of the popular SIAM refrigerator line in 2012.][ The SIAM refrigerator plant was reopened on May 1, 2014, in a ceremony led by Newsan Chairman Rubén Chernajovsky and Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner; the new plant has a capacity of 100,000 units annually.
]
Legacy
Torcuato Salvador di Tella, the founder's eldest son, set aside 10% of the company's stock to establish the Torcuato di Tella Institute
The Torcuato di Tella Institute is a non-profit foundation organized for the promotion of Argentine culture.
Overview 1959-1960
The Di Tella Foundation and its institute were created on July 22, 1958, the tenth anniversary of the death of indust ...
in 1958. Located on Buenos Aires' Florida Street
Florida Street ( es, Calle Florida) is a popular shopping street in Downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. A pedestrian street since 1971, some stretches have been pedestrianized since 1913.
The pedestrian section as such starts at the intersection ...
during its heyday in the 1960s, the institute became the leading Argentine venue for avant-garde art
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or 'vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical D ...
and experimental theatre
Experimental theatre (also known as avant-garde theatre), inspired largely by Richard Wagner, Wagner's concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, began in Western theatre in the late 19th century with Alfred Jarry and his Ubu Roi, Ubu plays as a rejection of bot ...
. The center closed in 1971, but reopened in the Belgrano Belgrano may refer to:
People
* Joaquín Belgrano (1773–1848), an Argentine patriot
* José Denis Belgrano (1844–1917), Spanish painter
* Joseph Belgrano (1762–1823), Argentine military officer and politician, brother of Manuel
* Manuel Belg ...
neighborhood in 2007; the Torcuato di Tella University, established in 1991, is located nearby.
The Siambretta tooling was sold to a firm called 'Franco Brothers' who used it to produce a three-wheeled truck called the Frambretta. Low-scale production of this has continued into the 21st century.[
An enthusiastic and active worldwide owners club called the Cambridge-Oxford Owners Club caters for the Siam Di Tella 1500 and Magnette cars, Di Tella commercials and their UK-built four and six cylinder sisters. The club aims to keep the cars on the road, provides advice, spares and a social forum for enjoying the cars.
]
See also
* British Motor Corporation
The British Motor Corporation Limited (BMC) was a UK-based vehicle manufacturer, formed in early 1952 to give effect to an agreed merger of the Morris and Austin businesses.Morris-Austin Merger Company Named. ''The Times'', Friday, 29 February ...
* Universidad Torcuato Di Tella
The Torcuato Di Tella University (''Universidad Torcuato Di Tella'', commonly referred to as UTDT or La Di Tella) is a non-profit private university founded in 1991. Located Buenos Aires, Argentina, it is focused primarily on social sciences.
The ...
* Torcuato di Tella Institute
The Torcuato di Tella Institute is a non-profit foundation organized for the promotion of Argentine culture.
Overview 1959-1960
The Di Tella Foundation and its institute were created on July 22, 1958, the tenth anniversary of the death of indust ...
References
External links
*
Club Siambretta
{{Authority control
Manufacturing companies established in 1911
Compact executive cars
Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers
Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Argentina
Siambretta
1911 establishments in Argentina
Home appliance manufacturers of Argentina
Manufacturing companies based in Buenos Aires