Our Mission

Koenig & Vits is committed to providing aluminum coil and manufactured products with a firm promise of value and quality to all of our stakeholders - including customers, shareholders, employees, suppliers, and the community. Our culture rewards Creativity, Teamwork, Performance, and Safety.

Company Profile

Koenig & Vits continues a long history of aluminum manufacturing in North America. Our capabilities include aluminum alloying, direct-chill casting, hot and cold mill rolling, slit-to-width, and custom packaging.

Koenig & Vits is a member of the Aluminum Association.

History of Aluminum Manufacturing in Manitowoc

In 1895 Joseph Koenig established the Aluminum Manufacturing Company of Two Rivers. He was inspired by exhibits of the new technology from a trade show he had seen on a visit to the Columbian Exposition, or Chicago World's Fair in 1893.

Several years later, in 1898, Henry Vits, a tanner from Manitowoc, opened an aluminum plant and called it the Aluminum Specialty Company. Before the turn of the century both enterprises flourished as Americans came to recognize the many uses for the new metal, beyond that of toys and novelty items.

In 1909 the two companies merged with a New Jersey aluminum venture to create the Aluminum Goods Manufacturing Company, which began to manufacture aluminum cookware, pots, and pans. Control of the company remained with the local leaders, who gave their combined names to the cookware, christened "VIKO". The rise of the automobile created more opportunity with the production of hub caps in 1915 for Dodge, Studebaker, and Buick, followed shortly thereafter by millions of mess kits and canteens during World War I.

During World War II, wartime production led to the manufacture of coffee filters, meat platters, syrup pitchers, and other utensils for use by the army, in addition to contract parts for airplane fuel tanks, landing gear parts, radar parts, meat cans, cartridge cases, and the same kind of canteens that were used in World War I.

After World War II, consumer demand began to express itself in the market place, and diversification and growth required expansion. Two new units were built on the 104 acre Mirro Drive site between Manitowoc and Two Rivers in 1955 and 1956. A modern rolling mill was added in 1957. This was also the year that the Aluminum Goods Manufacturing Company changed its name to Mirro Aluminum Company.

In 1964 a distribution center was added at the Mirro Drive facility, along with other expansions with other plants. A major expansion of the Mirro Drive plants began in 1981 and completed four years later resulted in a highly efficient system that produced cookware from aluminum ingot to fabrication and packaging in a direct flow from the rolling mill to the distribution center.

In 1991 - 1992, a 164,000 square foot addition to the complex increased production by more than 25 percent and provided the means of production for a line of porcelain-coated cookware.

On July 15, 1983, Mirro was acquired by the Newell Company, headquartered in Freeport, Illinois. Over the next 20 years, Mirro continued to be a major employer in the lakeshore area and a world class provider of aluminum cookware.

In 2003, Koenig & Vits acquired the Mirro manufacturing facility, and began a restructuring with an initial emphasis on Aluminum Coil/Blanks for the open market with a goal of continuing the new company for another 106 years.

*Resources for information contained on this page derived from the following: "Manitowoc County Historical Society", "Manitowoc County Library".