Smith & Loveless Inc.
For more than 65 years, Smith & Loveless has delivered engineering ingenuity and quality craftsmanship to the water industry by pioneering superior pre-engineered pumping, treatment and headworks systems. Our factory-built concepts pave the way for thousands of municipalities, developments and industry to reap the benefits of complete, single-source solutions and peerless system designs arranged to facilitate the ease of operation and maintenance and maximize the value of investment by way of long-lasting, durable equipment. Beneficial life cycle costing is the hallmark of the Smith & Loveless way of design.
Company details
Find locations served, office locations and our distributors
- Business Type:
- Manufacturer
- Industry Type:
- Water Treatment
- Market Focus:
- Globally (various continents)
About Us
For 70 years, Smith & Loveless' pre-engineered water and wastewater treatment and pumping systems have paved the way for municipalities, developments, industry, governmental and military facilities. Smith & Loveless' history of have delivered energy-efficient and durable systems with unrivaled life-cycle cost savings.
To get there, our company has grown steadily from the early days of our original founders, B. Alden Smith and Compere Loveless, to a multi-facted corporation comprised of sales offices, production facilities and affiliated companies serving diverse markets all over the world. Learn more about who we are and how we're structured in this section.
S&L History
S&L's proud, 70 year history in the water industry.
B. Alden Smith and Compere Loveless founded Smith & Loveless Inc. in 1946 as a sales engineering firm representing several manufacturers in the wastewater industry. Early in their association, Smith & Loveless recognized the opportunity for complete, factory-assembled pump stations. Their first three stations were built for the City of Salina, Kansas. These units were fabricated in a converted barn less than three miles from the present world headquarters location.
As demand grew, Smith & Loveless built their first manufacturing plant – a modest structure a few miles from the present plant site. Sales increased rapidly in the 1950s, and within a short time, Smith & Loveless maintained distribution throughout the United States and Canada. Because of this rapid growth, it was necessary to expand the manufacturing plant five times in a four-year period.
Smith & Loveless moved its present world headquarters and primary manufacturing facility to Lenexa, Kan., a Kansas City suburb in 1958. The present plant, which itself has been expanded several times, covers more than 100,000 square feet of manufacturing and office space.
In 1959, Smith & Loveless was acquired by conglomerate Union Tank Car of Lincolnshire, Ill (later known as Trans Union). While the acquisition complemented markets served by other divisions of that firm, it marked a period when additional capital for expansion and research and development ensured Smith & Loveless’ leadership in the wastewater industry.
Following a 1981 Trans Union merger with the Marmon Group, the executive management of Smith & Loveless engineered a management buyout by purchasing the company’s assets. Reborn as Smith & Loveless Inc., the newly privately held company renewed its commitment to maintain its role as a leader in the water industry. Its strategy was simple: design and manufacture quality equipment and provide superior service.
In the 1980s, expansion strengthened the company’s leadership position. In 1984, Smith & Loveless, purchased two firms: SCIENCO®, Inc., St. Louis, Missouri, and DI-SEP® Systems International, Inc., of Santa Fe Springs, California. In 1985, Smith & Loveless added another subsidiary by acquiring St. Louis Marine Systems, Inc., and renamed it FAST® Systems, Inc. Later, Smith & Loveless’ St. Louis operations were merged into SCIENCO/FAST® Systems while still serving their diverse markets. In 1987, Smith & Loveless made another step to provide additional capabilities in water treatment by acquiring K-W Industries of Omaha, Nebraska, and absorbing its product line.
In a move to both broaden Smith & Loveless Inc.’s water product line and expand into the European marketplace, Smith & Loveless Limited, an affiliated company of Smith & Loveless, Inc., acquired the majority interest in Kalsep Limited of Camberley, England on March 29, 1995. Licenses granted allow Smith & Loveless products to be sold by Kalsep Limited and Kalsep Limited’s water products to be sold in Smith & Loveless’ markets.
Further international expansion occurred in the late 1990s when Smith & Loveless New Zealand Ltd. obtained licenses to market and sell Smith & Loveless Inc. technology and equipment in New Zealand and Australia. In 1999, Smith & Loveless Limited – UK began to more actively market and sell Smith & Loveless, Inc. technology in the UK.
On the domestic front, Smith & Loveless Georgia Inc. was formed in 2000. This allows the Company to provide superior pump station sales and service for its Georgia customers.
Ever growing and advancing, Smith & Loveless purchased the assets of the BIOMIXER Corporation of California in 2003 to obtain innovative aeration and mixing technology. Then, in 2015, S&L acquired SCHLOSS Enineered Equipment, of Aurora, Colo. The move further enhances S&L's full line of headworks and wastewater treatment equipment.
Smith & Loveless actively pursues the patents of its inventions. The Company currently owns more than 60 active U.S. patents, holds foreign patents in 15 different countries, has several patent applications pending and has more than 25 domestic and foreign trademarks.
Smith & Loveless has actively engaged in R&D. Smith & Loveless’ approach to research and development is both the search for new applications of existing product lines, as well as development of completely new concepts. Through these efforts, Smith & Loveless has been able to enter previously untapped markets. The company’s products are sold mainly through manufacturers’ sales representative companies, with more than 150 such contract companies located worldwide.
S&L Divisions
Smith & Loveless serves a complete range of municipal, private development, onsite, military and industrial/commercial markets. Our organization’s five sales divisions are structured to meet particular markets and product needs. These divisions include: Municipal, Industrial, International and After Market.
Municipal Division
The Municipal Products & Systems Division tackles water and wastewater treatment and pumping applications common to municipal and rural life, including centralized and decentralized concerns. Our typical market applications include:
- Municipal treatment plants and utilities
- Municipal collection systems
- Rural water utilities
- Private development, including housing developments, shopping centers, and office parks
- Common city facilities like schools, hospitals, and office parks
- Recreational facilities like state parks, golf courses, campgrounds and
- Small commercial facilities like hotels and restaurants
- Onsite applications
Industrial Division
S&L Industrial handles virtually any range of industry and federal/military applications, including:
- Large and small private industry
- Manufacturing
- Energy sectors, including oil/gas, ethanol, and power generation
- Chemical and petrochemical
- Food and beverage
- Agribusiness, commercial farming, and aquaculture
- Federal government, including national parks, superfund sites, and executive branch departments
- Military
- Copper, mining and electrolyte filtration
- Pulp and paper
International Division
With installations in more than 70 nations on all seven continents, Smith & Loveless maintains a truly global scope. The International Division handles both public works and industrial/commercial type applications for virtually all kinds of projects originating outside of the contiguous 48 states.
After Market Division
With today's lean budgets, many of our customers find cost-effective ways to retrofit their existing equipment. After Market maintains thorough records of installations going back more than 60 years, so we are ready to assist customers with parts and retrofit needs.
Made in USA
Founded in 1946 in Kansas City, Smith & Loveless Inc. manufactures 100 percent of its pumping, headworks and treatment systems at its U.S. facilities in Lenexa, Kansas (primary facility and company headquarters) and Norwalk, California.
Included in this, Smith & Loveless manufactures its products utilizing American-produced goods and raw materials. To see more, read below.
- Steel: Smith & Loveless procures several thousand tons of steel a year for the manufacture of its complete line of water and wastewater treatment and pumping systems—all of which comes from U.S. Steel Mills.
- Castings: We’re proud that all cast iron castings come from U.S. foundries. Unlike many of our industry competitors, we don’t maintain any reliance on foreign foundries nor do we experience the delays often associated with such dependence.
- Motors: All Smith & Loveless Pumps utilize quality motors, which come from a network of suppliers all based in the United States.
- Control Panels: All Smith & Loveless Control Panels are made in the United States at Smith & Loveless’ main factory in Lenexa, Kan. or in Kansas City.