The Story Behind The C.E. White Company ®

The C. E. White Co.® was founded in Ridgeway, OH by Clayton White. Mr. White manufactured mattresses and sold directly the public and later to furniture stores. The company was moved to New Washington, OH in the early 1940's and continued to manufacture mattresses.

The company rapidly expanded adding the manufacturing of wing and wheel well covers for the F-84 airplanes, manufacturing of felted cotton, building seats for road graders, boats, go-carts, mini-bikes and snowmobiles.

In 1980, the company started manufacturing van seats for the luxury van conversion market. In 1985, they started the production of school bus and commercial bus seats.

In 1993, the company introduced the first Integrated Child Restraint Seat for school buses that is still in production today. Late in the 90's the company started development of the Student Safety Seat 3-point seat belt seat. This seat has since been designed, developed and tested to meet and exceed all Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) and is produced for nearly every bus manufacturer in North America

In 1996, the White family retired as owners of the company and it was sold. The company was owned by a group of investors, including some of the management at the company.

In 2008, the executive management team of Tony Everett, Robert Knapp, Steve Frazee and Joe Trimai teamed with Austin Capital Partners of Cleveland, OH to acquire all the outstanding stock from the previous investors.

Currently, the company has a 63,000 square foot manufacturing facility and a 4,000 square foot Sales and Tech Center building, housing the engineering and testing departments, in New Washington, OH, and a 20,000 square foot assembly plant in Ft. Valley, GA.