Employee working on Saniboy garbage cans (c.1950). Click the photo for more details.

After the war, the Sunshine Waterloo Company began to produce “bicycles, tricycles, lockers, steel office furniture, school furniture, commuter train seating, step-on garbage [cans], stoves and hot plates.”³² It appears that after the success the company enjoyed during the war, they came upon more difficulties. In 1952, an article in the Kitchener-Waterloo Record reported that the company wanted to cut wages 5.5 cents per hour, which doesn’t seem like much today, but at the time the basic hourly wage was only $1.05.³³ This led to a strike that lasted for three months, but came to an end in October 1952 with an agreement for the Sunshine Waterloo Company to give their employees a 10 cent raise and two weeks of paid vacation after three years of employment³⁴ This is just one instance, but there were numerous strikes and layoffs over the following years.

Waterloo Chronicle article (February 10, 1955). Click to read the full article.

In February 1955, the Waterloo Chronicle announced that Sunshine Waterloo’s parent company, H.V. McKay Company had been purchased by Massey-Harris-Ferguson Limited, in Australia. Mr. J.S. Duncan, Chairman and President of the company stated that “the Sunshine Waterloo Co. … will, while continuing to operate as a separate entity, become a part of the Massey-Harris-Ferguson world-wide organization.” ³⁵

Employee welding (c.1960). Click the photo for more details.

In 1960, the president of the Sunshine Waterloo Company, A.M. Snider, retired, and a long-time executive of Massey-Ferguson, J.W. Vingoe, replaced him. Under Vingoe’s leadership the company narrowed its focus. They stopped producing domestic products and put all their efforts towards steel office furniture.³⁶ In 1962, the company changed its name to Sunshine Office Equipment Limited to reflect their new vision. The same year, Vingoe announced his plans to expand into the U.S. market by using a Detroit company to produce the Sunshine line of office furniture.³⁷ A few years later, in 1964, Sunshine Office Equipment acquired Montreal company, Art Woodwork Limited, to expand into manufacturing wooden office furniture.³⁸ In 1969, the company name changed to “Sunar,” which reflected the first letters of Sunshine Office Equipment and Art Woodwork Limited.³⁹ The two companies “were “invading” the American market” so they changed their name to create a “single identity” in sales.⁴⁰

Executives and potential buyers touring factory (c.1960). Click the photo for more details.

Two potential buyers looking at coffee table in showroom (c.1960). Click the photo for more details.

One of the brains behind the “Sunar” name change was Douglas Ball, who had started at the Sunshine Waterloo Company after graduating from the Ontario College of Art in 1953. Ball left to start his own design firm, but in 1967 returned to Sunshine on the condition that the name be changed to Sunar. He said “to me, Sunshine suggested dairy products or a cleaning company.” The company accepted his terms, and Ball went on to create the Race system for office desks. The Race system allowed wiring from electronic devices and phones to be routed through “raceways” in the steel beams of the desk so that cords would stay hidden. Although pretty standard to us today, this was quite the innovation. ⁴¹

Photo of Douglas Ball from The Record (September 13, 1983), and advertisement for a Sunar desk, likely designed by Ball, from the Waterloo Chronicle (March 2, 1977).

In September 1978, the company was bought by E.F. Hauserman Inc. which was a steel manufacturing company based in Cleveland, Ohio. The company continued to be called Sunar, but it became known as a division of Hauserman Ltd. A few years later, in 1982, Henry Koch wrote a glowing article saying that the only busier time for Sunar had been during WWII. The article boasted of Sunar’s profitable position, despite layoffs at other local companies caused by the recession. At the time of the article, Sunar employed 490 people and was still looking for more. They had also opened up a distribution centre on Goodrich Drive in Kitchener, and had “sales offices or showrooms in Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver” with plans for more across Canada and the United States. There were six clocks in the offices at Sunar to help keep communications on track across the different time zones. Things were going well at Sunar in 1982, and the executives had high hopes for the future. ⁴²