AHAM's Blog

It's AHAM's 45th Anniversary!

2012 marks AHAM’s 45^th anniversary— and a lot has changed since 1967!  In 45 years, the appliance industry has grown to a $30 billion industry, shipping more than 200 million home appliances per year!   Watch Leading the Way a retrospective on our proud history and how AHAM will lead into the future.

 

 

1967 was also the year that the Amana Radarange, the first major introduction of a microwave oven, went on sale for sale for $495, or about $2,000 in today’s dollars. The House Beautiful and Retro Renovation have slideshows of typical American kitchens from the 1960s.  Talk about Memory Lane!

Here are some other 1967 stats thanks to these two web sites (here and here)! 

How much things cost in 1967
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 2.78%
Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 905
Average Cost of new house $14,250.00
Average Income per year $7,300.00
Average Monthly Rent $125.00
Gas per Gallon 33 cents
Average Cost of a new car $2,750.00
Movie Ticket $1.25
The Federal Minimum Wage is increased to $1.40 an hour

Headlines from 1967

• Jimmy Hoffa begins an 8 year prison term for defrauding the union and jury tampering
• The 25th Amendment to the constitution is ratified which deals with succession to the Presidency
• Thurgood Marshall becomes the first black justice on the Supreme Court.
• Muhammad Ali is stripped of his heavyweight title for refusing induction into US army
• President Johnson asks for a 6 percent increase on taxes to support the Vietnam War
• Ten of thousands of Vietnam War protesters march in Washington, D.C.
• World’s First Heart Transplant operation in South Africa by Dr. Christiaan N Barnard
• The Concorde is seen for the first time in public.
• The first ATM ( Automatic Teller Machine ) is put into service in Barclays Bank in London

AHAM 6 Increase by 1.2 Percent from One Year Ago

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reports that shipments of the “AHAM 6” major appliances in the U.S. “…increased in September for the first time since March, rising 1.2 percent from a year earlier.” The AHAM 6 includes clothes washers and dryers, dishwashers, refrigerators, freezers, ovens and ranges. During the month of September, refrigerators and freezers climbed from 1,080,800 to 1,166,800 shipments – a 7.9 percent from September 2010 while shipments of ranges, ovens and microwaves increased 3.10 percent, from 1,608,000 to 1,657,000.

If you would like to receive monthly factory shipment reports, visit the AHAM Store to purchase a one-year subscription. Each monthly report includes the number of shipments for cooking (ranges and ovens), home laundry (washers and dryers), kitchen clean up (dishwashers, disposals and compactors), food preservation (refrigerators and freezers) and home comfort appliances (room air conditioners and dehumidifiers). Subscriptions are based on the calendar year.

Additionally, AHAM has a five-year data series available, which includes factory shipment report for the current year as well as from 2007-2010.

Express: "There's a Zap for That"

Don't underestimate the potential of your microwave!  A recent story in The Washington Post's Express Night Out newspaper explains the wide variety of meals that can be cooked in a microwave beyond a frozen "TV dinner." 

A modern microwave oven can be used to make dishes from steamed vegetables to fish to cake.  Recipes found in microwave cookbooks may surprise those who only use their MWO for nuking leftover pizza.  Check out the recipe for "Warm Autumn Compote" featured at the bottom of the article.

Frozen Food Safety

NBC 4 in Washington, D.C. recently broadcast a segment on frozen food safety where consumer reporter Liz Crenshaw tested a variety of frozen food products.  She reminds consumers that it is essential to follow the manufacturers' instructions when cooking a frozen meal in the microwave or conventional oven.  Some foods may need to sit after cooking to ensure the proper internal temperature is reached.  Know your microwave wattage, use a thermometer and follow the instructions exactly.   Watch the video below to see the full segment:

AHAM has more information about microwave ovens under the consumer information section of our web site.