Suarez: Production of New Sweeper, Stove Appliances to Start Within the Year

Within the year Suarez Manufacturing Industries will be creating the Joe Namath Portable Stove at its facility in the Hoover District.

The appliance manufacturing company, owned by Ben Suarez, announced Tuesday in a morning news conference that it will start manufacturing both the new EdenPURE Perfect Storm Sweepers and Joe Namath Portable Stove. And the excitement for the indoor/outdoor stove already is growing, Suarez said.

"The Home Shopping Network is waiting for this with bated breath," he said. "I've never seen so much excitement for a product."

The appliance — which uses infrared waves, a healthier heating method than most cooking appliances — cooks food faster and reduces fat and calories as the fat travels to a drop pan at the bottom of the stove. 

"It's a bigger and better version of the George Foreman Grill," Suarez said.

What's more, the manufacturing of the two appliances could mean thousands of local manufacturing jobs — a huge plus for the city of North Canton, Suarez said. For every 100,000 units produced, 100 manufacturing jobs could be created.

"We can't say exactly how many manufacturing jobs will be created, but it's in my expert estimation it'll start out in the hundreds and then move to the thousands," he said.

Suarez was joined by Mayor David Held and other representatives from SMI at today's conference. Possibly garnering the most attention, though, was football star Joe Namath, who signed a five-year contract to help promote new products and create product ideas for Suarez.

Namath, who's now the face of the Joe Namath Portable Stove, said he's thrilled to be a part of something that's so important to the people of North Canton.

"This is a new opportunity for me to keep me progressing in life, and to be a part of something with something that's very important with this town, with these people who are involved here," he said. "We talked about bringing some jobs back from across the seas. Well, Mr. Suarez is going to do that."

(Watch Namath address the crowd here.)

The EdenPURE Perfect Storm Sweeper — which Suarez representatives called "most advanced sweeper in the world" — also will be produced at the company's Hoover District Facility. The sweeper outperforms other major brands such as Dyson, Oreck and Hoover, and purifies air as it sweeps.

"We think we're going to create a mass production, a conveyor belt, of products at this manufacturing facility," Suarez said.

The conference Tuesday was attended by city officials, city council people and members of the media and .