SIAM (an acronym from Sección Industrial Amasadoras Mecánicas, formerly SIAM Di Tella) is an Argentine home appliance brand, currently owned by "Grupo Industrial Newsan", a leader of the segment in the region. The original "Siam Di Tella" company was founded in Buenos Aires by Torcuato di Tella in 1911, established as a manufacturer of mechanical bread machines. Subsequently, production was diversified by incorporating the production of refrigerators, washing machines, kitchens, televisions, scooters, vans, automobiles, and elements for private industry and the public sector, such as oil pumping equipment, large electrical transformers, steel pipes and generators for diesel-electric locomotives. By the 1940s, the company became the largest metalworking industry in South America. The company was nationalized in 1972 and in 1986, during the government of Raúl Alfonsín, it was dismantled and sold separately to three private business groups (Techint, Pérez Companc and Aurora). After securing rights to the "SIAM" brand name, Newsan reopened the former Siam Di Tella plant in Piñeiro, Buenos Aires on 30 April 2014, with an investment of more than USD35 million. Currently, Newsan (a company with more than 3,500 employees and licensee of Sanyo, Philco, and other electronics companies) manufactures refrigerators with the "SIAM" brand in the Piñeiro plant. History Early years and development Founded in 1911 by Torcuato di Tella, an Italian Argentine immigrant, the firm began as a manufacturer of bread making machines, which came into great demand by local bakeries in the 1920s. Di Tella's friendship with Enrique Mosconi, the director of the newly established state oil concern YPF, helped result in a contract to build their fuel dispensers and Siam di Tella's growth into a leading Argentine manufacturer. A military coup in 1930 resulted in the contract's rescission, prompting di Tella to convert his new factory south of Buenos Aires into the manufacture of industrial machinery and home appliances (particularly refrigerators), becoming the largest, domestically-based industrial conglomerate in Latin America. The firm established a facility making commercial freezers under license from Westinghouse in 1935, and their trademark household refrigerator unit in 1948. Advertised as la reina del frío ("The Queen of Cold"), these became popular among Argentine consumers and their production expanded from 11,000 units annually in 1948 to 70,000 by 1958. Expanding into an array of big ticket appliances, as well as their motorcycle and motor vehicle ventures, Siam diTella expanded to 13 manufacturing facilities employing 9,000 by the 1960s. Siambretta Following