Gates Corporation

Last updated
Gates Industrial Corporation plc
Type Public company
Founded1911;113 years ago (1911)
Headquarters Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Number of employees
15,050 (January 1, 2022)
Website gates.com
Gates Corporation sign at company headquarters in 1144 Fifteenth, Denver, Colorado Gates sign at 1144 Fifteenth.jpg
Gates Corporation sign at company headquarters in 1144 Fifteenth, Denver, Colorado

Gates Industrial Corporation plc, based in Denver, Colorado, is a manufacturer of power transmission belts and fluid power products, which are used in diverse industrial and automotive applications. [1] The company employs over 15,000 and has sales and manufacturing operations in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East.

Contents

History

On October 1, 1911, Charles Gates Sr. purchased the Colorado Tire and Leather Company located in Denver, Colorado beside the South Platte River. Colorado Tire and Leather Company made a single product, the Durable Tread, a steel-studded band of leather that motorists attached to tires to extend their mileage. In 1917, the company began phasing out leather in favor of rubber and Charles Gates changed its name to the International Rubber Company.

That same year, John Gates, Charles's brother, developed a belt made of rubber and woven threading called a V-belt, due to its shape. It replaced the hemp and rope belt used on automobiles and industrial machinery at the time, and was a model for the common serpentine belt. The belt's success propelled the company to become the largest manufacturer of V-belts, a title it still holds.[ citation needed ] [2]

In 1919, the International Rubber Company changed its name to the Gates Rubber Company. Gates continued its expansion across the United States, opening more factories and hiring thousands of people. Then, in 1954, its first international manufacturing facility was built in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Expansion to other countries followed. In 1958, the company opened Gates Rubber de Mexico. In 1963, Gates built a belt and hose plant in Erembodegem, Belgium, the first of many European facilities. [3]

The former Gates Rubber factory, for many years a Denver landmark, was demolished in 2014. GatesFactory.jpg
The former Gates Rubber factory, for many years a Denver landmark, was demolished in 2014.

In the 1980s, Gates expansion continued when the company acquired the Uniroyal Power Transmission Company and became the world's largest synchronous/timing belt manufacturer, firmly establishing its growth path in the Asia-Pacific region. [4]

In 1996, the company was acquired by the British-based engineering firm Tomkins plc, ending 85 years of family ownership. [5] In 2003, Gates changed its name to The Gates Corporation, a move reflecting the company's expanding range of industrial brands, product lines, and customers. The Denver factory closed, and by 2001, some buildings hadn't been used in nearly a decade. Asbestos contaminated the buildings and trichloroethylene in the groundwater was still under remediation in late 2014. While parts of the property had been redeveloped, the original factory remained deserted until November 2013, when demolition of the final factory buildings began. The site was purchased by Denver-based Frontier Renewal in September 2014 with the intention of completing the cleanup preparing it for future development. [6] [7]

After an unsolicited approach, in July 2010 Tomkins was acquired by a Canadian consortium of private equity firm Onex Corporation and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for £2.9 billion. In July 2014, The Blackstone Group, the world's largest buyout firm, agreed to acquire The Gates Corporation from Onex Corp. (OCX) and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for $5.4 billion. [8] In December 2017, Gates Corporation filed an initial public offering and became a public corporation. [9] The company's headquarters are located at 1144 15th Street in Denver, Colorado. [10]

Products, services

Gates designs and manufactures industrial belt, hose and hydraulic products for various industries:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bridgestone</span> Japanese multinational tire manufacturer

Bridgestone Corporation is a Japanese multinational tire manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (1889–1976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of ishibashi (石橋), meaning 'stone bridge' in Japanese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goodrich Corporation</span> Defunct American manufacturer

The Goodrich Corporation, formerly the B.F. Goodrich Company, was an American manufacturing company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in Akron, Ohio in 1870 as Goodrich, Tew & Co. by Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich, the company name was changed to the "B.F. Goodrich Company" in 1880, to BFGoodrich in the 1980s, and to "Goodrich Corporation" in 2001. Originally a rubber manufacturing company known for automobile tires, the company diversified its manufacturing businesses throughout the twentieth century and sold off its tire business in 1986 to focus on its other businesses, such as aerospace and chemical manufacturing. The BFGoodrich brand name continues to be used by Michelin, who acquired the tire manufacturing business in 1988. Following the acquisition by United Technologies in 2012, Goodrich became a part of UTC Aerospace Systems.

Benjamin Franklin Goodrich was an American industrialist in the rubber industry and founder of B.F. Goodrich Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avon Protection</span> British manufacturing company

Avon Protection plc is a British company that specialises in the engineering and manufacturing of respiratory protection equipment for military, law enforcement and fire personnel. Its corporate headquarters are 3 km (1.9 mi) south of Melksham in Wiltshire, England, at the Hampton Park West development. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Charles Cassius Gates Jr. was a businessman and philanthropist. His father, Charles Gates Sr., bought Colorado Tire & Leather for $3,500 in 1911. The company was renamed The Gates Rubber Company in 1919. It became world's largest non-tire rubber manufacturer. Charles Gates Jr. took over in 1961, upon the death of his father. The Gates Corporation continued to grow, diversify, and acquire other companies, including Learjet. By 1996, the privately held Gates Corporation employed over 14,000 people. It was sold to London-based Tomkins plc that year for US$1.1 billion.

Lucas Industries plc was a Birmingham-based British manufacturer of motor industry and aerospace industry components. Once prominent, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was formerly a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In August 1996, Lucas merged with the American Varity Corporation to form LucasVarity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trelleborg (company)</span>

Trelleborg AB is a global engineering group focused on polymer technology, with headquarters in Trelleborg, Sweden, with 16,701 employees and with yearly revenue of 30.1 billion SEK as of 2022. It became a public company in 1964 and currently trades on the Nasdaq Stockholm as a large cap component. It has operations in 40 countries and describes its mission as the development of "engineered polymer solutions that seal, damp and protect critical applications in demanding environments".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BFGoodrich</span> Brand of tires produced and sold by Michelin

BFGoodrich is an American tire company. Originally part of the industrial conglomerate Goodrich Corporation, it was acquired in 1990 by the French tire maker Michelin. BFGoodrich was the first American tire manufacturer to make radial tires. It made tires for the then new Winton car from Winton Motor Carriage Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Rubber Company</span> American manufacturer of tires

The company formerly known as the United States Rubber Company, now Uniroyal, is an American manufacturer of tires and other synthetic rubber-related products, as well as variety of items for military use, such as ammunition, explosives, chemical weapons and operations and maintenance activities (O&MA) at the government-owned contractor-operated facilities. It was founded in Naugatuck, Connecticut, in 1892. It was one of the original 12 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and became Uniroyal, Inc., as part of creating a unified brand for its products and subsidiaries in 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murray (bicycle company)</span> Defunct American manufacturing company of Bicycles and Lawn Equipment

Murray was an American company whose assets are now owned by Briggs & Stratton and Pon Holdings. The corporate brand is a descendant of the Murray Ohio Manufacturing Company, which manufactured bicycles and lawn and garden equipment. The company went bankrupt in 2005 selling most of its assets to Briggs & Stratton and Pacific Cycle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomkins plc</span> English multinational engineering company

Tomkins plc was a multinational engineering company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. In July 2010 Tomkins was acquired by a Canadian consortium of private equity firm Onex Corporation and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. In July 2014, The Blackstone Group, the world's largest buyout firm, agreed to acquire The Gates Corporation, the largest division of Tomkins plc from Onex Corp. (OCX) and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for $5.4 billion.

Nokian Tyres plc, headquartered in Nokia, Finland, produces tyres for cars, trucks, buses, and heavy-duty equipment. Known for its winter tyres, Nokian is the only tyre manufacturer in the world with its own permanent winter tyre testing facility. The company's Hakkapeliitta brand name is recognised in Finland as a trademark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yokohama Rubber Company</span> Japanese tire company

The Yokohama Rubber Company, Limited is a tire company based in Tokyo, Japan. The company was founded and began on October 13, 1917, in a joint venture between Yokohama Cable Manufacturing and B.F. Goodrich. In 1969, the company expanded to the United States as Yokohama Tire Corporation.

Carlisle Companies Incorporated is an American diversified company that designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of products that serve a broad range of niche markets to customers worldwide, including: commercial roofing, energy, agriculture, lawn and garden, mining and construction equipment, aerospace and electronics, dining and food delivery, and healthcare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chemtura</span> Former global corporation headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Chemtura Corporation was a global corporation headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with its other principal executive office in Middlebury, Connecticut. Merged into Lanxess in 2017, the company focused on specialty chemicals for various industrial sectors, and these were transportation, energy, and electronics. Chemtura operated manufacturing plants in 11 countries. Its primary markets were industrial manufacturing customers. The corporation employed approximately 2500 people for research, manufacturing, logistics, sales and administration. Operations were located in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. In addition, the company had significant joint ventures primarily in the United States. For the year ended December 31, 2015, the company's global core segment revenue was $1.61 billion. Chief executive officer was Craig A. Rogerson, who was also the president and chairman of the board of Chemtura Corporation. On April 21, 2017, Chemtura was acquired by the German chemical company Lanxess.

Dunlop is a brand of tyre originally produced by the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company from the end of the 19th century, taking its name from John Boyd Dunlop. The brand is used for many other products made from rubber or with rubber components and some with a looser connection to rubber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunter Boot Ltd</span> British footwear manufacturer

Hunter Boot Limited is a British footwear manufacturer that is known for its rubber Wellington boots. Originally established in 1856 as the North British Rubber Company, the firm is headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. It also has offices in London, New York and Düsseldorf. In addition to rubber boots and other footwear, Hunter sells products such as bags, socks and accessories. It previously made tyres, conveyor belts, combs, golf balls, hot water bottles and rubber flooring. Hunter holds several Royal Warrants as suppliers of waterproof footwear. Green Wellington boots, now manufactured in China, are its best known product.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominion Tire Plant</span> Manufacturing facility in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

The Dominion Tire Plant, later known as the Uniroyal Tire Plant then the Uniroyal-Goodrich Tire Plant and today known as AirBoss Rubber Compounding is a rubber and tire company located on Glasgow Street in Kitchener, Ontario. It is the largest independent rubber mixing plant in North America.

Veritas AG is an international, automotive corporation based in Gelnhausen, Germany, in the Main-Kinzig circle of the Hessen state. The family-owned company employs today over 4,300 people worldwide. In 2011 the turnover of the company was around €580 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clouth Gummiwerke</span>

Clouth Gummiwerke AG was a rubber goods company founded in 1868 by the Cologne entrepreneur Franz Clouth. Parts of the company were temporarily owned by Felten & Guilleaume and Continental AG. In 1990, Continental took over almost all the shares. Later, some parts of the company were sold, and the remaining production at the Cologne site was shut down in December 2009. The Clouth Quarter is currently being built on the former factory site.

References

  1. "Gates Corporation". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
  2. "Gates History". Archived from the original on 2012-05-12. Retrieved 2018-10-16.
  3. "100 Years of Powering Progress" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-02-20. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
  4. "Uniroyal to Sell Unit to Gates". The New York Times. 1986-05-22. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
  5. Grimond, Magnus (1996-01-31). "Tomkins Finalises Gates Acquisition at Pounds 768m". The Independent. London. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
  6. "Denver brownfields developer Frontier Renewal buys former Gates plant". Denver Post. 2014-09-15.
  7. "Gates: Broadway rubber plant demolition to take a year", Denver Business Journal, 2013, retrieved 2014-04-14
  8. Banerjee, Devin (2014-04-04). "Blackstone Agrees to Buy Gates Global in $5.4 Billion LBO". Bloomberg.
  9. Svaldi, Aldo (27 December 2017). "Denver-headquartered Gates Industrial bouncing back with initial public offering". The Denver Post. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  10. McClung, Kelcey. "From IPO to 6 new floors: Manufacturing firm sets up HQ in new Denver skyscraper". Denver Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  11. Caitlin Giddings (September 24, 2015). "The Gates Carbon Belt Drive Is Coming for Your Chain". Bicycling . Retrieved 2019-11-01.