CertainTeed
Encyclopedia
CertainTeed Corporation is a North American manufacturer of building materials for both commercial and residential construction. It is the largest manufacturer of building materials in North America and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA
Saint-Gobain
Saint-Gobain S.A. is a French multinational corporation, founded in 1665 in Paris and headquartered on the outskirts of Paris at La Défense and in Courbevoie. Originally a mirror manufacturer, it now also produces a variety of construction and high-performance materials.The company has its head...

 of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. CertainTeed exports building material products to over 50 countries worldwide.

Formation

The company was established in 1904 as the General Roofing Manufacturing Company by George M. Brown in St. Louis, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 with $25,000 in start up capital. In 1917, the company restructured, incorporated, and changed its name to the Certain-teed Products Corporation. It began trading on the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...

 in 1918.

Milestones

1912 - General Roofing publishes its first annual report.

1913 - General Roofing began manufacturing individual asphalt shingles.

1923 - CertainTeed enters gypsum plaster business and begins manufacturing gypsum wallboard.

1923 - Company headquarters relocates from St. Louis to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, NY.

1935 - George M. Brown resigns as President and CEO.

1938 - Celotex Corporation takes control of CertainTeed acquiring a majority of the common stock.

1942 - Company headquarters relocates from New York to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

.

1944 - Rawson G. Lizars wins proxy battle and takes control of CertainTeed from Celotex.

1942 - CertainTeed is awarded a national defense contract.

1948 - Company headquarters relocates from Chicago to Ardmore, PA.

1951 - CertainTeed introduces "Fire-Stop" gypsum wallboard.

1952 - CertainTeed opens its first R&D facility in Paoli, PA.

1955 - Malcolm Meyer becomes President of CertainTeed.

1959 - CertainTeed develops the industry's first fully automatic shingle packaging machine.

1969 - CertainTeed begins producing solid vinyl siding.

1970 - Company headquarters relocates from Ardmore to Valley Forge, PA.

1973 - Saint-Gobain increases its shareholdings in CertainTeed to 32%.

1976 - CertainTeed Products Corporation changes its name to CertainTeed Corporation.

1976 - Saint-Gobain becomes majority shareholder increasing its ownership to 52%.

1979 - CertainTeed pioneers the development of vinyl windows.

1983 - Saint-Gobain increases its ownership position in CertainTeed to 57%.

1988 - CertainTeed becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Saint-Gobain.

1998 - CertainTeed enters fiber cement siding
Fiber cement siding
Fiber cement siding is a building material used to cover the exterior of a building in both commercial and domestic applications.-Usage:...

 business acquiring Roaring River, NC facility from ABT Building Products.

2004 - CertainTeed celebrates its 100th anniversary.

2008 - CertainTeed enters polyurethane
Polyurethane
A polyurethane is any polymer composed of a chain of organic units joined by carbamate links. Polyurethane polymers are formed through step-growth polymerization, by reacting a monomer with another monomer in the presence of a catalyst.Polyurethanes are...

 spray foam
Spray foam
Spray foam is a very specialised packing material, often required for use in shipping valuable fragile items. Engineered packaging principles are designed to protect sculptures, vases, large fossils, lamp bases, busts, computers, furniture, chandeliers and other objects of unusual shape...

 in North America.

Mergers and Acquisitions

In 1954 CertainTeed acquired Wm. Cameron & Co, a major building supplies wholesaler.

In 1954 Western Gypsum is purchased by BPB which becomes CertainTeed Gypsum in 2006.

In 1962 CertainTeed acquired the pipe division of Keasbey and Mattison Company
Keasbey and Mattison Company
Keasbey and Mattison Company was a manufacturing company that produced asbestos and related building products before being purchased by Turner & Newall in 1934. The company was founded in 1873 by Henry G. Keasbey, a businessman, and Dr. Richard V. Mattison, a chemist/pharmacist...

, the second largest US producer of A/C pipe.

In 1964 CertainTeed acquired the fiber glass manufacturing facilities of the Pall Corporation.

In 1965 CertainTeed acquired Plains Plastic Inc, a manufacturer of PVC pipe.

In 1966 Gustin-Bacon Manufacturing, a manufacturer of specialty fiber glass products, merges with CertainTeed.

In 1966 the company merged with Gustin-Bacon Manufacturing Corporation, a producer of fiberglass products.

In 1968 CertainTeed acquires controlling interest in Modular Sciences Inc.

In 1969 CertainTeed acquires Bowles & Eden Co and the Rohan Company, pipe distribution businesses.

In 1970 CertainTeed acquires Realtec Inc and establishes Builders Investment Group, an REIT.

In 1986 CertainTeed acquires AirVent, Inc, a manufacturer of attic and ridge vents.

In 1987 CertainTeed acquires Bay Mills, Ltd.

In 1988 CertainTeed was acquired by Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA (March 25, 1988).

In 1988 CertainTeed acquires Wolverine Technologies.

In 1989 CertainTeed acquires Ludowici Roof Tile, Inc.

In 1996 CertainTeed acquires Bufftech Vinyl Fencing.

In 1998 CertainTeed acquires Bird Roofing.

In 1999 CertainTeed acquires Unisul and GS Roofing.

In 2000 CertainTeed acquires Celotex Roofing.

In 2007 CertainTeed acquires Vytec Vinyl Siding.

In 2009 CertainTeed acquires Ottawa Fibre expanding its insulation presence into Canada.

Operations

CertainTeed operates 65 manufacturing plants in the United States and Canada. Its products include building insulation
Building insulation
building insulation refers broadly to any object in a building used as insulation for any purpose. While the majority of insulation in buildings is for thermal purposes, the term also applies to acoustic insulation, fire insulation, and impact insulation...

, asphalt shingles
Asphalt shingle
An asphalt shingle is a type of roof shingle. They are one of the most widely used roofing covers because they are relatively inexpensive and fairly simple to install.-Types:...

, gypsum wallboard
Drywall
Drywall, also known as plasterboard, wallboard or gypsum board is a panel made of gypsum plaster pressed between two thick sheets of paper...

, fiber cement siding
Fiber cement siding
Fiber cement siding is a building material used to cover the exterior of a building in both commercial and domestic applications.-Usage:...

, foundations, fencing
Fence
A fence is a freestanding structure designed to restrict or prevent movement across a boundary. It is generally distinguished from a wall by the lightness of its construction: a wall is usually restricted to such barriers made from solid brick or concrete, blocking vision as well as passage .Fences...

, pipes, PVC trim, and composite decking and railing. It exports building products to more than 50 countries. CertainTeed has held more than 350 patents on its products in the past 30 years.

Notable uses

  • CertainTeed roofing products were used for the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, New York
    Hyde Park, New York
    Hyde Park is a town located in the northwest part of Dutchess County, New York, United States, just north of the city of Poughkeepsie. The town is most famous for being the hometown of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt....

    .
  • CertainTeed roofing products were used for the Henry Ford Home in Detroit, Michigan
    Detroit, Michigan
    Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

    .
  • The film The Notebook
    The Notebook
    The Notebook is a 1996 romantic novel by American novelist Nicholas Sparks, based on a true story. The novel was later adapted into a popular romance film by the same name in 2004.-Background:...

    was filmed at a CertainTeed/Saint-Gobain plant in Charleston, South Carolina
    Charleston, South Carolina
    Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

    .
  • CertainTeed's parent company, Saint-Gobain, makes the gamma ray
    Gamma ray
    Gamma radiation, also known as gamma rays or hyphenated as gamma-rays and denoted as γ, is electromagnetic radiation of high frequency . Gamma rays are usually naturally produced on Earth by decay of high energy states in atomic nuclei...

     spectrometer
    Spectrometer
    A spectrometer is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify materials. The variable measured is most often the light's intensity but could also, for instance, be the polarization...

     for NASA’s Lunar Prospector
    Lunar Prospector
    The Lunar Prospector mission was the third selected by NASA for full development and construction as part of the Discovery Program. At a cost of $62.8 million, the 19-month mission was designed for a low polar orbit investigation of the Moon, including mapping of surface composition and possible...

     spacecraft.
  • CertainTeed fiber glass insulation was used at the National Ignition Facility
    National Ignition Facility
    The National Ignition Facility, or NIF is a large, laser-based inertial confinement fusion research device located at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California. NIF uses powerful lasers to heat and compress a small amount of hydrogen fuel to the point where nuclear fusion...

    , home of the world’s largest laser
    Laser
    A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...

    .

Litigation

Historically, CertainTeed was a major manufacturer of asbestos-cement pipes for water utilities for many decades. Asbestos
Asbestos
Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...

 was mixed into the cement as a binder
Binder (material)
-See also:*Adhesive or Glue*Cement*Paint...

. CertainTeed phased out the use of asbestos in its products around 1990. As a result, CertainTeed is now a major defendant in product liability
Product liability
Product liability is the area of law in which manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, retailers, and others who make products available to the public are held responsible for the injuries those products cause...

 lawsuits brought by persons who worked on water utility projects and their families.

On April 29, 2010, in a product liability case filed by a mesothelioma
Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma, more precisely malignant mesothelioma, is a rare form of cancer that develops from the protective lining that covers many of the body's internal organs, the mesothelium...

 patient whose husband used to cut CertainTeed pipe for a living, a Los Angeles Superior Court
Superior Court of Los Angeles County
The Superior Court of Los Angeles County is the Superior Court located in Los Angeles County. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States....

 jury returned a verdict of $8.8 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages against CertainTeed and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is the largest municipal utility in the United States, serving over four million residents. It was founded in 1902 to supply water and electricity to residents and businesses in Los Angeles and surrounding communities...

. The allocation of fault was 70% to CertainTeed and 30% to LADWP. On July 21, 2010, the Court overturned this verdict, and specifically granted CertainTeed's post-trial motions, holding that the punitive damage award was unconstitutional, that the amount of punitive damages could not exceed the amount of compensatory damages, and that a new trial was required on all issues. The case is currently on appeal.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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