GKN Ltd is a British
multinational automotive and
aerospace
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astr ...
components business headquartered in
Redditch
Redditch is a town, and local government district, in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district has a population of 85,000 as of 2019. In the 19th century, it became the international centre for the ...
, England. It is a long-running business known for many decades as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. It can trace its origins back to 1759 and the birth of the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
.
The company's name is the initials of three early figures in its history:
John Guest,
Arthur Keen, and
Joseph Henry Nettlefold
Joseph Henry Nettlefold (19 September 1827 – 22 November 1881) was a British industrialist, the Nettlefold in Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds.
He was born in London to John Sutton Nettlefold who, in 1854, dispatched him to manage the business o ...
. All three were key figures in the field of iron and steel during the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
. Ivor Guest sold the ''
Dowlais Iron Company
The Dowlais Ironworks was a major ironworks and steelworks located at Dowlais near Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. Founded in the 18th century, it operated until the end of the 20th, at one time in the 19th century being the largest steel producer in ...
'' in
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
to Arthur Keen and Windsor Richards of Birmingham's ''
Patent Nut and Bolt Company
Arthur Keen (23 January 1835 – 8 February 1915) was a British entrepreneur, the ''Keen'' in engineering firm Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds, later GKN plc.
Early years
His early years are uncertain but he was born in Cheshire, perhaps near Nor ...
'' in June 1900. They combined the two businesses and formed ''Guest, Keen & Co. Limited'' on 1 November 1900. A little over twelve months later, Guest Keen & Co bought and amalgamated ''
Nettlefolds Limited
Joseph Henry Nettlefold (19 September 1827 – 22 November 1881) was a British industrialist, the Nettlefold in Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds.
He was born in London to John Sutton Nettlefold who, in 1854, dispatched him to manage the business o ...
'' into their new combine giving it the style ''Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds Limited''. Throughout the majority of the twentieth century, though steel production remained the core of GKN it branched into
tooling
Tooling may refer to:
* Machine tools and the tooling, such as cutting tools, fixtures, and accessories, that is used on them
** Cutting tool (machining), any of hundreds of kinds of cutters
** Fixture (tool), a fixed workholding or support devic ...
and component manufacturing. It was deeply impacted by government policies during the latter half of the century, during which Britain's steel industry was subject to multiple
nationalisation and
privatisation efforts. During the 1980s, GKN Steel reduced its presence in the steel sector, selling off or shutting down its works.
GKN Steel renamed itself GKN during 1986 to indicate its shift away from steel production. Business activities were re-orientated around the aerospace, automotive and industrial services markets. In 1994, GKN purchased
Westland Aircraft
Westland Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil, Somerset. Formed as a separate company by separation from Petters Limited just before the start of the Second World War, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915. D ...
; the company later organised the latter's merger to form
AgustaWestland
AgustaWestland was an Anglo-Italian helicopter design and manufacturing company, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Finmeccanica (now known as Leonardo). It was formed in July 2000 as an Anglo-Italian multinational company, when Finmeccani ...
and its sale to Italian defense firm
Finmeccanica
Leonardo S.p.A., formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and originally Finmeccanica, is an Italian multinational company specialising in aerospace, defence and security. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, the company has 180 sites worldwide. It is the eighth ...
. During November 1995,
Dana Corporation
Dana Incorporated is an American supplier of axles, driveshafts, transmissions, and electrodynamic, thermal, sealing, and digital equipment for conventional, hybrid, and electric-powered vehicles. The company's products and services are aimed ...
purchased GKN's axle group; the two firms continued to operate
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...
s in the field for many years. During the early 2000s, it took over Tochigi Fuji Sangyo K.K, a Japanese manufacturer of differentials and driveline torque systems. During December 2011, GKN Aerospace Engineering services division was sold to product engineering firm
Quest Global
Quest Global (Formerly Quality Engineering & Software Technologies) provides end to end global product engineering services in the Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Energy, Hi-Tech, Medical Devices, Rail and Semiconductor industries. The company ...
. In 2012, GKN acquired the Swedish aerospace engine specialist
Volvo Aero
Volvo Aero was a Swedish aircraft, guided missiles and rocket engine manufacturer. It became ''GKN Aerospace Engine Systems'' following the company's acquisition by British engineering conglomerate GKN during 2012.
It was originally establi ...
. During 2018,
Melrose Industries
Melrose Industries plc is a British manufacturing company based in London. It specialises in buying, investing in, and divesting engineering companies. Its shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange as a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Me ...
acquired GKN through a controversial £8.1 billion deal.
History
1759 to 1900
The origins of GKN lie in the founding of the Dowlais Ironworks in the village of
Dowlais
Dowlais () is a village and community of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. At the 2011 census the electoral ward had a population of 6,926, The population of the Community being 4,270 at the 2011 census having excluded Pant. Dowlai ...
,
Merthyr Tydfil,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
, by
Thomas Lewis and
Isaac Wilkinson
Isaac Wilkinson (baptism, baptised 6 May 1695 - 31 January 1784) was an England, English industrialist, one of the founders of the iron industry and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution. However, his business ethics were precarious and his commerci ...
.
John Guest was appointed manager of the works in 1767, having moved from
Broseley
Broseley is a market town in Shropshire, England, with a population of 4,929 at the 2011 Census and an estimate of 5,022 in 2019. The River Severn flows to its north and east. The first The Iron Bridge, iron bridge in the world was built in 17 ...
. In 1786, Guest was succeeded by his son, Thomas Guest, who formed the Dowlais Iron Company with his son-in-law William Taitt. Guest introduced many innovations and the works prospered.
Under Guest's leadership, alongside his manager John Evans, and after his death in 1852 that of his wife
Lady Charlotte Guest
Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Guest (née Bertie; 19 May 1812 – 15 January 1895), later Lady Charlotte Schreiber, was an English aristocrat who is best known as the first publisher in modern print format of the '' Mabinogion'', the earliest prose l ...
, the Dowlais Ironworks gained the reputation of being "one of the World's great industrial concerns".
[James 2004, .]
Though the
Bessemer process
The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furnace. The key principle is removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation ...
was
licensed in 1856, nine years of detailed planning and project management were needed before the first steel was produced. The company thrived with its new cost-effective production methods, forming alliances with the
Consett Iron Company
The Consett Iron Company Ltd was an industrial business based in the Consett area of County Durham in the United Kingdom. The company owned coal mines and limestone quarries, and manufactured iron and steel. It was registered on 4 April 1864 a ...
and
Krupp.
By 1857,
G.T. Clark and William Menelaus, his manager, had constructed the "Goat Mill", the world's most powerful
rolling mill
In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simil ...
.
By the mid-1860s, Clark's reforms had borne fruit in renewed
profitability
In economics, profit is the difference between the revenue that an economic entity has received from its outputs and the total cost of its inputs. It is equal to total revenue minus total cost, including both explicit and implicit costs.
It i ...
. Clark delegated day-to-day management to Menelaus, his trusteeship terminating in 1864 when ownership passed to
Sir Ivor Guest. Clark continued to direct policy, building a new plant at the docks at
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
and vetoing a
joint-stock company. He formally retired in 1897.
1900 to 1966
On 9 July 1900, the Dowlais Iron Company and
Arthur Keen's ''
Patent Nut and Bolt Company
Arthur Keen (23 January 1835 – 8 February 1915) was a British entrepreneur, the ''Keen'' in engineering firm Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds, later GKN plc.
Early years
His early years are uncertain but he was born in Cheshire, perhaps near Nor ...
'' merged to form ''Guest, Keen & Co. Ltd''.
''
Nettlefolds Limited
Joseph Henry Nettlefold (19 September 1827 – 22 November 1881) was a British industrialist, the Nettlefold in Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds.
He was born in London to John Sutton Nettlefold who, in 1854, dispatched him to manage the business o ...
'', a leading manufacturer of fasteners, established in
Smethwick,
West Midlands
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
in 1854, was acquired in 1902, leading to the change of name to ''Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds'' (GKN).
In 1920
John Lysaght and Co. was acquired.
Guest Keen Baldwins
Steel production remained at the core of the company, but under increasing profit margin pressure. In 1930, the company combined its steel production business with that of rival Baldwins to form ''Guest Keen Baldwins'', which now held:
* Baldwins: Coke ovens at
Margam
Margam is a suburb and community of Port Talbot in the Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, close to junction 39 of the M4 motorway. The community had a population of 3,017 in 2011; the built up area being larger and extending into ...
; Blast-furnaces and steel melting shop at
Margam
Margam is a suburb and community of Port Talbot in the Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, close to junction 39 of the M4 motorway. The community had a population of 3,017 in 2011; the built up area being larger and extending into ...
; steel works and rolling mills at
Port Talbot
Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south ...
; blast-furnaces at
Briton Ferry; lime stone quarry at
Cornelly
Cornelly (Welsh: ''Corneli'') is a community and electoral ward in Bridgend County Borough, South Wales. As of 2011 the population of the Cornelly ward was 7,059.
Cornelly was created following ''The Bridgend (Cynffig, Cornelly and Pyle Communi ...
* GKN: Dowlais Iron and Steel Works; Cardiff Iron and Steel Works; coke ovens at
Cwmbran
Cwmbran ( ; cy, Cwmbrân , also in use as an alternative spelling in English) is a town in the county borough of Torfaen in South Wales.
Lying within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, Cwmbran was designated as a New Town in 1949 to prov ...
; limestone and silica quarries
In 1935, the company demolished the Cardiff works to construct a new production facility on the same site, funded by an issue of
debenture
In corporate finance, a debenture is a medium- to long-term debt instrument used by large companies to borrow money, at a fixed rate of interest. The legal term "debenture" originally referred to a document that either creates a debt or acknowle ...
s. Due to a resultant global shortage of pig iron, in 1937, the company fired-up the single remaining blast furnace at Dowlais.
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, all of the sites were heavily bombed by
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
's
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
, and the required investment meant that all of these assets were nationalised as part of the Iron and Steel Act 1949, resultantly becoming part of the
Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain
The Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain was a nationalised industry, set up in 1949 by Clement Attlee's Labour government.
The Iron & Steel Act 1949 took effect on 15 February 1951, the Corporation becoming the sole shareholder of 80 of ...
.
GKN were still highly reliant on the supply of good quality steel thus, in 1954, the business negotiated from the asset realisation company the repurchase of key assets from ISC, which were renamed ''Guest Keen Iron and Steel Co.'' In 1961, the company's name was changed again to ''GKN Steel Company''.
Fasteners
![Thinktank Birmingham - object 1986S03948(1)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Thinktank_Birmingham_-_object_1986S03948%281%29.jpg)
These mergers heralded half a century in which ''GKN'' became a major manufacturer of
screw
A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to f ...
s,
nut
Nut often refers to:
* Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds
* Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt
Nut or Nuts may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Co ...
s,
bolts and other
fastener
A fastener (US English) or fastening (UK English) is a hardware device that mechanically joins or affixes two or more objects together. In general, fasteners are used to create non-permanent joints; that is, joints that can be removed or disman ...
s. The company reflected the
vertical integration
In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration is a term that describes the arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each member of the suppl ...
fashionable at the time embracing activities from coal and ore extraction, and iron and steel making to manufacturing finished goods.
Crankshafts
After the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, it became apparent that Britain was likely to follow
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
and the United States in developing a large scale automotive industry.
[ During 1919, GKN acquired another fastener manufacturer, F. W. Cotterill Ltd. Cotterill owned a subsidiary named J. W. Garrington, which specialised in forgings; the forgings produced at the Garrington ]Darlaston
Darlaston is an industrial town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands of England. It is located near Wednesbury and Willenhall.
Topography
Darlaston is situated between Wednesbury and Walsall in the valley of the Riv ...
plant, later supplemented by a large plant at Bromsgrove, enabled GKN to become a major supplier of crankshafts, connecting rods, half-shafts and numerous smaller forged components to the UK auto-industry, which had a period of massive expansion during the interwar period and beyond.
Pressed steel wheels
Another company, eventually acquired by GKN, was founded by another steel manufacturing entrepreneur, Joseph Sankey. After training as a mechanical engineer in the late 19th century, Sankey founding a company that became a major producer of tea tray
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...
s. A pioneering motorist, Sankey became friends with figures such as Herbert Austin
Herbert Austin, 1st Baron Austin (8 November 186623 May 1941) was an English automobile designer and builder who founded the Austin Motor Company. For the majority of his career he was known as Sir Herbert Austin, and the Northfield bypass ...
, and was also a supplier of sheet steel components to the nascent British car industry.[ Because the wooden wheels on early cars had a tendency to disintegrate after hitting roadside kerbs,][ Sankey developed a pioneering pressed-steel wheel.][ Production started in 1908, with customers including Austin Motor Company and, later, ]William Morris
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
.[ In addition to Sankey's original factory at ]Bilston
Bilston is a market town, ward, and civil parish located in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is close to the borders of Sandwell and Walsall. The nearest towns are Darlaston, Wednesbury, and Willenhall. Historically in Staffordshi ...
, a new plant was established near Wellington, Shropshire
Wellington is a market town in Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England. It is situated 4 miles (6 km) northwest of central Telford and 12 miles (19 km) east of Shrewsbury. The summit of The Wrekin lies 3 miles southwest of the town.
The ...
, which was devoted to wheel production.[
Meanwhile, by 1914, GKN's customers for sheet-steel vehicle bodies had also come to include Austin, along with Daimler, ]Humber
The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between t ...
, Rover
Rover may refer to:
People
* Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian
* Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer
* Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist
Places
* Rover, Arkansas, US
* Rover, Missouri, US
...
, Star and Argyll
Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland.
Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...
.[
After John Lysaght acquired Joseph Sankey and Sons Ltd, GKN purchased both companies, in 1920.][
By the 1960s, GKN was manufacturing many other kinds of automotive components, including chassis for the ]Triumph Herald
The Triumph Herald is a small two-door car introduced by Standard-Triumph of Coventry in 1959 and made through to 1971. The body design was by the Italian stylist Giovanni Michelotti, and the car was offered in saloon, convertible, coupé, est ...
and its derivatives.[ The company also developed the GKN FV432 armoured personnel carrier.][ By 1969, the highly-automated Wellington plant was producing over 5½ million wheels per year, with a maximum rate of approximately 30,000 units per day.][
]
Nationalisation of steel
The postwar government nationalised the steel industry under Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain
The Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain was a nationalised industry, set up in 1949 by Clement Attlee's Labour government.
The Iron & Steel Act 1949 took effect on 15 February 1951, the Corporation becoming the sole shareholder of 80 of ...
. The act of parliament of 1949 took effect in February 1951.
In 1951, a new subsidiary Blade Research & Development (BRD) was formed at Aldridge
Aldridge is an industrial town in the Walsall borough, West Midlands, England. It is historically a village that was part of Staffordshire until 1974. The town is from Brownhills, from Walsall, from Sutton Coldfield and from Lichfield. ...
, Staffordshire, to produce aero-engine turbine blades. Following a fall in demand for turbine blades in the late 1950s, the BRD factory switched to producing constant-velocity joints and driveshafts for vehicles.
In 1953, Britain's steel industry was de-nationalised by a new government; this policy only lasted for 14 years before being reversed.
1966 to 1991
At the end of April 1965, the recently elected Labour government published a White Paper
A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white pape ...
proposing the nationalisation of 90 per cent, by output, of Britain's steel industry. GKN Steel was transferred to public ownership at the end of July 1967.
Driveline
Beginning a programme of diversification into the automotive field in 1966 GKN bought BRD's much larger competitor, Birfield Ltd, which held the great bulk of the British market for CVJs, constant velocity joints, and was a company that since 1938 had incorporated both the Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...
based Laycock Engineering
The Laycock Engineering Company Limited of Archer Road, Millhouses, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England was an engineering business established in 1884 by W S Laycock which made small and major components for railway rolling stock.
Laycock died in 1 ...
later best known as a postwar overdrive manufacturer, and Hardy Spicer Hardy Spicer is a brand of automotive transmission or driveline equipment best known for its mechanical constant velocity universal joint originally manufactured in Britain by Hardy employing patents belonging to US-based Spicer Manufacturing. Har ...
Limited of Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, England, also a manufacturer of constant-velocity joint
Constant-velocity joints (also known as homokinetic or CV joints) are mechanical joints which allow a drive shaft to transmit power through a variable angle, at constant rotational speed, without an appreciable increase in friction or play. The ...
s.[ Historically, such joints had few applications, even following the improved design proposed by Alfred H. Rzeppa in 1936. However, in 1959, ]Alec Issigonis
Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis (18 November 1906 – 2 October 1988) was a British-Greek automotive designer. He designed the Mini, launched by the British Motor Corporation in 1959, and voted the second most influential car of t ...
had developed the revolutionary Mini
The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...
motor car that relied on the Hardy Spicer joints for its front wheel drive
Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longitu ...
technology. The massive expansion in the exploitation of front wheel drive in the 1970s and 1980s led to the acquisition of other similar businesses and a 43% share of the world market by 2002.
On the death of founder Tony Vandervell in 1967, GKN acquired the lucrative Maidenhead-based Vandervell
Guy Anthony "Tony" Vandervell (8 September 1898 – 10 March 1967) was a British industrialist, motor racing financier, and founder of the Vanwall Formula One racing team.
Motorsport
Vandervell was the son of Charles Vandervell, founder of CAV, ...
bearing manufacturer that was at the time exporting more than 50% of its output to overseas vehicle manufacturers.[ This was part of a larger trend for GKN that during this period, under its Managing Director Raymond Brookes, was working to reduce its dependence on UK auto-maker customers at a time when the domestic industry was seen to be stumbling, in response to bewildering "Government interference and fiscal short-sightedness", with British new car registrations in the first four months of 1969 a massive 33% down on the corresponding period of the previous year.][
As a result of the large number of mergers, ]Abram Games
Abram Games (29 July 191427 August 1996) was a British graphic designer. The style of his work – refined but vigorous compared to the work of contemporaries – has earned him a place in the pantheon of the best of 20th-century graphic desi ...
was commissioned to develop a new corporate identity
A corporate identity or corporate image is the manner in which a corporation, firm or business enterprise presents itself to the public (such as customers and investors as well as employees). The corporate identity is typically visualized by ...
in 1969 when the distinctive angular GKN symbol was created and the new company colours of blue and white introduced. In 1974, GKN acquired Kirkstall Forge Engineering
Kirkstall Forge is a 57-acre mixed-use development located in Kirkstall in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The site is one of the oldest most continuously used industrial sites in England. It was operated by Kirkstall Forge Engineering, a metalworking bus ...
, a manufacturer of truck axles in Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
.
GKN Steel
By 1968, GKN Steel had recreated its downline business, and started to build its upline business through aggressive building of a steel stockholding business. In 1972, it acquired Firth Cleveland, a hot and cold rolled strip business with a downline in sintered products, reinforcement steels, wire fasteners and garage equipment. In 1973, GKN Steel exchanged the remaining assets at Dowlais along with £30 million in cash to the nationalised British Steel Corporation
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
, in return for the previously nationalised Brymbo Steelworks
The Brymbo Steel Works was a former large steelworks in the village of Brymbo near Wrexham, Wales. In operation between 1796 and 1990, it was significant on account of its founder, one of whose original blast furnace stacks remains on the site ...
. After acquiring steel stockholding competitor Miles Druce and Co, by 1974, the company was in possession of a full integrated steel production and manufacturing business.
By the late 1980s, in the face of extensive competition from Japanese firms in both the axle and constant velocity joint business, GKN Steel decided to start selling off its steel and fasteners businesses. By 1991, the firm had disposed of all of the assets within these two business lines. GKN Steel's withdrawal coincidence with the wider closure of multiple steelworks and heavy industries across Britain, which caused considerable social disruption in some areas at the time, thus becoming a topic of political debate. In 1989, GKN Steel's factory at Bilston
Bilston is a market town, ward, and civil parish located in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is close to the borders of Sandwell and Walsall. The nearest towns are Darlaston, Wednesbury, and Willenhall. Historically in Staffordshi ...
, in the West Midlands
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
, was permanently closed and subsequently demolished.
1990s
Having disposed of its steel production asset, the company renamed itself ''GKN'' in 1986. The firm focused on military vehicles, aerospace
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astr ...
and industrial services. During the 1990s, GKN completed a series of large acquisitions and industrial consolidations. During 1994, the firm acquired the helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
manufacturing business of Westland Aircraft
Westland Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil, Somerset. Formed as a separate company by separation from Petters Limited just before the start of the Second World War, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915. D ...
. In 1998, GKN's armoured vehicle business was sold to Alvis plc; this division was subsequently incorporated into Alvis Vickers Ltd
Alvis PLC was created when United Scientific Holdings plc acquired the Alvis division of the nationalised vehicle manufacturer British Leyland in 1981. United Scientific maintained its own name until 1992 when the group was renamed Alvis plc ...
.
During November 1995, associate Dana Corporation
Dana Incorporated is an American supplier of axles, driveshafts, transmissions, and electrodynamic, thermal, sealing, and digital equipment for conventional, hybrid, and electric-powered vehicles. The company's products and services are aimed ...
purchased GKN's axle group; at that time, GKN held 34% of the world market for constant velocity joints. Around this same time period, GKN acquired larger shares of its other driveline joint ventures with Dana in Brazil, Argentina and Colombia. From the late 1990s, the company built up a major global business in powder metallurgy
Powder metallurgy (PM) is a term covering a wide range of ways in which materials or components are made from metal powders. PM processes can reduce or eliminate the need for subtractive processes in manufacturing, lowering material losses and ...
, which operates as the GKN Powdered Metallurgy group.
During early 1998, GKN and Italian aerospace company Finmeccanica
Leonardo S.p.A., formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and originally Finmeccanica, is an Italian multinational company specialising in aerospace, defence and security. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, the company has 180 sites worldwide. It is the eighth ...
commenced discussions on the topic of merging their helicopter operations; French aerospace conglomerate Aérospatiale had also reportedly made its own approaches around this time.
2000s
In July 2000, GKN and Finmeccanica announced an agreement to merge their respective helicopter subsidiaries, Westland and Agusta respectively, to form AgustaWestland
AgustaWestland was an Anglo-Italian helicopter design and manufacturing company, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Finmeccanica (now known as Leonardo). It was formed in July 2000 as an Anglo-Italian multinational company, when Finmeccani ...
. On 20 May 2004, GKN confirmed that it was holding discussions to sell its 50% shareholding in AgustaWestland to Finmeccanica. The sale of this stake in exchange for £1 billion ($1.79 billion) from Finmeccanica was finalised later that year.
In 2002, GKN acquired a significant stake in – and by 2004 took over the whole concern of – the Japanese manufacturer of differentials and driveline torque systems Tochigi Fuji Sangyo K.K, based in Tochigi, Tochigi
is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, in the northern Kantō region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 159,056 in 66,018 households, and a population density of 480 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Because t ...
. GKN went on to acquire Monitor Aerospace Corp in Amityville, New York
Amityville () is a village near the Town of Babylon in Suffolk County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York. The population was 9,523 at the 2010 census.
History
Huntington settlers first visited the Amityville area in 1653 du ...
and Precision Machining in Wellington, Kansas
Wellington is a city in and the county seat of Sumner County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 7,715.
History
19th century
Wellington was platted in 1871 and named for the Duke of Wellington. It w ...
in 2006, part of the Airbus
Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: ' ...
plant at Filton
Filton is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, north of Bristol. Along with nearby Patchway and Bradley Stoke, Filton forms part of the Bristol urban area and has become an overflow settlement for the city. Filton Church ...
near Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
for £150 million in 2008 and all of Getrag
Getrag (), stylized as GETRAG, was a major supplier of transmission systems for passenger cars and commercial vehicles. The company was founded on 1 May 1935, in Ludwigsburg, Germany, by Hermann Hagenmeyer; as the ''Getriebe und Zahnradfabrik ...
's axle business and axle manufacturing facilities in 2011.
2010s
During December 2011, GKN Aerospace Engineering services division was acquired by product engineering firm Quest Global
Quest Global (Formerly Quality Engineering & Software Technologies) provides end to end global product engineering services in the Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Energy, Hi-Tech, Medical Devices, Rail and Semiconductor industries. The company ...
. The sale was accompanied by an agreement for QuestGlobal to provide engineering resources to GKN Aerospace; this cooperation was presented as a long-term strategy.
In July 2012, GKN agreed to acquire the Swedish aerospace components manufacturer Volvo Aero
Volvo Aero was a Swedish aircraft, guided missiles and rocket engine manufacturer. It became ''GKN Aerospace Engine Systems'' following the company's acquisition by British engineering conglomerate GKN during 2012.
It was originally establi ...
from AB Volvo
The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributi ...
for £633 million (US$986 million). The takeover was seen as presenting good opportunities for the expansion of Volvo Aero's range of engine component production range via GKN's experience in producing aerostructures. In October 2015, GKN acquired Dutch aerospace company Fokker Technologies
Fokker Technologies is a Dutch aerospace company owned by British aerospace supplier GKN. The company has production companies which design, develop and produce structures, landing gear and electrical systems for the aerospace and defense indus ...
through a €706 million deal. GKN Aerospace chief Kevin Cummings stated that the Fokker purchase enhances GKN's global manufacturing footprint and brought new technology to the company.
Throughout the 2010s, there was strong demand for GKN's aerostructures; earlier, the company had secured manufacturing contracts to produce elements of the Boeing 787
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body jet airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, ...
, Airbus A350 XWB
The Airbus A350 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner developed and produced by Airbus.
The first A350 design proposed by Airbus in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the A330 ...
, Airbus A400M Atlas
The Airbus A400M AtlasNamed after the Greek mythological figure. is a European four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. It was designed by Airbus Military (now Airbus Defence and Space) as a tactical airlifter with strategic capab ...
, and Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather Stealth aircraft, stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both Air superiority fighter, air superiority and attack ...
, in addition to numerous other aircraft. During early 2011, it was announced that GKN and EADS would cooperate on developing radical additive layer manufacturing
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer ...
technology for aerospace purposes. That same year, the Honda Aircraft Company
Honda Aircraft Company is an aircraft manufacturer headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, responsible for the production of the HondaJet family of aircraft. Originally a secret research project within Honda R&D, Honda Aircraft Company was ...
picked GKN to produce the whole composite fuselage of its Honda HA-420 HondaJet at the latter's facility in Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County
, LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham
, area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...
. In late 2012, it opened a new composite manufacturing facility in Mexicali
Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California. The city, seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali metropolitan area is home to 1,000,0 ...
, Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. During the same year, GKN was contracted to provide fuselage components for the Bell 525 Relentless
The Bell 525 Relentless is an American super-medium-lift helicopter, under development by Bell Textron. The Bell 525 was unveiled at the 2012 Heli-Expo in Dallas, Texas in February 2012. The helicopter first flew on 1 July 2015. It is designed ...
helicopter.
During January 2018, Melrose Industries
Melrose Industries plc is a British manufacturing company based in London. It specialises in buying, investing in, and divesting engineering companies. Its shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange as a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Me ...
announced plans to purchase GKN and its restructuring thereafter; that same month, GKN's management rejected the initial bid made. In March 2018, Melrose submitted a revised £8.1 billion bid for the company; this bid was controversial and was subject to criticism, being branded by some press agencies as a hostile takeover. Melrose's offer received shareholder support and was accepted. Following a formal review of the purchase, including of various objections put forward by GKN workers and trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
s, the UK Government allowed the transaction to proceed in April 2018; Melrose agreed to comply with several national security measures.
Since the takeover by Melrose plc, the GKN legacy group of businesses were decentralised in a move toward maximizing profitable sales in favor of focusing on pure growth of sales numbers. GKN has now been restructured into three core divisions: GKN Aerospace, GKN Automotive and GKN Powder Metallurgy.
Operations
The company is organised as follows:[
*GKN AerospaceGKN Aerospace capabilities and products]
. Gknaerospace.com. Retrieved on 17 August 2011.
**Aerostructures
**Engine Products
**Propulsion Systems
*GKN Automotive
**Driveshafts
**Freight Services
**Autostructures
**Cylinder liner
In a reciprocating engine, the cylinder is the space in which a piston travels.
The inner surface of the cylinder is formed from either a thin metallic liner (also called "sleeve") or a surface coating applied to the engine block. A piston is se ...
s, Sheepbridge Stokes
**Power Management
**PowerTrain Systems & Services
**Wheels and Structures
**Stromag
*GKN Powder Metallurgy
**Sinter Metals
**Hoeganaes
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
* James, B. Ll. (2004)
Clark, George Thomas (1809–1898)
, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'', Oxford University Press, accessed 21 August 2007
*
*
*
External links
*
GKN Powder Metallurgy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gkn
Companies based in Redditch
Manufacturing companies established in 1759
Auto parts suppliers of the United Kingdom
Gas turbine manufacturers
Aerospace companies of the United Kingdom
Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange
British brands
Engine manufacturers of the United Kingdom
British companies established in 1759
1759 establishments in England