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GKN Ltd is a British multinational automotive and aerospace components business headquartered in Redditch, 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 company's name is the initials of three early figures in its history: John Guest, Arthur Keen, and Joseph Henry Nettlefold. All three were key figures in the field of iron and steel during the Industrial Revolution. 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 to Arthur Keen and Windsor Richards of Birmingham's '' Patent Nut and Bolt Company'' 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'' 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 Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
and
privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
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; the company later organised the latter's merger to form AgustaWestland and its sale to Italian defense firm Finmeccanica. During November 1995, Dana Corporation purchased GKN's axle group; the two firms continued to operate joint ventures 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. 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 Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...
, Wales, by Thomas Lewis and Isaac Wilkinson. John Guest was appointed manager of the works in 1767, having moved from Broseley. 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, the Dowlais Ironworks gained the reputation of being "one of the World's great industrial concerns".James 2004, . Though the Bessemer process was
license A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
d 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 The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krup ...
. By 1857,
G.T. Clark Colonel George Thomas Clark (26 May 1809 – 31 January 1898) was a British surgeon and engineer. He was particularly associated with the management of the Dowlais Iron Company. He was also an antiquary and historian of Glamorgan. Biography C ...
and William Menelaus, his manager, had constructed the "Goat Mill", the world's most powerful rolling mill. By the mid-1860s, Clark's reforms had borne fruit in renewed profitability. 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 and vetoing a
joint-stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's capital stock, stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their share (finance), shares (certificates ...
. 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'' merged to form ''Guest, Keen & Co. Ltd''. '' Nettlefolds Limited'', a leading manufacturer of fasteners, established in
Smethwick Smethwick () is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider bu ...
,
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. John Lysaght and Co. was an iron and steel company established in Bristol, England, and with later operations in Wolverhampton, Newport, and Scunthorpe. The company was acquired by GKN in 1920. The founder John Lysaght (1832–1895) was bor ...
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; Blast-furnaces and steel melting shop at Margam; steel works and rolling mills at Port Talbot; blast-furnaces at
Briton Ferry Briton Ferry ( cy, Llansawel) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The Welsh name may indicate that the church, ''llan'', is protected from the wind, ''awel''. Alternatively, ''Sawel'' may be a derivative ...
; lime stone quarry at Cornelly * GKN: Dowlais Iron and Steel Works; Cardiff Iron and Steel Works; coke ovens at Cwmbran; 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 debentures. 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, all of the sites were heavily bombed by Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe, 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. 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

These mergers heralded half a century in which ''GKN'' became a major manufacturer of screws,
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 Com ...
s, bolts and other fasteners. The company reflected the vertical integration 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, it became apparent that Britain was likely to follow France 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 plant, later supplemented by a large plant at
Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about northeast of Worcester and southwest of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 (39,644 in the wider Bromsgrove/Catshill urban area). Bromsgrove is the main town in the ...
, enabled GKN to become a major supplier of
crankshaft A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating shaft containing one or more crankpins, that are driven by the pistons via the connecting ...
s, 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 In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...
and beyond.


Pressed steel wheels

Another company, eventually acquired by GKN, was founded by another steel manufacturing entrepreneur,
Joseph Sankey GKN Ltd is a British multinational automotive and aerospace components business headquartered in Redditch, England. It is a long-running business known for many decades as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. It can trace its origins back to 1759 ...
. After training as a mechanical engineer in the late 19th century, Sankey founding a company that became a major producer of tea trays. A pioneering motorist, Sankey became friends with figures such as Herbert Austin, 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 The Austin Motor Company Limited was an English manufacturer of motor vehicles, founded in 1905 by Herbert Austin in Longbridge. In 1952 it was merged with Morris Motors Limited in the new holding company British Motor Corporation (BMC) Limi ...
and, later, William Morris. In addition to Sankey's original factory at Bilston, a new plant was established near Wellington, Shropshire, 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 Daimler is a German surname. It may refer to: People * Gottlieb Daimler (1834–1900), German inventor, industrialist and namesake of a series of automobile companies * Adolf Daimler (1871–1913), engineer and son of Gottlieb Daimler * Paul Da ...
, Humber,
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 A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...
and Argyll. After
John Lysaght John Lysaght and Co. was an iron and steel company established in Bristol, England, and with later operations in Wolverhampton, Newport, and Scunthorpe. The company was acquired by GKN in 1920. The founder John Lysaght (1832–1895) was bor ...
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 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 act of parliament of 1949 took effect in February 1951. In 1951, a new subsidiary Blade Research & Development (BRD) was formed at Aldridge,
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
, 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 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 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 Overdrive may refer to: Organizations * OverDrive, Inc., a digital distributor of entertainment media ** OverDrive Media Console, a media player developed by OverDrive, Inc. * Overdrive PC, a subsidiary of Velocity Micro Technology * Overdrive ...
manufacturer, and Hardy Spicer Limited of Birmingham, England, also a manufacturer of constant-velocity joints. Historically, such joints had few applications, even following the improved design proposed by
Alfred H. Rzeppa Alfred Hans Rzeppa (January 23, 1885, Gliwice – January 1965) was an American engineer of Silesian descent working at Ford Motor Company who invented a version of constant-velocity joint Constant-velocity joints (also known as homokin ...
in 1936. However, in 1959, Alec Issigonis had developed the revolutionary Mini motor car that relied on the Hardy Spicer joints for its front wheel drive 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 Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...
-based Vandervell 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 was commissioned to develop a new corporate identity 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 busi ...
, a manufacturer of truck axles in Leeds.


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, in return for the previously nationalised Brymbo Steelworks. 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, 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 and industrial services. During the 1990s, GKN completed a series of large acquisitions and industrial consolidations. During 1994, the firm acquired the helicopter manufacturing business of Westland Aircraft. In 1998, GKN's armoured vehicle business was sold to
Alvis plc 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 ...
; 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 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, which operates as the GKN Powdered Metallurgy group. During early 1998, GKN and Italian aerospace company Finmeccanica commenced discussions on the topic of merging their helicopter operations; French aerospace conglomerate
Aérospatiale Aérospatiale (), sometimes styled Aerospatiale, was a French state-owned aerospace manufacturer that built both civilian and military aircraft, rockets and satellites. It was originally known as Société nationale industrielle 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 Agusta was an Italian helicopter manufacturer. It was based in Samarate, Northern Italy. The company was founded by Count Giovanni Agusta in 1923, who flew his first airplane in 1907. The MV Agusta motorcycle manufacturer began as an offshoot o ...
respectively, to form AgustaWestland. 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. GKN went on to acquire Monitor Aerospace Corp in Amityville, New York and Precision Machining in Wellington, Kansas in 2006, part of the Airbus plant at Filton near Bristol for £150 million in 2008 and all of Getrag'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 from AB Volvo 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 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, Airbus A350 XWB, Airbus A400M Atlas, and Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, in addition to numerous other aircraft. During early 2011, it was announced that GKN and
EADS 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: '' ...
would cooperate on developing radical additive layer manufacturing technology for aerospace purposes. That same year, the Honda Aircraft Company picked GKN to produce the whole composite fuselage of its
Honda HA-420 HondaJet The Honda HA-420 HondaJet is a light business jet produced by the Honda Aircraft Company of Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. Original concepts of the aircraft started in 1997 and were completed in 1999. It took its maiden flight on De ...
at the latter's facility in Alabama. In late 2012, it opened a new composite manufacturing facility in Mexicali, Mexico. During the same year, GKN was contracted to provide fuselage components for the Bell 525 Relentless 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 unions, 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 liners, 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'', 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