Guardian Industries is a privately held industrial manufacturer of

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

, automotive and building products based in Auburn Hills,

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. The company manufactures

float glass Float glass is a sheet of glass made by floating molten glass on a bed of molten metal of a low melting point, typically tin, although lead was used for the process in the past. This method gives the sheet uniform thickness and a very flat surfa ...

, fabricated glass products, fiberglass insulation and building materials for commercial, residential and automotive applications. The company employs more than 18,000 people and has present activities in

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

History

Guardian Industries was founded in 1932 as Guardian Glass Company. The company was originally established as a small windshield fabricator. In 1957, the same year Guardian filed for bankruptcy, Bill Davidson became president of Guardian. After three years in 1960, Guardian came out of bankruptcy. In 1968, the company officially changed its name to Guardian Industries Corp. and under William Davidson's leadership; they went public with the initial trade valued at $17 a share. The following year Guardian began trading on the

American Stock Exchange NYSE American, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and more recently as NYSE MKT, is an American stock exchange situated in New York City. AMEX was previously a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known ...

. In 1970, Guardian started producing

flat glass Plate glass, flat glass or sheet glass is a type of glass, initially produced in plane form, commonly used for windows, glass doors, transparent walls, and windscreens. For modern architectural and automotive applications, the flat glass is s ...

with the newly invented

float glass process Float glass is a sheet of glass made by floating molten glass on a bed of molten metal of a low melting point, typically tin, although lead was used for the process in the past. This method gives the sheet uniform thickness and a very flat surfa ...

. They opened their first production line in Carleton, Michigan and today the company counts 28 float glass lines and 13 glass fabrication plants around the world. In 1973, it began trading on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

. From on 1980, Guardian started to diversify its activities and they started the production of fiberglass insulation. The European market entry took place in 1981, when the company opened their production line in

Bascharage Bascharage (; ; ) is a town and a former commune in south-western Luxembourg. Since 2012, it is part of the commune of Käerjeng. History Bascharage with the other towns like Linger, Hautcharage, and Pétange were owned by the "Hoheit Ker ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

. Further plants came up in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. The company went back to a

privately held company A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose Stock, shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the Private equi ...

in 1985, after 17 years as a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

. In the 1990s, Guardian could note down an upswing both in the sectors construction materials and automotive products due to several takeovers and acquisitions: Automotive Moulding Company Warren, Michigan; Lab. Radio from Valencia, Spain; Builder Marts of America (BMA) and Cameron Ashley Building Products (which is now the Guardian Building Products Distribution) in 2000. In 1995, corporate headquarters moved from Novi to their present location in Auburn Hills,

. The takeover of Siegel-Robert Automotive in 2008, led to the formation of SRG Global. On February 1, 2017,

Koch Industries Koch, Inc. () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas, and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiarie ...

completed its acquisition of Guardian Industries.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Glassmaking companies of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Michigan Companies based in Oakland County, Michigan Auburn Hills, Michigan Koch Industries American brands Manufacturing companies established in 1932 1932 establishments in Michigan 2017 mergers and acquisitions