Guardian Industries

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Guardian Industries[1]
Type Private, Holding Company
Industry Glass, Auto Parts, Fiberglass & Building Products
Founded 1932[2]
Headquarters Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA
Products flat glass, automotive glass, building products
Revenue Increase$5.33 Billion USD (2006)
Net income Nowt
Owner(s) William Davidson[3]
Employees 19,000 (2012)- 21 countries, 5 continents
Website www.guardian.com

Guardian Industries is a privately held industrial manufacturer of glass, automotive and building products based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is one of the world leaders for float glass, fabricated glass products, fiberglass insulation and building materials for commercial, residential and automotive markets.[4] The company employs over 19,000 people all over the world and has present activities in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.[5]

Contents

[edit] History

Guardian Industries was founded in 1932 as Guardian Glass Company. This world leader in glass, automotive and building products got its start as a small windshield fabricator. In 1957, the same year Guardian filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, William Davidson[6] became president of Guardian, 10 years after he graduated from the University of Michigan in 1947. 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.

In 1970, Guardian faced the most important development within its history: they started producing flat glass with the newly invented float glass process. Therefore, 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.[7] 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, Luxembourg. Further plants came up in Germany, Spain, England, Hungary and Poland. The company went back to a privately held company in 1985 after 17 years as a public company.

In the 90’s, 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.[8] In 1995, corporate headquarters moved from Novi to their present location in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Furthermore, Guardian strengthens its effort in the field of research and development by opening a new science & technology centre in Carleton, Michigan. Due to that, the products of their commercial and residential lines, solar-and electronic devices as well as automotive products can be improved and extended. The takeover of Siegel-Robert Automotive in 2008 led to the formation of SRG Global , one of the world’s largest suppliers of advanced, high value coatings on plastics.

[edit] Business divisions

Guardian’s activities can be divided into three main sections:

(I) Glass products: Those are the registered trademarks belonging to the float glass section:

  • ClimaGuard: thermal insulating glazing[9]
  • SunGuard: solar protection glazing[10]
  • InGlass: Advanced interior glazing bringing together Guardian's entire interior product line:[11]
Satindeco: acid-etched glass
DecoCristal: float glass painted on one side with a colored organc paint
ShowerGuard: a special glass for showers which has a carbon-like coating on its surface which results in a smooth surface. The glass stays clean and neither hard water nor soap leave residuals.[12]
DiamondGuard: the glass has a permanent protective coating which provides scratch resistance.
  • LamiGlass: their range of laminated glass
  • UltraMirror: their mirror-range
  • EcoGuard: low-iron glass for solar energy systems [13]

(II) Automotive products : Guardian serves the automotive market with Automotive Glass[14] and SRG Global,a Guardian company and Tier 1 supplier of grilles and exterior/interior trim.[15] SRG Global is one of the world's largest manufacturers of chrome plated plastic parts, used by virtually every car manufacturer in the world. Guardian also supplies windshields and replacement glass for cars and RVs through its Automotive Aftermarket.[16]

(III) Building products : Guardian Building Products (GBP) is one of the largest manufacturers of fiberglass insulation and is among the largest building material distribution networks in North America. It has a growing presence in the global building materials industry, too. GBP claims to have more than 30,000 customers in the residential and light commercial construction industries.[17]

Those are the present (2012) leader persons:

  • David Jaffe, Vice-President Guardian Industries
  • Scott Thomsem, President Glass Group
  • Stevenv Ziessler, President Guardian Building Products
  • Kevin Baird, President and CEO SRG Global
  • Mike Morrison, President Guardian Automotive

[edit] Current Activities

2011, Guardian ranks on #62 on the Forbes list of America’s largest private companies.[18]

This organization remains one of the world’s largest manufacturers of float glass and fabricated glass products. In addition to those product lines, Guardian Industries also manufacturers and supplies the automotive industry with a range of exterior products. With more than 100 distribution centers in the United States and Canada, Guardian Industries employs 19,000 people that operate facilities in North America, Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Guardian Industries, which has had a presence in Luxembourg since 1981, owns a specialty glass coatings manufacturing plant in Bascharage, Luxembourg which opened in 2004, the largest of its kind in the world. In addition, Guardian is also the third largest industrial employer in Luxembourg, running an automotive glass manufacturing plant, a research and development center, and two float glass complexes.[19]

[edit] Major Competitors

Guardian's main competitors in fields of flat glass and construction materials are:

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Yahoo! Finance - Guardian Industries Profile". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved 2008-08-24. 
  2. ^ "Guardian History". Guardian website. Retrieved 2008-08-24. 
  3. ^ "The William Davidson Institute – About Our Founder". William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan. Archived from the original on 2008-05-14. Retrieved 2008-08-27. 
  4. ^ http://www.guardian.com/AboutGuardian/index.htm
  5. ^ http://www.guardian.com/AboutGuardian/Locations/index.htm
  6. ^ "The Daily Oakland Press" (PDF). The Daily Oakland Press. Retrieved 2008-08-24. 
  7. ^ http://www.guardian.com/AboutGuardian/History/index.htm
  8. ^ http://www.guardian.com/AboutGuardian/History/Timeline/index.htm
  9. ^ http://www.climaguardglass.com/ProductSolutions/index.htm
  10. ^ http://www.eu.en.sunguardglass.com/SunguardProducts/index.htm
  11. ^ http://www.eu.en.guardianinglass.com/Products/index.htm
  12. ^ http://www.eu.en.showerguardglass.com/Products/index.htm
  13. ^ http://www.guardian.com/GuardianGlass/
  14. ^ http://www.guardian.com/GuardianAutomotive/AutomotiveGlass/index.htm
  15. ^ http://www.guardian.com/GuardianAutomotive/SRGGlobal/index.htm
  16. ^ http://www.guardian.com/GuardianAutomotive/AutomotiveAftermarket/index.htm
  17. ^ http://www.guardian.com/GuardianBuildingProducts/
  18. ^ "#62 Guardian Industries". Forbes. 2011-11-16. 
  19. ^ "Guardian Luxembourg Gov. presence and awards" (PDF). Luxembourg Gov. Retrieved 2008-09-25. 

[edit] Guardian Website

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