Early history
In 1869 Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich purchased the Hudson River Rubber Company, a small business in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. The following year Goodrich accepted an offer of $13,600 from the citizens of Akron, Ohio, to relocate his business there.[2]
In 1909, the company constructed a 12-story building with a facade influenced by Jacobean Revival style and Vienna Secession for its New York Headquarters, located at 1780 Broadway, New York. which is now become one of the historical landmarks.
In March 1912, the Diamond Rubber Company, founded by the owner of the Diamond Match Company, was bought out by and merged with the B.F. Goodrich Company. The Diamond brand name and product line were retained and a subsidiary Diamond Rubber Company created for the marketing and manufacturing of them.
The company helped found and start the Yokohama Rubber Company on Oct 13, 1917, in a joint venture between Yokohama Cable Manufacturing and B.F. Goodrich.[3]
B.F. Goodrich sold radios from the 1930s to the 1950s, under the brand name "Mantola". These radios were actually made by a variety of manufacturers for B.F. Goodrich.
In 1936, the company entered the Mexican market in a joint venture, Goodrich-Euzkadi (now part of Continental AG).
Goodrich ranked 67th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.[4]
The Troy, Ohio plant was purchased in 1946 from Waco. Since then, Goodrich has manufactured wheels and brakes for a variety of aircraft. Among these are commercial, military, regional, and business programs. This successful operation lies at the core of Goodrich's business. Competitors include the aerostructures divisions of companies such as Honeywell, Messier-Bugatti, Aircraft Braking Systems, (Howmet/Huck) and SNECMA. The Hood Rubber Company was sold before the Great Depression[5] as a division of the B.F. Goodrich Company.[6]
1980–1990s
By 1986, B.F. Goodrich had become an S&P 500-listed company in diverse business, including tire and rubber fabrication. B.F. Goodrich made high-performance replacement tires.[7] In August 1986, one of its biggest competitors in the tire business, Uniroyal Inc., was taken private[8] when it merged with the tire segment of the B.F. Goodrich Company, in a joint venture private partnership, to become the Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company. B.F. Goodrich Company held a 50% stake in the new tire company.[9]
The new Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company headquarters was established at the former B.F. Goodrich corporate headquarters, within its 27-building downtown complex in Akron, Ohio which contained Goodrich's original factory. In the autumn of 1987 B.F. Goodrich Company shut down several manufacturing operations at the site, and most of the complex remained vacant until February 1988, when B.F. Goodrich announced plans to sell the vacant part of the complex to the Covington Capital Corporation, a group of New York developers. The complex is now known as Canal Place.[10]
Leaving tire business
B.F. Goodrich by then exited the tire business entirely, in line with its plan to build its chemicals and aerospace businesses through reinvestment and acquisitions.[11] In 1997, it acquired Rohr, a maker of jet aircraft engine nacelles, expanding its presence in integrated aircraft components industry.[17]
In 1999, it acquired Charlotte, North Carolina–based Coltec Industries for $2.2 billion in stock and assumed debt, making the former tire maker the No. 1 supplier of landing gear and other aircraft parts.[18] Headquarters were moved to Charlotte following this merger.[19]
In 2001, the company divested its specialty chemicals business to focus on aerospace and industrial products and, to signify the completion of its transformation, it was renamed Goodrich Corporation and adopted a new logo.[20]
Fate
In September 2011, United Technologies Corporation announced a deal to buy Goodrich for $18.4 billion, paying $127.50 per share and assuming $1.9 billion in debt.[22][23]
On July 26, 2012, United Technologies Corporation purchased Goodrich. Unsold divisions of Hamilton Sundstrand and Goodrich were then merged to create UTC Aerospace Systems. Rocketdyne, Hamilton Sundstrand's industrial pumps and compressors operations, Clipper Windpower, and UTC Power (United Technologies' fuel-cell business) would be sold off to raise cash for the deal. [24]
On October 16, 2012, United Technologies Corporation secured an agreement to sell the Power Systems division of Goodrich (Twinsburg Ohio, Pitstone Green Buckinghamshire) to Safran for $400 million. The sale of this business unit was a condition that the Chinese competition regulators set in approving UTC's purchase of Goodrich. The Power Systems division had to be divested by December 16, 2012.[25] Ultimately, the sale was completed on 27 March 2013.[26]
