Reynolds Metals

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Reynolds Metals Company

Type	Defunct
Founded	1919
Headquarters	Richmond, Virginia, United States
Industry	Aluminium
Products	building products fastenings castings aluminum foil automobile parts rolled aluminum milled aluminum
Employees	30,800 (1991)

Reynolds Metals Company (RMC) was the second largest aluminum company in the United States. It was acquired by Alcoa in June of 2000. The company was a leader in pushing new uses for aluminum; its RV Aluminaut submarine was operated by Reynolds Marine Services [1].

1 History
2 Headquarters of aluminum
3 Consumer products
4 External links

[edit] History

The Reynolds Metals Company was founded in Louisville, Kentucky by Richard S. Reynolds, a nephew of tobacco king R. J. Reynolds, in 1919 as the U.S. Foil Company to supply lead and tin foil wrappers to cigarette and candy companies. In 1924, the U.S. Foil purchased the manufacturer of Eskimo Pies, which were wrapped in foil. In 1928, Reynolds purchased Robertshaw Thermostat, Fulton Sylphon, and part of Beechnut Foil, adding them to U.S. Foil to create Reynolds Metals. In 1931 the company headquarters was moved to New York City and in 1938 the headquarters was moved again to Richmond, Virginia. By 1991, Reynolds Metals employed 30,800 workers at more than 100 operations in 20 countries, including 64 plants in the United States, and had a total production capacity of more than 1 million tons of aluminum and aluminum products. The company merged with Alcoa on May 3, 2000 to become the largest aluminum company in the United States.

The company began producing aluminum foil for packaging in 1926. Reynolds Metals created the first high-speed, gravure-printed foil, aluminum bottle labels, heat-sealed foil bags for foods and foil-laminated building insulation paper. In 1940 Reynolds Metals began mining bauxite (aluminum ore) in Arkansas and opened its first aluminum plant near Sheffield, Alabama, the following year. In 1947, the company came up with its most famous creation, Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil, which sells extraordinarily well in supermarkets all over the world today and transformed food storage everywhere. Meanwhile, Reynolds Metals pioneered the development of aluminum siding in 1945, and R.S. Reynolds began predicting a growing demand for additional aluminum during peacetime. He knew it wouldn't take long before new aluminum-producing facilities would need to be built to meet demand. Reynolds Metals Company leased, and later bought, six government defense plants that were up for disposal. Reynolds later expanded into non aluminum products such as plastics and precious metals, introducing Reynolds Plastic Wrap in 1982.

[edit] Headquarters of aluminum

Reynolds' former headquarters building near Richmond, Virginia in Henrico County, is one of the finest modernist buildings by the architect Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore Owings & Merrill. During its use by Reynolds, the Executive Building was known as Reynolds EXO. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places, one of the rare late 20th century buildings on the list. Made almost entirely of aluminum, down to threads in the carpeting, it is now owned by the University of Richmond and serves as the worldwide headquarters of Philip Morris USA.

[edit] Consumer products

The company became well-known for the consumer product Reynolds Wrap. When Alcoa purchased Reynolds, it preserved the Reynolds consumer brand, as well as the Reynolds Kitchens, which are still across the street from the former Reynolds headquarters building. Alcoa's Reynolds division is a leader in household baking and cooking products; a sister product to Reynolds Wrap is Cut-Rite Wax paper.