Ball Corp.

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Ball Corporation

Type	Public (NYSE: BLL)
Founded	1880
Headquarters	Broomfield, Colorado, USA
Key people	R. David Hoover, CEO
Industry	Manufacturing, Aerospace
Products	Plastic and metal containers, Packaging, Space manufacturing
Revenue	$5.7B USD (FY 2005)
Employees	15,600
Website	www.ball.com

Ball Corporation (earlier Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Co.) is an American company famous for producing glass canning jars. Founded in 1880, it is currently headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. The company has expanded into avionics, space systems, metal beverage and food containers, aerosol containers and plastic containers.

1 Company history
2 Historic milestones
3 Current major subsidiaries
4 Environmental record
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Company history

In 1880, two Ball brothers, Frank and Edmund, borrowed $200 from their Uncle George, a minister, to go into business selling wood-jacketed tin containers to hold paint, varnishes and kerosene. This loan enabled them to purchase the Wooden Jacket Can Company and its patents from A.W. Aldrich.

In 1884, three more brothers, George, Lucius and William, joined the company and it was renamed to Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company and they started making their famous Home Canning Jar. In 1887, they moved their business to Muncie, Indiana, to take advantage of a natural gas boom in the Midwest as natural gas is a critical component in the making of glass jars. There the company would stay until moving to Broomfield, Colorado, in 1998.

After 92 years as a family-owned business, Ball went public on July 13, 1972, and its stock was traded over the counter. On December 17, 1973, the stock was admitted for trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BLL and began trading at $26 per share.

Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, is named after the Ball brothers who purchased buildings on the campus during the school's early years.

[edit] Historic milestones

In 1909, the first Ball Blue Book was printed featuring home canning recipes and techniques.
In 1956, Ball formed Ball Brothers Research Corporation to produce goods and services for the aerospace sector. This was converted to a wholly owned subsidiary, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in 1995.
In 1993, Ball spun off part of its glass business to Alltrista Co.
In 1994, Ball began manufacturing PET plastic containers. In 1996, Ball spun off its glass container business to Ball-Foster Glass Container Co. and exited the glass business.
In 2002, Ball acquired Schmalbach-Lubeca AG, the German-based metal beverage company, and created Ball Packaging Europe.
In 2005, Ball celebrated their 125th anniversary.
In 2006, Ball acquired US can, the largest US manufacturer of aerosol cans.

On October 24, 2007 Ball Corporation announced it would be shutting down two aerosol container manufacturing plants in Tallapoosa, Georgia and Commerce, California. The plant closure would eliminate over 300 jobs and save the company $15 million.

[edit] Current major subsidiaries

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
Ball Packaging Europe

[edit] Environmental record

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified Ball as the 59th-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, with roughly 4.5 million pounds of toxic chemicals released annually into the air.^[1] Major pollutants indicated by the study include glycol ethers and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene. ^[2]