Tenneco

Tenneco, Inc.
Public
Traded as NYSE: TEN
Industry Auto parts
Founded 1940
Headquarters Lake Forest, Illinois
Key people
 Gregg M. Sherrill, Chairman & CEO
Hari Nair, COO
Kenneth R. Trammell, CFO
James Harrington, Senior Vice President and General Counsel
Products Ride control, emissions control, elastomers
Revenue $8 Bil (2013)
Number of employees
 26,000
Website http://www.tenneco.com/

Tenneco (formerly Tenneco Automotive and originally Tennessee Gas Transmission Company) is an American Fortune 500 company that has been publicly traded on the NYSE since November 5, 1999 under the symbol TEN. Tenneco, with headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois, United States[1] is an automotive components original equipment manufacturer and an after-market ride-control and emissions products. In 2011 it reported a revenue of $7.2 billion.

History

Tenneco, Inc.'s origin was in the Chicago Corporation, established about 1930.[2] Tennessee Gas and Transmission Company (completely separate) had been formed in 1940.[3]

Natural gas

A shortage of fuel for World War II defense industries in the Appalachian area developed when industrial production was increased. The nuclear development operations of the Manhattan Project at Oak Ridge, Tennessee consumed huge quantities of Tennessee Valley Authority electrical power that would have otherwise been available to other industrial operations. The Chicago Corporation was able to acquire a Federal Power Commission (FPC) license to operate pipelines from New England. These pipelines, once owned by the El Paso Corporation, are now split up and owned in part by Kinder-Morgan and TransCanada.

Diversification

In the 1950s, the company acquired existing oil companies, including Sterling Oil, Del-Key Petroleum, and Bay Petroleum.[4] The Tennessee division of the Chicago Corporation acquired Tennessee Gas Transmission Company in 1943 to build a natural-gas pipeline 1,265 miles (2,036 km) from Texas to West Virginia. The first line was completed in October 1944. It was followed by three additional pipelines totaling 3,840 miles (6,180 km)[3] during the next 15 years which provide gas to New York and New Jersey.[5]

In 1966, Tennessee Gas was incorporated as Tenneco, Inc.[2] Tenneco expanded into a number of business ventures as a result of diversification. Tenneco bought Houston Oil & Minerals Corporation in the late 1970s. Tenneco owned and operated a large number of gasoline service stations, but all were closed or replaced with other brands by the mid-1990s.[3]

In the 1970s, Tenneco purchased 53% of J.I. Case when they purchased its owner Kern County Land Company, the agricultural equipment manufacturer based in Racine, Wisconsin, USA.[6] In 1972, Tenneco purchased UK-based David Brown Tractors Ltd. and merged it with the J.I. Case business. In 1984, Case parent Tenneco bought selected assets of the International Harvester agriculture division and merged it with J.I. Case. All agriculture products are first labeled Case International and later Case IH. Tenneco purchased the articulated 4WD manufacturer Steiger Tractor in 1986, and merged it into Case IH.

The corporate direction was to buy failing companies, and work to develop them into market leaders. This worked well with Newport News Shipbuilding, but failed miserably with the various tractor companies, probably due in large part to the economy at the time. By 1988, the company was losing $2 million per day. After being pressured by the banks, it was decided to sell off the oil business. Tenneco Oil Exploration Company was split up and sold off to multiple buyers.

By 1994, Tenneco decided to begin getting out of the ag business and agreed to sell 35% of the now named Case Corporation.[7] In 1996, the spin-off of Case Corporation was completed. The company was acquired by Fiat in 1999 and merged with New Holland Agriculture to form CNH Global.[8]

Consolidation

Tenneco Inc. emerged from a conglomerate consisting of six unrelated businesses: shipbuilding, packaging, farm and construction equipment, gas transmission, automotive, and chemicals.[9] The automotive division was spun off from Tenneco, Inc. in 1991 along with the packaging, energy, natural gas, and shipbuilding divisions.[3] All businesses except automotive and packaging were disposed of between 1994 and 1996 (through public offerings, sales, spin-offs and mergers).[9] In 1999, Tenneco Packaging was spun off and renamed to Packaging Corporation of America (Pactiv Corporation).[9]

Since the 1960s Tenneco Automotive sold mufflers (UK: silencers) in Europe, including through the chain "Pit Stop" in Germany. The group bought a German factory in Virnheim in 1969, Swedish Starla in 1974 and French Bellanger and English Harmo Industries in 1976 and Danish Lydex in 1978. More acquisitions followed.[10]

On October 28, 2005 the name was changed from Tenneco Automotive to Tenneco.[11]

Tenneco (under the Tenneco Automotive name) sponsored CART's Detroit Grand Prix from 1999 until the race's cancellation after 2001.

Operations

Tenneco is a multi-national corporation with 89 manufacturing facilities in 26 countries located on 6 continents, with major centers of operations in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. There were 26,000 employees in 2013. The North American manufacturing facilities are located in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee, Georgia and Ohio; the corporate headquarters is located in Lake Forest, Illinois, European facilities in Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, UK, France, Spain and Portugal, with headquarters located in Belgium, Asian facilities include in India, China, Singapore and Japan, Australian Facilities are in Sydney, Morea (New Zealand) and Clovelly Park and African Facility includes South Africa's Port Elizabeth.

Tenneco owns the following brands:

These are sold to over 500 after-market customers including retailers and wholesalers and to more than 25 OEMs, including Audi, Chrysler, Daimler, Enfield, Fiat, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Honda, Navistar International, Jaguar Cars, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault, Škoda, Suzuki, Tata, Toyota, TVS, Volkswagen Group, Volvo, E-Z-GO, and CLUB CAR.

Locations

United States

Arkansas
Georgia
Indiana
Michigan
Missouri
Nebraska
Ohio
Virginia

International

Argentina
Australia
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
China
Czech Republic
Germany
Hungary
India
Mexico
Poland
Portugal
Spain
Wales

References

  1. ↑ "Facilities directory." Tenneco. Retrieved on May 14, 2010.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 TENNECO BUILDING, Diana J. Kleiner, Handbook of Texas Online (retrieved 11 August 2010)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Tenneco Inc. -- Company History, Funding Universe (retrieved 12 September 2010)
  4. ↑ Tenneco Inc.
  5. ↑ Directory of Company Histories, 1988, Encyclopedia.com (retrieved 11 September 2010)
  6. ↑ http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Tenneco-Inc-Company-History.html
  7. ↑ Jones, Kathryn (1994-04-27). "COMPANY REPORTS; Tenneco to Offer 35% of J.I. Case". The New York Times.
  8. ↑ http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/CNH-Global-NV-company-History.html
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Tenneco History, Tenneco.com (retrieved 12 September 2010)
  10. ↑ Burchardt, Jørgen (2008). Lydpotter, arbejde og ledelse. Walker Danmark. Ringe: Kulturbøger. p. 160. ISBN 87-88327-17-5.
  11. ↑ http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=113459&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=774783
  12. ↑ "Monroe Shocks and Struts". 2005. Retrieved 2008-02-06.
  13. ↑ "Walker Exhaust". 2006. Retrieved 2008-02-06.
  14. ↑ "Brands - Rancho". 2005. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  15. ↑ "Brands - DynoMax". 2005. Retrieved 2011-03-11.
  16. ↑ "Brands - Clevite Elastomers". 2005. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  17. ↑ "Gillet GmbH". 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-06.
  18. ↑ "Brands - Fonos". 2005. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  19. ↑ "Brands - Fric-Rot". 2005. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  20. ↑ "Kinetic Suspension Technology". Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  21. ↑ "Thrush". 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-06.
  22. ↑ "Brands - DNX". 2005. Retrieved 2008-02-06.
  23. ↑ "Brands - Marzocchi". 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-06.
  24. ↑ "Brands - Axios". 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  25. ↑ "Brands - Lukey". 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  26. ↑ Ad in 2007 Monroe County Community Profile

External links