Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 00:20:05 GMT Server: Apache/1.2.4 Last-Modified: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 16:10:36 GMT ETag: "bd69e-14a3-344b827c" Content-Length: 5283 Accept-Ranges: bytes Connection: close Content-Type: text/html Coltec Industries: Company Profile
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Coltec Today

We're a leading manufacturer of highly engineered products for aerospace and other industrial markets. In the markets we serve, Coltec is regarded as one of the premiere manufacturing companies.

We employ approximately 8,100 and annual sales are approximately $1.2 billion. We operate facilities in eleven countries around the world, with manufacturing concentrated in the United States and Canada.

Our philosophy always has been to operate a highly decentralized company that puts real decision-making authority on the manufacturing floor. We believe that the people closest to the manufacturing process are in the best position to make critical decisions.

A Brief History

Our manufacturing tradition dates back to the 19th century when many of our operating units already were building a wide range of products, including large engines, industrial sealing products and windmills. Even then, we produced technically superior products that could command premium margins.




Industrial Sealing Product
Many of our manufacturing operations were started by entrepreneurial engineers. These entrepreneurs included Samuel Colt, who was making firearms by 1836; O.J. Garlock, who patented his first industrial sealing system in 1887; Charles Morse, who manufactured the first internal combustion engine marketed successfully in the United States in 1893; and the Holley brothers, who had developed an automobile by 1903.

Beginning in the 1950's, these manufacturing companies were acquired by the Pennsylvania Coal and Coke Corporation, a predecessor company to Coltec which originated in 1911 as a coal mining company. With manufacturing becoming the dominant business, the company name was changed in 1954 to the Penn-Texas Corporation.


The name was changed again in 1959 to the Fairbanks Whitney Corporation, following the merger with Fairbanks Morse and Co., and in 1964 to Colt Industries. At that time the strategy of achieving leading market positions, maintaining technological leadership, building close customer relationships and sustaining superior operating profits was implemented. In 1990, the name was changed to Coltec Industries, reflecting the sale of the firearms business.

In 1996, we divested the automotive operations and restructured the company to focus on opportunities for growth in the aerospace and industrial operations. At this time, we moved our corporate headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina where it has a significantly reduced cost structure and provides easier access to our operations and our customers. For more information on the restructuring, see our quarterly reports.


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