16 Facts About GKN

GKN Ltd is a British multinational automotive and aerospace components business headquartered in Redditch, England.

GKN Steel renamed itself GKN during 1986 to indicate its shift away from steel production.

In 1994, GKN purchased Westland Aircraft; the company later organised the latter's merger to form AgustaWestland and its sale to Italian defense firm Finmeccanica.

In 2012, GKN acquired the Swedish aerospace component specialist Volvo Aero.

GKN thrived with its new cost-effective production methods, forming alliances with the Consett Iron Company and Krupp.

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GKN were still highly reliant on the supply of good quality steel thus, in 1954, the business negotiated from the asset realisation company the repurchase of key assets from ISC, which were renamed Guest Keen Iron and Steel Co.

GKN reflected the vertical integration fashionable at the time embracing activities from coal and ore extraction, and iron and steel making to manufacturing finished goods.

Garrington, which specialised in forgings; the forgings produced at the Garrington Darlaston plant, later supplemented by a large plant at Bromsgrove, enabled GKN to become a major supplier of crankshafts, connecting rods, half-shafts and numerous smaller forged components to the UK auto-industry, which had a period of massive expansion during the interwar period and beyond.

GKN Steel was transferred to public ownership at the end of July 1967.

In 1974, GKN acquired Kirkstall Forge Engineering, a manufacturer of truck axles in Leeds.

In 1973, GKN Steel exchanged the remaining assets at Dowlais along with £30 million in cash to the nationalised British Steel Corporation, in return for the previously nationalised Brymbo Steelworks.

Around this same time period, GKN acquired larger shares of its other driveline joint ventures with Dana in Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.

In 2002, GKN acquired a significant stake in – and by 2004 took over the whole concern of – the Japanese manufacturer of differentials and driveline torque systems Tochigi Fuji Sangyo K K, based in Tochigi, Tochigi.

In July 2012, GKN agreed to acquire the Swedish aerospace components manufacturer Volvo Aero from AB Volvo for £633 million.

In October 2015, GKN acquired Dutch aerospace company Fokker Technologies through a €706 million deal.

That same year, the Honda Aircraft Company picked GKN to produce the whole composite fuselage of its Honda HA-420 HondaJet at the latter's facility in Alabama.