type private industry packaging founded 1919 in louisville kentucky united states defunct 2000 acquired by alcoa headquarters lincolnshire illinois u.s. products aluminum foil website www.reynoldsgroupholdings.com reynolds group holdings is an american packaging company with roots in the former reynolds metals company which was the second largest aluminum company in the united states and the third largest in the world . reynolds metals was acquired by alcoa in june 2000 . reynolds metals became known for the consumer product reynolds wrap as well as for developing and promoting new uses for aluminum . its rv aluminaut submarine was operated by reynolds submarine services corporation . 1 it was headquartered for most of its existence in richmond virginia and after 1958 in the modernist style reynolds metals company international headquarters built there . contents 1 history 2 headquarters 3 consumer products 4 references 5 external links history edit the reynolds metals company was founded in 1919 as the u.s. foil company in louisville kentucky by richard s. reynolds sr. nephew of tobacco king r. j. reynolds . initially the new company supplied lead and tin foil wrappers to cigarette and candy companies . in 1924 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 . 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 bauxite arkansas and opened its first aluminum plant near sheffield alabama the following year . in 1947 the company released reynolds wrap aluminum foil . reynolds metals pioneered the development of aluminum siding in 1945 and richard s. reynolds began predicting a growing demand for additional aluminum during peacetime . he believed 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 . four sons of founder richard s. reynolds william gray reynolds richard s. reynolds jr. david p. reynolds and j. louis reynolds were all part of the running of the business . richard s. reynolds jr. succeeded his father as president in 1948 and under his leadership the company underwent a major expansion with operations extended to countries around the world such as venezuela and the philippines . in 1976 david p. reynolds also known for his involvement in thoroughbred horse racing took over as president . he was the last member of his family to head the company and would retire as chairman . reynolds metals developed other less well known products . not all became commercially viable such as an aluminum bus developed with rohr industries and other aluminum motor vehicles . the aluminum vehicles were surpassed in weight and cost by steel plastics and fiberglass . however when reynolds metals developed the world s first aluminum submarine the aluminaut the experimental product participated in a key rescue . 2 in 1969 aluminaut rescued alvin dsv 2 . aluminaut s assistance enabled woods hole oceanographic institution to continue operating its submersible . alvin s work continues 45 years later . 3 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 . on january 21 2008 alcoa sold its consumer unit to rank group ltd. rank s owner new zealand billionaire graeme hart renamed alcoa s former unit the reynolds packaging group . hart merged his other packaging companies into reynolds to create reynolds group holdings . 4 in an initiative led by paul d. thomas reynolds packaging group chief executive officer and a former alcoa executive on september 21 2008 reynolds announced that one of the foil plants that produced reynolds wrap in downtown richmond virginia would be closed and foil operations moved to louisville kentucky where reynolds wrap first was produced . a small portion of the spooling operation from the richmond foil plant was moved to the reynolds plant in grove city pennsylvania in early 2010 . hart later closed five other plants within reynolds . as a reflection of the recessionary times salaries were frozen and salaried employees were not given pay raises . union employees with fixed compensation contracts did receive incentive compensation . in early 2010 all pay was unfrozen . salaried employees have since received pay adjustments . citation needed headquarters edit the former reynolds metals company international headquarters building is in henrico county near richmond virginia . built in 1958 is a modernist building designed by the architect gordon bunshaft of skidmore owings & merrill . during its use by reynolds the executive office building was known as reynolds exo . it was named to the national register of historic places one of the rare mid 20th century buildings on the list . 5 6 making extensive use of aluminum down to threads in the carpeting it is now owned by the university of richmond and serves as the worldwide headquarters of altria group . consumer products edit reynolds wrap was first made by a reynolds metals company division reynolds packaging a business created to supply aluminum foil for packaging tobacco . 7 when alcoa purchased reynolds metals it shed some non metals packaging and printing businesses but 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 was a leader in household baking and cooking products which included cut rite wax paper . references edit historic naval ships association . historic naval ships association . research vessel to explore deep . the new york times . august 30 1964 . retrieved january 12 2016 . history of alvin . woods hole oceanographic institution . december 2014 . retrieved january 13 2016 . alcoa news news releases alcoa completes sale of packaging and consumer businesses to new zealand s rank group . alcoa.com . retrieved 2016 05 21 . national register of historic places reynolds metals company international headquarters pdf . dhr.virginia.gov . retrieved 2016 05 21 . national register properties in henrico county va properties are generally eligible for inclusion 50 years after construction . 1 dead link external links edit official website reynolds kitchens website referenceforbusiness.com history of the reynolds metals company v t e alcoa related companies alcoa power generating inc. alcoa tenn federal credit union alcoa world alumina and chemicals halco mining howmet castings kawneer reynolds group holdings people charles martin hall klaus kleinfeld related articles alcoa tennessee lever house alcoa corporate headquarters united states v. alcoa retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title reynolds group holdings & oldid 726038906 categories aluminium companies of the united statescompanies based in richmond virginiamanufacturing companies established in 1919non renewable resource companies established in 1919companies disestablished in 2000florence muscle shoals metropolitan areahistory of louisville kentuckyreynolds family1919 establishments in kentuckydefunct 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