public traded as nyse gbx russell 2000 component industry marine engineering railways predecessor gunderson bros. 1919 founded 1981 headquarters lake oswego oregon united states key people william a. furman president and ceo 1994 1 mark rittenbaum executive vice president 2 products ships railcars freight rolling stock revenue 2.61 billion usd 2015 number of employees 10 689 2015 website www.gbrx.com the greenbrier companies is a publicly traded transportation manufacturing corporation based in lake oswego oregon united states . greenbrier specializes in transportation services notably barge and railroad car manufacturing railroad car refurbishment and railroad car leasing management services . as of 2015 update greenbrier employs in excess of 10 689 people combined at its operations in europe mexico canada and the united states . formed in 1981 and publicly traded since 1994 the company generates revenues of usd 2.61 billion . the company has manufacturing facilities in portland oregon widnica poland and three railcar plants in mexico monclova sahagun city and tlaxcala . contents 1 history 1.1 gunderson inc. 1.2 greenbrier companies 2 products and services 2.1 marine 2.2 rail vehicles 2.3 repair refurbishment 2.4 leasing management 3 see also 4 references 4.1 sources 5 external links history edit gunderson inc. edit in 1919 chester ellsworth gunderson son of a swedish immigrant founded the wire wheel sales & service company acting as a distribution partner for the houk company pennsylvania a manufacturer of wire wheels . his brother alvin gunderson joined the company in 1923 . in 1925 the company became the wheel & rim service inc. 3 by the 1930s the company expanded in other automobile parts servicing . after an unsuccessful foray into the fertilizer distribution business the company began to manufacture trailers the equipment for which required an investment of over 12 000 . in 1937 they began manufacturing dual axle trailers suitable for on and off road use . the new design of trailers was a commercial success and in 1938 the incorporated company gunderson bros. was formed with its factory in linnton portland oregon . in 1941 the company began building ships . the company distributed installed and pioneered the use of general motors diesel engines . in 1938 the company was near bankruptcy in part due to the effects of the great depression and in part due to the gundersons own financial mismanagement . the company s main creditor took control of their accounts and began to pay their suppliers . however the company s financial position remained tenuous . 4 at the beginning of the second world war the company handled assembly work for the u.s. navy ; a 1941 a loan from the navy enabled gunderson bros. to build a shipyard . during the same period continued debts caused the federal government to take the original factory as security . gunderson also constructed lifeboats landing crafts and other vessels as well as trailers for the u.s. army . a shortage of manpower also led to the first women working in the construction sheds . 5 an unusual contract the rp flip research vessel in 1942 the company became gunderson bros. engineering corporation . 6 after world war ii the company had comprehensive facilities for large scale metal engineering as well as a slipway for launching ships at the front avenue plant and the earlier linnton plant was closed . 7 construction of marine vessels such as tugs barges trawlers and more specialised craft continued in the 1950s and 1960s and by the 1970s the company was building vessels as long as 650 ft 200 m and as wide as 100 ft 30 m . 8 other postwar business lines included metal water towers large scale metal storage tanks bridges and structural steel for buildings as well as specialised equipment such as metal slipways for the mcnary dam 1950s a dry dock for the port of portland 1963 and the vessel rp flip 1962 . 9 the company entered the freight rolling stock business in 1958 with a successful bid to construct 200 boxcar underframes for the southern pacific railroad . the business was successful and profitable and the order expanded with gunderson eventually building over 2 000 frames in the first contract . 10 in 1965 the gundersons sold their company to the fmc corporation . in 1973 the company became the marine and rail equipment division of fmc mred . 11 by 1979 over 6 000 freight wagons were produced . the following year the early 1980s recession began and orders plummeted . by 1982 only 25 railcars were built . simultaneously new developments in rail freight transport led to new products . ten car units of jacobs articulated flatcars for transportation of road semi trailers were built for the itel corporation . also in the 1980s the company developed twin stack flatcars for double stack rail transport of intermodal containers in a joint venture with greenbrier . 12 the twin stack became an important product with approximately 3 000 being produced per year in 1990 . 13 in 1985 the company was acquired by the greenbrier companies but the gunderson plant remains a successful facility . greenbrier companies edit articulated well cars with intermodal containers in 1970 the commercial metals company and m.d. friedman companies jointly formed a flatcar leasing company greenbrier leasing corporation . in 1981 commercial metals sold the company to alan james and william a. furman the leasing business became part of the greenbrier companies . 14 in 1985 the company acquired the marine and rail car division of the fmc corporation mred formerly gunderson bros. engineering and renamed it gunderson inc. 13 in the early 1990s the company s sales and profits increased dramatically due to an increase in north american railfreight . the company went public in 1994 and in 1995 acquired trentonworks another rail freight rolling stock manufacturing facility in canada . 15 in 1998 the company acquired polish freight car manufacturer wagony widnica sa and formed a joint venture with bombardier inc. in a former concarril plant in sahagun city for the manufacture of rail freight vehicles named gunderson concarril s.a. 16 in 2004 bombardier s stake in the venture was acquired . 17 18 another mexican plant gunderson gimsa s de l de cv was formed in 2006 as a joint venture with grupo industrial monclova . 19 in 2007 the trentonworks plant in nova scotia canada closed in part due to unfavorable exchange rates as well as lower operating costs in mexico . 20 21 between 2006 and 2008 the company bought several rolling stock equipment companies . 22 in 2007 ge rail services agreed to a 1.2 billion contract for building over 10 000 rail cars as a result of the general economic recession initiated by the 2000s financial crisis ge attempted to alter the terms of the contract which represented 84 percent of greenbrier s order book ; any reduction in the order volume was expected to cause job and revenue losses in addition to those already caused by the recession . the situation led to members of the greenbrier board being openly critical of their client ge . on 15 december 2009 ge and greenbrier reached a modified contract agreement in which greenbrier would manufacturer up to 6000 units for ge . as terms of the contract greenbrier gained the right of first refusal to manufacture any ge railcar order placed up to december 2018 and a similar right to any vehicle refurbishment up to 2015 . greenbrier also obtained maintenance co partner agreement for ge s rail rolling stock over a five year period . the resultant contract gave greenbrier an order book of at least 4 900 units valued at 430 million plus an option for a further 2 200 vehicles . the reduced contract still represented approximately 40 percent of the north american freight car industry backlog . 23 in december 2012 carl icahn made an offer to purchase greenbrier for 20 a share representing a 5.4 percent premium to greenbrier s stock price at that time but his offer was rejected . 24 on june 4 2014 greenbrier announced a railcar repair joint venture company with watco companies llc called gbw railcar services . 25 at inception the jv operated at 38 locations in north america with 2100 employees . 25 in 2015 greenbrier acquired a 19.5 % stake in brazilian railcar manufacturer amsted maxion hortol ndia for us 15m with an option to acquire a further 40.5 % stake by late 2017 . 26 in oct 2016 the the greenbrier companies and astra rail management astra rail industries germany romania announced they intended to merge their european activities into a joint venture greenbrier astra as part of the agreement greenbrier was to pay 60million total to astra rail with the joint venture becoming 75 % owned by greenbrier . 27 products and services edit marine edit under the name gunderson marine llc the portland oregon united states plant manufactures ocean going conventional deck barges double hull tank barges railcar deck barges barges for aggregates and other heavy industrial products and ocean going dump barges . in 2014 gunderson marine received two separate orders from kirby offshore marine to build two articulated ocean going and oil chemical tank barges otherwise known as atbs . both atbs should be completed in 2016 . rail vehicles edit north america under the names gunderson llc portland oregon gunderson concarril sahagun city mexico in a former concarril plant and gunderson gimsa monclova mexico both intermodal and conventional freight cars are produced ; including boxcars center partition cars covered hopper cars double stack cars flatcars gondola cars tank cars auto racks and two proprietary automobile carriers the automax and multi max . europe under the name greenbrier europe plant in widnica poland conventional freight cars are produced . repair refurbishment edit formerly subsidiaries gunderson rail services llc and greenbrier europe provide repair refurbishment and component services for railcars in north america and europe . however as of june 4 2014 the repair division is no longer associated with greenbrier and is now a standalone joint venture with watco companies called gbw railcar services llc . leasing management edit under the name greenbrier leasing company llc third parties can lease railcars from greenbrier s 9 300 car fleet . subsidiary greenbrier management services manages a fleet of approximately 269 000 railcars predominantly owned by third parties . see also edit list of companies based in oregon references edit william a. furman . people.forbes.com . forbes . mark j. rittenbaum . people.forbes.com . forbes . e.m. lundquist et al gunderson a history of an oregon company chap . 1 & 2 e.m. lundquist et al gunderson a history of an oregon company chap . 4 e.m. lundquist et al gunderson a history of an oregon company chap . 5 6 e.m. lundquist et al gunderson a history of an oregon company chap . 7 e.m. lundquist et al gunderson a history of an oregon company chap . 9 e.m. lundquist et al gunderson a history of an oregon company chap . 10 e.m. lundquist et al gunderson a history of an oregon company chap . 10 11 e.m. lundquist et al gunderson a history of an oregon company chap . 13 e.m. lundquist et al gunderson a history of an oregon company appendix time line e.m. lundquist et al gunderson a history of an oregon company chap . 15 17 a b thomas derdak ; tina grant the greenbrier companies section gunderson inc. acquired 1985 thomas derdak ; tina grant the greenbrier companies section origins of the greenbrier companies thomas derdak ; tina grant the greenbrier companies section greenbrier goes public in 1994 about the greenbrier companies . www.gbrx.com . greenbrier companies . company timeline 1998 . retrieved 26 january 2011 . about the greenbrier companies . www.gbrx.com . greenbrier companies . company timeline 2004 . retrieved 26 january 2011 . greenbrier buys out partner in mexican venture . portland business journal