an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . january 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message certainteed corporation type subsidiary industry building materials founded 1904 headquarters malvern pennsylvania united states revenue 3 billion 2008 number of employees 6 000 2014 parent saint gobain slogan quality made certain . satisfaction guaranteed . website www.certainteed.com certainteed corporation is a north american manufacturer of building materials for both commercial and residential construction and is a wholly owned subsidiary of compagnie de saint gobain sa of france . certainteed exports building material products worldwide . contents 1 history 1.1 formation 1.2 milestones citation needed 1.3 mergers and acquisitions 2 operations 3 litigation 4 references 5 external links history edit formation edit the company was established in 1904 as the general roofing manufacturing company by george m. brown in st. louis missouri with 25 000 in start up capital . in 1917 the company restructured incorporated and changed its name to the certain teed products corporation . it began trading on the new york stock exchange in 1918 . 1 milestones citation needed edit 1912 general roofing publishes its first annual report . 1913 general roofing began manufacturing individual asphalt shingles . 1923 certainteed enters gypsum plaster business and begins manufacturing gypsum wallboard . 1923 company headquarters relocates from st. louis to new york ny . 1935 george m. brown resigns as president and ceo . 1938 celotex corporation takes control of certainteed acquiring a majority of the common stock . 1942 company headquarters relocates from new york to chicago illinois . 1944 rawson g. lizars wins proxy battle and takes control of certainteed from celotex . 1942 certainteed is awarded a national defense contract . 1948 company headquarters relocates from chicago to ardmore pa . 1951 certainteed introduces fire stop gypsum wallboard . 1952 certainteed opens its first r & d facility in paoli pa . 1955 malcolm meyer becomes president of certainteed . 1959 certainteed develops the industry s first fully automatic shingle packaging machine . 1969 certainteed begins producing solid vinyl siding . 1970 company headquarters relocates from ardmore to valley forge pa . 1973 saint gobain increases its shareholdings in certainteed to 32 % . 1976 certainteed products corporation changes its name to certainteed corporation . 1976 saint gobain becomes majority shareholder increasing its ownership to 52 % . 1979 certainteed pioneers the development of vinyl windows . 1983 saint gobain increases its ownership position in certainteed to 57 % . 1988 certainteed becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of saint gobain . 1998 certainteed enters fiber cement siding business acquiring roaring river nc facility from abt building products . 2004 certainteed celebrates its 100th anniversary . 2008 certainteed enters polyurethane spray foam in north america . mergers and acquisitions edit in 1954 certainteed acquired wm. cameron & co a major building supplies wholesaler . in 1954 western gypsum is purchased by bpb which becomes certainteed gypsum in 2006 . in 1962 certainteed acquired the pipe division of keasbey and mattison company the second largest us producer of a c pipe . in 1964 certainteed acquired the fiber glass manufacturing facilities of the pall corporation . in 1965 certainteed acquired plains plastic inc a manufacturer of pvc pipe . in 1966 gustin bacon manufacturing a manufacturer of specialty fiber glass products merges with certainteed . in 1966 the company merged with gustin bacon manufacturing corporation a producer of fiberglass products . in 1968 certainteed acquires controlling interest in modular sciences inc. in 1969 certainteed acquires bowles & eden co and the rohan company pipe distribution businesses . in 1970 certainteed acquires realtec inc and establishes builders investment group an reit . in 1986 certainteed acquires airvent inc a manufacturer of attic and ridge vents . in 1987 certainteed acquires bay mills ltd. in 1988 certainteed was acquired by compagnie de saint gobain sa march 25 1988 . 1 in 1988 certainteed acquires wolverine technologies . in 1989 certainteed acquires ludowici roof tile inc. in 1996 certainteed acquires bufftech vinyl fencing . in 1998 certainteed acquires bird roofing . in 1999 certainteed acquires unisul and gs roofing . in 2000 certainteed acquires celotex roofing . in 2000 certainteed acquires brunswick technologies inc. in 2007 certainteed acquires vytec vinyl siding . in 2009 certainteed acquires ottawa fibre expanding its insulation presence into canada . operations edit certainteed operates 65 manufacturing plants in the united states and canada . 2 its products include vinyl siding building insulation asphalt shingles gypsum wallboard fiber cement siding foundations fencing pipes pvc trim and composite decking and railing . it exports building products to more than 50 countries . certainteed has held more than 350 patents on its products in the past 30 years . in 2015 certainteed was recognized as the top brand in siding insulated siding vinyl categories roofing clay concrete synthetic tiles and roofing photovoltaic categories . 3 litigation edit historically certainteed was a major manufacturer of asbestos cement pipes for water utilities for many decades . asbestos was mixed into the cement as a binder . certainteed phased out the use of asbestos in its products around 1990 . as a result certainteed is now a major defendant in product liability lawsuits brought by persons who worked on water utility projects and their families . on april 29 2010 in a product liability case filed by a mesothelioma patient whose husband used to cut certainteed pipe for a living a los angeles superior court jury returned a verdict of 8.8 million in compensatory damages and 200 million in punitive damages against certainteed and the los angeles department of water and power . 4 the allocation of fault was 70 % to certainteed and 30 % to ladwp . on july 21 2010 the court overturned this verdict and specifically granted certainteed s post trial motions holding that the punitive damage award was unconstitutional that the amount of punitive damages could not exceed the amount of compensatory damages and that a new trial was required on all issues . 5 the case is currently on appeal . a class action suit brought by representatives of the end users against certainteed organic shingles was approved on september 1 2010 . the complaint was that the shingles were subject to early failure or did not perform as expected by warranty . some 30 years shingles only lasted 10 years . certainteed denies that the shingles were faulty but quit manufacturing that particular type in 2005 . the court s role in the settlement was to make sure there was a proper and fair settlement and did not decide in favor of either the class or certainteed . 6 throughout 2011 and 2012 many home owners that purchased certainteed fiber cement siding also called weatherboards fiber cement exterior siding filed class action lawsuits against the manufacturer due to problems with shrinking cracking and warping . references edit a b certainteed history cite error invalid ref tag ; name history defined multiple times with different content see the help page . certainteed profile 2015 builder brand use study results . builder . retrieved 19 june 2015 . kate moser jury awards 200 million in punitive damages in asbestos case the recorder 3 may 2010 . toni l. frain and joseph j. welter court overturns 208 million verdict against certainteed acc newstand 31 august 2010 . http certainteedshinglesettlement.com faq.cfm 1 5 external links edit official site certainteed building knowledge blog saint gobain certainteed belarus retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title certainteed & oldid 740366421 categories companies formerly listed on the new york stock exchangebuilding materials companies of the united statesmanufacturing companies established in 1904manufacturing companies based in pennsylvaniahidden categories pages with reference errorspages with duplicate reference namesarticles with a promotional tone from january 2013all articles with a promotional tonepages using infobox company with unsupported parametersall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from january 2013 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent 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