1759 to 1900
The origins of GKN lie in the founding of the Dowlais Ironworks in the village of Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, by Thomas Lewis and Isaac Wilkinson. John Guest was appointed manager of the works in 1767, having moved from Broseley.[6] In 1786, Guest was succeeded by his son, Thomas Guest, who formed the Dowlais Iron Company with his son-in-law William Taitt. Guest introduced many innovations and the works prospered.[7]
Under Guest's leadership, alongside his manager John Evans, and after his death in 1852 that of his wife Lady Charlotte Guest,[8] the Dowlais Ironworks gained the reputation of being "one of the World's great industrial concerns".[9] Though the Bessemer process was licensed in 1856, nine years of detailed planning and project management were needed before the first steel was produced. The company thrived with its new cost-effective production methods, forming alliances with the Consett Iron Company and Krupp.[9] By 1857, G.T. Clark and William Menelaus, his manager, had constructed the "Goat Mill", the world's most powerful rolling mill.[10]
By the mid-1860s, Clark's reforms had borne fruit in renewed profitability. Clark delegated day-to-day management to Menelaus, his trusteeship terminating in 1864 when ownership passed to Sir Ivor Guest. Clark continued to direct policy, building a new plant at the docks at Cardiff and vetoing a joint-stock company. He formally retired in 1897.[9]
1900 to 1966
On 9 July 1900, the Dowlais Iron Company and Arthur Keen's Patent Nut and Bolt Company merged to form Guest, Keen & Co. Ltd.[11]
Nettlefolds Limited, a leading manufacturer of fasteners, established in Smethwick, West Midlands in 1854, was acquired in 1902, leading to the change of name to Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds (GKN).[11][12]
In 1920 John Lysaght and Co. was acquired.[13]
Guest Keen Baldwins
Steel production remained at the core of the company, but under increasing profit margin pressure.
Guest Keen Baldwins
Steel production remained at the core of the company, but under increasing profit margin pressure. In 1930, the company combined its steel production business with that of rival Baldwins to form Guest Keen Baldwins, which now held:[14]
In 1935, the company demolished the Cardiff works to construct a new production facility on the same site, funded by an issue of debentures.[15] Due to a resultant global shortage of pig iron, in 1937, the company fired-up the single remaining blast furnace at Dowlais.[16]
During the Second World War, all of the sites were heavily bombed by Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe, and the required investment meant that all of these assets were nationalised as part of the Iron and Steel Act 1949, resultantly becoming part of the Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain.[17]
Fasteners
These mergers heralded half a century in which GKN became a major manufacturer of screws, nuts, bolts and other fasteners. The company reflected the vertical integration fashionable at the time embracing activities from coal and ore extraction, and iron and steel making to manufacturing finished goods.[19]
Crankshafts
After the First World War, it became apparent that Britain was likely to follow France and the United States in developing a large scale automotive industry. During 1919, GKN acquired another fastener manufacturer, F. W. Cotterill Ltd. Cotterill owned a subsidiary named J. W. 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.[20]
Pressed steel wheels
Another company, eventually acquired by GKN, was founded by another steel manufacturing entrepreneur, Joseph Sankey. After training as a mechanical engineer in the late 19th century, Sankey founding a company that became a major producer of tea trays. A pioneering motorist, Sankey became friends with figures such as Herbert Austin, and was also a supplier of sheet steel components to the nascent British car industry.[20] Because the wooden wheels on early cars had a tendency to disintegrate after hitting roadside kerbs,[20] Sankey developed a pioneering pressed-steel wheel.[20] Production started in 1908, with customers including Austin Motor Company and, later, William Morris.[20] In addition to Sankey's original factory at Bilston, a new plant was established near Wellington, Shropshire, which was devoted to wheel production and known as GKN Sankey.[20]
Nationalisation of steel
The postwar government nationalised the steel industry under Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain. The act of parliament of 1949 took effect in February 1951.[21]
In 1951, a new subsidiary Blade Research & Development (BRD) was formed at Aldridge, Staffordshire, to produce aero-engine turbine blades. Following a fall in demand for turbine blades in the late 1950s, the BRD factory switched to producing constant-velocity joints and driveshafts for vehicles.[22]
In 1953, Britain's steel industry was de-nationalised by a new government; this policy only lasted for 14 years before being reversed.[23]
1966 to 1991
At the end of April 1965, the recently elected Labour government published a White Paper proposing the nationalisation of 90 per cent, by output, of Britain's steel industry.[24] GKN Steel was transferred to public ownership at the end of July 1967.[25]
Driveline
Beginning a programme of diversification into the automotive field in 1966 GKN bought BRD's much larger competitor, Birfield Ltd,[26][27] which held the great bulk of the British market for CVJs, constant velocity joints, and was a company that since 1938 had incorporated both the Sheffield based Laycock Engineering later best known as a postwar overdrive manufacturer, and Hardy Spicer Limited of Birmingham, England, also a manufacturer of
Driveline
Beginning a programme of diversification into the automotive field in 1966 GKN bought BRD's much larger competitor, Birfield Ltd,[26][27] which held the great bulk of the British market for CVJs, constant velocity joints, and was a company that since 1938 had incorporated both the Sheffield based Laycock Engineering later best known as a postwar overdrive manufacturer, and Hardy Spicer Limited of Birmingham, England, also a manufacturer of constant-velocity joints.[20] Historically, such joints had few applications, even following the improved design proposed by Alfred H. Rzeppa in 1936. However, in 1959, Alec Issigonis had developed the revolutionary Mini motor car that relied on the Hardy Spicer joints for its front wheel drive technology. The massive expansion in the exploitation of front wheel drive in the 1970s and 1980s led to the acquisition of other similar businesses and a 43% share of the world market by 2002.[11]
GKN Steel
By 1968, GKN Steel had recreated its downline business, and started to build its upline business through aggressive building of a steel stockholding business. In 1972, it acquired Firth Cleveland, a hot and cold rolled strip business with a downline in sintered products, reinforcement steels, wire fasteners and garage equipment. In 1973, GKN Steel exchanged the remaining assets at Dowlais along with £30 million in cash to the nationalised British Steel Corporation,[30] in return for the previously nationalised Brymbo Steelworks.[31] After acquiring steel stockholding competitor Miles Druce and Co, by 1974, the company was in possession of a full integrated steel production and manufacturing business.[32]
By the late 1980s, in the face of extensive competition from Japanese firms in both the axle and constant velocity joint business, GKN Steel decided to start selling off its steel and fasteners businesses. By 1991, the firm had disposed of all of the assets within these two business lines. GKN Steel's withdrawal coincidence with the wider closure of multiple steelworks and heavy industries across Britain, which caused considerable social disruption in some areas at the time, thus becoming a topic of political debate.[33]
1990s
Having disposed of its steel production asset, the company renamed itself GKN in 1986. The firm focused on military vehicles, aerospace and industrial services.[35] During the 1990s, GKN completed a series of large acquisitions and industrial consolidations.[36][37] During 1994, the firm acquired the helicopter manufacturing business of Westland Aircraft.[11][38] In 1998, GKN's armoured vehicle business was sold to Alvis plc;[11] this division was subsequently incorporated into Alvis Vickers Ltd.[39]
2000s
In July 2000, GKN and Finmeccanica announced an agreement to merge their respective helicopter subsidiaries, Westland and Agusta respectively, to form AgustaWestland.[11][43] On 20 May 2004, GKN confirmed that it was holding discussions to sell its 50% shareholding in AgustaWestland to Finmeccanica.[44] The sale of this stake in exchange for £1 billion ($1.79 billion) from Finmeccanica was finalised later that year.[11][45]
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.[46]
2010s
During December 2011, GKN Aerospace Engineering services division was acquired by product engineering firm Quest Global.[50] The sale was accompanied by an agreement for QuestGlobal to provide engineering resources to GKN Aerospace; this cooperation was presented as a long-term strategy.[51]
In July 2012, GKN agreed to acquire the Swedish aerospace components manufacturer Volvo Aero from AB Volvo for £633 million (US$986 million).[52][53] The takeover was seen as presenting good opportunities for the expansion of Volvo Aero's range of engine component production range via GKN's experience in producing aerostructures.[54] In October 2015, GKN acquired Dutch aerospace company Fokker Technologies
2020s
On 9 July 2021, 422 workers of GKN's factory in Florence, Italy were notified that the factory was to be closed the next Monday. The same day, the unions organized a demonstration in front of the factory, and then occupied it. A workers' collective was formed with the objective of taking a shareholding in the business.[72][73]
In March 2023, Melrose announced that it would demerge GKN Automotive and GKN Powder Metallurgy as Dowlais Group.[74] On 29 January 2025, it was announced that American Axle had made an offer worth US$1.4 billion to acquire Dowlais.[75][76] The transaction was approved by the shareholders of American Axle on 15 July 2025 and by the shareholders of Dowlais Group on 22 July 2025.
