Acuity Brands history

He opened several locations throughout the south, changing the name to the Southern Linen Service Corporation in 1920.

The company went public in 1928 as National Linen Service Corporation and continued to grow, eventually expanding to markets in the southwest and west coast.

Originally begun in 1946 Lithonia had been involved in both incandescent and fluorescent lighting fixtures, selling to residential, commercial, and industrial customers.

The son of a professor at Iowa State University, Balloun received a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering at the school in 1960, followed by a three-year stint in the United States Navy Civil Engineering Corps.

National Linen's first acquisition outside of its industry was Zep Manufacturing Company, an Atlanta janitorial supplies company purchased in 1962.

To better reflect its new variety of business units, National Linen became National Service Industries (NSI) in 1964.

Zaban stayed on to run the business for Weinstein, and in 1966 he became president of the parent company.

Another piece of what would become Acuity Brands was added in 1969 with the acquisition of Georgia lighting fixture manufacturer Lithonia Lighting, Inc., laying the foundation for a fifth division at National Service.

In 1970 National Service established another division, commercial printing.

He then went to work for a top consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, Inc., becoming a director in 1976.

In 1992 Graham Group, the second largest specialty chemicals company in Europe, and Canadian specialty chemical manufacturer Kleen Canada, Inc., were added to the chemical division.

In 1995 Infranor Canada, Inc., manufacturer of high-performance outdoor lighting products, was acquired.

Although National Service was able to grow revenues to a record $2.22 billion in fiscal 1999, the debt taken on for the acquisition of Holophane, as well as major investments in the envelope line, suppressed earnings.

Initially incorporated as L&C Spinco in June 2001, it was renamed Acuity Brands in November of the same year.

The nonresidential construction market was hit especially hard, a situation that adversely impacted the lighting group, which experienced flat sales in 2002 and a drop in operating profit.

In September 2004 Balloun retired at the age of 65.

Acuity's restructuring efforts, as well as the ongoing introduction of new products, began to show results in 2006.

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