Engineering USA history

The Nottberg Family in front of 914 Campbell St, 1929; Back Row (from left): Gustav Nottberg II, William Nottberg, Gustav Nottberg I; Front Row (from left): John Nottberg, Eugene Nottberg, Henry Nottberg, Jr., Henry Nottberg, Sr.

With strong encouragement from his mother, Jacobs stayed in school and eventually graduated from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1937 with a degree in engineering.

In 1942, he earned a doctorate in chemical engineering and took a position as senior chemical engineer at Merck & Company in Rahway, New Jersey, where he was involved in the development of vitamin processing and the manufacture of DDT and penicillin.

Strongly influenced by the Lebanese tradition of being in business for oneself, Jacobs started his own business in 1947 following a stint at Chemurgic Corporation in Richmond, California.

At first, the sales work expanded more quickly than the consulting end of the business, and by 1954 Jacobs had added four more men to handle sales while he and Stan Krugman concentrated on design consultation.

In 1956 Jacobs Engineering landed its largest contract to date.

In 1960, Jacobs Engineering won another important contract, this time from Southwest Potash for the design and construction of a potash flotation plant.

A near disaster in 1962 illustrated the qualities that enabled Jacobs Engineering to grow from a tiny local outfit to one of international importance.

As early as 1964, Jacobs Engineering had been interested in a projected potash recovery plant to be built by Jordan on the Dead Sea.

By 1970 Jacobs Engineering had grown to the point where it was advantageous to take the company public.

Sales in 1972 reached $70 million and Jacobs Engineering began to pursue international as well as domestic contracts.

Profits shrank and then disappeared in a small but steady wave of red ink, while revenues fell by an astonishing 50 percent to around $200 million in 1984.

Distressed by swollen overhead costs and managerial complacency, in 1985 Joseph Jacobs came "roaring back from retirement," as Forbes put it, to save his once gleaming creation.

Not only did the company earn $6.5 million on revenues of $26.6 million in fiscal 1992, but it also held a record backlog of $1.8 billion in contracted business.

In 1993 ten percent of Jacobs' annual revenue came from government contracts, but those contracts generated 20 percent of the company's pretax profits.

In 1994 Jacobs bought CRS Sirrine Engineers and CRSS Constructors for $38 million.

For fiscal year 1998 the company reported record revenues of $2.1 billion and record net income of $54 million.

465 - 479 https://doi.org/10.1061/40654(2003)18The Geology, History, and Foundations of the Monumental CoreDouglas W. Christiepp.