LB Foster history

From its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, L.B. Foster Company soon expanded with the opening of a new office in New York City in 1922.

In 1926, L.B. Foster enters the steel sheet piling market and opens its Chicago sales office.

Out of it grew the Houston office which Reuben A. Foster set up in 1946.

In 1967, the company opened a bridge component fabrication facility in Bedford, Pennsylvania to service the bridge construction market.

In 1973, L.B. Foster enters into an agreement with Nippon Steel to thread and finish oilfield pipe for use in oil rigs.

He had majored in engineering and anthropology at Cornell University and the University of Pittsburgh, forgoing a future in his academic disciplines to join L.B. Foster in 1974.

1977: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. acquire L.B. Foster in a leveraged buyout.

He took charge of the company's international sales program in 1980, and several years later he was selected to head the company's Southwest region.

In 1981, KKR and its backers sold 19 percent of L.B. Foster to the public, raising $31 million from the offering.

In February 1986, Mabbs paid $302 million to Kidde, Inc. for five architectural hardware and banking equipment businesses, which immediately mired L.B. Foster in debt.

1987: Acquisitions are sold to reduce soaring debt.

Goldress resigned as chairman as well in 1990, replaced by James Wilcox.

In 1993 the federal government announced $30 billion in transportation and highway spending, giving the company 'a significant shot in the arm,' according to Foster's assessment in the March 8, 1993 issue of the Pittsburgh Business Times.

L.B. Foster executives suffered through another delay, after operating without a domestic sheet piling supplier from March 1997 forward.

In August 1998, L.B. Foster acquired the Geotechnical Division of VSL Corporation, giving the company a leading supplier of mechanically stabilized earth wall systems.

The former Geotechnical Division was sold in 2006.

L.B. Foster sells its investment in the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern (DM&E) Railroad Corporation in 2007.

In 2010, L.B. Foster acquired Portec Rail Products, Inc. a publicly traded company that provided advanced solutions to rail freight and rail passenger operators.

The Company's former Shipping Systems Division and Precise Structural Products were sold in 2012.

In 2013, L.B. Foster's Coated Products business ventured into the custom coating segment with the acquisition of Ball Winch Pipeline Services, LLC., to further serve the natural gas and oil transmission markets, as well as to break into the water market.

In 2014, L.B. Foster acquired precast manufacturer, Carr Concrete based in Parkersburg, West Virginia to add a diversified line of precast concrete products to its existing CXT precast business.

Also, in 2015, L.B. Foster acquired TEW Engineering, Ltd., of Nottingham, UK, a 100-year old application engineering group that designs, manufacturers and supports applications for rail markets and other major industries.