Purolator Air Filtration history

While the original Purolator filtered oil through twill-weave cloth, in 1946, Purolator introduced a pleated paper oil filter - a technology still being used today.

The Bendix Corporation spun off Facet Enterprises, Inc. as an independent company in 1976.

By 1985, Facet was recording net income of $2.5 million on sales of $171 million.

The genesis of a new company named Purolator Products occurred in 1987 when Facet Enterprises purchased the filter manufacturing end of Purolator, Inc. for $67 million.

By 1989, the newly named Purolator Products Company was recording a net loss of $7 million.

In 1990, the new company, Facet-Servodyne, Inc., officially changed its name to Purolator Products, Inc. in an effort to capitalize on the superior brand recognition of the Purolator name.

After recording a net loss of about $50 million in 1991, Purolator Products had a net income of approximately $13 million the following year.

The company's new-found independence was short lived, however, as in 1994 Mark IV Industries, Inc. acquired Purolator Products Company for $260 million.

In 1997, Mark IV undertook a major reorganization which saw the original Purolator Products broken up into a variety of operating units.

Profits dipped in 1998, as did the company's stock price, forcing management to engineer a restructuring program.