Tenneco history

The Tennessee division of the Chicago Corporation acquired Tennessee Gas Transmission Company in 1943 to build a natural-gas pipeline 1,265 miles (2,036 km) from Texas to West Virginia.

For Tenneco, a large and diversified industrial company, the sales mark a rapid and decisive march out of the oil patch as a producer, but the company will continue as a major transporter of natural gas. It is keeping its original business, the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, which was started in 1944 and whose operations stretch from the Mexican border in Texas to New Hampshire.

Tennessee Gas continued to add pipelines to its network, planning 3,840 additional miles in 1946.

Tenneco Inc.,, formerly (1947–66) Tennessee Gas And Transmission Company, diversified American industrial corporation, with major interests in natural-gas pipelines and the construction of heavy equipment.

Foster graduated from Texas A&M University in 1957 with a B.S. in petroleum engineering and B.B.A. in business administration; he joined Tenneco as a junior petroleum engineer in Oklahoma City the same year.

Symonds was promoted from president and board chairman positions in which he had served since 1958, to chief executive officer and chief policy officer, in addition to being named the company's chairperson "for life."

PCA was formed in 1959 through the merger of three established packaging companies.

For 1960 PCA had sales of $138 million.

In February 1961, a corporate restructuring occurred that placed the company's non-utility subsidiaries, principally Tennessee Gas and Bay Petroleum, under the managerial authority of Tenneco.

Nevertheless, the company pressed forward with its expansion plans, and in 1962 PCA acquired container plants in Baltimore, San Antonio, and the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

In 1963 PCA president United States Goodspeed was elected vice-chairman of the company's board of directors.

Paperboard prices stabilized somewhat in 1964, and PCA was able to gain ground, posting its best earnings in nearly a decade.

Moreover, the Tenneco division added a new line of business in June 1965 when it purchased the Packaging Corporation of America, a manufacturer of paperboard and packaging materials, with over 400,000 acres of timberland resources.

In 1966, Tennessee Gas was incorporated as Tenneco, Inc.

In 1967, the company acquired Walker, Inc., a manufacturer of universal-fit exhaust mufflers and pipes.

In September 1968, Tenneco Virginia purchased Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company for about $140 million.

Symonds died of a heart ailment on June 2, 1971.

By 1972 PCA had annual revenues of $286 million, which represented about 9 percent of Tenneco's total.

Over a period of several years, Tenneco invested nearly $100 million in the company, and, by 1973, the division had accumulated an order backlog of $1 billion.

Öhlins Racing AB was founded in 1976 in Sweden by Kenth Öhlin. Öhlins started making gas shock absorbers for motorcycles and rapidly became a reference within the motorcycle racing circuit.

Tenneco started to purchase insurance companies in 1978, including Philadelphia Life and Southwestern Life Insurance.

Despite such problems, however, Tenneco officials recognized the subsidiary's potential, particularly after Navy Secretary John Lehman declared his intention to establish a 600-ship navy in 1981.

Management thwarted efforts by shareholders to split and sell the firm's several divisions in 1982.

In 1983 PCA acquired much of Diamond International Corporation's molded fiber products operation.

1984: Ekco Products Inc. is purchased.

The farm machinery operations of Navistar were purchased and folded into the Case division in 1985.

In 1986 the company acquired EZPor Corporation, a company specializing in convenience cookware and disposable baking pans for the retail market.

In 1987 PCA acquired Kaiser Packaging, the foodservice foil and foil container operation of Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation.

In 1988 Tenneco sold off its considerable petroleum- and natural-gas-producing properties in order to concentrate on its diversified industrial operations.

In 1989 PCA acquired Carenes, SA, a Spanish molded fiber operation, and Dahlonega Equipment and Supply Company, an East Coast supplier of egg, produce, and seafood packaging.

Among the company's 1990 additions were Polbeth Packaging Limited, a Scottish foodservice thermoformed container firm, and Alupak, A.G., a Swiss company whose products included sterilizable smoothwall aluminum containers.

In 1991 PCA made its largest acquisition to date, assuming the operation of 19 corrugated container plants and two containerboard mills and acquiring the cutting rights to about 650,000 acres of timberland from Georgia-Pacific.

In 1992 the company launched a joint venture in partnership with a Hungarian state-owned packaging company.

In January 1993, Walsh announced that he had been diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer.

In February 1994, Walsh yielded Tenneco's presidency and chief executive officership to Mead and accepted the post of chairman.

To bolster its lucrative plastic packaging and consumer products operations, Tenneco paid $1.27 billion for the plastics division of Mobil Chemical Co. in 1995.

These pipelines were acquired by El Paso Corporation in 1996, and are now owned by Kinder Morgan.

The deal also marked the rebirth of the PCA name, which was adopted for the new company, and the return of Paul Stecko, who was named PCA's chairman and CEO. Stecko had been named chief operating officer of Tenneco Inc. in 1997, and then president the following year.

The new company continued to grow and evolve through the 20th century and in 1998, acquired the Automotive Products division of Cooper Industries, with brands including Anco wiper blades, Champion ignition, MOOG chassis, and Wagner and Blazer lighting.

During 1999, the containerboard and corrugated packaging business was sold to Madison Dearborn Partners Inc. under the PCA name.

During 2000, PCA went public on the New York Stock Exchange.

According to a March 2001 PR Newswire release, "Tenneco Automotive's long-term strategy is to expand its global capabilities through niche acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic alliances.

To achieved additional savings, Tenneco Automotive launched cost cutting efforts in early 2002 that included trimming 4 percent of its North American and European work force and shutting down eight plants.

In 2003, Tenneco and Öhlins jointly launched the first CES shock absorbers as standard equipment on the Volvo S60R performance car.

On October 28, 2005 Tenneco Automotive was renamed as Tenneco.

Hurricane Ike, though responsible for far fewer deaths, caused similar damage to Houston shortly after making landfall in nearby Galveston in September 2008.

On October 1, 2018, Tenneco Inc. completed its acquisition of Federal-Mogul, a leading global supplier to original equipment manufacturers and the aftermarket.

Tenneco acquired Öhlins Racing in January 2019.

2020-12-1 PCA Tomahawk Named an Educator of the Year by TEAPIE