GAF Materials Corporation - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

GAF Materials Corporation is a company based in Wayne

Wayne, New Jersey

Wayne is a Township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, located less than from midtown Manhattan. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township had a total population of 54,069....

, New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, that has roots dating back to the late 19th century. The GAF acronym stands for General Aniline & Film. The company has historically been primarily focused on manufacturing of roofing materials for residential and commercial applications. At one time GAF was also active in manufacturing photographic film as well as cameras and projectors (both still and motion picture). Briefly in the 1970s, it was the official film of Disneyland. The company has manufacturing plants throughout the United States.

History

Founded in 1886, GAF Materials Corporation has grown to be North America's largest roofing manufacturer. Its flagship brand is the Timberline architectural shingle. In 2007, it acquired Elk Corporation, another significant roofing manufacturer. Annual sales for the two combined companies are nearly $3 billion. In addition to roofing, the company offers other building materials, such as composite decking and railing, fiber-cement siding, specialty fabrics, and metal ductwork.

The earlier history is somewhat more complex (see American IG

American IG

American IG is the name of a company, and it owes its genesis to a German business conglomerate, namely, Interessens-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG, or IG Farben for short...

and Interhandel

Interhandel

Interhandel was a Swiss conglomerate, known for its long-running disputes with the U.S. government over German ownership during World War II. Interhandel, which had both financial as well as industrial holdings was the corporate successor of I.G. Chemie, which the U.S. government had claimed was a...

).
The principal shareholder in GAF Materials Corp. on Jan. 8, 2001, became the 27th company in the United States to file for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code from liabilities relating to asbestos-exposure lawsuits.
However, GAFMC officials tout the company as the largest roofing supplier in North America, and insist that the bankruptcy of G-1 Holdings, its principal shareholder, differs significantly from those of other high-profile building products suppliers such as Owens Corning and Armstrong World Industries, which are also under siege from asbestos-related lawsuits. GAFMC, which G-l Holdings excluded from its filing, claims it currently has no asbestos liability as the result of a corporate restructuring six years ago that separated the two companies.

GAF has advocated on behalf of its agenda in Congress including financing the lobby group Coalition for Asbestos Resolution, an organization that has worked primarily to pass the asbestos legislation.

Actor Henry Fonda

Henry Fonda

Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...

served as the company's spokesman in several television commercials in the 1970s.

Products manufactured by GAF Materials Corporation

RESIDENTIAL ROOFING PRODUCTS

COMMERCIAL ROOFING PRODUCTS

External links

GAF Materials Corporation - Roofing
GAF Truslate - Slate Roofing
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0VCW/is_2_27/ai_70711788
http://www.colorantshistory.org/IGFarbenAmerica.html

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.