Goodrich Corporation

The Goodrich Corporation formerly the B.F. Goodrich Company, was an American aerospace manufacturing company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in Akron, Ohio in 1870 as Goodrich, Tew & Co. by Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich. The company name was changed to the "B.F. Goodrich Company" in 1880, to BFGoodrich in the 1980s, and to "Goodrich Corporation" in 2001.

In 1869 Benjamin Franklin Goodrich purchased the Hudson River Rubber Company, a small business in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. The following year Goodrich accepted an offer of $13,600 from the citizens of Akron, Ohio, to relocate his business there.

The company grew to be one of the largest tire and rubber manufacturers in the world, helped in part by the 1986 merger with Uniroyal (formerly the United States Rubber Company). This product line was sold to Michelin in 1988, and the company merged with Rohr (1997), Coltec Industries, and TRW Aeronautical Systems (formerly Lucas Aerospace) in 2002. The sale of the specialty chemicals division and subsequent change to the current name completed the transformation. In 2006, company sales were $5.8 billion dollars, of which 18%, 16% and 12% of total revenues were accounted for by the U.S. government, Airbus and Boeing, respectively.

In 1936 the company entered the Mexican market in a joint venture with Euzkadi (Now part of Continental AG) (named:Goodrich-Euzkadi). The Troy, Ohio plant was purchased in 1946 from Waco. Since then, Goodrich has manufactured wheels and brakes for a variety of aircraft. Among these are commercial, military, regional, and business programs. This successful operation lies at the core of Goodrich's business. Competitors include the aerostructures divisions of companies such as Honeywell, Messier-Bugatti, Aircraft Braking Systems, (Howmet/Huck) and SNECMA. The Hood Rubber Company was sold before the Great Depression as a division of the B.F. Goodrich Company.

Even though B.F. Goodrich is still a popular brand name of tires, the Goodrich Corporation exited the tire business in 1988. The tire business and use of the name was sold to Michelin. Before the sale to Michelin, Goodrich ran television and print ads showing an empty expanse of blue sky, to distinguish themselves from the similar-sounding Goodyear tire company. The tag line was, "See that blimp up in the sky? We're the other guys!" Sometimes someone would trick a friend to get him to look for the blimp, then tell the victim "Goodrich doesn't have a blimp!" The company was also sometimes confused with Mr. Goodwrench as the two last names were very close and especially when B.F. Goodrich tires were featured on many General Motors cars and trucks at one point.