Ball Corporation , originally
Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company, is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
company famous for producing glass
canning jarA Mason jar is a glass jar used in canning to preserve food. They were invented and patented by John L. Mason in 1858. They are also called Ball jars, after Ball Corp., a popular and early manufacturer of the jars; fruit jars because they are often used to store fruit; or generically glass...
s. Founded in 1880, it is currently headquartered in
Broomfield, ColoradoThe City and County of Broomfield is a prominent suburb and tier of the Denver metropolitan area in the State of Colorado of the United States. Broomfield has a consolidated city and county government which operates under Article XX, Sections 10-13 of the Constitution of the State of Colorado...
. The company has expanded into
avionicsAvionics means "aviation electronics". It comprises electronic systems for use on aircraft, artificial satellites and spacecraft, comprising communications, navigation and the display and management of multiple systems...
, space systems, metal beverage and food containers, aerosol containers and plastic containers.
In 1880, two
Ball brothersThe five Ball Brothers were the founders of the Ball Corporation and greatly improved the city of Muncie, Indiana through their philanthropy and business...
, Frank and Edmund, borrowed $200 from their Uncle George, to go into business selling wood-jacketed tin containers for paint, varnishes and kerosene.
Ball Corporation , originally
Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company, is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
company famous for producing glass
canning jarA Mason jar is a glass jar used in canning to preserve food. They were invented and patented by John L. Mason in 1858. They are also called Ball jars, after Ball Corp., a popular and early manufacturer of the jars; fruit jars because they are often used to store fruit; or generically glass...
s. Founded in 1880, it is currently headquartered in
Broomfield, ColoradoThe City and County of Broomfield is a prominent suburb and tier of the Denver metropolitan area in the State of Colorado of the United States. Broomfield has a consolidated city and county government which operates under Article XX, Sections 10-13 of the Constitution of the State of Colorado...
. The company has expanded into
avionicsAvionics means "aviation electronics". It comprises electronic systems for use on aircraft, artificial satellites and spacecraft, comprising communications, navigation and the display and management of multiple systems...
, space systems, metal beverage and food containers, aerosol containers and plastic containers.
Company history
In 1880, two
Ball brothersThe five Ball Brothers were the founders of the Ball Corporation and greatly improved the city of Muncie, Indiana through their philanthropy and business...
, Frank and Edmund, borrowed $200 from their Uncle George, to go into business selling wood-jacketed tin containers for paint, varnishes and kerosene. This loan enabled them to purchase the Wooden Jacket Can Company and its patents from A.W. Aldrich. The company operated in
Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, second only to New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River, Buffalo is the principal city of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area and the seat of Erie...
.
In 1884 brothers George, Lucius and William joined the company which was renamed Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company, and began making their famous Home Canning Jar. In 1887, they moved their business to
Muncie, IndianaMuncie is a city in Center Township, Delaware County in east central Indiana, best known as the home of Ball State University and the birthplace of the Ball Corporation. It is the principal city of the Muncie, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 118,769...
, to take advantage of a
natural gasNatural gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane. It is found associated with fossil fuels, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, and landfills...
boom in the Midwest, since natural gas is critical in glass jar production. The company remained there until moving to Broomfield, Colorado, in 1998.
After 92 years as a family-owned business, Ball
went publicAn initial public stock offering referred to simply as an "offering" or "flotation," is when a company issues common stock or shares to the public for the first time...
on July 13, 1972, and its stock was traded
over the counterOver-the-counter trading is to trade financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, commodities or derivatives directly between two parties...
. On December 17, 1973, the stock was admitted for trading on the
New York Stock ExchangeThe New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in lower Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by United States dollar value of its listed companies' securities...
under the symbol BLL and began trading at $26 per share.
Ball State UniversityBall State University is a state-run research university located in Muncie, Indiana, U.S. Located on the northwest side of the city, Ball State's campus spans more than 1,000 acres...
in Muncie, Indiana, is named after the Ball brothers who purchased buildings on the campus during the school's early years.
Historic milestones
- In 1909, the first Ball Blue Book was printed featuring home canning recipes and techniques.
- In 1956, Ball formed Ball Brothers Research Corporation to produce goods and services for the aerospace sector. This was converted to a wholly owned subsidiary, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in 1995.
- In 1993, Ball spun off part of its glass business to Alltrista Co.
- In 1994, Ball began manufacturing PET plastic containers. In 1996, Ball spun off its glass container business to Ball-Foster Glass Container Co. and exited the glass business.
- In 2002, Ball acquired Schmalbach-Lubeca AG, the German-based metal beverage company, and created Ball Packaging Europe.
- In 2005, Ball celebrated its 125th anniversary.
- In 2006, Ball acquired U.S. Can, Inc., the largest U.S. manufacturer of aerosol cans.
- In 2008, Ball Corporation issued its first sustainability report. The report was a co-winner for Best First Time Reporter award in 2009 in the ACCA-Ceres North American Sustainability Awards.
Environmental record
In 2008, Ball Corporation issued its
first sustainability report. The report was a co-winner for Best First Time Reporter award in 2009 in the ACCA-Ceres North American Sustainability Awards. Ball's next sustainability report is expected in mid-2010.
Ball was chosen as a member of the
FTSE4Good Index Series in 2009. FTSE4Good recognizes companies that meet globally recognized corporate responsibility standards.
Ball was listed as #111 of 500 companies in
Newsweek magazine's first annual green rankings, released in September 2009.
Researchers at the
University of Massachusetts AmherstThe University of Massachusetts is a selective research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts...
have identified Ball as the 59th-largest corporate producer of
air pollutionAir pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or damages the natural environment, into the atmosphere....
in the United States, with roughly 4.5 million pounds of toxic chemicals released annually into the air. Major pollutants indicated by the study include glycol ethers and
1,2,4-trimethylbenzene1,2,4-Trimethylbenzene is a colorless liquid with chemical formula C9H12. It is a flammable aromatic hydrocarbon with a strong odor. It occurs naturally in coal tar and petroleum...
.
External links