Morrison-Knudsen
| Morrison-Knudsen Corporation | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1912 |
| resolution | 1996 |
| Reason for dissolution | Bankruptcy and takeover by Washington Construction Group |
| Seat |
Boise , Idaho , United States
|
| Branch | Conglomerate |
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Morrison-Knudsen was an American conglomerate founded in 1912 by Harry Morrison and Morris Knudsen. Civil engineering represented one business area. In this area, Morrison-Knudsen was involved in the design and construction of important structures such as the Hoover Dam , the Oakland Bay Bridge , the Vehicle Assembly Building and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline . From the 1970s onwards, the company converted and repowered locomotives. Later locomotives, passenger cars and subway cars were built.
history
Company founders Harry Morrison and Morris Knudsen met in 1905 on a canal construction project in Montana. Morrison was employed there as an employee of the Bureau of Reclamation , while Knudsen carried out earthworks as a freelance contractor. The first joint project of the two involved work on a pumping station. Although this work was not profitable, it did motivate Morrison and Knudsen to undertake further joint projects. In the period that followed, the two of them worked on canals, forest roads and railways. A breakthrough was the participation in the consortium for the construction of the Hoover dam from 1931. Other large projects for the construction of barriers followed . During the Second World War, airfields and camps were increasingly being built for the US military. During the Cold War in particular, Morrison-Knudsen became an important contractor for the US armed forces and NASA.
In the 1970s and 1980s there was strong company growth, which was accompanied by an expansion of the business area. This expansion also included the entry into shipbuilding (with the takeover of the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in 1979) and the real estate business. After William Agee took over the management in 1988, he sold these loss-making divisions and expanded the existing rail vehicle business. While locomotives from other manufacturers were being converted from as early as the 1970s, Agee's own locomotives and passenger cars were designed and built after the restructuring. Agee was thus speculating on a resurgence of rail transport, especially local public transport, in the United States.
The Agees strategy resulted in heavy losses in the 1990s, mainly caused by miscalculations in the rail division Morrison-Knudsen Rail Corporation (MK Rail). William Agee was finally fired in 1995 and a year later Morrison-Knudsen slipped into bankruptcy. The Washington Group International was created in the same year through the subsequent takeover of Morrison-Knudsen by the much smaller Washington Construction Group . The takeover did not include the rail transport division, which was renamed MotivePower Industries and merged with the Westinghouse Air Brake Company to form Wabtec in 1999 .
The acquisition of the construction division of the Raytheon Group brought Washington Group International itself into serious financial difficulties in 2001 due to undiscovered liabilities of the former Raytheon subsidiary, which resulted in the bankruptcy of Washington Group International. After a reorganization, the company was sold to URS Corporation in 2007 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ mk-foundation.org: Our History , accessed March 21, 2020
- ↑ american-rails.com: Morrison-Knudsen Corporation , accessed March 21, 2020
- ^ Fundinguniverse.com: Morrison Knudsen Corporation History , accessed March 21, 2020
- ↑ archive.seattletimes.com: A New Page In Morrison Knudsen's Storied Life - Company Symbolized Restless Spirit Of Progress Of The American West , accessed March 21, 2020
- ↑ latimes.com: Morrison Knudsen Agrees to $ 400-Million Merger With Rival , accessed March 21, 2020
- ↑ Wabtec: MotivePower, Inc. (MPI) , accessed on March 21, 2020
- ↑ seattletimes.com: URS Corp. acquires Washington Group , accessed March 21, 2020