Armstrong World Industries, Inc. is a Pennsylvania corporation incorporated in 1891. It is an international designer and manufacturer of wall and ceiling building materials. Based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, AWI has a global manufacturing network of 26 facilities, including nine plants dedicated to its WAVE joint venture. In 2011, Armstrong's net sales were $2.86 billion, with operating income of $239.2 million.
Armstrong World Industries, Inc. emerged from Chapter 11 reorganization on October 2, 2006. Its stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange October 18, 2006, under the ticker symbol AWI. The Armstrong World Industries, Inc. Asbestos Personal Injury Settlement Trust, holds approximately 66% of AWI's outstanding common shares. Armstrong's “Fourth Amended Plan of Reorganization, as Modified,” dated February 21, 2006, and confirmed by U.S. District Court Judge Eduardo Robreno in August 2006, become effective Oct. 2, 2006. The Plan includes a comprehensive settlement resolving AWI's asbestos liability by establishing and funding a trust to compensate all current and future asbestos personal injury claimants. The company had filed for reorganization December 6, 2000, with the federal bankruptcy court in Delaware for reorganization under Chapter 11 because pending asbestos injury claims appeared to exceed the value of the company, and were growing.
“In addition to resolving AWI’s asbestos liability, we used the time in Chapter 11 to restructure our flooring business to make it more competitive,” AWI CEO Michael D. Lockhart said. “We made substantial improvements in our cost structure by closing several plants and streamlining our workforce in the U.S. We have also expanded capacity to manufacture wood flooring, broadened our product lines and improved product quality and customer service.”
On March 27, 2007, Armstrong World Industries, Inc. and NPM Capital N.V. entered into an agreement to sell Tapijtfabriek H. Desseaux N.V. and its subsidiaries, the principal operating companies in Armstrong's European Textile and Sports Flooring business segment, to NPM Capital N.V. The sale was finalized in April 2007.
On February 15, 2007, Armstrong World Industries, Inc. announced that it was initiating a review of its strategic alternatives.
History
In 1860, Thomas M. Armstrong, the son of Scottish-Irish immigrants from Derry, joined with John D. Glass to open a one-room shop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, carving bottle stoppers from cork by hand. Their first deliveries were made in a wheelbarrow. Armstrong was a business pioneer in some respects; he branded each cork he shipped as early as 1864, and soon was putting a written guarantee in each burlap bag of corks he shipped from his big, new factory. The company grew to be the largest cork supplier in the world by the 1890s. The company incorporated in 1891.
Cork began being displaced by other closures, but the company introduced insulating corkboard and brick. In 1906, two years before he died, Thomas Armstrong concluded that the solid foundation of the future was covered with linoleum, and construction began on a new factory in a cornfield at the edge of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1909, Armstrong linoleum was first offered to the trade.
After corkboard, the logical move was to fiberboard, and then to ceiling board. Cork tile and linoleum led to vinyl flooring, then ceramic tile, laminate flooring, and carpeting.
In 1917, Armstrong Cork signed with the Batton Company advertising agency, a relationship that continues to this day through their corporate descendants.
In 1998, Armstrong acquired Triangle Pacific Corp., a leading manufacturer of hardwood flooring and kitchen/bathroom cabinets.
In 2009, Armstrong's annual net sales total was US$2.8 billion.
Armstrong Cabinets is no longer owned by Armstrong World Industries. The business was sold to American Industrial Partners on October 31, 2012.
In 2016, Armstrong spun off the flooring business into a new company, Armstrong Flooring, NYSE: AFI.
Armstrong Manor
The Armstrong Manor was originally purchased by Armstrong World Industries for use as a central location to house the company's young sales trainees. The home was later used in other capacities, such as meeting space and temporary housing for visiting employees. Armstrong owned the property from May 1920 to December 2011. The property is located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.