Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Entonces, “The Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.” precursora de CBI Industries,
Inc. se estableció en 1889 mediante la fusión de dos empresas. Una de estas
compañías era una empresa de ingeniería con sede en Minneapolis dirigida
por Horace Ebenezer Horton, quien se distinguió por la construcción de
algunos de los primeros puentes metálicos en Estados Unidos (EE.UU.) sobre
el río Mississippi. El otro era “Kansas City Bridge and Iron Company”,
operado por George Wheelock y A.M. Blodgett. En los tres años anteriores a
la fusión, esta compañía construyó más de 500 estructuras en todo EE.UU.
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
1 de 26
La nueva compañía se mudó a Washington Heights, Illinois, un suburbio de
Chicago, que proporcionaba fácil transporte ferroviario a las fundiciones y
acerías de la zona. Aunque tomó varios meses reubicar la maquinaria de
Kansas City, Chicago Bridge & Iron inmediatamente comenzó a aceptar
trabajos para construir puentes.
En 1890, Chicago Bridge & Iron absorbió las operaciones de George E. King
Bridge Company, con sede en Des Moines. King era un constructor de
puentes establecido en Iowa, un mercado que Horton y sus nuevos socios no
habían podido romper. Mientras tanto, King se sintió atraído por el interés en
la fabricación de instalaciones metálicas de sus nuevos socios.
Hasta ese momento, los puentes de madera estaban a la orden del día. Pero
si bien estos eran robustos, eran susceptibles a la putrefacción y falla
estructural. La respuesta fue puentes de hierro, que pocas empresas de
fundición estaban equipadas para diseñar o fabricar. Con una demanda alta,
Chicago Bridge & Iron ganó contratos para construir varios cientos de puentes
para 1893. Otras estructuras que se contrataron para construir incluyeron las
primeras torres de agua metálicas, tuberías conexas y un Anfiteatro de
Intercambio de Caballos para los patios de Chicago.
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
2 de 26
más rentables. Si bien Horton tardó casi seis años en pagarle a King, él
emergió como el único accionista de la compañía.
Estas condiciones se hicieron más difíciles por el hecho de que todos los
productos de acero en ese momento estaban sujetos a los costos de envío
artificial de Pittsburgh, independientemente de dónde se fabricaron. Esto evitó
que Chicago Bridge & Iron compitiera efectivamente en el Este (EE.UU). En un
esfuerzo por abrir este nuevo mercado, la compañía estableció una segunda
instalación en 1911 en Greenville, Pennsylvania, en las afueras de Pittsburgh.
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
3 de 26
Horace Horton murió el 28 de julio de 1912, dejando el negocio a su esposa
y cinco hijos. El hijo mayor, George, más tarde surgió como líder de la
empresa. Sin problemas por los prejuicios anti canadienses de su padre,
George Horton fusionó rápidamente sus propias operaciones canadienses con
Chicago Bridge & Iron, estableciendo una nueva fábrica en Bridgeburg,
Ontario, cerca de las Cataratas del Niágara. Otros negocios surgieron en
Cuba, donde había demanda de melaza, agua y, más tarde, tanques de
petróleo. Poco después, se le pidió a la compañía que construyera tanques de
agua con la forma de una botella de leche, una piña y un “melocotón”.
Diversificando aún más, se pidió a Chicago Bridge & Iron que construyera
instalaciones de bombeo de agua para la Ciudad de Chicago.
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
4 de 26
Horton hizo un descubrimiento importante durante este tiempo. Al observar
cómo sus ingenieros pasaban tanto tiempo perforando agujeros de remaches
con plantillas, Horton concibió un perforador de remaches de 12 agujeros,
capaz de perforar una docena de agujeros de remaches perfectamente
colocados a la vez. Este "Espaciador de Chibridge – (Chibridge Spacer)"
acortó los cronogramas de producción, permitiendo a la empresa asegurar
más negocios. Más tarde, Horton abandonó los remaches completamente,
favoreciendo las costuras soldadas a prueba de fugas.
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
5 de 26
Iron se aplazaron o cancelaron, las ganancias cayeron en picada y los
empleados fueron despedidos.
Chicago Bridge & Iron ingresó a varios campos nuevos durante la década de
1930. Mientras la planta canadiense comenzó a construir intercambiadores de
calor y barcos con casco soldados, la derogación en 1933 de la Prohibición
condujo a contratos masivos de cervecería para las plantas estadounidenses.
Una vez más, los proyectos de obras públicas, incluidos los trabajos en
el Puente de la Bahía de San Francisco y la Autoridad del Valle de
Tennessee, proporcionaron ingresos muy necesarios. Los despidos se
revirtieron en 1934 y, al año siguiente, la compañía comenzó a contratar
nuevos empleados. El trabajo posterior incluyó la construcción de barcazas y
el trabajo en plantas nucleares y químicas.
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
6 de 26
El estallido de la guerra en diciembre de 1941 puso a Chicago Bridge &
Iron en pie de guerra. Por acuerdo con el gobierno, a la compañía se le
asignó la construcción de diques secos (dry docks) y barcos, para los
cuales compró terrenos en Morgan City, Louisiana. En enero de 1942,
Chicago Bridge & Iron tomó el control de un patio del Pacífico en Eureka,
California, y más tarde estableció instalaciones en Newburgh, Nueva York, y
Séneca, Illinois. A medida que la construcción comenzó en estos lugares,
familias enteras fueron reubicadas de otros lugares de la compañía. El empleo
se disparó de 4,000 empleados en 1941 a 20,000 al año siguiente.
A medida que la guerra se acercaba a su fin, Chicago Bridge & Iron era muy
apreciado por su excelente programa de producción y control de costos.
Después de construir 157 LSTs, George Horton les recordó a los empleados
en febrero de 1945 que la producción de guerra estaba terminando y que "un
contratista sin contratos no es mucho". Un mes después, Horton murió en
un accidente automovilístico. Los directores de la compañía, ansiosos por
evitar la desorganización ruinosa, eligieron a Horace, el hermano menor de
George Horton, presidente de la compañía, y el ingeniero de carrera Merle
Trees, presidente de la junta.
Más tarde ese año, John Wiggins anunció que estaba terminando sus
acuerdos de diseño y consultoría con Chicago Bridge & Iron Co, y que iba a
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
7 de 26
trabajar para un rival, la General American Transportation Corporation. Esto
amenazó con sacar a la compañía de su línea más rentable en tiempos de paz
precisamente en el momento equivocado. Trees lanzó un desafío a sus
ingenieros para desarrollar una tecnología mejorada de techo flotante libre de
la patente de Wiggins. Operando en un corto plazo, los ingenieros lograron
diseñar un modelo original de Horton.
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
8 de 26
fiscales para invertir en América Latina, como parte de la "Política de
buena vecindad" de la Administración Roosevelt, CB&I estableció filiales
en Venezuela y Brasil. Más tarde, la compañía decidió perseguir
agresivamente las licencias extranjeras para impulsar las ventas y proteger los
derechos de patente. Los licenciatarios se establecieron en todo el mundo,
incluidos Francia, Alemania, Japón y Australia.
También en 1954, murió Merle Trees. Fue reemplazado como presidente por
Horace B. Horton, quien fue reemplazado como presidente por E. E.
Michaels. Michaels estaba bien preparado para liderar la compañía en ese
momento. Era un diplomático corporativo experimentado, capaz de
mantener un equilibrio entre dos fuerzas de propiedad opuestas dentro de la
empresa. Sin embargo, también era un buen gerente, sin temor a afirmar sus
propias opiniones.
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
9 de 26
para las industrias de petróleo, gas, pulpa y fertilizantes. En 1957 la empresa
se involucró en proyectos de alcantarillado. En 1958, mientras la expansión
internacional continuaba, la compañía estableció una filial argentina,
Cometarsa, que no tuvo un buen desempeño y se vendió nueve años
después. Aún así, los proyectos de desalinización masiva de agua,
particularmente uno en Kuwait, se llevaron a cabo en colaboración con G. & J.
Weir Ltd. de Glasgow. A partir de su negocio aeronáutico, CB&I adquirió una
participación en Flui Dyne Engineering Corporation, con sede en
Minneapolis.
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
10 de 26
suministro de reactores nucleares en Memphis. La compañía continuó
reforzando sus rangos de ingeniería en 1967, cuando estableció un nuevo
laboratorio de investigación en Plain field, Illinois, y contó con algunos de los
mejores ingenieros del mundo.
John Horton, hijo de Horace B. Horton, quien sucedió a Josh Clarke como
presidente en 1968, renunció después de solo 11 meses en el cargo para
perseguir intereses personales. Fue reemplazado como presidente por Marvin
Mitchell, un ingeniero de carrera de CB&I. A principios de 1973, Arthur
Horton, quien había sido infligido con polio cuando era niño, murió después
de una larga enfermedad. Mitchell lo sucedió como presidente de la compañía.
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
11 de 26
Valdez. La compañía también abrió una nueva instalación en Prairieville,
Louisiana, para atender proyectos en el Golfo de México y capacitar a
soldadores submarinos.
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
12 de 26
Después de un difícil período de ajuste a mediados de la década de 1980,
causado principalmente por la reducción cíclica en el negocio de construcción
de energía, CBI entró en la década de 1990 con una organización más fuerte
y revitalizada basada en más de 100 años de proyectos exitosos. Si bien
Liquid Carbonic ayudó a aislar a CBI de los altibajos del desarrollo energético,
la compañía continuaba buscando empresas adicionales que fueran
igualmente estables.
Entonces, CBI estuvo involucrada en una serie de cambios durante las últimas
dos décadas. Fue adquirida por Praxair en 1996; Praxair mantuvo una
subsidiaria química y se separó de CBI como una compañía incorporada en
La Haya, los Países Bajos. La sede de CBI se mudó de Chicago a Houston,
Texas en 2001 y luego a La Haya, Países Bajos, cuando Texas promulgó un
impuesto de franquicia. [2]
Desde el año 2000, adquirió una serie de empresas. En 2003, compró John
Brown Hydrocarbons, cambiándolo de nombre al principio CB&I John Brown
y luego a CB&I UK Limited. [3]
Subsidiarias principales:
“Chicago Bridge & Iron Company; Corporación de Industrias Carbónicas
Líquidas (Liquid Carbonic); Statia Terminals, N.V.; Perforación y Exploración
Integradas, Inc.
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
13 de 26
CBI Industries, Inc.
Compañía publica
Incorporado: 1889 como Chicago Bridge & Iron Company
Empleados: 12,950
Ventas: $ 1.67 mil millones.
Bolsas de Valores: Nueva York
SIC: 3443 Fabricated Plate Work - Boiler Shops; 2813 gases industriales;
1629 Construcción Pesada Nec; 6719 Holding Compañias Nec” [10]
Referencias
[1] Personal de CB&I (15 de febrero de 2017). "Dónde trabajamos: oficinas
corporativas". CBI.com. Consultado el 15 de febrero de 2017.
[2] Young, David (6 March 1997). "Chicago Bridge & Iron Set For Spinoff". Chicago
Tribune. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
[3] "CB&I acquires John Brown Hydrocarbons". Businesswire. 2 June 2003.
Polson, Jim & Black, Thomas (30 July 2012).
[4] "CB&I to Buy Shaw Group for $3 Billion to Add Nuclear Unit". Bloomberg News.
Retrieved 30 July 2012 – via SFGate.com.
[5] CB&I Staff (30 July 2012). "Current Report, Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V.,
The Netherlands". Form 8-K. Washington, DC: United States Securities and Exchange
Commission. Retrieved 15 February 2017 – via secdatabase.com.
[6] Chaudhuri, Saabira (30 July 2012). "Shaw Group Agrees to CB&I's $3.04B
Takeover Bid". MarketWatch.com. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
[7] Zacks (14 February 2013). "CBI Completes Shaw Acquisition". Yahoo Finance.
Chicago, IL: Zacks Equity Research. Retrieved 15 February 2017 – via Finance.
Yahoo.com.
[8] Downey, John (January 6, 2016). "CB&I Completes Sale of Nuclear Subsidiary".
Charlotte Business Journal. Charlotte, NC: American City Business Journals.
Retrieved February 15, 2017.
[9] "McDermott and CB&I Stockholders Approve Proposed Combination". McDermott
International. 2018-05-02. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
[10] The Bridge Works: Una historia de Chicago Bridge & Iron, CBI Industries, Inc.,
Mobium Press, Chicago, 1987; “Companies to Watch”, Fortune, 5 de Noviembre de
1990; CBI Industries, Inc. Informe Anual, 1990 y 1991; Capacidad total en dióxido de
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
14 de 26
carbono, publicación Liquid Carbonic; Capacidades, Chicago Bridge and Iron
Company Publicación. — John Simley. Tomado de:
"CBI Industries, Inc. "International Directory of Company Histories. Retrieved June 14,
2019 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-
business-magazines/cbi-industries-inc
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Texto Original.-
Public Company
Incorporated: 1889 as Chicago Bridge & Iron Company
Employees: 12,950
Sales: $1.67 billion
Stock Exchanges: New York
SICs: 3443 Fabricated Plate Work—Boiler Shops; 2813 Industrial Gases; 1629
Heavy Construction Nec; 6719 Holding Companies Nec
CBI Industries, Inc. is the world’s leading manufacturer of vessels for oil, gas,
and water storage and, through its Liquid Carbonic subsidiary, the largest
producer of industrial gases. Principally involved in the energy supply and
municipal projects businesses, CBI operates in hundreds of countries
throughout the world.
The Chicago Bridge & Iron Company, forerunner to CBI Industries, was
established in 1889 through the merger of two companies. One of these
companies was a Minneapolis-based engineering concern run by Horace
Ebenezer Horton, who had distinguished himself by building some the
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
15 de 26
country’s first metallic span bridges over the Mississippi River. The other was
the Kansas City Bridge and Iron Company, operated by George Wheelock and
A.M. Blodgett. In the three years before the merger, this company built more
than 500 structures across the United States.
In 1890 Chicago Bridge & Iron absorbed the operations of the Des Moines-
based George E. King Bridge Company. King was an established bridge
builder in Iowa, a market that Horton and his new partners had been unable to
crack. Meanwhile, King was attracted to an interest in his new partners’ reliable
metal fabricating facility.
The demand for bridges at this time was extraordinary. In the decades after the
Civil War, railroads helped to establish burgeoning rural communities. As
commerce grew, demands on transportation followed. Between so many
points, there were rivers, streams and gulleys, and each route required its own
span.
Until that time, wooden bridges were the order of the day. But while these were
sturdy, they were susceptible to rot and structural failure. The answer was in
iron bridges, which few foundries were equipped to design or manufacture.
With demand high, Chicago Bridge & Iron won contracts to build several
hundred bridges by 1893. Other structures they were contracted to build
included the first metallic water towers and standpipes and a Horse Exchange
Amphitheatre for the Chicago stockyards.
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
16 de 26
economic depression that nearly closed Chicago Bridge & Iron. Then, in 1897,
a devastating fire destroyed nearly the entire operation. Faced with the
tremendous task of rebuilding, King opted to leave the corporation to
concentrate on his more profitable banking and agricultural interests. While it
took Horton nearly six years to pay King off, he did emerge as the company’s
sole shareholder.
As the Washington Heights plant was rebuilt, work under contract was
gradually brought back from other factories working under subcontract. Also,
the company’s water towers became extremely popular after Horton’s son
George Horton perfected a hemispherical tank bottom that eliminated the need
for a complex tank deck. This business helped the company weather an
extremely difficult period in which all sales offices outside of Chicago were
closed.
By the turn of the century the company was once again on its feet and taking
on its first ventures in Canada. But a covert trade dispute waged by Canadian
firms and the government convinced Horton to abandon Canada and never
again do business there. His son George, however, succeeded in winning
several important contacts on his own, purchasing the materials from his
father’s company.
The company entered 1907 on strong growth, with contracts for several
hundred water tanks, hundreds of bridges, and miscellaneous structures. Later
that year a second financial panic sent the American economy into a tailspin.
Public funds, which municipalities used to purchase water tanks and bridges,
evaporated almost overnight. Contracts were canceled and, once again,
Chicago Bridge & Iron was forced into retrenchment.
These conditions were made more difficult by the fact that all steel products at
this time were subject to artificial shipping costs from Pittsburgh, regardless of
where they were made. This prevented Chicago Bridge & Iron from competing
effectively in the East. In an effort to open this new market, the company
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
17 de 26
established a second facility in 1911 at Greenville, Pennsylvania, outside
Pittsburgh.
Horton died on July 28, 1912, leaving the business to his wife and five children.
The eldest son George later emerged as leader of the company.
Unencumbered by his father’s anti-Canadian prejudice, George Horton quickly
merged his own Canadian operations with Chicago Bridge & Iron, establishing
a new factory at Bridgeburg, Ontario, near Niagara Falls. Other business arose
in Cuba, where the demand was for molasses, water, and, later, oil tanks.
Soon afterward the company was asked to build water tanks in the shapes of a
milk bottle, a pineapple, and a “peachoid.” Diversifying further, Chicago Bridge
& Iron was asked to build water pumping facilities for the City of Chicago.
By 1914, as the war in Europe began to heat up, the belligerents began to
purchase more and more war material from American manufacturers. This
energized the American economy and drastically assisted Chicago Bridge &
Iron’s growth. Only three years later, after the United States entered the war
and many of the company’s employees left for the army, Chicago Bridge & Iron
received hundreds of war-related orders, including one to build 150 5,000-ton
barges.
At the close of the war in 1919, George Horton decided not to involve his
company in the reconstruction of Europe. Governments there, he was told,
were not as credit worthy as Central and South American governments. This
decision paid off when Chicago Bridge & Iron began taking large orders for
huge oil storage tanks, first in the United States and then in Cuba, Venezuela,
Aruba, and Mexico. Additional orders later came from the Dutch East Indies,
Malaya, India, and China. The tremendous tank business also prompted
Horton to phase out the company’s bridge building business in favor of plate
steel structures.
Horton made an important discovery during this time. Noting how his engineers
spent so much time boring rivet holes with templates, Horton conceived of a
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
18 de 26
12-hole rivet punch, capable of boring a dozen perfectly placed rivet holes at
once. This “Chibridge Spacer” shortened production schedules, enabling the
company to secure more business. Later, Horton abandoned rivets altogether,
favoring leak-proof welded seams.
In 1922 Chicago Bridge & Iron purchased the rights to a “floating roof” storage
system patented by a Bureau of Mines engineer named John H. Wiggins. The
design allowed the tank’s roof to float on the stored product, trapping the
contents within and preventing losses to leakage or evaporation. Another
major product for the oil industry, intended for natural gas storage, was the
Hortonsphere, a spherical steel vessel capable of holding gas under great
pressure.
But, surviving on a trickle of work from the oil industry—namely, in the Middle
East, the Dutch East Indies, and Italy—Chicago Bridge & Iron forged ahead
with plans to incorporate new electric arc welding technology into its products.
This new process allowed entire structures, rather than just tank bottoms and
roofs, to be welded. This greatly reduced the weight of the structures, resulting
in more efficient designs.
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
19 de 26
The company once again faced labor trouble in 1930 when new labor laws
lifted certain restrictions on union organization of workers. But when the matter
came up before unrepresented workers at Chicago Bridge & Iron, the
employees rejected outside labor representatives and established their own
independent union. Still, the company’s nomadic tank builders were left
unrepresented. Local Boilermakers unions incited battles with the company’s
“tankees,” and killed many during gun fights. The Boilermakers later agreed to
negotiations which led to the establishment of an associated union for transient
tank builders.
Chicago Bridge & Iron entered several new fields during the 1930s. While the
Canadian plant began building heat exchangers and welded ships, the repeal
in 1933 of Prohibition led to massive brewery contracts for the American
plants. Once again public works projects, including work on the San Francisco
Bay Bridge and the Tennessee Valley Authority, provided much needed
income. Layoffs were reversed in 1934 and in the following year the company
began taking on new hires. Later work included barge building and work on
chemical and infant nuclear plants.
The outbreak of war in December of 1941 put Chicago Bridge & Iron on a war
footing. By agreement with the government the company was assigned to build
drydocks and ships, for which it purchased land in Morgan City, Louisiana. In
January of 1942 Chicago Bridge & Iron took control of a Pacific yard at Eureka,
California, and later established facilities in Newburgh, New York, and Seneca,
Illinois. As construction commenced at these sights, entire families were
relocated from the company’s other locations. Employment ballooned from
4,000 employees in 1941 to 20,000 the following year.
The company’s first contract was for 40 Landing Ship Tanks, or LSTs, which
were designed to deliver heavy mobile machinery from ships to beachheads.
Construction began on LSTs immediately. In fact, ships were built as the yard
was built, and few of the employees were trained shipbuilders. Many learned
their jobs as they went. The company also built drydocks, capable of lifting
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
20 de 26
100,000-ton ships out of the water for repairs, and underground fuel storage
facilities at Pearl Harbor and, near the end of the war, in Subic Bay in the
Philippines.
As the war drew to a close, Chicago Bridge & Iron was highly regarded for its
excellent production schedule and cost control. After building 157 LSTs,
George Horton reminded employees in February of 1945 that war production
was ending and that, “a contractor without contracts does not amount to
much.” A month later, Horton was killed in a car accident. The company’s
directors, eager to prevent ruinous disorganization, elected George Horton’s
younger brother Horace president of the company, and career engineer Merle
Trees chairman of the board.
Later that year, John Wiggins announced that he was terminating his design
and consulting agreements with Chicago Bridge & Iron and going to work for a
rival, the General American Transportation Corporation. This threatened to
knock the company out of its most profitable peacetime line at precisely the
wrong moment. Trees issued a challenge to his engineers to develop an
improved floating roof technology free of Wiggins’ patent. Operating under a
short deadline, the engineers succeeded in designing an original Horton
model.
The company entered the postwar period in very solid financial condition,
holding no bank loans. Market conditions were favorable for strong growth,
owing to pent-up demand for public works and industrial projects. Chicago
Bridge & Iron received orders for a variety of its standard products—water and
oil tanks—but also was asked to construct pressure and containment vessels
for the emerging nuclear testing and power industries.
But the company faced two serious impediments to postwar business. First,
few companies could find enough skilled draftsmen to design these products.
While some talent could be hired away from competitors, the company’s
design offices still couldn’t keep up. There also was a shortage of experienced
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
21 de 26
construction engineers. And, secondly, CB&I, as it had become known, was
faced with recurrent shortages of steel, which was still being rationed in
monthly allocations. During the war, however, the Geneva steel mill that had
been established at Salt Lake City lacked a large local customer base. Seeing
it as the perfect supplier, the company immediately began construction of a full
scale fabricating plant at that sight.
Employees ran on nine-hour days and six-day work weeks. As the job backlog
lightened up, this was scaled back to eight hours and five days, avoiding
layoffs. By 1953, however, the backlog had disappeared, forcing the company
to institute layoffs and a “necessary absence” plan.
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
22 de 26
Also in 1954, Merle Trees died. He was replaced as chairman by Horace B.
Horton, who was himself replaced as president by E. E. Michaels. Michaels
was well suited to lead the company at that time. He was an experienced
corporate diplomat, capable of maintaining a balance between two opposing
ownership forces within the company. He was also, however, a good manager,
unafraid to assert his own views.
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
23 de 26
In 1963 CB&I won a contract to build major sections of the large Mangla Dam
in Pakistan. This successful project led to work on a second, the Tarbela Dam,
in 1971. In 1964 CB&I acquired three engineering companies, Rebikoff
Oceanics, Copeland Process, a specialist in industrial waste disposal, and
Walker Process, which built equipment for water and sewage plants. And, to
keep up with the growing volume of nuclear plant projects, CB&I opened a new
facility specifically for supplying nuclear reactors in Memphis. The company
continued to bolster its engineering ranks in 1967, when it set up a new
research lab at Plainfield, Illinois and staffed it with some of the best engineers
in the world.
During the 1960s, the liquified natural gas (LNG) business began to take off.
As a pioneer in engineering these projects, CB&I became the industry leader in
vessel manufacturing, both for land storage and on ships. In 1969 the
company formed a gas transportation subsidiary called American LNG. That
year CB&I also built an enormous oil storage and loading device designed to
sit on the seafloor. This project, Khazzan Dubai, was built for the Gulf
Sheikdom of Dubai, and was nominated for honors by the National Society of
Professional Engineers. Unfortunately the project’s competitors were the
Apollo space program and the Boeing 747.
The Arab oil embargo of 1973-1974 was a tremendous boon to the company.
Oil consumers, used to frequent oil deliveries, had little storage capacity for oil,
which now was available only when you could get it. With sales up 80 percent
in 1973, CB&I was again awash in a backlog of orders. The energy crisis
caused by the embargo set into motion plans to exploit huge oil reserves in
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
24 de 26
Alaska. Here, too, CB&I was asked to supply equipment and storage tanks for
the Alyeska Pipeline Company between Barrow and Valdez. The company
also opened a new facility at Prairieville, Louisiana, to service projects in the
Gulf of Mexico and train underwater welders.
But, after the embargo ended, Mitchell grew weary of the cyclical and
unpredictable nature of the energy business. He moved to diversify the
company and in 1975 purchased Virginia-based Fairmac Corporation, a real
estate developer. In 1977, however, CB&I unveiled a more economical
process of extracting carbon dioxide from LNG, called Cryex. This patented
process only helped to push CB&I further into the energy business. In 1979
CB&I took control of Circle Bar, an oil drilling company based in New Orleans.
CBI won new contracts for large petroleum projects in the North Sea and in
Abu Dhabi and, in 1983, once again tried to diversify. Its search ended in 1984
when the company purchased Liquid Carbonic, the world’s leading supplier of
carbon dioxide. Liquid Carbonic was founded in 1888 to supply carbon dioxide
gas to soda fountains and soft drink bottlers. In 1926 the company began
commercial sales of solid carbon dioxide, or “dry ice.” After World War II, Liquid
Carbonic branched into frozen food technologies and commercial sales of
oxygen, nitrogen, and argon which, unlike carbon dioxide, are extracted from
the atmosphere.
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
25 de 26
chairman and chief operating officer.
Principal Subsidiaries
Chicago Bridge & Iron Company; Liquid Carbonic Industries Corporation;
Statia Terminals, N.V.; Integrated Drilling and Exploration, Inc.
Further Reading
The Bridge Works: A History of Chicago Bridge & Iron, CBI Industries, Inc.,
Mobium Press, Chicago, 1987; “Companies to Watch,” Fortune, November 5,
1990; CBI Industries, Inc. Annual Report, 1990 and 1991; Total Capability in
Carbon Dioxide, Liquid Carbonic Publication; Capabilities, Chicago Bridge &
Iron Company Publication.
—John Simley.
Reference
"CBI Industries, Inc. "International Directory of Company Histories. Retrieved June 14, 2019 from
Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/cbi-
industries-inc
Recopilado por: Ing. Mec. Carlos Perdomo, Ccs. Adm. en fecha 18-06-2019.
26 de 26