Reynolds Metals
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| Private | |
| Industry | Packaging |
| Founded | 1919 in Louisville, Kentucky, United States |
| Defunct | 2000 (acquired by Alcoa) |
| Headquarters | Lincolnshire, Illinois, U.S. |
| Products | Aluminum foil |
| Website | www |
Reynolds Group Holdings is an American packaging company with roots in the former Reynolds Metals Company, which was the second-largest aluminum company in the United States, and the third-largest in the world. Reynolds Metals was acquired by Alcoa in June 2000.
Reynolds Metals became known for the consumer product Reynolds Wrap, as well as for developing and promoting new uses for aluminum. Its RV Aluminaut submarine was operated by Reynolds Submarine Services Corporation.
It was headquartered for most of its existence in Richmond, Virginia, and after 1958 in the Modernist style Reynolds Metals Company International Headquarters built there.
The Reynolds Metals Company was founded in 1919 as the U.S. Foil Company in Louisville, Kentucky by Richard S. Reynolds, Sr., nephew of tobacco king R. J. Reynolds. Initially, the new company supplied lead and tin foil wrappers to cigarette and candy companies. In 1924, U.S. Foil purchased the manufacturer of Eskimo Pies, which were wrapped in foil. In 1928, Reynolds purchased Robertshaw Thermostat, Fulton Sylphon, and part of Beechnut Foil, adding them to U.S. Foil to create Reynolds Metals. In 1931 the company headquarters was moved to New York City and in 1938 the headquarters was moved again to Richmond, Virginia.
The company began producing aluminum foil for packaging in 1926. Reynolds Metals created the first high-speed, gravure-printed foil, aluminum bottle labels, heat-sealed foil bags for foods and foil-laminated building insulation paper. In 1940 Reynolds Metals began mining bauxite (aluminum ore) in Bauxite, Arkansas and opened its first aluminum plant near Sheffield, Alabama, the following year. In 1947, the company released Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil. Reynolds Metals pioneered the development of aluminum siding in 1945, and Richard S. Reynolds began predicting a growing demand for additional aluminum during peacetime. He believed new aluminum-producing facilities would need to be built to meet demand. Reynolds Metals Company leased, and later bought, six government defense plants that were up for disposal. Reynolds later expanded into non aluminum products such as plastics and precious metals, introducing Reynolds Plastic Wrap in 1982.
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