Johns Manville

Johns Manville (JM) is a US manufacturer of insulation, commercial roofing materials and engineered products, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Its history begins in 1858, when Henry Ward Johns started a business in New York City; among his earliest products were roofing materials made by coating cloth with hot tar. The company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway since 2001.

History

In 1886 Charles B. Manville and his sons founded the Manville Covering Company in Milwaukee, a pipe-insulation business. The two firms merged in 1901 as the H.W. Johns-Manville Company, later reincorporated as Johns-Manville Corporation and listed on the New York Stock Exchange. For much of the twentieth century the company was a major producer of asbestos-containing products. Faced with large numbers of asbestos injury claims, it filed for Chapter 11 protection in 1982 and emerged in 1988 as Manville Corporation,. It took the name Johns Manville, without a hyphen, in 1997. Berkshire Hathaway acquired it in 2001.

Roofing

JM's roofing business serves the commercial low-slope market. Its range covers membrane roofing systems and roof insulation, sold through distributors to roofing contractors.

Other activities

The company also makes building insulation (fibreglass batts and other formats), mechanical insulation, and engineered glass-fibre and nonwoven products used by other manufacturers, including mats for roofing.

Ownership

As a Berkshire Hathaway company, JM does not publish separate stock-market accounts; its results are reported within its parent's manufacturing businesses. Its research and development centre is in Littleton, Colorado. JM's long history means its name also appears on many older roofs and insulation systems in North America.