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Mr. Remi Gits established Gits Brothers Manufacturing Co. in Chicago, Illinois in 1910.
The original location was 1846 – 1862 South Kilbourn Ave, Chicago.
The first products for Gits were lubricating devices and oil cups, and in early advertising they claimed to be the "Original Designers of the Practical Spring Hinge Cup". Early uses for Gits products included "Automobiles and All Kinds of Industrial Machinery." Automobile chassis oilers were a major contributor to the success of Gits into the 1930's. In 1930 Gits advertising boasted of two hundred and seventy-five oilers of every variety, style and size, with a manufacturing capacity of 100,000 oil cups per day. Shaft seals were added to the Gits line during the 1930's and in 1937 Gits manufactured four types of oil seals for both low and high-speed applications. In 1944, story has it, that Mr. Remi Gits was traveling via train to Chicago after vacationing in Colorado. He was forced to stay overnight in Creston, Iowa because of a terrible snowstorm and was so overwhelmed by the hospitality toward him and the helpfulness of the Creston people, that he decided to open an assembly plant in Creston. In February of 1945 Gits began operation in Creston in the old junior high school building at 215 North Elm St. with 6 oil cup assembly machines and the same number of employees. During this period of time, the products and application of these products became more widespread and popular among machinery manufacturers, thus the single line product spread into several different types including bottle oilers, constant level oilers, grease cups etc. Gits moved in 1946 to north Walnut Street. The once small family operation had become larger and responsibilities, cost, and general management beliefs varied within the Gits family causing inter-family relationship problems. In late 1969, the Gits family sold Gits Brothers Manufacturing to Apache Corporation of St. Paul Minnesota, a diverse holding company whose holdings included oil and gas exploration and development, fruit and nut farms, wood products manufacturing and metal fabricating companies. During the 1970's, most of the manufacturing and all of the sales, and office functions were still being carried out in Chicago. In 1974 a new 45,000 square foot facility was built in Creston's Industrial Development Park and the old 18,000 square foot building was donated to the city of Creston with much fanfare. A new product line was developed working together with Air Research that helped control boost on turbochargers, the wastegate actuator. The introduction of this line was made in 1978. In the late 1970's, Apache Corporation started selling off their non-petroleum holdings, and in 1983, the Valley Forge Corporation purchased Gits Brothers Manufacturing Co. Valley Forge was a privately held company then based in St. Louis, Missouri. Most of the Valley Forge holdings were in real estate, but their trend was to purchase manufacturing companies located in the mid-west. One of Valley Forge's transactions included the opening of a manufacturing and assembly plant in Tampa, Florida in 1984. Essentially, this was done with the idea of closing down the Gits plant which was now located in Bedford Park, Illinois. This relocation was becoming more evident with increasing labor problems and high compensation packages. During the next several months, moving was planned and arranged so as not to affect customers in any way. In 1985 it was decided by Valley Forge that it would more efficient to expand the staff functions in Creston. Qualified personnel were employed to fill positions such as plant controller, sales and marketing manager, engineering manager, manufacturing manager and materials manager, and a 5,000 square foot addition was added to the Creston plant to accommodate these personnel. Upon completion of this major functional change, Valley Forge decided that it was in their best interest to split Gits Brothers Manufacturing Company's two plants from one legal corporation into two legal corporations. Effective January 1st 1987, the companies were split with Tampa keeping the name Gits Brothers Manufacturing Co., and the Creston location becoming a new Delaware Corporation with the name of Gits Manufacturing Co. Valley Forge relocated to San Rafael, California in 1987, and was still a privately held company, holding seven different companies ranging from fabricated metal products to the marine industry to an import/export company. The Creston plant had 20 office and management people and 45 direct labor employees responsible for development, fabrication, assembly, inspection and shipment of finished product. A new line was developed and in 1991, pressure, vacuum and combination pressure/vacuum vents were introduced. This line is based on patented designs and is used primarily on intermediate bulk containers that are used to transport a wide variety of products from the harshest chemicals to food products including juices and even high viscosity glue. Due to pressure changes during transportation of these tanks, the U.S. Department of Transportation required proper venting apparatus that Gits filled with these vents. The 90’s were a period of strong growth, and in 1995 a 20,000 square foot addition was made to the plant bringing the total square footage to 70,000. Wastegate actuators were the main reason for this growth because of new emission and engine efficiency requirements mainly for diesel trucks. Worldwide shipments were made to Japan, England, France and several other foreign countries. In 1992, the remaining manufacturing from Tampa was moved to Creston, and Gits Brothers Manufacturing Company of Tampa was dissolved. Quality has always been at the forefront at Gits, and keeping with this quality theme, Gits in Creston became ISO 9001 in 1994, and was one of the first 100 companies in the U.S. to achieve QS 9000 status in 1997. Currently both the Creston and the Thailand facility are QS-9000 with the last 3-year certification achieved in Decemeber 2003. The globalization of automotive products led the turbocharger manufactures to insist that Gits supply products that were made regionally, or lose the majority of the overseas actuator business. In 1998 production facilities were arranged for in Thailand and the assembly and manufacturing of actuators began. Design, Engineering and all other office functions remained in Creston, and due to strong growth in 1999 and early 2000, employment reached an all-time high of 130 employees in Creston with another 50 employed at the plant in Chonburi, Thailand. During this strong growth period, Valley Forge continued to be owner of Gits manufacturing, and was now listed on the New York Stock Exchange. During 1998, the majority stockholders in Valley Forge decided to divest the company, and all of Valley Forge was put up for sale. A private holding company Key Components, Inc, based in Tarrytown, New York purchased Valley Forge in its entirety, took the company private and re-formed Gits as a limited liability (LLC) company. Several new products are in various stages of development and testing including an Exhaust Gas Brake for diesel retrofit and an EGR valve that recycles exhaust gas for increased fuel mileage and reduced emissions for diesel vehicles and continual upgrades to mechanical actuators. During 2003, Gits Engineered Components in Shanghai, China was opened to serve customers worldwide. locations about us |
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