Gates Corporation is the world’s leading manufacturer of power transmission belts and a premier global manufacturer of fluid power products. Its highly engineered products are critical components used in diverse industrial and automotive applications where the cost of failure is very high relative to the cost of its products.
The company provides a differentiated value proposition to customers by offering a complete portfolio of premium product and service solutions for both replacement and first-fit applications across its targeted end markets, which encompass process and specialty, construction, agriculture, energy, transportation, and automotive.
This company sells products globally under the Gates brand, which is recognized by distributors, original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, and installers as the premium brand for quality and technological innovation, a reputation which has been built for over a century since the Company's founding in 1911. If it moves you, there's a good chance Gates has a part in it. Gates is Powering Progress.
On October 1, 1911, Charles Gates, Sr. purchased the Colorado Tire and Leather Company located in southern Denver beside the South Platte River. Little did he know at the time that his small shop would one day become the world’s largest manufacturer of power transmission belts and a leader in hydraulic and fluid power products for industrial and automotive applications.
The Colorado Tire and Leather Company made a single product, the Durable Tread, a steel-studded band of leather that motorists attached to tires to extend their mileage. In 1917, the Company began phasing out leather in favor of rubber, and Charles Gates changed its name to the International Rubber Company.
That same year, John Gates, Charles’ brother, developed a belt made of rubber and woven threading. It was called a V-belt, due to the shape it sat in on an engine block. It replaced the standard hemp and rope belt found in automobiles and on industrial machinery, and was a model for the common serpentine belt. The belt’s success propelled the company to become the largest manufacturer of V-belts, a title it still holds.
The now renamed Gates Rubber Company soon expanded across the United States, opening factories across the country and employing thousands of people. Soon after expansion began, the company began to globalize. In 1954, its first international manufacturing facility was built in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Expansion to other countries followed. In 1958, the Company opened Gates de Mexico. In 1963, Gates built a belt and hose plant in Erembodegem, Belgium, the first of many European facilities.
In the 1980s, Gates expansion continued when the brand acquired the Uniroyal Power Transmission Company and became the world’s largest synchronous/timing belt manufacturer, firmly establishing its growth path in the Asia-Pacific region.
In 1996, the company was acquired by the British-based engineering firm, Tomkins plc, ending 85 years of family ownership. In 2003, Gates changed its name to Gates Corporation, a move reflecting the company’s expanding range of brands, product lines and customers.
In 2011, Gates Corporation celebrated its centennial. Today, Gates continues powering progress around the world.