imported>WikiCleanerBot at 07:08, 21 June 2021

2021-06-21T07:08:54Z

New page

{{Short description|Indian engineering firm}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2015}}

'''Guest Keen Williams''' is an [[India]]n [[engineering]] firm started in [[Howrah]], [[West Bengal]] in the 1920s by Henry William.

==Core business==
Its main business was manufacturing nuts and fasteners in collaboration with [[GKN]] (Guest Keen and Nettlefolds of Birmingham).<ref>{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Edgar |year=1990 |chapter=Guest, Keen, Williams in India |title=A History of GKN |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |pages=345–365 |isbn=9781349096664 |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-09664-0_11}}</ref> Later the company went on to become a major manufacturing and engineering enterprise in [[Howrah]] and [[Kolkata]] (Calcutta). The company's main manufacturing facility is still located at [[Currie Road]] in Howrah and its registered office at [[Shakespeare Sarani]] in Kolkata, West Bengal.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Agarwala |first1=Prakash Narain |title=The Role and Impact of Multinationals |date=1991 |publisher=Allied Publishers |isbn=978-81-7023-288-9 |page=177 |url=https://books.google.ie/books?id=ThftAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

==Company Divisions==
The company had four operating divisions: precision pressing division, steel division, fastener division, and engineering and forging division. The Precision pressing division made precision presswork for electrical, automotive, and textile industries stampings and strip would cores for electrical industry. The Steel division made electrically melted alloy steels, rolled and bright bars. The Fasteners division made bolts, nuts, screws and other fasteners. Engineering and forging division produces drop upset and press forgings.

In 1991 the name of the company was changed from Guest Keen William Ltd., to GKW Ltd. Later GKW became involved in making points and crossings for Indian Railways, and also in making stampings for motors, etc.

==Decline==
[[File:Guest Keen Williams Limited - Howrah 2011-09-25 00612-00613-00614-00615 Combined.png|thumb|right|400px|Guest Keen Williams - Howrah factory area. It is being dismantled in 2011.]]
All the divisions of the company were affected due to the industrial slowdown in the capital goods industry in the 1990s and the company continued to lose market due to sluggish demand and was eventually referred to [[Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction]] (BFIR).

The company laid off majority of its work force at its Currie Road unit at Howrah and remained locked-out until date. In 2004, GKW Ltd delisted itself from [[Calcutta Stock Exchange|Calcutta]] & [[Mumbai Stock Exchange]]s. It is currently listed only at the [[National Stock Exchange of India]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Editorial |first1=Reuters |title=GKWL.NS - GKW Limited All Listings {{!}} Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/companies/GKWL.NS/listings |access-date=10 June 2021 |work=www.reuters.com |language=en}}</ref> Currently the company's operations elsewhere in India remain downsized considerably, but it still manufactures fasteners and safety pins from an amazingly antique factory in Bhandup, [[Mumbai]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bureau |first1=Our |title=GKW inks pact with Western India Forgings |url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/gkw-inks-pact-with-western-india-forgings/article7604241.ece |access-date=10 June 2021 |work=@businessline |language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Companies based in Howrah]]
[[Category:Engineering companies of India]]
[[Category:1920s establishments in India]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies established in the 20th century]]

{{India-company-stub}}

Guest Keen Williams - Revision history

imported>WikiCleanerBot at 07:08, 21 June 2021