How it started
History
Ashot Ashkelon was founded in 1951 as Kaiser-Ilin Industries by businessman Efraim Ilin. Initially as a factory for assembling Kaiser-Frazer cars and Mack Trucks under license; Kaiser-Ilin had two production sites, one in Haifa (which opened in 1951) where the vehicle assembly line was based and one in Ashkelon (which was opened in 1960), for manufacturing spare parts for automotive equipment, gears and metal-working machinery.
During the 1960 the company got into financial difficulties and the vehicle assembly line was closed; the Ashkelon plant continue to operate at a loss. In 1967, it was acquired by Israel Military Industries and its name changed to Ashot Ashkelon Industries.
In 1990, Ashot signed a long term supply contract with Boeing to manufacture transmission systems used in the rudder mechanisms of Boeing 747 and Boeing 757 aircraft.
In 1992, the company had an initial public offering on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The same year, the company signed a 20 years frame agreement with the Allison Engine Company, at the time a division of General Motors, to manufacture parts for 20 different engine types. The agreement was estimated to represent a total potential income of $100–140 million.
In 2007, Ashot won a tender to manufacture the Drivetrain and hydro-mechanical suspension enabling cross-country mobility, for both the Merkava Mk. 4 tank and the Namer Armoured personnel carrier.
From Wikipedia’s article on Ashot - Ashkelon Industries Ltd., shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2