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H.B. Fuller

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H.B. Fuller Company
Company typePublic
IndustryAdhesives, coatings, and sealants
Founded1887; 137 years ago (1887)
FounderHarvey Benjamin Fuller
Headquarters
St. Paul, Minnesota
,
U.S.
Number of locations
81 (2023)[1]
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Celeste B. Mastin
(President and CEO)
John J. Corkrean
(CFO)
ServicesManufacturing
RevenueDecrease US$3.51 billion (2023)[1]
Increase US$355 million (2023)[1]
Decrease US$145 million (2023)[1]
Total assetsIncrease US$4.72 billion (2023)[1]
Total equityIncrease US$1.76 billion (2023)[1]
Number of employees
7,200 (2023)[1]
DivisionsHygiene, Health and Consumable Adhesives, Engineering Adhesives, Construction Adhesives
Websitehbfuller.com

H.B. Fuller Company is an American adhesives manufacturing company supplying industrial adhesives worldwide. The company is also controversial for its role in a glue-sniffing epidemic in Latin America in the 1990s.[2]

As of 2018, the company ranks 873 on the Fortune 1000.[3]

History

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H.B. Fuller was founded in 1887 by Harvey Benjamin Fuller in St. Paul, Minnesota, as a one-person company making glue for wallpaper.[4][5] By the 1890s, Fuller's inventions included wall cleaners and the company had business throughout the United States.[6] It incorporated in 1915, and in 1921, Harvey Jr. took over as president.[7][5]

In 1941, Elmer L. Andersen, purchased the company from the Fuller family.[8] Sales at the time of Andersen's purchase totaled US$200,000 annually; by 1959, sales had increased to US$10 million annually.[5] H.B. Fuller expanded its position in the consumer goods market in 1956 with the construction of a plant in Minneapolis to make packing tape.[9] By 1962, H.B. Fuller was one of the three largest adhesives manufacturers in the United States and had 20 manufacturing facilities in the U.S., South America, and Canada.[5] H.B. Fuller acquired the Costa Rican company Kativo Chemical Industries in 1967, expanding its portfolio to include paints and inks.[10] The company went public and made its initial public offering in 1968.[11]

Elmer L. Andersen's son, Anthony, became company president in 1971. Under his leadership, H.B. Fuller sales increased from US$60 million in 1971 to approximately US$800 million in 1991.[12] In 1976, H.B. Fuller and 22 other companies joined together to form the Minnesota Keystone Program, a group of corporations that agreed to donate a portion of their pre-tax profits to charity.[13] The company became a member of the Fortune 500 in 1983 and was recognized by Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz as one of the "100 Best Places to Work in America".[14][15] By 1995, the company sold its products globally and had more than 10,000 adhesives in its catalog.[4] That year, the company expanded into powder coating with the construction of a new facility in Oakdale, Minnesota.[16]

In 2022 the company won an Adhesives and Sealants Council Innovation Award for "Low Monomer/Emission Reactive Hot Melt Adhesives."[17]

Glue sniffing controversy

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In the 1990s, the company faced controversy over the glue-sniffing epidemic among street children in Latin America. A Fuller company brand, Resistol glue, was abused among these children to a sufficient extent that glue-sniffing children were called "resistoleros" regardless of the brand of glue being abused.[18] A lawsuit filed against the company over the death of a Guatemalan teenager from sniffing glue was dismissed in 1996 due to lack of jurisdiction.[19] The controversy eventually led to the company's withdrawal from the Latin American market. [2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "FY 2023 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. January 24, 2024. Retrieved June 14, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Weissert, Will (16 Jul 2000). "We Live for the Glue". The Item. Associated Press. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  3. ^ "Largest U.S. Corporations". Fortune. June 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  4. ^ a b Henriques, Diana B. (November 26, 1995). "Black Mark for a 'Good Citizen'". The New York Times. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d Quarfoth, Hal (February 6, 1962). "St. Paul's H.B. Fuller CO. was just pot of paste 75 years ago". The Minneapolis Star.
  6. ^ A Fuller Life: The Story of H.B. Fuller Company, 1887-1987. H.B. Fuller. p. 2.
  7. ^ "History". H.B. Fuller. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  8. ^ Bjorhus, Jennifer (November 9, 2006). "H.B. Fuller CEO quits to lead Ohio firm: Volpi will succeed Stroucken on Dec. 1". St. Paul Pioneer Press.
  9. ^ Inskip, Leonard (February 27, 1956). "Work to begin in March on Fuller plant". Minneapolis Morning Tribune.
  10. ^ "H.B. Fuller acquires firm in Costa Rica". The Minneapolis Star. October 25, 1967.
  11. ^ "H.B. Fuller Co. files statement for first public stock offering". The Minneapolis Tribune. February 11, 1968.
  12. ^ Peterson, Susan E. (March 29, 1993). "Shift at the top has gone smoothly at H.B. Fuller". Star Tribune.
  13. ^ St. Anthony, Neal (November 13, 1998). "Award salutes a different kind of business growth". Star Tribune.
  14. ^ Cohen, Ben (September 23, 2005). "H.B. Fuller Co. leader Anthony Andersen dies". Star Tribune.
  15. ^ Hodges, Jill (January 26, 1993). "Seven Minnesota employers make book's top 100". Star Tribune.
  16. ^ Davis, Riccardo A. (March 29, 1995). "Fuller to open powder coating plants in Oakdale; Company reports 49% gain in earnings". St. Paul Pioneer Press.
  17. ^ "Innovation Awards - Adhesive and Sealant Council". www.ascouncil.org. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
  18. ^ Henriques, Diana (26 November 1995). "Black Mark for a 'Good Citizen'". New York Times. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  19. ^ Silver, Beth (24 September 1996). "Federal Judge Dismisses Glue Sniffing Lawsuit Against H.B. Fuller". Associated Press. Archived from the original on August 15, 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
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