H.B. Fuller

Last updated
H.B. Fuller Company
Company type Public
Industry Adhesives, 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)
Services Manufacturing
RevenueDecrease2.svg US$3.51 billion (2023) [1]
Increase2.svg US$355 million (2023) [1]
Decrease2.svg US$145 million (2023) [1]
Total assets Increase2.svg US$4.72 billion (2023) [1]
Total equity Increase2.svg US$1.76 billion (2023) [1]
Number of employees
7,200 (2023) [1]
Divisions Hygiene, Health and Consumable Adhesives, Engineering Adhesives, Construction Adhesives
Website hbfuller.com

H.B. Fuller Company is an American adhesives manufacturing company supplying industrial adhesives worldwide. The company has long received praise in ethical investment circles for such things as careful handling of toxic waste and the nature reserve built around its headquarters. [2] [3] Despite this image, it faced a controversy over glue-sniffing in Latin America in the 1990s. [4]

Contents

As of 2018, the company ranks 873 on the Fortune 1000. [5]

History

H.B. Fuller was founded in 1887 by Harvey Benjamin Fuller in St. Paul, Minnesota, as a one-person company making glue for wallpaper. [6] [7] By the 1890s, Fuller's inventions included wall cleaners and the company had business throughout the United States. [8] It incorporated in 1915, and in 1921, Harvey Jr. took over as president. [9] [7]

In 1941, Elmer L. Andersen, purchased the company from the Fuller family. [10] Sales at the time of Andersen's purchase totaled US$200,000 annually; by 1959, sales had increased to US$10 million annually. [7] 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. [11] 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. [7] H.B. Fuller acquired the Costa Rican company Kativo Chemical Industries in 1967, expanding its portfolio to include paints and inks. [12] The company went public and made its initial public offering in 1968. [13]

In 2022 the company won an Adhesives and Sealants Council Innovation Award for "Low Monomer/Emission Reactive Hot Melt Adhesives." [14]

Glue sniffing controversy

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. [15] 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. [16] The controversy eventually led to the company's withdrawal from the Latin American market. [4]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "FY 2023 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. January 24, 2024. Retrieved June 14, 2024.
  2. ↑ "Rules Still Apply to Socially-Rated Stocks". Lakeland Ledger. New York Times. 19 May 1988. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  3. ↑ "H.B. Fuller Honored As One Of The 2013 World's Most Ethical Companies" (Press release). PRNewsWire. 8 March 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  4. 1 2 Weissert, Will (16 Jul 2000). "We Live for the Glue". The Item. Associated Press. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  5. ↑ "Largest U.S. Corporations". Fortune . June 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  6. ↑ Henriques, Diana B. (November 26, 1995). "Black Mark for a 'Good Citizen'". The New York Times. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Quarfoth, Hal (February 6, 1962). "St. Paul's H.B. Fuller CO. was just pot of paste 75 years ago". The Minneapolis Star.
  8. ↑ A Fuller Life: The Story of H.B. Fuller Company, 1887-1987. H.B. Fuller. p. 2.
  9. ↑ "History". H.B. Fuller. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  10. ↑ 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.
  11. ↑ Inskip, Leonard (February 27, 1956). "Work to begin in March on Fuller plant". Minneapolis Morning Tribune.
  12. ↑ "H.B. Fuller acquires firm in Costa Rica". The Minneapolis Star. October 25, 1967.
  13. ↑ "H.B. Fuller Co. files statement for first public stock offering". The Minneapolis Tribune. February 11, 1968.
  14. ↑ "Innovation Awards - Adhesive and Sealant Council". www.ascouncil.org. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
  15. ↑ Henriques, Diana (26 November 1995). "Black Mark for a 'Good Citizen'". New York Times. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  16. ↑ 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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