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A. Schulman company history timeline

1940

In 1940, Salesman and Stenographer were the top reported jobs for men and women in the USA named Schulman.

1947

Zekan returned to the company after his tour, and in 1947 he was tapped by Schulman to head his New York sales office.

1950

In 1950, having heard some convincing arguments from a young salesman named William Zekan, Schulman realized he stood on the threshold of a new industry.

1972

Unable to adequately fund technological research internally, he went forward with plans to take the company public in 1972.

1988

In 1988, A. Schulman established a joint venture with Japan's largest chemical company, the Mitsubishi Kasei Vinyl Company, and set up a new plastics plant at Bellevue, Ohio.

1989

But A. Schulman had a highly capable second tier of management that would be put to the test and would ultimately rise to the challenge in 1989, when Zekan, aged 69, underwent surgery for treatment of cancer.

1990

Seeking new markets for growth, A. Schulman had earlier in the decade earmarked Mexico as a key market, opening an office in Mexico City in 1990.

1991

While the company had shunned growth by acquisition for nearly its entire existence, A. Schulman took over the French plastics company Diffusion Plastique in August, 1991.

1992

In addition, the company's joint venture with Mitsubishi Kasei posted its first profit in 1992.

1993

Around the same time of the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in late 1993, A. Schulman announced plans to build a $15 million plant in Mexico.

The run of earnings increases ended in 1993, however, as economic weakness in Europe and unfavorable exchange rates led to declines in both sales and earnings, the latter falling by 12 percent.

1994

In 1994, the company acquired Comalloy International, a subsidiary of Exxon based in Nashville, Tennessee.

1995

In September 1995 the compounding plant, located in San Luis Potosi, began operation, with a focus on serving the automotive and packaging sectors in Mexico.

During 1995 Eastman Chemical Company sold its compound polypropylene business to A. Schulman.

1996

In 1996, the company acquired the Specialty Compounding Division of Laurel Industries Inc., from Occidental Petroleum.

1997

Despite major auto strikes, the company recovered during fiscal 1997 thanks to improving market conditions, as profits increased from $42.2 million to $50.7 million.

1998

In January 1998, production began at a new plastics compounding plant in Surabaya, Indonesia, that had been built through a joint venture to serve the Asia-Pacific region.

Also during 1998 the company opened an office in Hungary.

1999

After achieving record per share earnings of $1.51 in 1999, A. Schulman began faltering.

2009

In 2009, the company opened a Polybatch plant in Akron, Ohio.

2010

In April 2010, the company acquired ICO for $191 million.

2016

In 2016, the company sued the former owners of Citadel Plastics, a company it had previously acquired, for $272 million, claiming that they falsified information about the recycled content and other attributes of its products and that A. Schulman later had to stop selling these products.

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Founded
1928
Company founded
Headquarters
Fairlawn, OH
Company headquarter
Founders
A. Schulman Management Team
Company founders
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Prysmian Group1927$6.0B8,500183

A. Schulman history FAQs

Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of A. Schulman, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about A. Schulman. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at A. Schulman. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by A. Schulman. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of A. Schulman and its employees or that of Zippia.

A. Schulman may also be known as or be related to A Schulman Inc, A. Schulman, A. Schulman Inc. Ltd., A. Schulman, Inc. and SCHULMAN A INC.