Clark Products Inc history

In 1916 Clark merged Celfor Tool and Buchanan and formed Clark Equipment Company.

Nurses and doctors in the military and Red Cross began to use the products for wounds and surgical dressings during World War I. In January 1918, Kimberly-Clark produced nine tons of Cellucotton.

In 1919, they hired Walter Luecke from Sears, Roebuck, giving him the assignment of finding new uses for Cellucotton.

The company later recognized the commercial potential of this application and, in 1920, introduced its Kotex feminine napkin.

A marketing legend tells of the great Albert Lasker, an iconic figure in American advertising and representing Kotex, visiting Edward Bok, the editor of the all-powerful Ladies Home Journal magazine in 1921.

In 1924, Kimberly-Clark started advertising a “cold cream remover,” a small Cellucotton product branded “Kleenex.” Based on consumer research, the company discovered that people used Kleenex more often to blow their noses but needed a larger size.

In 1925 the company formed what would become Canadian Cellucotton Products Limited, for marketing cellucotton products internationally.

Kimberly & Clark joined with The New York Times Company in 1926 to build a newsprint mill in Kapuskasing,Ontario, Canada.

In 1927 all of the features were combined to create the lift truck.

In 1928 Clark achieved sales of nearly $12 million and net revenue of ten percent.

Nationwide advertisements promoting Kleenex for its current use began in 1930, and sales doubled within a year.

Clark reported its first operating losses in more than 20 years in 1931.

Clark developed the Auto-Tram prototype, a fast, aluminum rail car, for the 1934 World's Fair.

Through the years advertising included cartoon ads, the first of which appeared in 1941, when a contest called "True Confessions" was introduced.

By 1943 sales were $77 million, up from $12.5 million four years earlier.

The company's foray into aviation was initiated by the purchase of a six-seat plane in 1948 to shuttle executives between company headquarters in Wisconsin and Kimberly-Clark factories around the country.

1949: Company helps found the Coonsa River Newsprint Company.

By 1952, the licensee was re-named Ruhr Intrans Hubstapler and located in Mulheim when it started shipping Clark fork lift trucks into the European market.

In 1953 Clark acquired Ross Carrier Company, a local manufacturer of large lift trucks, straddle carriers, and cable cranes.

By 1958, Michigan brand sales were $50 million.

In 1959 Clark acquired Brown Truck Trailer, through which it entered the highway trailer business.

In 1968 the company introduced Kimbies, a disposable diaper with tape closures.

Also in 1969 Clark acquired the Melroe line of skid-steer loaders and agricultural products.

In 1971, Harvard-educated lawyer Darwin Smith became the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kimberly-Clark, a company he would lead for the next twenty years.

The following year, Smith, the architect of Kimberly-Clark's restructuring and diversification efforts since 1972, retired as chairman and was succeeded by Wayne R. Sanders.

Finally, in 1977, Kimberly-Clark introduced a better, higher-priced product, Huggies, which became very successful.

A new premium-priced diaper in an hourglass shape with refastenable tapes was introduced in 1978 under the name Huggies.

The 1980 toxic shock syndrome scare caused a slump in tampon sales.

2. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1983, s.v. "Kimberly, John Alfred."

Freeman, Laurie, “Kimberly Holds Its Own Against Giants,” Advertising Age, November 19, 1984.

The fledgling airline, operated under the name Midwest Express, got off to a rocky start with a 1985 crash in Milwaukee, planes flying 80 percent empty, and large operating losses.

Aimed at health care institutions and at companies as a product to reduce absenteeism, Avert never really got off the ground, and in 1987 Kimberly-Clark decided not to mass market the product.

To keep the company growing at a healthy pace, Smith began to increase Kimberly-Clark's presence in Europe in 1988.

By 1989, however, the operation was in the black, with planes at 66 percent capacity; a $120 million expansion increased the number of destinations to 15 cities and the airline boasted a fleet of 11 DC-9s.

Also in 1990, management purchased a controlling interest in Hurth Axle S.p.A., an Italian manufacturer and distributor of off-highway axles.

In 1991, Kimberly-Clark and The New York Times Company sold their jointly owned paper mill in Kapuskasing, Ontario.

Forest, Stephanie Anderson, and Mark Maremont. "Kimberly-Clark's European Paper Chase." Business Week, March 16, 1992.

Although revenues from its European operations increased steadily, the huge investments (totaling $700 million in 1993 alone) and restructuring charges that went along with them began to affect the company's profits.

Kimberly-Clark announced in late 1994 that it would explore the sale of its North American pulp and newsprint operations.

By 1996 it had a nearly 33 percent share of the market, compared to Kleenex's formidable 48 percent.

In 1997, Kimberly-Clark sold its 50% stake in Canada’s Scott Paper to forest products company Kruger Inc. and bought diaper operations in Spain and Portugal and disposable surgical face masks maker Tecnol Medical Products.

In 1998, the company restructured its tissue business to consolidate manufacturing operations.

In 1999, the company expanded its tissue operations in Europe with its acquisition of the Swiss Company Attisholz.

Clark fork lifts in the C500 line ranged from 2000 pound capacity models for warehousing use to large 80,000 pound capacity models for steel fabrication.

In 2001, Kimberly-Clark bought Italian diaper maker, Linostar, and announced it was closing four Latin American manufacturing plants.

In 2002, Kimberly-Clark purchased paper-packaging rival Amcor’s stake in an Australian joint venture.

Adding to its global consumer tissue business, in 2003 Kimberly-Clark acquired the Polish tissue-maker Klucze.

In August 2004 the company launched its Anti-Viral tissues, the first product of its kind.

Television spots did not follow until October 2005, when the next cold and flu season began.

Bach, Pete. "Tissue, Paper Towel Making a Growing Business in Valley." Appleton (WI) Post-Crescent, February 5, 2006.

In May, 2011, the first Diaper machine was installed at the Binh Duong Mill.

Kimberly-Clark Sub-Saharan Africa’s vision is ambitious – nothing less than turning the $250 million business into a $1 billion business by 2015.

In 2016, KCV celebrates 25 years in Vietnam.

Along with the introduction of the new Ford 2.5L LPG 4-cylinder engine, a special “Centennial Edition” custom paint and decal package was standard on all C20/C35 lift trucks throughout 2017, commemorating 100 years.

2018 CLARK opens new Research and Development center including test laboratory and prototype build shop.