Ecolab History

M.J. called his product Absorbit and, in 1923, he formed a company and called it Economics Laboratory.

1928 E.B. Osborn, one of M.J. s two sons, joins EL after graduating from Dartmouth College.

1934 E.B. Osborn is named national sales manager, with a sales force of 34.

1936 EL profits reach 760.

1937 EL pays first dividend 1 per share.

1946 E.B. Osborn produces EL s first sales film, Dishwashing Dividends, part of the company s innovative approach to sales.

1948 Future president Fred T. Lanners, Jr., joins EL as research chemist.

1951 Dairy division is established.

1953 Finish , a chlorinated dishwashing detergent, is introduced to the consumer market.

1953 EL opens its third plant, in Santa Clara, California.

1954 EL s sales, advertising and executive offices move to New York City.

1957 Industrial division is established to market cleaning and sanitation products to customers in the industrial sector.

1957 Al Schuman, a future CEO, joins EL as a junior salesman in New York City.

1958 Employee Stock Purchase Plan is adopted.

1958 EL expands into Mexico.

1964 The Merritt J. Osborn Research Development Center opens in Mendota Heights, Minnesota.

1964 Solid Jet-Dry is introduced provides benefit of rinse additives to consumers whose automatic dishwashers do not have a built-in rinse injector.

1967 First employee Ida Koran dies.

1970 Corporate and Public Affairs department is established in response to new laws on consumerism, pollution and human and civil rights.

1970 The rapid pace of innovation is reflected in the more than 2,200 patents held globally over the history of the company, up from just 700 10 years earlier.

1972 Company acquires Star Filter Company, leading maker of coffee pot filters for home use, and Raburn Products, maker of dishmachine racks and dishroom carts.

1973 EL acquires Maritec Companies and forms the Magnus Maritec International, Inc., subsidiary, based in Palisades Park, New Jersey.

1974 EL completes plant in Joliet, Illinois its largest to date.

1975 EL ranks 500th on the annual list of Fortune 500 companies.

E. B. Osborn, son of the founder Merritt J. Osborn, ended his long tenure as chief executive officer in 1978 so that Lanners, the first nonfamily member to achieve such high executive status, could assume the new title.

1979 Company surpasses 400 million in sales conducts business in more than 50 countries.

1980 The cumulative number of patents held globally over Ecolab history grows to more than 4,000.

1982 Fred Lanners retires as CEO. 1982 Richard C. Ashley is elected CEO. The first senior leader to be recruited from outside EL, he is tragically killed in a car accident soon after his appointment and before beginning to lead the company.

1983 The Consumer division introduces Scrub Free , a heavy-duty bathroom cleaner that becomes the company s most successful new product introduction ever.

Beginning in 1984, the trust also sponsored scholarships for the children of employees.

1986 The first Ecolab pin for all employees is introduced.

1986 Institutional division headquarters, located in New York City for more than three decades, relocate to St Paul, a move designed to consolidate Ecolab s corporate offices under one roof and build a more cohesive organization.

1986 Magnus industrial operations are sold.

Ecolab and the German fast-moving consumer goods firm Henkel KGaA formed a 50 50 European joint venture called 'Henkel-Ecolab' in mid-1991 to expand into European Russian markets.

1994 The company begins presenting the Ecolab Pin to each new employee hired, a symbol of membership on the team.

The 1994 purchase of Kay Chemicals, a company in North Carolina, expanded its restaurant services.

1995 A Water Care Services division is formed following several acquisitions to provide water treatment programs to institutional and industrial customers.

Michael E. Shannon--who had served as vice chairman and chief financial officer--became chairman of the board at the beginning of 1996.

A maker and marketer of cleaning and sanitizing products for the Australian and New Zealand institutional, healthcare, and industrial markets, Gibson had fiscal 1996 sales of 122 million.

1997 Ecolab acquires Melbourne, Australia-based Gibson Chemical Industries Ltd., supplier of cleaning and sanitizing products to the Australian and New Zealand institutional, healthcare and industrial markets.

1998 Ecolab acquires Danbury, Connecticut-based GCS Service, Inc., gaining entry into the commercial kitchen equipment repair business.

1999 Ecolab acquires Blue Coral Systems, a subsidiary of the Pennzoil-Quaker State Company, further building market share in the commercial car wash segment.

2006 Ecolab wins the Black Pearl Award for Corporate Excellence in Food Safety and Quality, presented by the International Association of Food Protection IAFP .

2007 Ecolab is included in Ethispheres first World s Most Ethical Companies list, which recognizes companies who exemplify transparency, integrity, ethics and compliance in their business practices.

2008 Ecolab launches Apex , a new warewashing platform that adds dishmachine performance metrics to its advanced product and dispensing technology.

2010 Ecolab launches DryExx , a dry lubricant for glass packaging conveyors in the beverage, brewery and food processing industries.

2010 Ongoing investment in innovation is reflected in the more than 17,600 patents the company has held across its history.

2012 Tom Handley, a nine-year Ecolab veteran, is elected president and chief operating officer.

2012 Major research, development and engineering centers around the world are consolidated to foster collaboration and leverage the company s scientific and technical expertise.

2013 Ecolab sells its Vehicle Care business to Zep Inc. for 120 million.

2014 Solid chemistry is used with 3D TRASAR Technology for the first time.

2015 Ecolab introduces the next generation of 3D TRASAR Technology for Cooling Water.

2015 Fortune magazine names Ecolab to its list of companies that are changing the world, a nod to organizations that are doing well by doing good, and to its list of fastest-growing companies to watch.

2016 Ecolab acquires UltraClenz, a developer of electronic hand hygiene compliance monitoring systems and dispensers.

2017 The company holds nearly 8,500 active patents.

By 2017, it employed 38,000 workers in over 170 countries, served customers in more than 1.3 million locations, and reported annual sales of 13 billion.