Fuller Marketing Inc history

Did You Know? The first brush patent was issued in 1830, marking the start of mass produced brushes.

It all starts with Alfred Fuller, born in Nova Scotia in 1885 - the 11th of 12th children.

Public Company Incorporated: 1887 as Fuller Manufacturing CompanyEmployees: 5,800Sales: $933.72 millionStock Exchanges: NASDAQSICs: 2842 Polishes and Sanitation Goods; 2851 Paints and Allied Products; 2891 Adhesives and Sealants; 2899 Chemical Preparations, nec

By 1888, the company, which was really just Fuller serving as jack-of-all-trades, added its first employee, Fuller's oldest son, Albert.

In 1892 the company acquired a Minneapolis competitor, The Minnesota Paste Company, for $200.

In late 1893 Harvey successfully produced Fuller's Cold Water Dry Wall Cleaner, intended for use on wallpaper (at that time it was customary to clean walls twice yearly, but existing cleaners tended to decompose under warm conditions), and applied for a patent.

Total revenue in 1906: $8,500

Here’s an ad from a 1922 copy of The American Legion Weekly seeking more sales men.

In 1930, following the stock market crash, Fuller acquired The Selvasize Company of St Paul, the maker of a combination plaster and wallpaper adhesive, for $2,000.

In 1931, Frank Stanley Beveridge - Director of Sales at Fuller Brush - left to found his own company, Stanley Home Products.

In March 1941 a large Chicago competitor named Paisley Products appro ached the ailing St Paul firm with an acquisition offer.

Both during and following the war, the company focused on decentralizing operations—bringing the product closer to the customer—by establishing a number of branch plants, beginning with Kansas City in 1943.

In 1949, Andersen was elected to the state senate and became a part-t ime company president.

By 1950, the company had becom e the fourth largest adhesives manufacturer in the country.

In 1958, the c ompany launched H.B. Fuller Company (Canada) Ltd. in Winnipeg.

His first sale? A green and white Kitchen Brush in 1971.

At the close of the decade, Fuller ranked fourth among United States adhesives companies, behind National Starch (now owned by Unilever), Paisley Products (acquired by Fuller in 1975), and Swift.

H.B. Fuller, meanwhile, became a Fortune 500 company in 1984 when revenues hit $425 million.

Even as door-to-door salesmen became less and less common, for Fuller Brush, ALL sales were still generated door-to-door until 1985.

Widely respected for its sponsorship of charitable and educational causes, Fuller pulled the product from markets in Honduras and Guatemala in the fall of 1992 and continues to fund social programs that help minimize such abuse.

Furthermore, first and second quarter earnings for 1993 declined by 51 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively.

1994: Sales surpass $1 billion.

Kissling added the CEO position as well in 1995.

But in 1996, the company returned to its roots when Fuller Brush acquired Stanley Home Products.

Davis, Riccardo A., “New President Targets Net Profit Margin at Minnesota’s H.B. Fuller,” St Paul Pioneer Press, July 2, 1998.

The new leader's moves were quick to pay off as 1999 revenues increased 2 percent to $1.36 billion and profits jumped from $16 million to $43.4 million.

With its newfound focus on cost containment and improved profitability and a more aggressive attitude toward acquisitions, H.B. Fuller was certain to be a much more formidable competitor in 2000 and beyond.

Earl y in 2002 Stroucken launched another major restructuring to slash the firm's existing manufacturing capacity by 20 percent and yield annua l savings of more than $10 million.

By 2003 the company had shut down 14 manufacturing plants, mainly in North America, eliminated 556 positions from the payroll, and recorded pretax restructuring charge s of more than $40 million.

In the spring of 2005 Fuller shifted its operations in Japan and Chin a into joint ventures with Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd., a Japanese con struction supplier and house manufacturer.

2017 Acquired Royal Adhesives & Sealants 2017 Acquired Adecol Ind.