Avient history

In 1945 its bituminous-coal properties were put into the newly formed Consolidated Coal Corp. in return for Consolidated stock.

In 1946 Hanna transferred its stock holdings in Northwestern-Hanna Fuel Co., which operated six coal docks in upper lake ports, and all of its coal mine operations in Ohio, to the Pittsburgh Consolidation Coal Co. for $2.43 million and 325, 000 common shares.

In 1948 a new research center was opened to further pure science, as well as applications, in the fields of rubber, chemicals, plastics, chemurgy, and the new field of nuclear energy.

In 1951 M. A. Hanna acquired Canada’s Empire Hanna Coal Co., Ltd., and made it into a division.

In 1958 one of Hanna's subsidiaries, the Hanna Coal & Ore Co., emerged as an independent corporation, the Hanna Mining Co.

The Iron Ore Industry and the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co., the Hanna Mining Co., the M. A. Hanna Co. (1960).

In 1961, after Gilbert W. Humphrey (son of George M. Humphrey) had advanced to president and CEO of M. A. Hanna, the company announced plans to dispose of direct business activities.

In 1964 Hanna Mining’s directors were so confident in the new organization of their company that they proposed a three-for-one stock split and a dividend increase.

M.A. Hanna Co. continued as a mineral sales agent and an investment firm until it was liquidated in 1965.

In 1972, O. Pendleton Thomas, an oil company executive, took over command of Goodrich and restructured, closing money-losing plants and modernizing others.

In 1979, when John D. Ong took over as chair and CEO, Goodrich was fourth among tire manufacturers, behind Goodyear, Firestone, and Michelin.

The company reached record sales in 1981 of $400 million with $44 million in net income.

In 1982 Hanna lost $80 million on $300 million in sales, and was forced to shut down all of its operations (except one Brazilian iron ore mine) for three weeks in December of that year.

By the spring of 1983 the PVC market was in an upswing and Goodrich increased its PVC prices eight cents per pound in April.

Black became a director, and the last descendant of an M. A. Hanna & Company partner, George M. Humphrey II, resigned from his position as senior vice-president by 1984.

Believing that the name Hanna Mining failed to reflect the diversified holdings of the company, executives decided to return to the firm's original name, M. A. Hanna Co., in March 1985.

In 1986 the company purchased Burton Rubber Processing; colorants processors Allied Color Industries, Inc., and Avecor; and Day International, Inc., a major processor, distributor, and manufacturer of polymer printing blankets.

Lubove, Seth H., “M. A. Hanna to Buy Day International for $348.9 Million,” Wall Street Journal, July 13, 1987.

When United States demand for PVC was high and export demand strong because of a weak dollar in 1988, Goodrich sold its 50 percent stake in Uniroyal-Goodrich Tire, leaving Goodrich with core businesses of polyvinyl chloride, special chemicals, and aerospace.

In 1989 William Patient, a chemical industry vice-president forced into early retirement, was hired to run the Geon division.

By 1990, the company's plastics holding generated nearly $1.1 billion in annual sales.

By 1993, over 99% of M. A. Hanna's revenue came from polymer processing and distribution.

In 1994, M.A. Hanna moved its Cleveland headquarters from Erieview Tower into the BP Bldg.

That year, however, Geon sputtered to a full-year profit of only $12.2 million, compared to the $71.3 million figure for 1995, thanks to a brutal combination of a drop in PVC prices and increases in raw material costs.

Purchased for $86.5 million, Synergistics had six manufacturing sites in the United States and Canada and generated $293 million in revenues in 1996.

Hanna in early 1997 began building a manufacturing plant near Shanghai, China, for the production of color and additive concentrates.

In August 1998 the company launched a restructuring of its custom-formulated color business unit, eventually shutting down five plants and eliminating around 300 jobs from the workforce.

Also in 1999 the company consolidated its plastic compounding operations by shutting down two plants, one in Ontario and one in Texas, resulting in a workforce reduction of about 250.

Avient Corporation was originally established as PolyOne Corporation in 2000 through the consolidation of two companies in the materials industry.

By 2003, annual sales dropped to just $2.6 billion and many industry analysts faulted failure among managers to integrate the former M. A. Hanna Co. into the new company, as well as stagnant sales among United States auto makers- a major customer for PolyOne's plastics.

With a corporate headquarters in Avon Lake, PolyOne had nearly 10,000 employees worldwide and annual sales of $2.5 billion by 2004.

In February 2007 PolyOne revealed plans to establish a research and service center in northeastern China.

One of our proudest accomplishments in this time was receiving our first Great Place to Work™ Certification in 2018.