H.B. Fuller

H.B. Fuller Company is a major American adhesives manufacturing company supplying industrial adhesives worldwide. The company has long received praise in ethical investment circles for such things as careful handling of toxic waste and the nature reserve built around its headquarters.[2][3] Despite this image, it faced a controversy over glue-sniffing in Latin America in the 1990s.[4]

H.B. Fuller Company
TypePublic
NYSE: FUL
S&P 600 component
IndustryAdhesives
Founded1887
FounderHarvey B. Fuller
Headquarters
Vadnais Heights, Minnesota
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Celeste Mastin
(President and CEO)
John J. Corkrean
(CFO)
ServicesManufacturing
RevenueIncrease US$2.790 billion (2020) [1]
Increase US$406.809 million (2020) [1]
Decrease US$123.788 million (2020) [1]
Total assetsIncrease US$4.037 billion (2020) [1]
Total equityIncrease US$1.381 billion (2020) [1]
Number of employees
6,428 (2020) [1]
Websitehbfuller.com

As of 2018, the company ranks 873 on the Fortune 1000.[5]

History

The company was founded in 1887 by Harvey Benjamin Fuller as a one-man wallpaper-paste shop. Initially incorporated as the Fuller Manufacturing Company, in 1915 the company reincorporated as the H.B. Fuller Company. Elmer Andersen, who later became governor of Minnesota, served as the company's CEO in the 1940s.[6][7] After beginning his political career, he became a part-time company president, though Andersen remained involved with the company for many years, stepping down as chairperson in 1992. H.B. Fuller became a publicly held company in 1968.[8] In 2022 the company won an Adhesives and Sealants Council Innovation Award for "Low Monomer/Emission Reactive Hot Melt Adhesives."[9]

Glue sniffing controversy

In the 1990s, the company faced controversy over the glue-sniffing epidemic among street children in Latin America. A Fuller company brand, Resistol glue, was abused among these children to a sufficient extent that glue-sniffing children were called "resistoleros" regardless of the brand of glue being abused.[7] A lawsuit filed against the company over the death of a Guatemalan teenager from sniffing glue was dismissed in 1996 due to lack of jurisdiction.[10] The controversy eventually led to the company's withdrawal from the Latin American market. [4]

References
  1. https://s26.q4cdn.com/617714526/files/doc_financials/2020/ar/2020-H.B.-Fuller-Annual-Report-RGB.pdf
  2. "Rules Still Apply to Socially-Rated Stocks". Lakeland Ledger. New York Times. 19 May 1988. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  3. "H.B. Fuller Honored As One Of The 2013 World's Most Ethical Companies" (Press release). PRNewsWire. 8 March 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  4. Weissert, Will (16 Jul 2000). "We Live for the Glue". The Item. Associated Press. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  5. "Largest U.S. Corporations". Fortune. June 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  6. "Hoover's Company Records - In-depth Records". Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  7. Henriques, Diana (26 November 1995). "Black Mark for a 'Good Citizen'". New York Times. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  8. "H.B. Fuller Company History". Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  9. "Innovation Awards - Adhesive and Sealant Council". www.ascouncil.org. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
  10. Silver, Beth (24 September 1996). "Federal Judge Dismisses Glue Sniffing Lawsuit Against H.B. Fuller". Associated Press. Archived from the original on August 15, 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2016.


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