Germany’s largest privately-owned chemical company, Henkel und Compagnie was formed in September 1876 when Friedrich Henkel founded a small firm in Aachen to manufacture detergents. Two years later the firm introduced ‘Henkel’s Bleaching Powder’, one of the first German consumer products to bear a brand name. That same year the firm moved to larger facilities in Düsseldorf. Henkel recognised the power that the control of raw materials confers, and began to aggressively move to acquire sources of supply for the main ingredients of the firm’s detergents; accordingly, in 1884, the firm acquired the Rheinische Wasserglasfabrik and began making its own sodium silicate. The firm also invested heavily into chemical research, pursuing new processes to manufacture both its raw materials and new products for the burgeoning German consumer market.
The year 1907 was exceptionally important for product development. It marked the launch of Henkel's arguably most famous brand, the revolutionary detergent Persil. The name came from two of its most important ingredients, a perborate and a silicate. In the early 1900s, Henkel's use of brand names was innovative. Its products were easy to spot by their packaging and were widely distributed. Henkel had been quick to set up marketing operations in Germany's neighbor countries. In 1913 Henkel opened a foreign subsidiary, the first of many, at Basel-Pratteln in Switzerland.
As the firm recovered from the disruptions brought on by the Great War, it embarked on a new round of expansion, buoyed by the strong demand for its cleaning products. A new factory was constructed at Genthin in central Germany and new products – glues and adhesives – were added to the product line. In 1924 the firm began the manufacture of cleaning products aimed at the industrial and commercial markets, including such sectors as food processing and industrial manufacture. To assure control of the materials required for these new products the firm acquired the Thompson-Werke in 1930 and two years later it bought the Deutsche Hydrierwerke. Henkel's acquisition of Böhme-Fettchemie, Chemnitz, in 1935, followed the latter's launch of a new type of detergent named Fewa. This synthetic product, designed to wash delicate fabrics, was the first of its kind.
The firm also established or acquired subsidiaries abroad, in some cases merely marketing firms, in other as factories for the production of raw materials or intermediate products. In 1928 the firm purchased the National Red Oil and Soap Company of Newark, New Jersey, in the United States, reorganised the company as Nopco Chemicals, and began to manufacture industrial detergents and cleaning agents. In 1930 it purchased the Fabricacion General Iberica de Colores of Barcelona, and three years later established Productos Quimicos Sevillanos in Seville to undertake the manufacture of household detergents. In 1935 it reached a reciprocal agreement with the Union Générale de Savonnerie for the licenced manufacture of Henkel brand consumer products in France.
During the latter part of the 1930s the firm continued to acquire complementary firms in the manufacture or distribution of chemicals and raw materials. In 1940 it formed Papier und Pappe AG to bring together the several factories of the firm engaged in the manufacture of industrial and consumer papers.
Factories of the firm include:
Henkel und Compagnie KG, Düsseldorf-Holthausen (household and industrial chemicals)
Henkel und Compagnie KG, Düsseldorf-Oberbilk (industrial chemicals)
Henkel und Compagnie KG, Genthin (household and industrial chemicals)
Henkel und Compagnie KG, Heidelberg (industrial chemicals)
Subsidiary companies of the firm include:
In Germany
Böhme-Fettchemie AG, Chemnitz (household chemicals and consumer products)
Brennstoff Chemikalien Transport AG, Mülheim (specialist chemicals transport)
Deutsche Hydrierwerke AG, Rodleben (industrial chemicals)
Matthes und Weber GmbH, Duisburg (household chemicals and consumer products)
Papier und Pappe AG, Inden (industrial paper products)
Papier und Pappe AG, Monheim (industrial paper products)
Papier und Pappe AG, Oberau (consumer paper goods)
Papier und Pappe AG, Süchteln (consumer paper goods)
Papier und Pappe AG, Tarnowker Mühle (consumer paper goods)
Papier und Pappe AG, Westerhüsen (industrial paper products)
Thompson-Werke AG, Herborn-Schönbach (industrial chemicals)
Abroad
Fabricacion General Iberica de Colores S.A., Barcelona, Iberia (industrial chemicals)
Henkel und Compagnie AG, Basel-Pratteln, Switzerland (household and industrial chemicals)
Nopco Chemicals Inc., Newark, United States (industrial chemicals)
Productos Quimicos Sevillanos S.A., Seville, Iberia (household chemicals and consumer products)
Produits Chimiques du Sidobre-Sinnova S.A, Liege, Belgium (industrial chemicals)
Affiliated companies of the firm include:
Chemische Fabrik Grünau AG, Berlin-Grünau (cosmetics and consumer products)
Chemische Fabrik Lehrte AG, Heidenau (pharmaceuticals and consumer products)
Farbwerke Ardinit GmbH, Schönbach (chemical dyes and colorants)
Kepec Chemische Fabrik GmbH, Bonn (chemical colorants and solvents)
Sichel-Werke AG, Hannover-Linden (cosmetics and consumer products)