Rohm and Haas: History of a Chemical Company

by Sheldon Hochheiser

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812279409
• ISBN13: 9780812279405
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

Story of a specialty chemical company

"Rohm & Haas: History of a Chemical Company," by Sheldon Hochheiser, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1986. This 231 page hardback is the story of Rohm & Haas Chemical Company, one of the preeminent specialty chemical companies of the US. The story of Rohm & Haas is indicative of specialty chemical companies. It demonstrates well that such companies must continually reinvent themselves as competitors eat into their markets and reduce profitability. Having hit on a major growing market such companies exploit them while they grow. But the inevitable maturing of markets means that new ventures must continually be undertaken to replace the old. Most are insignificant in the early stages, and many mature at levels too small to compensate for losses. The search for new winners is almost like panning for gold. The story of Rohm & Haas begins in 1906, when two German friends, Dr. Otto Roehm, a chemist, and Mr. Otto Haas, a veteran of the German textile dye business, formed a partnership to market an improved leather tanning chemical, which had been invented by Dr. Roehm. The product was named Oroh, later Oropon, from the inventors names. It was based on the realization that leather tanning was an enzymatic process. They were able to provide a more reliable product than the traditional dog manure using enzymes extracted from the pituitary glands of butchered animals. From the beginning, their sales approach was to work closely with leather tanners to demonstrate that their product was superior to the alternative. The business prospered. They began manufacturing first near Stuttgart, and later at Darmstadt. In 1909, Otto Haas returned to the US to set up an American branch of Rohm & Haas in Philadelphia. The business prospered and was profitable by 1911. Gradually additional tanneries accepted the product, resulting in a regional office in Chicago that served tanneries in Milwaukee. Next business was extended into South America, in particular to Argentina and Chile. The outbreak of World War I in 1914, interrupted the supply of chemicals that had been imported from Germany. Based on his knowledge of the tanning industry, Haas began the resale of sodium sulfide, used as a dehairing agent. By 1917 other tannery chemicals had been added including a chrome tan, leather finishes, fat liquors, and Titanene, a mordant for dyeing. The Bristol, PA production site was purchased in November, 1916. During the war anti-German feelings ran high. American subsidiaries of two German chemical companies, Heyden Chemical Works and Bayer Chemical, were accused of cornering the market in coal tar derived phenol and converting it into aspirin to prevent its being used in the manufacture of military explosives. The Office of the Alien Property Custodian, the APC, monitored "alien businesses." Rohm & Haas was carefully monitored, and was forced to sell the Roehm portion of the business, which was replaced by the Tanners Council. Rohm & Haas became