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Borden Sets Up a New Ink Division Two recently acquired ink producing firms are consolidated into the newest of Borden Chemical's eight divisions Borden Chemical is adding another division to its fast growing organization. To be called the ink division, it will consolidate Commercial Ink & Lacquer Co., acquired in 1960, and HawleyMonk Co., which Borden picked up last year. The new setup will be Borden Chemical's eighth division. Generally, Borden creates divisions along product lines; its thermoplastics, adhesives and chemicals, and coated fabrics divisions are examples. Forward and backward integration has been the key to Borden's growth in the chemical industry. The parent company's total sales probably passed $1 billion in 1961 for the first time in the 104-year-old firm's history. Two thirds of these sales probably came from fluid milk and ice cream products; food products probably accounted for another 22%. Sales of chemicals and chemical products likely were about $115 million for 1961, roughly 10% of the total. In 1959, chemical sales were an estimated $58 million. Mergers and acquisitions have contributed strongly to the rapid sales
rise. The firm has completed 10 mergers in the past 14 years. One of the more significant took place last year, when Borden took over Columbus Coated Fabrics, producer of fabrics coated with polyvinyl chloride and other resins. It is now a Borden Chemical division. This move provided Borden with an important captive outlet for its vinyl resins. Borden's polyvinyl chloride capacity is 80 million pounds a year in plants at Leominster, Mass., and Illiopolis, 111. Columbus was bought in exchange for some 525,000 shares of Borden stock. At the market price of Borden stock then, the deal involved about $33 to $34 million. The Columbus division contributed an estimated $35 million to Borden sales in 1961. Borden's ink operations may only add $4»to $6 million to sales. Borden entered the ink business largely to complement its position in the packaging and graphic arts fields. It now sells adhesives and various coating chemicals, as well as letterpress, lithographic, flexographic, and colored news inks. Commercial Ink & Lac-
INK DIVISION HEADS. The men who built Borden Chemical's new ink division are (left to right): James A. Wold, v.p., George Crupe, former v.p., and George Jacques, former president, of Commercial Ink; Charles O. Monk, former president, and C. Bart Hawley, former executive v.p., of Hawley-Monk 28
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quer, which Borden Chemical purchased in early 1960, had a dollar volume estimated at about $3 million a year from sales of gravure and flexographic inks and varnishes to the packaging, laminating, and furniture finishing industries. Hawley-Monk was added to the ink line-up last February. The firm made inks and related materials primarily for the graphic arts industry. These two ink firms form the core of Borden Chemical's ink division. The new division will have three plants to make gravure and flexoFair Lawn, graphic ink products: N.J., Whitehouse, Ohio, and a new plant to be built at Fremont, Calif. Three plants also produce oil- and water-based inks: Baltimore, Md., Cincinnati, Ohio, and Los Angeles, Calif. To complete the organization, manufacturing sales-service plants are located in Buffalo, N.Y., Charlotte, N.C., and Kalamazoo, Mich. Borden plans to add still more plants to produce inks and related products; it is studying prospects for additional facilities now. Each of Borden Chemical's divisions operates on an autonomous basis, with a separate budget, sales force, and laboratories. James A. Wold will be vice president in charge of the new ink division. George Jacques, former president of Commercial Ink, will be general sales manager; Charles O. Monk, formerly president of HawleyMonk, has been made national accounts sales manager; C. Bart Hawley, former executive vice president of Hawley-Monk, is general operations manager. Meanwhile, Borden Chemical (Canada) acquired Argus Printing Inks, Ltd., Etobicoke, O n t , last month and will operate it as a division. Argus makes a complete line of inks for the packaging and publishing industries. This operation will fall under Borden Chemical's international division, however, rather than the newly created ink division.
