Description
Sherwin-Williams is an American Cleveland, Ohio–based company in the paint and coating manufacturing industry. The company primarily engages in the manufacture, distribution, and sale of paints, coatings, floorcoverings, and related products to professional, industrial, commercial, and retail customers primarily in North and South America and Europe. At the end of 2020, Sherwin-Willams had operations in over 120 countries.
History
Sherwin-Williams dates from 1866, when Cleveland bookkeeper Henry Sherwin invested in Truman Dunham & Co., a paint distributorship. After the partnership dissolved in 1870, he formed Sherwin, Williams, & Co. with Edward Williams and A.T. Osborn. For its first factory, in 1873 the company acquired a cooperage in Cleveland from Standard Oil.
Sherwin-Williams was incorporated in Ohio on July 16, 1884, two years after Osborn sold his interest in the company while retaining the retail operations. The company grew through acquisitions and expansions in the late 19th and early 20th century. In the early 1920s, the company became the largest coatings manufacturer in the U.S.
Sherwin-Williams experienced a downturn in the 1970s, and Gulf and Western Industries unsuccessfully attempted to take over in that time. The company recovered by fending off the raid, and through a series of acquisitions in the 1980s and 1990s as well as divestment of non-coatings businesses. One such acquisition on July 5, 2011 was Leighs Paints based in Bolton UK, a manufacturer of intumescent paints and high performance coatings. In 1995, it employed 18,000 people, including 3,200 in Ohio. By 2002, the company operated more than 2,500 stores.
Global headquarters
In 1930, Sherwin-Williams moved its headquarters to Cleveland's Midland Building, where it would stay for over 75 years.
In September 2019, the company announced that it would move its headquarters to a larger site, and in February 2020, confirmed it would remain in the Cleveland area. That month, the company also began work on a new R&D center in Brecksville, OH. The new headquarters's location was clarified in March 2020, with the company committing to constructing a new building complex, also in Downtown Cleveland, expected to open in 2023.
Notable innovations
In 1875, Sherwin-Williams started selling ready-mixed paint. Previously, consumers bought paint ingredients that they themselves would mix together.
In the 1940s, Sherwin-Williams introduced Kem-Tone, a water-based fast-drying interior paint. In 1996, the American Chemical Society named the product a National Historic Chemical Landmark.
In 2016, the first paint registered as microbicidal with the United States Environmental Protection Agency was brought to market by Sherwin-Williams.
