Rohm and Haas Company is a US manufacturer of specialty chemicals for end use markets such as building and construction, electronic devices, packaging, household and personal care products. Headquartered in Philadelphia, the company is organized into three business groups of Specialty Materials, Performance Materials and Electronic Materials, and also has two stand-alone businesses of Powder Coatings and Salt. Formerly a Fortune 500 Company, Rohm and Haas employs more than 17,000 people in 27 countries, with its last sales revenue reported as an independent company at US$8.9 billion. Dow Chemical Company bought Rohm and Haas for $15 billion in 2009.[2]
History
The company was founded in Esslingen, Germany, by Dr. Otto Röhm and Mr. Otto Haas in 1907. Haas moved to Philadelphia and began the American side of the business on September 1, 1909, from an office on Front Street, while Otto Röhm remained in Germany to run a company that would eventually become Röhm GmbH. Röhm improved the unhygienic working conditions in tanneries by replacing dog feces as a leather mordant with enzymes harvested from the pancreas of slaughtered animals. Leather factories soon started buying the new product, Oropon. The American company grew rapidly as World War I approached as leather was needed in large quantities for belts and saddles.[3]