Company Profile
Church & Dwight Co Inc
Company Overview
Church & Dwight Co., Inc., a leader in personal care and household consumer products, offers several well-known brands, including Arm & Hammer, Trojan, Arrid, Clean Shower, Brillo and Nair.
Company History
In the Summer of 1896, Church & Company with John Dwight & Company was formed into the Church & Dwight Company. John Dwight & Company had just completed plans for a packing and shipping plant to be erected adjacent to the Solvay Company’s works at Syracuse, New York. When the merger was announced, the plans were changed to meet the needs of the new, larger organization. Among the officers of the newly-formed company were the Dwight son and one Church son whose wishes to enter the joint family business 31 years earlier had led to the surprising scene with John Maurice which then had led to Dr. Church’s resignation, and to the formation of Church & Company. Now, after 29 years of business rivalry, but of the closest personal friendship, the cousins were meeting as members of the same firm. The hopes of the fathers were in part fulfilled. John Dwight served as the first president of the company, and held that office until his death at age 84 in 1903 - after more than 57 years of service in the industry.
The Company’s early reputation for purity of product, integrity, and dependable service grew steadily over the years - as did its physical size. By 1938, the original factories in New York city were closed down and the Syracuse plant, originally built at the end of the 19th century, had been greatly expanded to serve as the Company’s sole production facility for over 70 years. In 1996, they celebrated their 100th year.
In 1968 a modern plant located in Green River, Wyoming went on stream. The Green River Plant now has a production capacity of ten times the original plant and is the world’s largest sodium bicarbonate plant. They are located near natural deposits of soda ash, much of which is shipped via railroad cars to the Old Fort, OH facility.
But in 1980 the Company’s production facility located in Old Fort, Ohio, became the most modern and efficient facility in the world for the manufacture of sodium bicarbonate. The original production capacity of 70,000 tons per year has been increased over the years through several expansion projects to its current 280,000 tons per year. The plant’s production is shipped to our industrial customers in a wide variety of bulk, bag, and box sizes, and product is also packaged for consumer ARM & HAMMER baking soda, carpet deodorizer, and cat litter deodorizer. This plant is the largest single supplier of sodium bicarbonate in the world, and combined with our sister plant in Green River, WY, puts Church & Dwight Co., Inc. in a powerful position to meet our customers’ needs.
In 1987 the Old Fort facility added a separate production plant for a new dairy additive product, MEGALAC. The MEGALAC Rumen Bypass Fat technology was obtained in England and brought to the United States by Church & Dwight Co. as a new high-energy nutritional supplement for dairy cows. The MEGALAC plant has an annual production capacity of 70,000 tons per year.
In 1994 the Specialty Products Division established the new Specialty Cleaning Unit which markets ARMEX Blast Media, ARMAKLEEN (aqueous circuit board cleaner), and derivations of these products for use in metal cleaning. These products are designed to replace cleaning materials that are being regulated out of existence. These products are produced at the Old Fort Plant, and lend further support to the Company’s Environmental Commitment.
The corporate headquarters of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. is located in Princeton, NJ where the Research & Development department continues to develop new uses for sodium bicarbonate and related products which are packaged and sold, primarily under the ARM & HAMMER trademark, through grocery stores, drug stores, mass merchandisers and distributors.
Notable Products / Brands
Arm & Hammer, Trojan, Arrid, Clean Shower, Brillo and Nair
Notable Accomplishments / Recognition
Church & Dwight is a major supplier of sodium carbonate-based products which are sold to a broad range of industries as a specialty chemical and marketed directly to consumers under the ARM & HAMMER® brand name.