Ecolab Inc., St. Paul, Minn., manufactures cleaning, sanitizing, pest-elimination and maintenance and repair products for the world's hospitality, institutional and industrial markets. The company's customers include hotels and restaurants, food-service, health-care and educational facilities, fast-food restaurants, commercial laundries, light industry, dairy plants and farms, and food and beverage processors. Fifty-one percent of the company's customers are in the U.S. Ecolab's leading U.S. market is institutional facilities, accounting for 25% of the company's U.S. business. The company's next-largest U.S. market is the food and beverage industry, representing 8% of sales.
History
In 1923, Merritt J. Osborn, a former auto dealer from St. Paul, Minn., developed a new product that cleaned carpets on the spot and eliminated the need for hotels to shut down while their carpets were being cleaned. He called the new product Absorbit and called his company Economics Laboratory. The following year, Osborn began marketing Soilax, a nonsudsing cleaning compound he acquired from a chemistry student, to clean mechanical dishwashers that restaurants were beginning to use. In 1928, the company invented and patented the first "wash boiler" dispenser, which injected Soilax into dishwashers, and marked the company's entry into mechanical technology. Twenty years later, the company introduced the first rinse additive for dishwashers to speed up the drying process. In 1984, the company acquired Lystads Inc., a firm specializing in pest-elimination services. Two years later, the company changed its name to Ecolab Inc. In 1994, the company created its Water Care Services Division to offer water treatment programs for boilers, cooling-water and waste-treatment systems. Since 2000, the company has continued expanding into new markets.
Officers
Doug Baker succeeded Allan Schuman as the company's CEO July 1, 2004. Baker joined Ecolab in 1989 as a marketing director in the company's Institutional Division. He held a series of positions with increasing responsibility, including vice president and general manager of the company's food-safety division, senior vice president of Ecolab's institutional sector and company COO. Steven Fritze has served as the company's senior vice president and CFO since March 2002. He previously held positions as the company's senior vice president of the company's finance and controller department. As CFO, Fritze is responsible for the company's accounting and control, treasury, tax and investor relations activities.
In The News:Ecolab Study Finds 'Superbugs'
Ecolab researchers concluded that strict hygiene is the best way to destroy super-resilient bacteria in health-care settings, Reuters reported Oct. 13. The bacteria that researchers studied are resistant to even the strongest antibiotics. The Ecolab team applied methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus onto samples of bed linen, keyboard covers and acrylic fingernails, according to the article. The researchers detected the bacteria eight weeks later on acrylic fingernails, six weeks later on computer keyboard covers and five days later on bed linens, Reuters reported.
"The results of this study clearly demonstrate the need for frequent hand washing and environmental disinfection in health-care settings," Ecolab researcher Kris Owens told Reuters.
-- Compiled By Jonathan Katz. This appeared in IW's Dec. 16, 2005 issue.
Primary Industry
Chemicals
Executive 1
Douglas M. Baker, Pres., CEO
Executive 2
Steven L. Fritze, Sr. VP, CFO
Revenues (US$ Millions)
4184.93
Revenue Growth (%)
11.25
Earnings Per Share (US$)
1.19
Total Equity (US$ Millions)
1562.52
Profit Margin (%)
7.42
Return On Equity (%)
23.97
Debt To Equity Ratio (%)
0.41
Market Capitalization (US$ Millions)
9047.45
Revenue Growth (%)
11.25
Note: Financial data appeared in IW's August 2005 issue.
IW 50 Best Manufacturing Company
