Loctite

Loctite is in the business of solving customers' problems. When a customer buys Loctite, they get more than a product--they get a partner who will work side-by-side with them to find innovative solutions to their manufacturing problems. From engineering and testing programs to manufacturing products on the factory floor, Loctite brings a world of expertise and experience to its customers. In a design-through-assembly partnership, no one adds value like Loctite. The manufacturer of Super Glue, Loctite Corporation sells more than 1,000 types of high-technology sealants, adhesives, and coatings, marketing its products to industrial and consumer markets in more than 80 countries. Although Loctite's greatest fame comes from its consumer products, notably Super Glue, the company derives the majority of its sales from industrial customers. Loctite products are used in a variety of industrial applications, ranging from electronics to cosmetics. In 1997, Henkel KGaA, a German manufacturer of chemicals, detergents, industrial adhesives, and cosmetics, acquired Loctite in a transaction valued at $1.2 billion. The story of Loctite Corporation begins at Dr. Vernon Krieble's chemistry laboratory at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1953. Krieble's son Robert, who was also a chemist, worked for General Electric Company's chemical business in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Bob had been working on the development of a synthetic sealant that was labeled "anaerobic permafil." Being anaerobic, the substance would cure only when deprived of oxygen. The problems associated with handling the product puzzled him, and he consulted his father about the chemical's strange behavior. Vernon Krieble discovered that the liquid, when applied to nuts, bolts, and fasteners, would flow into the crevices and harden and lock them together. The major problem that remained was how to package the product while keeping it aerated; if it was packaged in a sealed container it would harden. The problem was solved after the Plax Company, a division of Emhart Corp., introduced a polyethylene substance that was permeable to oxygen. Although the original technology was sold by General Electric Company, the Kriebles patented their product as an entire system&mdashåerobic sealants stored in Plax bottles. The Plax bottles eliminated the need for separate storage devices and aerating devices, such as air compressors, to keep the liquid from hardening. This product became the pilot product of the American Sealants Company which Professor Krieble formed in 1953. The fact that Loctite was extremely cheap to produce and eliminated the need for mechanical locking devices, such as lockwashers, helped the company overcome such skepticism. Because Loctite competed directly with mechanical locking devices, Krieble priced its product in the same range--although the actual manufacturing cost was much less. The company educated customers about Loctite's usage and potential. The Loctite system also included customer equipment and products required for assembly line applications. As Butterworth noted in The Loctite Story, "We don't just sell a bottle of glue, we sell a system and the system can cost one million dollars." The strategy was a huge success in the 1960s, and the Loctite method was used in threadlocking, pipe-sealing, and the development of different strengths and viscosities; sealing machine tool parts (which obviated the need for machines to be built to close finishes, a costly process); and developing a completely bonded assembly for motors used in hand-held power tools for the Black & Decker Corporation. By 1968 the company was poised to enter into the booming automobile market. Foreign automakers embraced Loctite to help stop vibrations in their smaller, higher revving engines. Detroit-based automakers, however, waited seven years to adopt the product and initially used it for threaded and fitted parts, thereby replacing a wide class of locking fasteners prone to