Innovation - Laying the Groundwork for Success

Since the beginning, Americhem has been an innovator with a keen focus on providing high-quality products and services. Americhem has built a very compelling reputation and global brand. This is evident when speaking with our customers.

As we plot our business strategy for the coming years we ask ourselves, “What made Americhem stand out for our customers over 73 years and what can we do to build upon that legacy of innovation?” I have made some observations that I hope you can take and apply to your own business strategies.

Do what you do well. Build a foundation to strengthen and expand your core competencies.
Americhem’s core competencies in color science, dispersion, formulation, weathering and technical bench strength, together with our willingness to tackle big challenges lead us to our greatest opportunities. Identify what makes your business stand out. Take these core competencies, use them as building blocks and infuse them with everything your business does.

Be well connected to the market.
A close customer connection provides a great springboard for innovation. Unfiltered technical-to-technical relationships are instrumental to a growing organization. They provide the opportunity to better listen, observe, problem-solve and anticipate future trends.

Build a strategic technology roadmap and an innovation portfolio that promotes concepts.
By building customer needs into a strategic technology plan and innovation portfolio, there is a higher probability that you will engage customers early and be market leaders.

Ideas + Commercialization = Innovation
Ideas are only ideas without our ability to bring viable products to market. At Americhem, we introduced a development process to help teams navigate the complexities of product development and launch. What kind of ideas have been mentioned around your office? Maybe now is the time to gather ideas and brainstorm how to bring them to market.

Developing an innovation mindset.
Good innovators connect dots, challenge the way things are done and understand that experimentation is vital to gaining new insights and new knowledge. Curiosity, sharing, documenting and experimenting are all traits of an innovative organization.

Innovation is at the forefront of any business growth strategy. I’ve shared with you some of the key initiatives that can bring innovation to the head of your business strategies. The world is always looking for something new, something creative and something that shows how your company is innovative.

Wendy Shuttleworth

Director of Research and Development, Americhem Inc.

Colors with Meaning

At Americhem, color is our business. We work with color every day and we know what makes a good color. With our high color standards, we take a lot of care when choosing the colors to represent our company. We used a tool known as the Dewey Color System®, which is considered the world’s first statistically valid color test that utilizes extensive opinion testing to scientifically verify the common links between color and emotion. With this system, we were able to accurately choose company colors to convey our company values.

Navy Blue
Navy Blue expresses a sense of authority, stability, and efficiency. Over the past 73 years, Americhem has been established as an industry authority. We work hard to educate through our Americhem U  series of courses, to host presentations at industry trade shows, and to be an available resource for our customers.

Navy signifies a company that is stable and efficient and is depended on by its customers. Trust and acceptance from our customers are important. We consistently follow our company principles, holding ourselves to maintaining the highest of ethical and moral standards with our customers.

Sage Green
Sage Green indicates nature and wholesomeness. It represents Americhem’s dedication to being eco-friendly and preserving the natural environment. We recently attained ISO 14001 certification for our Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio plant. This distinction recognizes Americhem for environmental management solution dyeing process  that saves water and energy while eliminating waste material.
systems. We are also the leader of the eco-friendly solution dyeing process that saves water and energy while eliminating waste material.

Green generates a calming, relaxed mood and shows that a company is genuine, forthright, and sincere. Our ability to surpass the competition is dependent upon the collective drive and intellect of cohesive teams. We work in partnership with our customers to create the best available solutions.

Burnt Orange
Burnt Orange is the color chosen to accent our two main colors. While not part of our logo, burnt orange still plays an important part in our company image. It represents Americhem’s specialty in uncovering solutions to problems. Americhem is dedicated to being your problem solver. Some of Americhem’s best selling products came into being as a result of our responsiveness to a specific customer problem.  From idea to reality, we collaborate with our customers to overcome product design challenges and to meet exacting color and end use property specifications.

Orange embodies our innovative spirit and responsiveness to customer needs. Our research and development team are constantly working on polymeric research that leads to groundbreaking technologies  for our customers. We strive to improve our own efficiency and effectiveness to provide the best value and innovations to our customers.

Aubrey Barto

Marketing Assistant, Americhem Inc.

How Our Values Were Instilled by Our Founders



Sylvester S. Caldwell

Where does a company’s culture come from? Well in Americhem’s case, our culture came directly as a result of the values, ethics and ideals of our company’s founders. We are fortunate to have such great role models to look up to, and their core values and beliefs continue to drive the company to this day.

The first founder was Sylvester Caldwell. After working in his father’s wholesale grocery business in Alabama, Mr. Caldwell moved north to become an Akron, Ohio salesman for Thompson Weinman & Company, a manufacturer of fillers for the rubber industry. It was when Thompson Weinman closed its Akron office that Mr. Caldwell became an entrepreneur and started his own company in 1941 – The Caldwell Company – which was a manufacturer’s representative. His founding spirit guided the company’s growth when, during natural rubber shortages and rationing during World War II, his company began representing others, including makers of vinyl stabilizers, lubricants and pigments. Mr. Caldwell was the epitome of a true entrepreneur – he organized and managed his company with considerable initiative and risk, and lived to see it grow to new heights.

Harvey E. Cooper

The other two founders of our company were Dick Juve and Harvey Cooper. Having joined the company five years apart, in 1958, each acquired one-third shares of The Caldwell Company with Mr. Caldwell holding the final third. Mr. Juve became president and Mr. Cooper became vice president and in 1959, they changed the company name to Americhem and began manufacturing their own products. Coming from an era when corruption ran rampant in the business world, both of these leaders stood for ethics and the promise of keeping one’s word. Both were men of principle, honesty and compassion that were admired by many in the industry and community. Mr. Juve stated that if any customer ever offered Americhem bribes, the company would rather give up the business than fall prey to dishonesty and fraud. Mr. Cooper became famous for saying, “Profits are important and the fuel for the growth of Americhem, but honesty, trust and and integrity are more important.”

Richard H. (Dick) Juve

As the company grew, Mr. Juve and Mr. Cooper looked out for the best interests of their employees. They began weekly and later monthly meetings held (in good weather) under an apple tree behind the dock at the plant. They listened to their employee’s concerns, reviewed the company financials, and prioritized issues facing the company. They earned their employees’ trust and these meetings are still held to this day at each of our plants.

English scientist Sir Isaac Newton once wrote, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” This is how I feel about the men who founded our company. The actions that they took, the courage that they exhibited, and the integrity that they instilled in the company go much farther than words can express, and stand as a living testament to their leadership in Americhem’s company culture.

Scott Blanchard

Senior Corporate Marketing Specialist, Americhem Inc.

President's Post- Planning

Fall is an exciting time for Americhem, the new fiscal year is upon us. We get to watch our months of preparation and planning come together to benefit the company as a whole. It really is invigorating to see the plans we have been working on come to life for 2015 and beyond, to have learned from 2014 and to push forward growing as a company.

It’s important to step back and assess your business, to check that you have the necessary tools to reach the company’s financial and operational goals. But above all, this is the time to work with your employees, making sure your employees are motivated in their work environment. This critical factor is key to a competitive advantage in the market place.

I am proud of what Americhem was able to accomplish during 2014, and I have high hopes for 2015. This year we received multiple technical certifications, presented a successful Color Trends program, doubled the size and capacity of our plant in China and rebranded our online presence.

However, Americhem is not immune to the trends of the economies around us. The key to business growth into a new year is being vigilant in how you respond to the macro-economic trends for the economies and markets you are working in. Finding balance in an up and down economy can be tough, but through thorough planning I believe it can be done. In the end, a plan is only as effective as its first day.

Read more with our article in Plastics News.

John Deignan

President, Americhem Inc.