Founded in 1935 as a maker of caustic soda, Tosoh (a Japanese abbreviation of oriental soda) still produces caustic soda but has expanded into a number of other areas. Today Tosoh's three core chemicals businesses -- petro-, basic, and specialties -- account for roughly equal portions of sales. The company's basic chemicals include polyvinyl chloride (PVC), vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), and chlorine. Its petrochemicals include olefins and aromatics such as benzene, toluene, and ethylene. Tosoh has been building up its higher-margin specialty chemicals like ethylene amines and specialty materials such as quartz. The Tosoh Corporation company has more than 140 affiliates worldwide but gets about 90% of sales from Japan.

SABIC Innovative Plastics is among the world's largest producers of high-performance polymers used bymanufacturers of electronics, office equipment, computer, and automotive. The company's units include Specialty Film & Sheet, which makes the polycarbonate sheet and film under the Lexan brand name; Polymershapes, a plastic film, sheet, and tube distributor; and Resins, a producer of all manner of plastic resins (the starting point in making most plastic materials). SABIC IP also owns LNP Engineering Plastics, a plastics compounding firm. The company was formed in 2007 when General Electric sold GE Plastics to Saudi Arabia's largest public company, SABIC, for $11 billion.

Finally, a Method for the madness of keeping a clean home. Method Products makes and sells home-cleaning products, hand and body cleansers, and air fresheners and candles. It differentiates itself from larger, more established competitors through innovative design -- dish-washing liquid in sleek bowling-pin-shaped bottles, teardrop hand soap bottles, and futuristic-looking mops. It also carves its niche by offering nontoxic, environmentally friendly products in a price range that costs less green. Products are sold at Target, Office Depot, Costco, and other major retailers and grocery stores in the US, Canada, and the UK. Chemical engineer Adam Lowry and account planner Eric Ryan founded the firm in 2001.

Hawkins, Inc. manufactures, blends, and distributes bulk and specialty chemicals. It operates through two segments, Industrial and Water Treatment. The Industrial segment provides industrial chemicals, products, and services to agriculture, energy, electronics, food, chemical processing, pulp and paper, pharmaceutical, medical device, and plating industries. This segment also offers acids, alkalis, and industrial and food-grade salts; and distributes various chemicals in bulk, including liquid caustic soda, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, phosphoric acid, potassium hydroxide, and aqua ammonia. In addition, this segment manufactures sodium hypochlorite and agricultural products, as well as food-grade products, including Cheese-Phos liquid phosphate, lactates, and other blended products; repackages water treatment chemicals; and performs custom blending of chemicals for customers according to customer formulas. The Water Treatment Segment provides equipment, chemicals, and solutions for potable water, municipal and industrial wastewater, industrial process water, and non-residential swimming pool water. Hawkins, Inc. was founded in 1938 and is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Samsung Total Petrochemicals sticks to the basics. The company manufactures building block chemicals that go into the making of a host of other chemicals needed to make the stuff we can use. It starts with a naphtha cracker, yielding propylene and ethylene, which are the raw materials in the production of all manner of polymers. Samsung Total divides its operations in three: polymer production (polyethylene, polypropylene, high- and low-density polyethylene), base chemicals (selling the ethylene and propylene the company doesn't use itself, as well as aromatics used to make the materials that go into synthetic fibers), and petrochemicals like solvents and liquefied petroleum gases (propane, butane, etc.).

alchimer is a practitioner of high-tech alchemy. The company specializes in chemical coatings used in both microelectronics and biomedical implants. alchimer's electro-grafting technology allows coating solutions (organic, polymer-based films) to be used on conducting and semi-conducting surfaces. alchimer's coatings can be used in such biomedical applications as drug-eluting stents; technological applications include integrated circuit manufacturing. A 2001 spin-off of the Commissariat ࠬ'Energie Atomique, the French government's atomic energy agency, Alchimer is owned by a consortium of private investors that includes AGF Private Equity and Rothschild.

The prognosis for Procter & Gamble Nordic: lots of consumer goods for Scandinavian customers. P&G Nordic carries out the Scandinavian operations of global consumer products giant Procter & Gamble, which opened its first office in the region (in Sweden) in 1969. P&G Nordic brings many of the parent company's top brands to consumers in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Well-known offerings include Olay cosmetics, Pampers diapers, Pringles potato chips, Vicks throat products, Tampax tampons, Pantene and Wella shampoos, and laundry and kitchen cleaning products such as Ajax, Dynamo, and Febreze.

Hawkeye Energy Holdings sure hopes you have. Operating through affiliates Hawkeye Renewables, Hawkeye Growth, and Hawkeye Gold, the ethanol maker runs two production facilities in Iowa from which it produces approximately 215 million gallons annually. Like most ethanol producers, Hawkeye Energy also markets distiller grains (a by-product of the manufacturing process) as animal feed. Private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners (THL) acquired 80% of the company, formerly called Iowa Falls Ethanol Plant, in 2006.

Kumho Petrochemical manufactures synthetic rubbers and resins, rubber chemicals, and electronic components for the semiconductor industry. Its products are found in everything from tires and shoes to office supplies and building materials. The company also builds heat and power plants that supply steam and electricity. Founded in 1970, Kumho Petrochemical operates through several domestic offices and plants and international locations in China, Germany, Indonesia, and the US. It is the holding company for the Kumho Asiana Group (land and sea transportation, construction, tire manufacturing, and financial services, among others).

Harcros Chemicals Inc is a major distributor and producer of industrial chemicals. Privately held since a management buy-out in 2001, the Company began business in 1917 as Thompson-Hayward Chemicals, and in 1961 was purchased by North American Philips. In 1981, Harrisons and Crosfield plc purchased the bulk of the business from Philips, subsequently changing the name to Harcros Chemicals Inc.

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