Rodda Paint, one of the largest paint manufacturers in the Pacific Northwest, makes paints and other coatings that it sells in its 45 stores located throughout Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. In the summer of 2004 Rodda joined forces with an even larger regional paints maker, Canadian company Cloverdale Paint. The two companies merged operations but planned to keep using separate names in their respective countries and to maintain separate management teams. Art Rodda founded Rodda Paint in 1932.

Beauty is indeed only skin deep when it comes to laminates, quoth Nevamar. The company specializes in making thin laminates that serve to protect and/or decorate all manner of objects. Nevamar's laminates, high pressure laminates, specialty surfaces, aluminum sheets, and thermofused melamine panels are typically used in such applications as counters, wall panels, office and household furniture, interior doors, table tops, elevator cabs, and vanities. Laminates can mimic more expensive materials such as stone or wood or can be designed with special properties such as chemical resistance, fire resistance, or static dissipation. Panolam Industries acquired Nevamar in 2006.

Cooley Group Holdings' polymer materials are used to create a variety of cool products, including digital murals, safety gear, and reservoir liners. The company designs and manufactures advanced polymer coatings for flexible membranes. Cooley's operating groups include Sign and Awning Products (backlit signs and awnings), Specialty Products (medical, sports, transportation, and marine), Building Products (roofing), Engineered Membranes (environmental containment, construction, military), Digital Products (outdoor advertising), and Cooley Europe in the Netherlands (automotive, industrial and commercial construction, horticulture). The company was founded as Cooley Finishing Company in 1926 by Arthur Cooley.

Not unlike Rosie O'Donnell, Bombril makes its money being abrasive. Bombril is the largest manufacturer of steel wool in the world. The company also makes about 10 other household cleaning products, including detergents, disinfectants, deodorizers, fabric softeners, insecticides, and glass cleaners. Products are marketed under nearly 10 brand names, such as Bom Bril, Kalipto, Limpol, Mon Bijou, and Pratice, and distributed to more than 400,000 retail locations throughout Brazil. Bombril was founded in 1948 as Abrasivos Bombril. Today it operates three manufacturing plants located in Anchieta, Abreu e Lima, and Sete Lagoas.

GEO Specialty Chemicals knows that many niches can add up to a lot of market. The company makes about 300 specialty chemicals for niche markets such as water treatment, wire and cable manufacturing, construction, electronics, and oil and gas production. Its specialty additives improve the properties of concrete, gypsum wallboard, and plastics. GEO also produces performance chemicals (used in water treatment) and gallium (used in semiconductors for telecommunications equipment). GEO's strategy is to buy and build -- buy companies and then grow them organically.

PTT Aromatics and Refining (PTTAR) is in the additives business. The company makes products such as paraxylene, benzene, toluene, and orthoxylene, which are used in everything from food containers, polyester fiber, and synthetic rubber to paints and insecticide. PTTAR sells its products mostly to Thai companies, fulfilling its mandate to reduce the need for importing chemicals. About a third of the company's goods are exported to other Asian nations. PTTAR refines some 2.2 million tons of aromatics per year. PTT, Thailand's largest oil and gas company, owns 49% of PTTAR, which was formed in 2007 from the merger of The Aromatics (Thailand) and Rayong Refinery.

When super glue isn't enough, it's time to turn to the pros at Sound Specialty Coatings. The company makes epoxy, paint, coating, and adhesive products for residential, commercial, maritime, and military uses. They also manufacture hydrophobic and antistatic coatings for use in clean rooms, on rebar, in fisheries, for the lining of brewery tanks, and for marine vessels. Their products are nontoxic and environmentally friendly, which means anyone can use them.

Faultless Starch/Bon Ami aims to keep you crisp, clean, and nicely scented. The company's product lines include the market-leading Faultless and Magic Sizing brand laundry starches, Bon Ami cleaners, Kleen King metal cleaners, the Garden Weasel and WeedPopper garden tools, and Trapp room sprays and candles. It also produces a line of starches and chemicals for the commercial laundry market. Although once in decline, the Bon Ami product line has enjoyed a rise in popularity as an environmentally friendly cleaner, while starch is on the rebound with the return of cotton in garments. Faultless Starch/Bon Ami has been owned and operated by the founding Beaham family since 1887.

Albemarle Corporation engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of engineered specialty chemicals. It operates in three segments: Polymer Additives, Catalysts, and Fine Chemicals. The Polymer Additives segment offers brominated, mineral, and phosphorus flame retardants that are used in plastic enclosures for consumer electronics, printed circuit boards, wire and cable, electrical connectors, textiles, foam insulation, and foam seating in furniture and automobiles. This segment also produces plastic and other additives, such as curatives, antioxidants, and stabilizers. The Catalysts segment provides refinery catalysts, including hydroprocessing catalysts, fluidized catalytic cracking catalysts, and additives; and polyolefin catalysts comprising aluminum and magnesium-alkyls, which are used as co-catalysts, as well as metallocene/single-site catalysts that aid in the development and production of new polymers.The Fine Chemicals segment offers performance chemicals, including elemental bromine, alkyl bromides, inorganic bromides, and various bromine fine chemicals, which are used in various industrial applications; and tertiary amines for surfactants, biocides, disinfectants, and sanitizers; potassium and chlorine-based products that are used in industrial applications; alkenyl succinic anhydride for paper-sizing formulations; and aluminum oxides that are used in various refractory, ceramic, and polishing applications. This segment also engages in fine chemistry services business, which offers custom manufacturing, research, and chemical scale-up services for companies. The company provides its products and services to manufacturers of consumer electronics, building and construction materials, automotive parts, packaging, pharmaceuticals and agrichemicals, and petroleum refiners in the United States and internationally. Albemarle Corporation was founded in 1993 and is based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Sensient Technologies Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and marketing of colors, flavors, and fragrances worldwide. Its products include flavors, flavor enhancers, and bionutrients; fragrances and aroma chemicals; dehydrated vegetables and other food ingredients; natural and synthetic food and beverage colors; cosmetic and pharmaceutical colors, and additives; and technical colors, inkjet colors and inks, and specialty dyes and pigments. The company operates in two segments, Flavors & Fragrances Group and Color Group. The Flavors & Fragrances Group segment offers systems products, including flavor-delivery systems; compounded and blended products; and ingredient products, such as essential oils, natural and synthetic flavors, and aroma chemicals. This segment sells its products to food industries, including savory, beverage, dairy, confectionery, and bakery flavors; and non-food industries, such as personal and home care-markets, and pharmaceuticals market. The Color Group segment provides natural and synthetic color systems for foods, beverages, and pharmaceuticals; colors and other ingredients for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals; and technical colors for industrial applications and digital imaging. The company was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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