Cigarettes are certainly hazardous to your health, but the making of cigarette filter materials has been good for Daicel Chemical. The company was founded in 1919 to make celluloid (the first plastic) and still makes cellulose-based products such as cellulose acetate, used in filters and photographic film. Daicel primarily makes films for packaging and plastics. The company also produces an array of organic chemicals (acetic acid, acetic anhydride) used in fibers, paints, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. Daicel's aerospace and defense systems/safety systems unit produces inflators for automobile air bags and rocket propellants.

Haviland Enterprises distributes chemicals such as acids, alcohols, amines, chelating agents, lubricants, solvents, and surfactants. The company also provides contract blending and packaging, research and development, technical service, compliance training, and supply chain management services. It primarily serves customers in the Midwestern US but provides services to all 50 states and overseas as well. Associated companies include Haviland Contoured Plastics, which makes spiral-wound plastic hose, and Haviland Consumer Products, which blends and packages swimming pool chemicals for private-label customers.

CEPS, formerly known as Dinkie Heel, invests in a handful of specialty businesses. Its Davies Odell business makes body armor, protective underwear, matting for equestrian and dairy use, and a range of footwear repair products. CEPS' Friedman's is a specialist textile importer. The company acquired Friedman's, an importer and distributor of Lycra materials used in dancewear and swimwear, in 2005. The company's Sunline Direct Mail unit is engaged in the the polythene wrapping of mail packs. CEPS has been operating since 1930.

Don't expect nominal consistency from California Products; no matter its name, the company is based in New England. Through its California Paints division, the company makes paints and coatings for home and office uses, ceiling whites and enamels for hard wall interiors, and finishes and primers. Its Plexipave Sport Surfacing Systems and DecoSystems divisions make tennis, track, and other sport surfaces, and subsidiary Fiberlock Technologies manufactures environmental containment products. Employees are majority shareholders in the company, whose name dates back to its founding as a subsidiary of a West Coast stucco manufacturer. In 2007 private equity behemoth Apollo Management took a stake in the company.

Mace Security International, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures various security products in the United States. Its Security Segment designs, manufactures, assembles, markets, and sells a range of security products, principally electronic surveillance products and components. It sells its electronic surveillance products and components primarily to installing dealers, distributors, system integrators, and end users. This segment also owns and operates a wholesale central monitoring station, as well as offers less-than-lethal Mace defense sprays and other security devices, such as monitors, high-end digital and machine vision cameras, and professional imaging components, as well as video conferencing equipment. The company’s Digital Media Marketing Segment focuses on selling products on third party Internet promotional sites. In addition, it owns and operates car wash business. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Horsham, Pennsylvania.

Teknor Apex is no retread. At least not any longer. Founded in 1924 as a tire distributor and retreader, Teknor Apex has sold off those assets to concentrate on chemicals, plastic, and rubber. The company has seven divisions that provide chemicals (plasticizers and toll compounding), garden hoses, rubber (custom mixing and molding of rubber compounds), specialty compounding (custom thermoplastic compound manufacturing and toll compounding of plastics), color concentrates for plastics (Teknor Color Company), thermoplastic elastomers, and vinyl (custom PVC compounds). The founding Fain family owns a controlling interest.

Mitsubishi Rayon's largest business segment makes chemicals and plastics, principally those based on MMA monomers. Another major business segment produces man-made fibers, including polyester and acrylic fibers and Pylen, a recyclable material used for interior decoration and automobile interiors. Other operations include specialty products such as plastic optical fibers, composite fibers, and water filtration systems. Mitsubishi Rayon is part of the Mitsubishi "keiretsu," a group of firms affiliated through extensive cross-ownership.

zuChem's the one they call Dr. Feel Good. Its products are the ones that'll make you feel all right. In addition to making chemicals for pharmaceuticals, the Chicago-based, development stage company is in the process of making an artificial sweetener that can give that sugar high you crave without the calories you don't. zuChem manufactures glycochemicals for the pharmaceutical, food, flavor and fragrance, and specialty chemicals industries. It has a partnership with chemical marketing and distribution company Austin Chemical to sell its rare sugars product zuCarb to the pharmaceuticals market. That zuChem, Inc. company is also based in Chicago.

Like a prissy fourth-grade girl, Willert Home Products doesn't like things to be smelly. The company manufactures incense and oils (Spiritual Sky and Scented Garden), toilet deodorizers (Bowl Fresh), potpourri and other home fragrances (Concerto), insecticides (Enoz), and a kind of moth preventative that doesn't leave that moth ball-y odor afterward (Reefer-Galler). Willert's products are sold nationally in grocery and discount stores like Wegmans, Winn-Dixie, and Wal-Mart and internationally in more than 40 countries. Willert Home Products was formed by August Willert and George Irwin in 1946; the Willert family owns and runs the company.

Durability is fundamental to Dura Coat Products. The company specializes in high-performance coatings for metal surfaces. Dura Coat develops and makes coil-applied coatings to protect metal building exteriors and roofing, trim and sidewall, rain ware, and HVAC components. Coatings are also used on garage doors, appliances, hardware, and vehicles. Spray coatings protect aluminum extrusions such as window frames and storefronts. For galvanized tubing, its high-solids exterior and water-based interior coatings are made to meet mechanical and electrical tubing markets. Dura Coat operates manufacturing plants in Huntsville, Alabama, and Riverside, California.

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