Kimberly-Clark
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| Kimberly''-Clark Corporation | |
|---|---|
| Type | Public (NYSE: KMB, BMV:Kimber) |
| Founded | Neenah, Wisconsin, USA (1872) |
| Headquarters | Irving, Texas, USA (World Headquarters) |
| No. of locations | Thomas J. Falk, CEO/Chairman Mark A. Buthman, SVP/CFO |
| Industry | Paper & Paper Products |
| Products | Kleenex Huggies Kotex Depend Scott VIVA Cottonelle Andrex Pull-Ups GoodNites Little Swimmers Poise Neat Sheet |
| Revenue | ▲$18.266 billion USD (2007) |
| Operating income | ▲$2.616 billion USD (2007) |
| Net income | ▲$1.823 billion USD (2007) |
| Total assets | $18.44 billion USD (2007) |
| Total equity | $5.224 billion USD (2007) |
| Employees | 53,000 (December 2007) |
| Website | www.Kimberly-Clark.com |
Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB, BMV: Kimber) is an American corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. Kimberly-Clark brand name products include "Kleenex" facial tissue, "Kotex" feminine hygiene products, "Cottonelle" toilet paper, Wypall utility wipes, "KimWipes" scientific cleaning wipes, and "Huggies" disposable diapers. Based in Irving, Texas, it has approximately 55,000 employees.
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[edit] History
Kimberly, Clark and Co. was founded in 1872 by John A. Kimberly, Havilah Babcock, Charles B. Cock, and Franklyn C. Shattuck in Neenah, Wisconsin with USD$30,000 capitalization.[citation needed] The group's first business was operating paper mills, which the collective expanded throughout the following decades. In 1914 the company developed cellu-cotton, a cotton substitute used by the United States Army as surgical cotton during World War I. Army nurses used cellu-cotton pads as disposable sanitary napkins, and six years later the company introduced Kotex, the first disposable feminine hygiene product. Kleenex, the first disposable handkerchief, followed in 1924. Kimberly & Clark joined with The New York Times Company in 1926 to build a newsprint mill in Ontario, Canada. Two years later the company went public as Kimberly-Clark.
The firm expanded internationally during the 1950s, opening plants in Mexico, Germany, and the United Kingdom. It began operations in 17 more foreign locations in the 1960s.[citation needed] The company formed Midwest Express Airlines from its corporate flight department in 1984. Kimberly-Clark's headquarters moved from Neenah, Wisconsin to Irving, Texas, the following year.
In 1991, Kimberly-Clark and The New York Times Company sold a jointly owned paper mill. Kimberly-Clark entered a joint venture to produce personal care products in Argentina in 1994 and also bought the feminine hygiene units of VP-Schickedanz (Germany) and Handan Comfort and Beauty Group (China).
Kimberly-Clark bought Scott Paper in 1995 for $9.4 billion.[citation needed] In 1997, Kimberly-Clark sold its 50% stake in Canada's Scott Paper to forest products company Kruger and bought diaper operations in Spain and Portugal and disposable surgical face masks maker Tecnol Medical Products. Augmenting its presence in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, in 1999 the company paid $365 million for the tissue business of Swiss-based Attisholz Holding.[citation needed] Adding to its offerings of medical products, the company bought Ballard Medical Products in 1999 for $744 million and examination glove maker Safeskin in 2000 for about $800 million.[citation needed]
Also in 2000, the company bought virtually all of Taiwan's S-K Corporation; the move made Kimberly-Clark one of the largest manufacturers of consumer packaged goods in Taiwan and set the stage for expanded distribution in the Asia/Pacific region. The company later purchased Taiwan Scott Paper Corporation for about $40 million and merged the two companies, forming Kimberly-Clark Taiwan. In 2001, Kimberly-Clark bought Italian diaper maker Linostar, and announced it was closing four Latin American manufacturing plants.
In 2002, Kimberly-Clark purchased paper-packaging rival Amcor's stake in an Australian joint venture. Adding to its global consumer tissue business, in 2003 Kimberly-Clark acquired the Polish tissue-maker Klucze.
In early 2004 Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Falk began implementation of the global business plan the company detailed in July 2003. The firm combined its North American and European groups for personal care and consumer tissue under North Atlantic groups and was working to ensure that Asian, Latin American, and Eastern European markets were supplied, specifically in the areas of value-tiered diapers, light-end incontinence, and health care products.
[edit] Governance
Current members of the board of directors of the Kimberly-Clark Corporation are: John Alm, Dennis Beresford, John Bergstrom, Abelanrdo Bru, Pastora Cafferty, Robert Decherd, Thomas Falk, Claudio X. Gonzalez, Mae Jemison, Linda Rice, Marc Shapiro, and Craig Sullivan.
[edit] Relationship with Midwest Airlines
Midwest Airlines began in 1948, when the Kimberly-Clark Corporation began providing air transportation for company executives and engineers between the company's Neenah, Wisconsin headquarters, and company owned paper mills.
In 1969, K-C Aviation was born from the company's air operations, and was dedicated to the maintenance of corporate aircraft. After the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, Kimberly-Clark and K-C Aviation decided to form a regularly scheduled passenger airline, and out of the initiative, Midwest Express was started in 1984. The name of the airline was shortened to Midwest Airlines in 2003.
[edit] Environmental Record
In 2005, Greenpeace launched a campaign against Kimberly-Clark because the company has been linked to the logging of ancient Boreal forests. The environmental organization charges that Kimberly-Clark uses more than 3 million tonnes of pulp from forests to produce tissue products, such as the Kleenex brand. The corporation is a purchaser of pulp from clearcutting operations in ancient forests in Ontario and Alberta, Canada that are home to threatened wildlife such as woodland caribou and wolverines.[1] However, these charges are heavily disputed by Kimberly-Clark.As part of the international Kleercut campaign, Greenpeace is publicizing the links between Kleenex brand tissue products and the destruction of ancient forests, moving shareholders to put pressure on Kimberly-Clark, and motivating customers to switch to more environmental tissue product manufacturers.
According to Kimberly-Clark's latest sustainability report, released in April 2006, Kimberly-Clark has a corporate policy against the logging of coastal temperate rain forests of British Columbia, Canada. In July of 2006, Greenpeace, in a report entitled the Chain of Lies, revealed that Kimberly-Clark had been using pulp from coastal temperate rain forests since at least 2004.
In April 2007, Greenpeace released another investigative report called Cut and Run detailing violations of past and existing Kimberly-Clark fibre procurement policies. Additionally the report provided an overview of the impact of Kimberly-Clark's operation and purchase of pulp from the Kenogami Forest located in Northern Ontario, Canada. The report is based on government data and publications, audit reports and satellite maps.
Kimberly-Clark will use methane gas from a landfill to generate steam for a Jackson, South Carolina manufacturing facility, AP reports.The methane gas will be released by waste decomposition at the Three Rivers Solid Waste Authority landfill. When the project becomes operational in April 2008, it will provide 1,800 cubic feet of landfill gas per minute to fuel steam boilers at the Beech Island facility.[2]
Kimberly-Clark is also working to reduce the weight of transportation and product packaging used by each of Kimberly-Clark’s worldwide businesses by 10 percent by 2005.[3]
[edit] Major U.S. consumer product lines
[edit] Kleenex
Kleenex is the brand name of facial tissue paper. Many versions have been made, including with lotion, our softest ever!, and regular. Kleenex is also one of the most popular brands of tissue.[citation needed]
[edit] Depend
Depend is a brand name for an adult diaper worn by those afflicted with urinary or fecal incontinence.
[edit] Kotex
Brand name for KC's Feminine Products line. Product forms include liners, pads, and tampons.
[edit] Cottonelle
Brand name for Bath products. Product forms include premium bath tissue and flushable moist wipe products.
[edit] Huggies
The main rival for Huggies in North America is Pampers, sold by Kimberly-Clark's main competitor, Procter & Gamble. Huggies has two lines of diapers, Supreme and Ultratrim, also referred to as Baby Shaped. Both versions are unisex. Huggies also sells a diaper size designed specifically for preemies. Additional Huggies brand products include "Huggies Clean Team" products for toddlers such as shampoo, hand soap, wash mitten, etc. Huggies also sells Pull-up training pants, which are used for help in toilet training toddlers.
[edit] Pull-Ups
Pull-Ups is a brand of training pants made under the Huggies brand of baby products. The product was first introduced in 1989 and became popular with the motto "I'm a big kid now!" The training pants are marketed with two packages: boys' designs are blue with Buzz Lightyear and similar patterns; girls' designs are lilac with Disney princess and similar patterns.
- In 2000, Pull-ups added wetness indicators on each pair to tell whether or not the wearer is wet.
- In 2002, Pull-ups introduced easy-open sides, which caused a controversy amongst parents, some calling them a convenience, others a "glorified diaper."
- In 2005, to compete with Pampers, Pull-ups divided into two separate products. The original style was called "with Learning Designs" and the new style "with Wetness Liner" to compete with Pampers' Feel N' Learn product. The wetness liner helps the wearer to tell the difference between wet and dry by actually feeling a "wet" sensation for a few seconds.
[edit] GoodNites
GoodNites are absorbent disposable underwear manufactured by Kimberly Clark (makers of Huggies Diapers and Depend Briefs) made primarily for children and teens who still wet the bed at night. The ages average from 5 to 15 years of age (though smaller adults with a 36 inch waist or thinner can fit the larger ones as well). They can also be used for daytime protection as well. They all come in one absorbancy. They are ideal for children with "weak bladders" who feel the need to urinate frequently but cannot get to the bathroom as often as they need to. They hold up to a urination and a half. GoodNites go on and off like regular underwear but have the absorbancy of a diaper. They are not recommended for children who cannot feel the need to urinate or for fecal incontinence. They can be worn for long car trips or even to school for kids who are accident prone. This product is also popular among AB/DLs.
When GoodNites were first put on the market in 1994, they were plain white without designs, unisex, and came in two sizes: Medium (45–65 lb) and Large (65–85 lb) In 1998, a third size, Extra Large (85–125 lb) was added. They are still sold in this form in countries outside of North America as Drynites. In mid-2004, the GoodNites design was changed for the American market so that they have "custom protection" for boys and girls and gender-specific prints to make them look more like boys and girls regular briefs. The current design is described above.
[edit] Little Swimmers
Little Swimmers are disposable swim pants which protect in the water without swelling up like normal diapers do, with special protection on the outside to keep the swim pants from breaking. Little swimmers come in three sizes. Small (16-26 lbs), Medium (24-34 lbs.), and Large (32+ lbs.)
[edit] Scott
Scott is a brand name of napkins, paper towels, and bath tissue/wipes.
[edit] VIVA
VIVA is a brand name of heavy-duty paper towels.
[edit] Major professional and global products
[edit] KimWipes
KimWipes are a type of cleaning tissue commonly used in laboratories. KimWipes are composed of paper, silicon, and other substances. As a result of the silicon, the paper is somewhat rough feeling. KimWipes are used to wipe a variety of items, including slides and pipettes. They are sometimes used to clean lenses as well, but using lens tissue instead is often recommended, as KimWipes can scratch optical surfaces.
[edit] DryNites
The Australasian and European version of GoodNites, DryNites were much plainer and sized differently than Goodnites and were unisex. As in GoodNites, Drynites come in three sizes, Medium, Large and Extra Large.
This was changed in 2006, and now, the product mirrors the American version more closely.
[edit] See Also
[edit] References
- ^ NRDC Backgrounder: Kimberly-Clark: Cutting Down Ancient Forests to Make Throwaway Products
- ^ Kimberly-Clark Pumps Landfill Methane To Manufacturing Facility · Environmental Leader · Green Business, Sustainable Business, and Green Strategy News for Corporate Sustainability Executives
- ^ 2002 Kimberly-Clark Corporate Environmental Report.pub
[edit] External links
- Kimberly-Clark's official website
- Kimberly-Clark Corporate
- Cut and Run report on Kimberly-Clark's destruction of the Kenogami Forest
- Wypalls
- Kimberly-Clark Fact Sheet
- Yahoo.com company profile
- Listing of diaper factories all over the world (K.C's competitors)
