GOJO Industries, Inc., is a manufacturer of hand hygiene and skin care products. Its best known product is Purell instant hand sanitizer. The company was founded in 1946 in Akron, Ohio, where is again headquartered after a period in Cuyahoga Falls. GOJO introduced Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer in 1988, and its Provon brand name in 1989.[1]
GOJO was founded in 1946 in Akron, Ohio, by Goldie and Jerry Lippman. Goldie Lippman worked in a rubber factory during World War II where graphite, tar, and carbon often got on the hands of employees, and was difficult to remove. Goldie and Jerry worked together with Professor Clarence Cook from Kent State University’s chemistry department to formulate a heavy duty hand cleaner that they called GOJO Hand Cleaner which they sold to rubber workers. Prior to their product, chemicals such as benzene were used to remove soils, but these irritated the skin. After the war they began marketing to automotive service facilities.
GOJO invented a liquid soap dispenser in 1950 to dispense their product in limited quantities after realizing that users were using much more than was needed to clean their hands, hence causing buyers to think the product was too expensive. Jerry Lipmann filed a patent for this portion-limiting dispenser in 1952.
In 2004 Pfizer acquired, from GOJO, the exclusive rights to distribute Purell in the consumer market, while GOJO Industries retained the rights to existing industrial markets.[2] The Pfizer Consumer Healthcare division, soon thereafter was acquired by Johnson & Johnson (on June 26, 2006) moving the consumer market distribution rights of Purell into their portfolio, and thereby creating an agreement between the two independent companies.[3] In 2010 GOJO bought the brand back from Johnson & Johnson. [4]