In 1946, Goldie and Jerry Lippman started GOJO with very little to their name except the grit to get work done and solve a very real human problem. Our story begins in Akron, Ohio, during World War II. Goldie was a supervisor in one of Akron's rubber factories, manufacturing life rafts and rubber products for the war effort, where she and her co-workers discovered how difficult it was to clean their hands after a day’s work. The men who had worked in the rubber factories before the war dipped their hands in chemicals like kerosene and benzene at the end of a shift to remove the graphite and carbon black. These harsh chemicals took a toll on workers’ hands, and Goldie and her husband, Jerry, set out to find a better solution. This kindled the spirit of innovation that led to the founding of GOJO in 1946.
When Goldie and Jerry founded GOJO, they worked entirely out of the basement of their home in Akron, Ohio. Today, GOJO (and our brands, GOJO®, PURELL®, and Provon®) is known around the globe. How did we get from the basement of a house in Akron to making one of the most recognized names in hand sanitizer and heavy-duty hand cleaner?
The eight years following our founding were filled with learnings, challenges, and growth. With a growing business, it wasn’t long before the small operation Goldie and Jerry started outgrew their basement beginnings, and, in 1954, they expanded to the first GOJO plant on Cuyahoga Street in Akron, Ohio.
For the next 43 years, GOJO expanded its business across the United States and continued to outgrow its manufacturing space. GOJO moved from the Cuyahoga Street plant to what was once a Massey-Ferguson tractor plant in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, in 1980 - what we now know as GOJO Lippman Campus Manufacturing Center.
By the 1990s, GOJO products were being sold worldwide, and, in 1990, GOJO made its first move to become a truly global company by founding GOJO Europe. GOJO Europe, including our Prodene Klint (LPK) operations (acquired in 2014) makes up our largest non-U.S. operations and includes sales, manufacturing, and distribution. Continuing our global expansion, GOJO Japan was founded in 1997 followed quickly by GOJO de Mexico in 1998. GOJO Japan operations include both sales and distribution, and GOJO de Mexico serves as a sales location.
In 2000, with continued growth in sales, team members, and product offerings, GOJO expanded its locations and created dedicated headquarters space, which is located in downtown Akron in what we now call GOJO Plaza.
In 2008, we established our GOJO Lippman Campus Distribution Center, creating the first GOJO Campus – a GOJO location that consists of both manufacturing and distribution. In 2009, in the height of the H1N1 pandemic, we founded GOJO Spain and GOJO Portugal, providing an expanded global sales presence in Europe and a newly introduced sales presence in Africa. Just one year later in 2010, GOJO Australasia (a region which is comprised of Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, New Guinea, and other neighboring locations) was created, again expanding our sales presence. One year later in 2011, we established GOJO Canada, further expanding our North American sales operations.
In 2015, GOJO expanded its manufacturing and distribution operations to Wooster, Ohio, to create our GOJO Wooster Campus, including GOJO Precision Molding (previously RS&B), which produces pumps used for GOJO products. In 2020, in response to the demand for GOJO products during the COVID-19 pandemic, GOJO significantly expanded manufacturing capabilities with the addition of GOJO Maple Heights and distribution capabilities with the addition of GOJO Navarre. GOJO Ashland was a quick follow in 2021, also expanding our distribution capabilities.
Shortly after Goldie and Jerry founded GOJO in 1946, they hired a single employee to help them make the one product for their basement-run business. Today, nearly 2,400 GOJO team members make, distribute, and sell hundreds of GOJO products around the globe. While it’s impossible to say exactly how Goldie and Jerry would have felt about the growth their small soap company has experienced in the last 75 years, we are pretty sure they would be very proud. The first 75 years at GOJO saw tremendous growth and expansion in locations, people, innovation, and products, and while this is incredibly awe-inspiring, we are honored to build on the shoulders of those who came before us as we look to our bright future together as Team GOJO.