Avery Dennison Corporation is a multinational manufacturer and distributor of
pressure-sensitive adhesive
Pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA, self-adhesive, self-stick adhesive) is a type of nonreactive adhesive which forms a bond when pressure is applied to bond the adhesive with a surface. No solvent, water, or heat is needed to activate the adhesiv ...
materials (such as self-adhesive labels), apparel branding labels and tags, RFID inlays, and specialty medical products. The company is a member of the
Fortune 500
The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...
and is headquartered in
Mentor, Ohio
Mentor ( ) is the largest city in Lake County, Ohio, Lake County, Ohio, United States. The population was 47,450 at the United States Census 2020, 2020 census. It is part of the Cleveland metropolitan area.
Mentor was first settled in 1797. In 187 ...
.
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History
The company was founded in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
in 1935 as Kum Kleen Products, a partnership of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Stanton Avery. The name was changed to Avery Adhesives in 1937. In 1946, the company was incorporated as Avery Adhesive Label Corp., and the name was subsequently changed to Avery Adhesive Products, Inc. in 1958, and to Avery Products Corporation in 1964. The name was changed again to Avery International Corporation in 1976, and it became Avery Dennison after the company merged with the Dennison Manufacturing Company in 1990.
H. Russell Smith, a college friend of Avery's, joined the company in 1946 as a one-third owner and for nearly 40 years was Avery's partner in entrepreneurship, serving at various times as the company's president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board. Smith incorporated the 50-person company in 1946, started its core label materials business, expanded operations across the U.S. and into Europe, and opened a renowned research center. As the company's representative to the financial community, he led its listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 1967. At Smith's death in 2014, CEO Dean Scarborough noted that “our company owes its existence and character in large part to Russ Smith's business acumen, personal integrity and generosity of spirit. He was the perfect partner for Stan Avery.”
Dennison Manufacturing
The Dennison Manufacturing Company was founded by Andrew Dennison and his son Aaron Lufkin Dennison, residents of Brunswick. Maine, in 1844, as a jewelry
Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a western ...
- and watch
A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached by ...
-box manufacturing company located in the Dunlap Block of Maine Street. Five years later Aaron turned the Dennison Manufacturing Company over to his younger brother, Eliphalet Whorf Dennison, who took over and developed the company into a significant-size industrial enterprise. It was in 1898 that the business moved to a location in Framingham, Massachusetts. Aaron Dennison went on to co-found the Waltham Watch Company
The Waltham Watch Company, also known as the American Waltham Watch Co. and the American Watch Co., was a company that produced about 40 million watches, clocks, speedometers, compasses, time delay fuses, and other precision instruments in the Un ...
in 1850, a leader in the American system of watch manufacturing using interchangeable parts.
Office and Consumer Products
Avery Dennison created a separate division for office products such as binders, file labels and name badges in 1982. The division and its products, sold under the Avery brand and logo, contrasted with the company's larger materials division in that its products were finished (“converted”) materials, and they were aimed at consumers as well as businesses. Over the next 30 years, the division grew, as personal computing created a market for printable media both at home and at work. However, with the rise of email and the decline in conventional mail, the office products market as a whole began to decline. On July 1, 2013, Avery Dennison completed the sale of Office and Consumer Products and a second business, Designed and Engineered Solutions, to CCL Industries
CCL Industries Inc. is a Toronto, Ontario-based company founded in 1951. It describes itself as the world's largest label maker. It is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and is an S&P/TSX 60 Component. CCL consists of five divisions – CCL ...
. CCL purchased the Avery office products brand along with the business. Avery Dennison retains its full name, history, brand and logo.
Operations
The company is headquartered in Mentor, Ohio
Mentor ( ) is the largest city in Lake County, Ohio, Lake County, Ohio, United States. The population was 47,450 at the United States Census 2020, 2020 census. It is part of the Cleveland metropolitan area.
Mentor was first settled in 1797. In 187 ...
. It ranked number 435 on the 2015 Fortune 500
The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...
list with total sales of $7.0 billion. Its main lines of business are pressure-sensitive materials (contributing 73% of 2015 revenues) and retail branding and information solutions (contributing 26% of 2015 revenues). The company operates in more than 50 countries and employs 25,000 people worldwide. Its first overseas subsidiary was established in the Netherlands
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in 1955.
Divisions
The company's operations are organized into three business units:
The Pressure-Sensitive Materials segment manufactures and sells pressure-sensitive roll-label materials, films for graphic applications, reflective highway-safety products, a variety of specialized tapes, performance polymers, and extruded films.
Printers take its label materials, which are manufactured in large rolls, and convert them into finished labels by printing, cutting and applying them to packaging for consumer goods such as shampoo, beverages and pharmaceuticals.
The Retail Branding and Information Solutions segment designs, manufactures, and sells various branding and information management products and solutions for apparel and general retail, including tickets, graphic, barcode and radio-frequency identification
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...
(RFID) tags, labels and inserts, woven and printed labels, external embellishments, price management systems, a variety of fasteners, and related supplies and equipment.
The information management products that the business provides, including its RFID-based systems, help apparel and other retailers to manage inventory both within stores and across supply chains that today extend for thousands of miles. The ability to accurately identify inventory and replenish it can help improve the shopping experience, as goods are less likely to be out of stock.
In February 2022, it was announced Avery Dennison had acquired the Frick, Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
-based company, TexTrace, a technology developer specializing in custom-made woven and knitted RFID products that can be sewn onto or inserted into garments. In March 2022, Avery Dennison announced it had acquired the linerless label technology developed by the UK company, Catchpoint Ltd. The purchase covers Catchpoint's patents and brand.
The company also operates Avery Dennison Medical, which provides products such as wearable sensors, barrier films, wound dressings and a variety of tapes and securement products for the healthcare industry. Results for Vancive Medical Technologies are reported in Other specialty converting businesses. Vancive Medical Technologies products are sold to medical products and device manufacturers.
Patent infringement
In 2012, Avery Dennison and 3M Company
3M (originally the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company) is an American multinational conglomerate operating in the fields of industry, worker safety, U.S. health care, and consumer goods. The company produces over 60,000 products under ...
agreed to settle patent and antitrust litigation between the parties. The litigation began when 3M alleged that Avery Dennison infringed 3M's patents related to retroreflective sheeting used for road signs and other highway and transportation products and requested an injunction to prevent Avery Dennison from selling its OmniCube retroreflective product. The court denied 3M's request, and after Avery Dennison brought claims of its own against 3M for patent infringement and antitrust violations, the parties agreed to dismiss three pending cases.
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Avery Dennison Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 Results
American companies established in 1935
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
1935 establishments in California
Companies based in Glendale, California
Manufacturing companies established in 1935
Manufacturing companies based in Greater Los Angeles
Office supply companies of the United States
Radio-frequency identification companies
Packaging companies of the United States
1960s initial public offerings