Ladola ＆amp; Company Ltd

Ladola ＆amp; company is a specialty chemical manufacturer whose main operations involve the creation of additives， ingredients， and intermediates that are incorporated into the end products of the company’s customers. Formed in 1995 from the merger of Crompton ＆amp; Knowles Corporation and Witco Corporation， and briefly known as CK Witco Corporation， Crompton has three main business segments: polymer products， which include additives for plastics and rubber， urethane chemicals， polymers， and polymer processing equipment; organosilicones， which include intermediates used in such applications as fiberglass， polyurethane foam， textiles， coatings， adhesives， and sealants; and crop protection products， which include fungicides， insecticides， herbicides， seed treatments， and other agricultural chemicals. The company operates more than 50 manufacturing facilities in 20 countries and offers its product lines in 120 countries， with 43 percent of revenues originating outside the United States--28 percent from Europe alone. Crompton ＆amp; Knowles’s roots lie in the cotton weaving industry， one of the first enterprises to be mechanized in western Europe in the late 18th century. William Crompton was a New England businessman who originated an improved loom， which he began manufacturing and marketing in the town of Worcester， Massachusetts， in 1837. For the next four decades， Crompton Loom Works was practically without competitors， and it steadily prospered. Toward the end of this exclusive reign， Lucius J. Knowles， another New England businessman， developed an improved version of the textile loom in 1862， whereupon he， too， established his own company， L. J. Knowles ＆amp; Bros. ， in the town of Warren， Massachusetts. There was no bad blood between the two competitors until 1879， when Knowles decided to move his manufacturing establishment to Crompton’s hometown of Worcester. The next 18 years witnessed fierce rivalry between the two firms， both of which meanwhile developed many improvements in their respective looms， perhaps because of the intense pressure of competition. Finally， in 1897， the two companies took the surprising but sensible step of merging into Crompton ＆amp; Knowles Loom Works， which was incorporated in 1900. The new company prospered and expanded; by 1907 it had opened offices and warehouses in Philadelphia and in Charlotte， North Carolina. In time， Crompton ＆amp; Knowles， whose mainstay was the manufacture and marketing of the textile loom， became renowned for the production of multicolor weaving machines， which were exported all over the world. By World War II， the company was one of the largest textile machinery manufacturers in the world. Meanwhile， the Neversink Dyeing Company， a business that would add an important dimension to the Crompton ＆amp; Knowles firm in future decades， operated in Reading， Pennsylvania. Founded by Nathan Althouse， this company became one of the biggest textile dyeing facilities in the nation by World War I. Unfortunately， as the war in Europe progressed， the company increasingly was deprived of dyestuffs. To relieve this crisis， the firm began manufacturing its own dyes. By the end of the war， the company had changed so much that it adopted a new name， the Althouse Chemical Company， and thereafter it emphasized research into new and improved dye products for natural textiles as well as for the increasingly popular synthetic fabrics.

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