Firmenich (company)
| Firmenich International SA
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| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1895 |
| Seat | Geneva , Switzerland |
| management | Gilbert Ghostine ( CEO ) Patrick Firmenich ( Chairman of the Board of Directors ) |
| Number of employees | 10,000 (2020) |
| sales | 3.7 billion CHF (2018) |
| Branch | Fragrances and flavors |
| Website | www.f Firmenich.com |
The Firmenich International SA , based in Geneva , is an international Swiss flavors - and perfume maker and the world's number two in the industry. Firmenich supplies food and cosmetics manufacturers with flavors and perfumes. The group of companies employs 10,000 people in 63 facilities worldwide and generated sales of 3.7 billion Swiss francs in the 2018/2019 financial year. The company is wholly owned by the Firmenich family. Firmenich's biggest competitors are Givaudan (Switzerland), International Flavors & Fragrances (USA) and Symrise (Germany).
history
The company was originally founded in Geneva in 1895 as Chuit & Naef by the Swiss chemist Philippe Chuit (1866–1939) and the businessman Martin Naef. In 1898 the company employed around 30 people in the west of the city. Chuit married Thérèse Firmenich and in 1900 his brother-in-law Fred Firmenich joined the now renamed company Chuit, Naef & Firmenich. In 1902 Chuit, Naef & Firmenich became known for the fragrance creations Violettone and Dianthine. 1903 followed by Iralia, developed by Jean Bolle. François Coty used the new fragrances Violettone and Iralia for his perfume L'Origan (1905).
In 1910 Fred Firmenich took over the shares in the company and became the main owner. He later gave the company its current name and Philippe Chuit was employed as an employee. In 1921, Chuit brought the Croatian-Swiss chemist Leopold Ružička into the Firmenich company, who a year later also became an adjunct professor at ETH Zurich . Before that, Ružička had also worked closely with the German company Haarmann & Reimer in Holzminden . After Philippe Chuit's retirement in 1931 and Martin Naef's retirement two years later, the company was renamed Firmenich & Cie. Chuit died in 1939, the same year that the research and development director at Firmenich Leopold Ružička received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
In 1972 the company name was changed from Firmenich & Cie. in Firmenich SA and thus a stock corporation under the management of Fred-Henri Firmenich ( CEO ). When Pierre-Yves Firmenich took office as the new managing director of the company in 1989, who was now the third generation to manage Firmenich, the restructuring of Firmenich into the Firmenich International SA holding, which was completed in 1990, began . Five years later, the company employed around 3,000 people worldwide. In 2002 there was another generation change in the management of Firmenich; Patrick Firmenich became the 4th generation CEO of the company. In 2014 Firmenich appointed Gilbert Ghostine as CEO; Patrick Firmenich moved to the Board of Directors as Vice Chairman.
expansion
From 1951, production was also carried out in La Plaine in the canton of Geneva. In 1962 Firmenich founded the subsidiary Concesionaria Firmenich del Ecuador CA in Quito , Ecuador, and from 1964 the construction of a 15-story company headquarters in Geneva began. In the same year Firmenich GmbH was founded in Germany. With the establishment of the subsidiary Nihon Firmenich KK in Japan, the company continued its global expansion in 1968. Firmenich experienced further expansion in 1976 with the establishment of a new production site in Meyrin - Satigny in Switzerland and nine years later with the establishment of the subsidiary Firmenich Limited in Australia. The company settled in the USA in 1986 through the purchase of the US company CHEM Fleur , based in Newark , New Jersey .
In 1994 Firmenich expanded in the course of globalization and founded branches in Shanghai in the People's Republic of China (there as part of a joint venture under the name Suzhou Firmenich Aromatics Co. Ltd. , later also Kunming Firmenich Aromatics Co. Ltd. ), in Mumbai in India and Selangor in Malaysia . In 1995 a subsidiary was founded in Bangkok , Thailand and the South African company Darryl Gunther (Proprietary) Ltd. bought up.
In 1996 the development center Georges Firmenich Center opened in Princeton , New Jersey, USA, and production facilities from Mrowna in Warsaw , Poland and from Tastemaker Inc. in Ibaraki , Japan were taken over. In 1998 further production facilities were opened in Castets , France (production of furaneol ), Thirsk (North Yorkshire) in Great Britain, Tampa in Florida (USA), Toluca in Mexico, Kunming in China and in Daman , India. In 1999 Firmenich opened a research and development laboratory for personal care products in Cologne and a perfume development center in Cotia , Brazil. In November 2002, the company took over the Norwegian Bjørge Biomarin AS in Ålesund , a producer of natural marine animal extracts. In 2005, the US company Noville Essential Oil Company Inc., founded in 1939, was taken over in South Hackensack, New Jersey. In 2005, Noville had around 150 employees and annual sales of $ 22.5 million.
In May 2007 Firmenich bought the flavors division of the Danish Danisco group based in Copenhagen for 3.36 billion Danish kroner (around CHF 730 million) . With around 800 employees, the division generated annual sales of around 1.5 billion Danish kroner (around CHF 335 million) in 2006 and produces natural and nature-identical additives for the food, beverage and fragrance industries.
In June 2017 Firmenich took over US fragrance manufacturer Agilex Fragrances. The company, based in Piscataway, New Jersey, was previously owned by private equity firm MidOcean Partners. In December 2017 Firmenich took over the South African fragrance manufacturer Flavourome.
Important new developments
1908 the company introduced the fragrance and flavoring Cyclosia by hydration of citronellal on the market, the current name is Hydroxycitronellal . Fourteen years later, the first synthesis of nerol , a fragrance for rose and flower fragrance compositions, and of nerolidol , and three years later of Exaltone, whose current general name is cyclopentadecanone. In 1959 Firmenich discovered the molecule hedion (methyl dihydrojasmonate), the scent note of which is similar to jasmine and which was to become one of the most important raw materials for modern perfume production.
The introduction of furaneol , a key component of various aromas (including strawberries and pineapple) dates back to 1964. The introduction of the synthetic fragrance muscon , the most important fragrance of natural musk , gave Firmenich a further boost seven years later. Another new synthetic fragrance was created in 1988 with Ambrox , a synthetic form of ambergrine . In 1991 Firmenich launched the synthetic fragrance Dynascone, a combination of scents similar to galbanum , pineapple and hyacinth.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Firmenich: Facts & Figures , accessed on June 15, 2020
- ^ Flavor & Fragrance Industry Leaders
- ↑ Patrick Firmenich clears his executive chair , August 19, 2014
- ↑ Firmenich takes over US fragrance manufacturer Agilex Fragrances
- ↑ Firmenich takes over the South African fragrance manufacturer Flavourome