 Logo used since 1973 | |
 Headquarters in Philadelphia | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Chemicals |
| Founded | 1883; 142 years ago (1883) inLos Gatos, California, U.S. |
| Founder | John Bean |
| Headquarters | FMC Tower, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ,U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
|
| Revenue |  US$4.25 billion (2024) |
| US$507 million (2024) | |
| US$341 million (2024) | |
| Total assets |  US$11.7 billion (2024) |
| Total equity | US$4.49 billion (2024) |
Number of employees | 5,700 (2024) |
| Website | fmc |
| Footnotes / references [1] | |
FMC Corporation is an Americanchemical manufacturing company headquartered inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania, which originated as an insecticide producer in 1883 and later diversified into other industries.[contradictory] In 1941 at the beginning of US involvement in WWII, the company received a contract to design and build amphibioustracked landing vehicles for theUnited States Department of War,[2] and afterwards the company continued to diversify its products. FMC employs 7,000 people worldwide, and had gross revenues ofUS$4.7 billion in 2018.[3][4][5]
Founded in 1883 as the Bean Spray Pump Company inLos Gatos, California,[6] by chemist John Bean. The company's first product was apiston pump. Bean invented the pump to sprayinsecticide on the many fruit orchards in the area. A Bean sprayer was on display at theForbes Mill museum in Los Gatos until its closure in 2014.[7][8] Bean Avenue in downtown Los Gatos is named after John Bean.
In 1928, Bean Spray Pump purchased two companies: the Anderson-Barngrover Co. and Sprague-Sells Co. The Anderson-Barngrover Co. manufactured a sealed can rotary pressure sterilizer[9] and the Sprague-Sells Co. manufactured canning machinery. At this time the company changed its name toFood Machinery Corporation, and began using the initialsFMC. In 1948, the company name changed again, toFood Machinery & Chemical Corporation.[citation needed] In 1961, Food Machinery & Chemical Corporation was changed to simplyFMC.
FMC was awarded a contract to design and build amphibioustracked landing vehicles for theUnited States Department of War in 1941. FMC ranked 64th among United States corporations in the value ofWorld War II military production contracts.[2]
In 1961, theUnited States Navy'sBureau of Ships issued bids for a high performance amphibious ship-to-shore cargo carrier capable of moving over water at 35 knots (approx. 40 mph) and over ground at the same speed. It had to carry five tons of cargo across water, through the surf, across the beach, and inland. The vehicle also had to be quickly loaded and unloaded under combat conditions. FMC's Ordnance Division in San Jose, California built and tested two prototypes named "LVHX2 Landing Vehicle, Hydrofoil" for theUnited States Marine Corps. These were the first amphibious landing vehicles to make use ofhydrofoils for high speed ship-to-shore operation. Although the LVHX2 never went into production, the Marine Corps used the prototypes in their continuous research and development program to develop better equipment for amphibious assault operations.
FMC later built theM113 Armored Personnel Carrier (APC), theBradley Fighting Vehicle, and theXR311 at its former facility inSanta Clara, California. It also purchased the rights to manufacture some foreign military hardware, including theBrazilianEE-9 Cascavel, under license.[10] Bean also manufactured firefighting equipment in the 1960s through the 1980s under the FMC and the Bean names.
In 1967, FMC acquired Link-Belt.[11][circular reference]
In 1972, personnel were transferred from ordnance to designing and buildingrecreational vehicles (motorcoaches). Theoil crisis and high prices led production to end after five years.[12]
FMC also producedfire truck fire pumps and pumper bodies. It had anoriginal equipment manufacturer (OEM) arrangement withLadder Towers Inc. (LTI) to market aerial ladders. In the early 1980s thefirefighting apparatus division of FMC tried to expand its role inaerial ladders on fire trucks, leveraging theLink-Belt crane division. FMC's expansion into production of aerial ladders failed: the FMC Fire Apparatus division was shut down in 1990.
FMC sells chemical products used by beef and poultryprocessors to reduce pathogens, such asE. coli andsalmonella, on uncooked beef and poultry.[13] FMC obtained a patent on a method for sanitizing fowl that have been killed, plucked and eviscerated by contacting the fowl with an aqueous acid solution and maintaining that contact for a time sufficient to sanitize the fowl.[13]
In 1946, FMC boughtBolens Lawn and Garden Equipment. FMC changed its name again in 1948, becomingFoodMachinery andChemical Corporation. In 1961 the name was changed to FMC Corporation.
In 1967, the FMC Corporation merged with the Link-Belt Company. The company produced FMC Link-Belt branded cranes and excavators. In 1986, theLink-Belt Construction Equipment Company was formed as a joint venture between FMC Corporation andSumitomo Heavy Industries.
Between 1965 and 1985 FMC was the owner of the Gunderson metal works in Springfield, Oregon, during that period it was known as the "Marine and Rail Equipment Division of FMC" (MRED), it was sold in 1985 toThe Greenbrier Companies.[14]
In the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, FMC Corporation began spinning several of its divisions into separate companies, includingUnited Defense andFMC Technologies, and selling its divisions, including its automotive division to Snap-on Equipment, a division ofSnap-on, in 1996. Snap-on renamed the division the "John Bean Company".[15] Bolens was sold toTroy-Bilt in 1988. FMC entered a partnership with Sumitomo Heavy Industries forming Link-Belt.FMC totally exited the partnership in 1998.[11][circular reference]
FMC Technologies was an American company that produced equipment for exploration and production of hydrocarbons. FMC Technologies was incorporated in 2000 when FMC Corporation divested its machinery businesses. It exists today as a part ofTechnipFMC, after a merger with Technip in 2017.
JBT Corporation is an American food processing machinery and airport equipment company. JBT Corporation was incorporated in 2008 when FMC Technologies divested its non-energy businesses.
FMC Corporation operated a phosphate mine and plant in Idaho on theFort Hall Indian Reservation of the federally recognized Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. Between 1949 and 2001, it produced an estimated 250 million pounds of elemental phosphorus annually. In 1989, as part of what is termed theEastern Michaud Flats Contamination, its 1500-acre plant site was designated by EPA under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) as aSuperfund site because of water and land pollution caused by these operations. After working to improve operations and air quality, the company eventually deactivated operations and abandoned the plant and related mine in 2001. Seventeen mines in the area have been designated as Superfund sites because ofselenium poisoning.[22]
FMC Corporation operated aplant in Fridley Minnesota several hundred feet east of the Mississippi river from the 1940s until 1969 where it disposed of waste such as solvents, paint sludge, and plating wastes in an on-site dump. In the early 1980s, contamination from the on-site dump contaminated the Mississippi River, and nearby drinking water for the city of Minneapolis.[23]
FMC Corporation operated a pesticide formulation plant from 1951 until 1986 inYakima, Washington. From 1952 to 1969, FMC disposed of agricultural pesticides in a pit on site. In 1983 the site was listed in the EPA Superfund list, after groundwater and soil was found to be contaminated with pesticides. After an EPA order, FMC was forced to dispose of 850 tons of contaminated soil between 1988 and 1989. In 1990, EPA required FMC to incinerate soils on-site.[24]
At its Dublin Road Site, located in north-western New York in Orleans County, FMC Corporation from 1933 to 1968 disposed of coal ash cinders, laboratory wastes consisting of glass bottles and chemical residues, residues from lime sulfur filtration, building debris and residues from pesticide production areas. These materials contained metals in the form of salts and pesticides/insecticides.[25]
In 2009, CBS60 Minutes ran an exposé on the use by farmers inKenya of an FMC-produced pesticide,Furadan, as a poison to kill African lions. The piece suggested that Furadan was a serious threat to the future of the lion population in Africa.[26] FMC has commented extensively on this issue through the media and their websites, including furadanfacts.com.[27] They engaged with government officials,non-governmental organizations, and others to try and resolve the illegal use of their pesticides to kill wildlife. The company took action to stop the sale of this product and instituted a buy-back program in East Africa when it determined that the illegal and intentional misuse of chemicals against wildlife could not be controlled by education or stewardship programs alone.[28][29]
Notes
The Forbes Mill museum was closed in 2014, and its collections are now a part of New Museum Los Gatos
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