nyse fmc founded 1883 ; 133 years ago 1883 founder john bean headquarters fmc tower philadelphia pennsylvania united states key people pierre brondeau president and ceo revenue us 3 874.8 million 2013 1 us 3 409.9 million 2012 1 operating income us 659.0 million 2013 1 us 639.1 million 2012 1 net income us 293.9 million 2013 1 us 416.2 million 2012 1 total assets us 5 235.2 million 2013 2 us 4 373.9 million 2012 1 total equity us 1 572.1 million 2013 2 us 1 554.8 million 2012 1 number of employees approximately 5 500 2012 3 divisions fmc agricultural solutions fmc health and nutrition fmc minerals website fmc.com fmc corporation is an american chemical manufacturing company headquartered in philadelphia pennsylvania . the company was originally founded by chemist john bean in 1883 as the bean spray pump company in los gatos california producing piston pumps for insecticides . in 1928 bean spray pump purchased two companies the anderson barngrover co. and sprague sells co. at this time the company changed its name to food machinery corporation and began using the initials fmc . in 1941 the company fmc received a contract to design and build amphibious landing vehicles tracked vehicles for the united states war department 4 and afterwards the company continued to diversify its products . fmc currently employs some 5 500 people worldwide and had gross revenues of us 3.4 billion in 2011 . 5 contents 1 history 1.1 the bean spray pump company 1.2 fmc 1.3 spinoffs 1.4 recently 2 issues 2.1 superfund site 2.2 african lion program 3 in popular culture 4 gallery 5 further reading 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit the bean spray pump company edit founded in 1883 as the bean spray pump company in los gatos california 6 by chemist john bean . the company s first product was a piston pump . bean invented the pump to spray insecticide on the many fruit orchards in the area . a bean sprayer was on display at the forbes mill museum in los gatos until its closure in 2014 . 7 8 bean avenue in downtown los gatos is named after john bean . fmc edit 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 to food machinery corporation and began using the initials fmc . lvt 1 exhibited by manufacturer fmc in 1941 parade lakeland fl . fmc received a contract to design and build amphibious landing vehicles tracked vehicles for the united states war department in 1941 . fmc ranked 64th among united states corporations in the value of world war ii military production contracts . 4 in 1961 the u.s. navy s bureau 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 5 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 jos california built and tested two 2 prototypes named lvhx2 landing vehicle hydrofoil for the u.s. marine corps . these were the first amphibious landing vehicles to make use of hydrofoils 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 the m113 apc armored personnel carrier and the bradley fighting vehicle as well as the xr311 at its former facility in santa clara california . it also purchased the rights to manufacture some foreign military hardware including the brazilian ee 9 cascavel under license . 10 bean also manufactured fire fighting equipment in the 1960s through the 1980s under the fmc and the bean names . in 1972 personnel were transferred from ordnance to designing and building rvs motorcoaches . the oil crisis and high prices led production to end after 5 years . 11 fmc also produced fire truck fire pumps and pumper bodies . it had an oem arrangement with lti ladder towers inc. to market aerial ladders . in the early 1980s the fire apparatus division of fmc tried to expand its role in aerial ladders on fire trucks leveraging the link belt crane division . fmc was ultimately unsuccessful in its expansion into production of aerial ladders . the fmc fire apparatus division was shut down in 1990 . 12 fmc sells chemical products used by beef and poultry processors to reduce pathogens such a e. coli and salmonella 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 spinoffs edit fmc plant in south charleston west virginia 1970 fmc 210 skidder made by fmc in 1946 fmc bought out bolens lawn and garden equipment . fmc changed names again in 1948 becoming food machinery and chemical 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 the link belt construction equipment company was formed as a joint venture between fmc corporation and sumitomo heavy industries . between 1965 and 1985 fmc was the owner of the gunderson metal works in springfield oregon usa during that period it was known as the marine and rail equipment division of fmc mred it was sold in 1985 to the greenbrier companies . 14 in the 1980s 1990s and 2000s decade fmc corporation began spinning several of its divisions into separate companies including united defense and fmc technologies and selling its divisions including the john bean company now a subsidiary of snap on equipment a division of snap on . bolens was sold to troy built in 1988 . 15 recently edit in 2001 fmc spun off its energy airport and food equipment businesses into a separate company named fmc technologies inc. in 2006 fmc corporation celebrated 75 years being listed on the new york stock exchange . pierre brondeau has been named president and chief executive officer succeeding william g. walter effective january 1 2010 . mr. brondeau was formerly with dow chemical and prior to that rohm & haas . 16 a former fmc site in san jose california is the location for avaya stadium a new soccer specific stadium for the san jose earthquakes . in 2015 fmc completed the sale of its alkali chemicals business and acquisition of cheminova a multinational crop protection company which aligns with the company s corporate strategy to focus its portfolio on agriculture health and nutrition end markets on agriculture health and nutrition end markets and lithium technologies . 17 18 issues edit superfund site edit fmc corporation operated a phosphate mine and plant in idaho on the fort hall 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 the eastern michaud flats contamination its 1500 acre plant site was designated by epa under cercla as a superfund site because of extensive water and land pollution caused by these operations . after working to improve operations and air quality the company abandoned the plant and related mine about 2001 because of much higher electricity costs and the challenge of cheaper phosphate coming from china . seventeen mines in the area have been designated as superfund sites because of selenium poisoning . 19 african lion program edit in 2009 cbs 60 minutes ran an expos on the use by farmers in kenya 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 . 20 fmc has commented extensively on this issue through the media and their websites including furadanfacts.com . 21 they engaged with government officials ngos and others to try and resolve the illegal use of 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 . 22 23 in popular culture edit the troubled development of the bradley vehicle was satirized in the 1998 hbo movie the pentagon wars . in the movie fmc was fictionalized as a.o.c corporation . gallery edit plant behind a street in 1973 chaires engine 12 61 gmc fmc 1991 ford fmc new market community volunteer fire department & sw rescue further reading edit gunderson inc. . 9 april 2006 . retrieved 21 august 2010 . kathy hinson ed . gunderson ; a history of an oregon company portland or gunderson 2000 . see also edit philadelphia portal companies portal american viscose corporation list of largest chemical producers references edit a b c d e f g h fmc corp 2013 annual report form 10 k xbrl . united states securities and exchange commission . february 18 2014 . a b fmc corp 2014 q1 quarterly report form 10 q xbrl . united states securities and exchange commission . may 7 2014 . fmc corporation announces new cfo appointment of new business group presidents . retrieved 18 september 2012 . a b peck merton j. & scherer frederic m. the weapons acquisition process an economic analysis 1962 harvard business school p. 619 fmc corporation announces new cfo appointment of new business group presidents . retrieved 18 september 2012 . los gatos city ordinance honoring the history of the almond grove neighborhood pdf . losgatosca.gov . http www.museumsoflosgatos.org history.html forbes mill museum see photo of bean sprayer http www.mercurynews.com los gatos ci 26780835 los gatos museums get new name and soon the forbes mill museum was closed in 2014 and its collections are now a part of new museum los gatos anderson barngrover cont . rotary pressure sterilizer . the american society of mechanical engineers asme.org . retrieved 4 may 2014 . latin american research review volume 26 number 3 pages 83 1 google books . a b http www.cafc.uscourts.gov opinions 08 1228.pdf e.m. lundquist ; bruce harmon ; kathy hinson february 2000 . gunderson a history of an oregon company pdf . gbrx.com . gunderson the greenbrier companies . troy bilt historical review . the pressurewashr review . retrieved 23 march 2015 . fmc corporation investor relations fmc corporation names pierre brondeau president and chief executive officer . fmc corporation investor relations fmc corporation completes sale of alkali chemicals to tronox . fmc corporation investor relations fmc corporation completes acquisition of cheminova a s . anne minard the wound that won t heal idaho s phosphate problem indian country today media network 25 september 2013 ; accessed 6 june 2016 poison takes toll on africa s lions . cbs news . 2009 03 26 . furadan facts home . pa . pesticide maker vows steps to protect lions . usa today . 2009 03 29 . furadan facts home . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to fmc corporation . official website business data for fmc corp yahoo finance bloomberg reuters epa report on cleanup at middleport ny site v t e philadelphia area corporations including the delaware valley list of companies based