nyse ash industry manufacturing and chemical distribution founded 1924 headquarters lexington kentucky u.s. key people william a. wulfsohn chairman of the board chief executive officer and director products chemicals plastics motor oil products and other specialized products and services revenue 8.206 billion fy 2012 1 operating income 302 million fy 2012 1 net income 26 million fy 2012 1 total assets 12.52 billion fy 2012 1 total equity 4.029 billion fy 2012 1 number of employees 15 001 september 2012 1 website www.ashland.com ashland inc. is an american fortune 500 company which operates in more than 100 countries . headquartered in lexington kentucky in the united states the company traces its roots back to ashland kentucky for which it is named . contents 1 history 1.1 founding and early years 1.2 post world war ii 1.3 1980s 1990s 1.4 recent years 2 products 2.1 ashland specialty ingredients 2.2 ashland performance materials 2.3 valvoline 2.4 ashland water technologies 3 environmental record 4 references 5 external links history edit founding and early years edit ashland was founded in 1924 as ashland refining company of ashland kentucky by paul g. blazer . 2 in october 1923 j. fred miles of the swiss oil company of lexington kentucky . 3 hired mr. paul g. blazer to locate purchase and be general manager of a refinery in eastern kentucky . keeping in mind the transportation advantages of access to the ohio river a refinery built in 1916 in northeastern kentucky where the big sandy river joins the ohio river was selected . with funds supplied by swiss oil blazer arranged to buy at a price of 212 500 the little 1 000 barrel per day refinery of great eastern refining company which had been owned by coal operators out of huntington west virginia . the venture of these coal people into oil refining had proved unprofitable and they were glad to sell their refinery including a small towboat and oil barge . 4 on february 2 1924 blazer and three swiss oil executives incorporated ashland refining company with a paid in capital of 250 000 . they took over the operations of the catlettsburg refinery which had twenty five employees who were working seven days per week and twelve hours per day . blazer moved from lexington to ashland . the only member of the swiss oil organization to come to ashland with blazer was ashland refining company s first treasurer william waples . 4 ashland s refinery operations were successful from the very first month . wages were increased and the hours of work were reduced . after making repairs and purchasing some new equipment the refinery soon had output of 500 000 barrels a year and sales of 1 300 000 . within a few years ashland refining company the small subsidiary of swiss oil formed solely to facilitate the purchase of some eastern kentucky oil producing properties began showing larger earnings than the parent company . 4 ashland refining co. grew rapidly through both internal expansion and acquisitions including union gas and oil company 1925 tri state refining company 1930 and cumberland pipeline company 1931 . 5 by 1933 ashland refining company owned more than 1 000 wells 800 miles of pipelines bulk distribution plants in twelve cities service stations river transportation terminals and river equipment . in 1936 under blazer s leadership the company ownership changed from swiss oil to the ashland oil and refining company shareholder group in ashland kentucky . blazer was appointed chief executive officer of the company . blazer s success as manager was recognized by major stockholders . they gave him the power to run ashland as his own operation though at no point during his tenure as chief executive officer 1936 1957 did he own a controlling interest in the company . 6 two of his early changes were offering employees sick leave with full pay and in 1947 the introduction of an employee profit sharing plan which made ashland oil and refining company one of the first companies in the region to offer such benefits . blazer also started the well known tradition of having local greenup county educator and internationally acclaimed author jesse stuart open each annual meeting with a story a poem or a bit of humor . he also was a pastor at his local church . post world war ii edit after world war ii ashland teamed with sperry corporation to develop the introduction of radar on commercial river vessels and teamed with various shipyards to develop the integrated tow . the jumbo tank barge of 195 ft. by 35 ft. became the industry standard . ashland was growing from a small eastern kentucky refinery into a forbes 500 company by relying on barges to bring in crude oil and deliver refined products to independent marketers . 7 in the process ashland soon operated the nation s largest inland towing fleet 8 and in 1953 the port of huntington tristate exceeded pittsburgh as the busiest port on the ohio river . 9 following world war ii ashland oil & refining company acquired allied oil company 1948 cleveland and lakeland tankers 1948 aetna oil company 1949 freedom valvoline company 1950 frontier oil of buffalo 1950 and national refining company 1950 . 5 by 1953 ashland oil and refining company had 3 518 miles of crude oil pipelines 252 miles of product lines six refineries processing an average of 124 000 barrels a day operated nine tow boats on the inland waterways and owned over 100 barges . although still involved as chairman of ashland s finance committee and executive committee blazer stepped down as chief executive officer in 1957 . louisville refining company was purchased in 1959 . united carbon was purchased in 1963 . 5 in 1966 ashland oil and refinery company inc. s sales had grown to 699 000 000 . diversification continued with the purchase of warren brothers in 1966 which later was to become ashland paving and construction . a significant acquisition was made in 1967 when the company purchased adm chemical group ; whose chemical distribution business would go on to be one of the primary businesses of the company in the later part of the 20th century . in 1969 the company reorganized to form ashland petroleum as well as entering into a joint venture in coal mining under the name arch mineral . 1980s 1990s edit in the 1980s and early part of the 1990s ashland continued to expand buying the permian corporation and merging it with scurlock oil company in 1991 to form a subsidiary known as scurlock permian corporation . in 1992 most of unocal s chemical distribution business was acquired making ashland the top chemical distributor in north america . at this time the industrial chemicals & solvents ic & s division was established . the company s name was changed from ashland oil to the present ashland inc. in 1995 which noted the reduced importance of oil in the overall business . 10 in 1998 the petroleum division merged with marathon oil to form marathon ashland petroleum llc map . 11 following that in 1999 ashland agreed to sell its scurlock permian subsidiary to plains all american pipeline and the headquarters were moved from russell kentucky to covington kentucky although the company maintains an office in russell . 12 13 a monumental change came in 2005 when ashland sold its shares of the marathon ashland petroleum joint venture to marathon oil 14 effectively dissolving the remnants of their petroleum division . after the sale the company was no longer involved in the refining or marketing of fuels . the original oil refinery in catlettsburg kentucky is still in operation today and is owned and operated by marathon . in 2006 ashland sold apac the paving and construction division to the oldcastle materials subsidiary of oldcastle inc. of dublin ireland . 15 recent years edit ashland purchased the adhesive and emulsions divisions of air products & chemicals in 2008 . 16 17 ashland announced plans to acquire hercules inc. on july 11 2008 for 3.3 b. 18 on november 13 2008 the transaction was completed . 19 in july 2010 ashland merged its foundry chemicals activity with s d chemie of munich germany to form ask chemicals l.p. with headquarters in dublin ohio . in november 2010 ashland announced plans to sell its distribution business known as ashland distribution to tpg capital for 930 million . 20 the ashland distribution business had been a part of ashland since 1969 . with revenues of 3.4 billion the ashland distribution business had approximately 2 000 employees across north america and europe and entered the china plastics market in 2009 . 20 the sale was finalized april 1 2011 with a final sale price of us 979 million . the new privately held company is named nexeo solutions . 21 in may 2011 ashland announced that it had bought the privately owned company international specialty products inc. isp for 3.2 billion . isp is a supplier of specialty chemicals and performance enhancing products for consumer and industrial markets . 22 valvoline instant oil change moved into the southern california area in march 2012 when the ez lube franchise had been purchased by henley enterprises vioc s largest franchisee . 23 in 2014 ashland water technologies was sold to a private equity buyer . products edit a valvoline instant oil change location the company currently has four wholly owned divisions which include ashland specialty ingredients ashland water technologies ashland performance materials & ashland consumer markets valvoline . ashland specialty ingredients edit the specialty ingredients division offers products technologies and resources for formulation and product performance . the markets for the products include personal care pharmaceutical food and beverage coatings and energy . in may 2011 ashland bought the company isp inc which was planned to be incorporated into the ashland specialty ingredients division . 22 ashland performance materials edit combining the casting solutions composite polymers and specialty polymers & adhesives businesses performance materials provides products for the construction packaging transport marine and metal casting industries . twenty nine manufacturing facilities are located in 15 countries around the world . casting solutions makes foundry binder resins chemicals sleeves and filters for the metalworking industry . the composite polymers business sells unsaturated polyester resins vinyl ester resins and gelcoats for use in composites . finally the specialty polymers & adhesives business manufactures various adhesives and resins for the transportation aerospace and construction industries . valvoline edit the valvoline sponsored car of matt kenseth valvoline is one of the largest producers of motor oil in the united states . valvoline was founded by dr. john ellis who formulated a petroleum based lubricant in 1866 and trademarked the valvoline name in 1873 in binghamton new york . currently valvoline world headquarters are in lexington kentucky . valvoline is the oldest motor oil marketer in the united states . 24 in north america valvoline is divided into two main sections . the do it for me difm business which includes over 800 company and franchise valvoline instant oil change locations ; a contractual non franchise branch of automotive care facilities named valvoline express care ; and the generally supply agreement only we feature outlets . the do it yourself diy business includes automotive related products . included in these are valvoline lubricants along with car brite commercial automotive appearance products eagle one consumer automotive appearance products pyroil automotive chemicals and zerex antifreeze . outside of north america the company has very few auto care businesses but rather focuses on selling to consumers as well as oem manufacturers . valvoline operates in the united kingdom from birkenhead merseyside . valvoline has sponsored several nascar and indycar drivers including buddy baker 1983 1984 ron bouchard 1985 1986 neil bonnett 1987 1988 morgan shepherd 1989 mark martin 1992 2000 ; al unser jr. 1988 1993 ; robby gordon 1994 1996 gil de ferran