For any business, surviving even a decade is challenging. Thriving after 80 years in business is exceptional.
Shamrock Technologies recently celebrated its 80th anniversary at its Newark, NJ headquarters. The waxes dispersions and additives specialist was founded by William D. (Will) Neuberg, who started a chemical brokerage firm in his own name in 1941. Today, the company is a market leader in the ink, coatings, thermoplastics, personal care and cosmetics segments, and is continually bringing its expertise into new fields.
William B. (Bill) Neuberg, son of the company’s founder, continues to lead the company as chairman and technical director. Bill Neuberg noted that his father entered numerous markets, including powdered waxes, which led to the formation of The Shamrock Chemical Corporation in 1951.
At the beginning of 1941, Will Neuberg was running his father’s business, ENCO.
“This business was probably founded prior to 1917, Will’s class at MIT,” Bill Neuberg noted. “ENCO was an importer of tartars, Cream of Tartar, Tartaric Acid, and Rochelle Salt, as well as Argols, the potassium bitartrate crystalline growth that occurs when the grape juice sugar turns to alcohol, rendering it insoluble. They are probably the oldest chemicals of commerce. I remember my father telling me that he sold Tartaric Acid to Henry Bristol on open account.
“Will’s father had been a director of Warner Chemical Company which was sold to FMC,” he added. “Will’s brothers, Lou and Fred, were both salesmen for FMC. Lou was the first mayor of Woodbridge. A disagreement between Will and his brothers over a shipment of Argols led to Will forming his own company on March 17, 1941.”
Bill Neuberg played the key role in the company’s success. A graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1954, Bill entered Navy Flight training and flew as a Navy pilot until 1958, when he took a job as a chemist at Baroid. From there, he entered his father’s business and sold a mildew preventative to retailers.
After being recalled by the Navy to fly again during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1960, he returned to his father’s company and developed manufacturing and sales for cream of tartar. He then set his mind to waxes, introducing micronized polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) powdered wax to the ink market.
Shamrock Technologies Today
Shamrock Chemicals Corporation would eventually integrate three subsidiaries of the William D. Neuberg Co. Will Neuberg was chairman, and Bill Neuberg became its president in 1983. In 1988, the company was renamed Shamrock Technologies. The company would also expand its sales globally, eventually opening new plants in Henderson, KY in the 1990s; Tongeren, Belgium in 2001 and Tianjin, China in 2004.
The company also moved into new production methods, adding electron beam accelerators. Shamrock’s worldwide manufacturing facilities are more than a half-million square feet in six facilities across three continents.
Aside from his innovations with PTFE, Bill Neuberg also developed grinding processes for waxes used in printing inks, investigated mechanisms on how waxes work to impart rub resistance in printing inks, and developed the process to radiate PTFE to make into micropowders. He still ventures into the lab to conduct research.
Neuberg has received numerous honors from the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM), earning NAPIM’s prestigious Technical Associate Member (TAM) Service Award in 1996 and Printing Ink Pioneer honor in 2015. He also received the Metro New York Printing Ink Association’s (MNYPIA) Man of the Year Award in 2013.
“I don’t know what makes me tick, but I do kind of get fascinated by how things work,” Neuberg said upon receiving the Pioneer Award.
Steve Parker, who had previously served as president of Shamrock, was on hand for the festivities. He noted that Bill Neuberg deserves the credit for piloting the company to its success.
“Half of the companies that start out in manufacturing in the US today are gone in five years. It takes an organization and a leader with a vision, who is not afraid or satisfied and has an insatiable curiosity. Then you have to create a team that embraces your approach to leadership.
“This celebration is about everyone who has ever touched our company,” Parker added. “Everyone should take pride in what has been accomplished.”
Joon Choo, who joined Shamrock 38 years ago, was just named president of the company. He noted that there are plenty of opportunities for Shamrock to grow.
“We are still moving ahead,” Choo said. “We may find ourselves in different businesses, and we have a really good group of people here to grow them.”
“We are not going to rest on our laurels,” Neuberg concluded. “We will keep developing the right stuff for the future.”
