Avery Dennison Company is a global producer and dealer of adhesive materials susceptible to friction (such as self-adhesive stickers), marking labels and tags for clothing, RFID inlays, and medical specialty products. The firm is a Fortune 500 member and has its headquarters in Glendale, California.
The company was founded in 1935 as Kum Kleen Goods, a collaboration of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Stanton Avery, in Los Angeles, California. In 1937, the name was changed to Avery Adhesives. The firm was founded as Avery Adhesive Label Corp. in 1946, and the name was later changed in 1958 to Avery Adhesive Products, Inc. and in 1964 to Avery Products Corporation. In 1976, the name was changed again to Avery International Group, and when the business merged with the Dennison Manufacturing Company in 1990, it became Avery Dennison.
Russell Smith, Avery’s college friend, joined the firm as a one-third member in 1946 and was Avery’s business partner for almost 40 years, serving as the president of the company, chief executive officer and chairman of the board at different times. In 1946, Smith founded the 50-person firm, began the key mark materials business, extended operations throughout the U.S. and Europe, and opened a renowned testing center. He led the listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 1967, as the company’s representative to the financial world. “CEO Dean Scarborough noted at Smith’s death in 2014 that “our organization owes its life and character to Russ Smith’s business acumen, professional honesty and generosity of spirit in large part. For Stan Avery, he was the dream match.
For office goods such as binders, file labels and name badges, Avery Dennison formed a new division in 1982. The group and its products, marketed under the name and logo of Avery, compared with the broader materials division of the corporation in that its products were finished materials and served both customers and companies. The division expanded over the next 30 years, as personal computers created a niche both at home and at work for printable newspapers. However the office supplies industry as a whole started to decline with the rise of email and the decline of traditional mail. The selling of Office and Consumer Goods and a second company, Built and Engineered Solutions, to CCL Industries was completed by Avery Dennison on July 1, 2013. Along with the group, CCL bought the Avery office supplies brand. Its full name, history, brand and logo are owned by AD.
In 2012, the parties decided to settle patent and antitrust lawsuits between Avery Dennison and 3M Firm. The case started after 3M charged that Avery Dennison infringed the patents of 3M relating to retroreflective sheeting used for road signs and other highway and transport goods and demanded an injunction to prohibit the sale of its retroreflective OmniCube product by Avery Dennison. The court dismissed 3M’s application and the parties decided to drop three pending lawsuits after Avery Dennison filed charges of its own against 3M for patent infringement and antitrust violations.
Headquartered in Glendale, California, the company is with net revenue of $7.0 billion, it placed number 435 on the 2015 Fortune 500 list. Pressure-sensitive products (contributing 73% of 2015 revenue) and retail branding and information solutions are its core business lines (contributing 26 percent of 2015 revenues). The group serves in more than 50 nations and hires 25,000 people worldwide. In the Netherlands, its first overseas subsidiary was established in 1955.
The segment of Retail Branding and Information Solutions develops, produces and markets numerous branding and information management products and solutions for clothing and general retail, including tickets, graphics, barcode and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, labels and inserts, woven and printed labels, exterior embellishments, price management schemes, a range of fasteners, and similar labels.
The firm also owns Avery Dennison Medical, which supplies the healthcare industry with products such as wearable monitors, barrier films, wound dressings and a range of tapes and safety products. Vancive Medical Technologies findings are published in Other Specialty Conversion Organizations. Products from Vancive Medical Technology are marketed to medical products and distributors of instruments.