Business View Magazine | May 2021

51 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE MAY 2021 its specialty chemicals division. “Koppers, at the time, was the world’s largest wood preservative company and a huge petrochemical refinement company,” Clawson recounts. “They bought materials from coal and coke plants and made asphalt, specialty chemicals, creosote, and other byproducts of coal refinement.” In 1988, Beazer International launched a hostile takeover of Koppers, intent on securing its road and construction chemicals business. Through a management buyout, the company’s specialty chemicals division was spun off, forming Kop-Coat, Inc. Kop-Coat retained its original mandate, focusing on creating short-term wood preservatives and high-quality, long-term preservatives that were more environmentally friendly than existing commoditized products. “With this identity came the notion that we did not want to sell or make commodity chemicals,” says Clawson. “We wanted to make innovative chemicals that you can use less of and still get the same performance.” This is of importance KOP-COAT INC . in today’s world where the use of pesticides is under constant scrutiny. In 1990, Kop-Coat joined RPM International Inc., a global leader in coatings, sealants, and specialty chemicals. This strategic move allowed it to focus on innovating along a specialized line of products focusing on environmental sustainability and forward use of protective chemical formulations, a focus that RPM supports. Today, Kop-Coat excels at creating farm, forest, and building material protection specialty chemicals compared to competitive offerings that rely on “adding more to work better”. For example, Kop-Coat manufactures synergists and adjuvants, an area seeing significant growth as industries shift towards using fewer quantities of pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and other agents that control or eliminate unwanted pests. Clawson describes synergists and adjuvants, which are also used in cosmetics,