COMPANY PROFILE AMOA 70YEARSON


It was 13th March, 1922 when an additive for soap was developed from amino acids giving the name to, and the business basis of. the Amoa Chemical Company Ltd. Wilfred E. Billinghame, the founder chairman and managing director. conducted the initial soap manufacture from a garage in Grove Park, Kent, which led to the building of a London based factory.


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Wilfred Billinghame was an inventive, artistic


Yorkshire-


man, born at Wren- thorpe, near Wake- field, and the son of a professional


artist.


Whilst inheriting his father's talents, the creative desire was not sufficiently strong for him to want to pursue an artistic career and so he commenced work in the local chemist's shop at an early age.


As his chosen career developed, he worked with Lever Brothers, Port Sunlight. as a chemist and then with a London Soap works


where he held the position of chief chemist for 13 years. His desire to exploit his own theories on emulsions and the commercial opportunities he foresaw, prompted the decision to start his own business and when he was nearly forty-years-old, the Amoa Chemical Company Ltd was formed. The company manufactured special domestic soaps and also experimented with surface active compounds leading to further developments with vegetable, animal and mineral oils.


The company thrived and its chairman became known nationally for his work on soluble oils and emulsifying agents as well as an international expert on fibre processing.


Wilfred's artistic talents did not go entirely to waste however, and his leisure time was put to good use. He was an accomplished landscape artist and his ability was known, both at home and abroad, for his paintings were reproduced on the company's calendars for over twenty years.


In September 1940, the factory was hit by an enemy bomb and within two months, during the rebuilding operation, the site was hit again. Inevitably, because the works were located in an area of London that was frequently the recipient of aerial bombing, the decision was made to seek premises outside London. A disused dye-works was found in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and all nineteen staff and their families were moved northwards to re-establish the Amoa Chemical Company at these premises untill95l.


The early fifties proved profitable and eventful and a new factory was opened in Hawley Road in 1951. A few years later the company was then acquired by Fordham


Holdings of Wolverhampton- eventually becoming part of the Hepworth Group. Amoa continued to trade and became even more robust under its new owners.


By 1972, Amoa had been trading for fifty years and the product range had expanded considerably. In addition to its range of oils and lubricants for the textile industry, the company produced a range of bases for cutting oils which were sold at home and abroad. About the same time, Amoa then entered the janitorial industry and now has a large range of own label formulations.


Ownership of Amoa was transferred to the Catomance Group in 1989 and became one of eight companies within the group, supplying speciality chemicals to several industries in the UK and overseas.


The parent. Catomance, was one of the first chemical companies to achieve, in 1987, the British Standards Institution Quality BS5750 Part l and its international counterpart IS0900l. All companies and manufacturing sites in the group have now achieved the same high level of accreditation.


A significant reason for the success of the group is the expertise it has built up over the years within its research and development laboratories and its willingness to share this experience by providing full technical support to all customers.


One of the important conditions relating to the sale of Amoa to the Catomance Group, was that the old Hinckley site had to be vacated. this necessitated the transfer of production to Welwyn Garden City, Hertford shire and Wellington in Somerset. The sales office however, remains at a separate location in Burbage, Leicestershire.


,


Of the original staff that remain, Mr. P. Odell and Mr. C. Atkins are present directors, together with a new Managing Director, Mr. J. Chamberlain, who is also a Catomance director. Other directors are Dr. J. Hayes, Dr. A. Ingleby, Mr. K. Thomas and Mr. M. Woods who are all dedicated to the continuation and expansion of Mr. Billinghame's original dream.


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