History of GOJO

GOJO Founders Jerry & Goldie Lippman.

GOJO Industries was founded in 1946 by Jerry and Goldie Lippman. During World War II, many women worked factory jobs to support the economy and help the war effort, and Goldie Lippman was no exception. After the typical workday at a Miller’s Rubber factory building life rafts and other war supplies in Akron, Ohio, Goldie and her coworkers experienced great difficulty in scrubbing the graphite, tar and carbon black from their hands. The women resorted to using dangerous and skin-irritating chemicals to remove the dirt.

Jerry Lippman realized the need for a heavy duty hand cleaner and collaborated with Chemistry Professor Clarence Cook from Kent State University to create one. The original GOJO was effective on tough soils, grease and grime. Goldie sold it to her coworkers at the rubber factory, and the product proved to be very popular. The company found its first distributor in the restaurant next door. Since then distributors have continued to be very important to GOJO.

After the war Goldie and Jerry began focusing on new markets like automotive service centers and manufacturing facilities. They hired missionaries who acted as salesmen for the company, going from service center to service center with cars full of products. The GOJO name was becoming well-known.

Jerry was always concerned with customer satisfaction and used any criticism to further perfect the GOJO product line. Since running water was not always available to workers at some factories, GOJO introduced the first waterless hand cleaner to remove oil, tar and grease in 1948. Two years later Jerry addressed the concern of product waste and the extra expenses garage owners were experiencing because of it. To stop this problem, Jerry designed the first portion-control dispenser. Unfortunately Goldie and Jerry could not afford to have cranks made for the dispensers, so they improvised using window cranks from junkyard cars. The new dispenser saved garage owners money, and the product lasted much longer. In 1952 the dispenser was patented.

The GOJO market has expanded to include use in homes, schools, hospitals, restaurants, restrooms, nursing homes and workplaces. Hygiene and skin health have always been important to GOJO, which now produces PURELL®, the best selling instant hand sanitizer in the U.S., and PROVON®, a popular line of hygienic healthcare products.

GOJO Products and Health

Clean hands play a major role in staying healthy. Washing your hands frequently or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer dramatically decreases the number of germs on your skin and keeps you from spreading germs to others. In studies done in schools, workplaces and hospitals using PURELL instant hand sanitizer, absenteeism decreased dramatically. Subjects involved in these studies participated in an educational program, washed their hands as many times a day as normal and used the hand sanitizer at certain times throughout the day. The control groups made no changes from their current behavior. Student absences due to illness were decreased by 51%, worker absences due to illness decreased 21%, and hospitals documented a decrease of 36.1% in infection rates.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are more convenient and faster acting than soap and water. PROVON and PURELL instant hand sanitizers kill 99.99% of germs in as little as 15 seconds. PURELL hand sanitizers are known to kill the bacteria that cause MRSA and VRE.

Hand sanitizers cause less skin irritation than soaps, making them great for healthcare professionals who must wash their hands frequently. All GOJO products including the PURELL and PROVON line come in a variety of hand washing and sanitizing formulas to meet the needs of all customers. GOJO offers heavy duty cleaners, specialized cleaners, antibacterial hand wash, foaming soap, wipes and more.

GOJO Industries.

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