Talk:Sherwin-Williams

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

Hello, Wikipedia volunteers, I was wondering if editors would be willing to consider a new "History" section for this article. The previous "History" section was renamed "Corporate Structure" by Daveplot, which was the correct call because that section is not a true "History" section. The move also highlighted to me that this article has very little history of the 154-year-old company. Using third-party sources for verification, I created a draft of what a proper "History" section could look like: a high-level overview of Sherwin-Williams's 154-year history with new content that fills timeline gaps and key company milestones.

History draft

Sherwin-Williams traces its roots back to 1866, when Cleveland bookkeeper Henry Sherwin made an initial investment in Truman Dunham & Co., a paint distributorship.^[1][2] After this partnership was dissolved in 1870, he formed a partnership named Sherwin, Williams, & Co. with Edward Williams and A.T. Osborn.^[3][4] The company has operated from its site in Cleveland since purchasing a cooperage from Standard Oil in 1873. This was the company's first factory where it manufactured paste paints, oil colors, and putty.^[1][3] The company has housed its headquarters nearby at the Landmark Office Towers Complex since its opening in 1930. Sherwin-Williams was among the first "big" clients for accounting tycoon, Ernst & Young, also founded in Cleveland at the time.^[1]

Sherwin-Williams incorporated in Ohio on July 16, 1884, two years after Osborn sold his interest in the company while retaining the retail operations.^[3] The brand then focused on paint manufacturing; acquiring other companies so it relied less on suppliers.^[2] These acquisitions and the company's new retail stores contributed to Sherwin-Williams's growth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.^[2]

In 1877, Sherwin-Williams developed the first resealable paint can,^[5] and first marketed ready-mixed paint in 1880.^[4] This was a significant change because consumers previously bought paint ingredients that they themselves would mix together.^[2][3] The brand led a campaign beginning in 1939 that saw success in making school buses yellow.^[1] Sherwin-Williams chemists invented the first water-based interior paint in 1941.^[5] The washable Kem-Tone paint was made to dry within an hour and cover various indoor surfaces. In its first three years on the market, Sherwin-Williams sold 10 million gallons to Americans. The American Chemical Society later named the product a National Historic Chemical Landmark in 1996.^[5] Also in the early 1940s, Sherwin-Williams launched its roller brush, the Roller-Koater.^[3]

Sherwin-Williams experienced a downturn in the 1970s, attributed to increases in raw material costs, market pressure from discount retailers, other paint manufacturers, and costs associated with modernizing Sherwin-Williams facilities. ^[2][3] Gulf Western unsuccessfully attempted to take over Sherwin-Williams in that time.^[3] A series of acquisitions in the 1980s and 1990s helped Sherwin-Williams recover.^[2]

Sherwin-Williams introduced its anti-graffiti coating in 2010 and its Emerald line of paints with no volatile organic compounds in 2012.^[5] More recently, in 2015, the brand announced the development of Paint Shield, the first EPA-registered paint that reportedly kills 99.9% of bacteria such as Staph, E. Coli, and MRSA on painted surfaces within two hours.^[6][7] Paint Shield sales began in 2016 as Sherwin-Willilams focused its early marketing efforts on hospitals, nursing homes, and schools.^[8]

Sherwin-Williams announced in 2016 that it would acquire rival paint-maker Valspar Corp. for more than $11 billion. When the deal closed in 2017, Sherwin-Williams became the world's largest coatings company.^[2] As of 2019, the company employed some 4,400 workers in Northeast Ohio alone, with more than 60,000 employees in 120 countries.^[1] Net sales hit $17.9 billion.^[2] As of 2020, the Sherwin-Williams brand is sold in approximately 4,900 company stores; other brands are sold at independent retail stores.^[1] Sherwin-Williams announced in February 2020 that it is building a new corporate headquarters in Cleveland at Public Square and a new research and development facility in Brecksville, Ohio, a nearby suburb.^[9] Sherwin-Williams is ranked No. 180 on the Fortune 500.^[10]

This is my first crack at writing a "History" section. If editors have any issues with the draft, I'm happy to collaborate and edit as needed. Thanks for your consideration! MiraSherwin-Williams (talk) 21:58, 1 December 2020 (UTC)

MiraSherwin-Williams, first of all, thank you for following the conflict of interest (COI) guidelines, and for contributing proposed content to Wikipedia.

Your draft above is a decent start. A bit more polish and I'd be happy to move it to the article. Please could you refine it again (either in place, or as a userspace draft), addressing issues like:

• The section is long compared to the rest of the article. It should be copy-edited for concision.
• Detailed information about specific product lines (e.g. percentage of bacteria killed by a particular new product) is inappropriate for a "History" section about a company, and seems promotional.
• Why would a company see success in making school buses yellow? (I can guess, but the reader shouldn't have to.) Improve comprehensibility; wikilink to School bus yellow. Perhaps draft and suggest improvements to the School bus yellow article. Ideally, seek information about, and be upfront about, whether Sherwin-Williams's motives were commercial rather than just altruistic.
• Current/recent Fortune 500 placing should be in the infobox so it can occasionally be updated in place; not in the prose of a "History" section where it would be a hostage to fortune.
• The MOS:SCAREQUOTES need fixing.
• Gulf Western should be clarified and ideally wikilinked. Did you mean Gulf and Western Industries?

Zazpot (talk) 04:49, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

Thanks Zazpot for your review, thoughtful feedback notes, and willingness to help me improve this content in the existing article. This is very helpful! You can see above that I have updated the proposed draft of this History section content in place, as you request. If I have satisfied your suggested edits, I'll thank you to integrate this drafted section in the article on my behalf, because of my conflict of interest.

Revised History section draft

Sherwin-Williams traces its roots back to 1866, when Cleveland bookkeeper Henry Sherwin made an initial investment in Truman Dunham & Co., a paint distributorship.^[1][2] After this partnership was dissolved in 1870, he formed a partnership named Sherwin, Williams, & Co. with Edward Williams and A.T. Osborn.^[3][4] The company has operated from its site in Cleveland since purchasing a cooperage from Standard Oil in 1873. This was the company's first factory where it manufactured paste paints, oil colors, and putty.^[1][3] The company has housed its headquarters nearby at the Landmark Office Towers Complex since its opening in 1930. Sherwin-Williams was among the first "big" clients for accounting tycoon, Ernst & Young, also founded in Cleveland at the time.^[1]

Sherwin-Williams incorporated in Ohio on July 16, 1884, two years after Osborn sold his interest in the company while retaining the retail operations.^[3] The brand then focused on paint manufacturing; acquiring other companies so it relied less on suppliers.^[2] These acquisitions and the company's new retail stores contributed to Sherwin-Williams's growth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.^[2]

In 1877, Sherwin-Williams developed the first resealable paint can,^[5] and first marketed ready-mixed paint in 1880.^[4] This was a significant change because c,Consumers previously bought paint ingredients that they themselves would mix together.^[2][3] The brand successfully led a drivecampaign beginning in 1939 to paint that saw success in making school buses yellow.^[1][6] Sherwin-Williams chemists invented the first water-based interior paint in 1941.^[5] The washable Kem-Tone paint was made to dry within an hour and cover various indoor surfaces. In its first three years on the market, Sherwin-Williams sold 10 million gallons to Americans. The American Chemical Society later named the product a National Historic Chemical Landmark in 1996.^[5] Also in the early 1940s, Sherwin-Williams launched its roller brush, the Roller-Koater.^[3]

Sherwin-Williams experienced a downturn in the 1970s, attributed to increases in raw material costs, market pressure from discount retailers, other paint manufacturers, and costs associated with modernizing Sherwin-Williams facilities. ^[2][3] Gulf and Western Industries unsuccessfully attempted to take over Sherwin-Williams in that time.^[3][7] A series of acquisitions in the 1980s and 1990s helped Sherwin-Williams recover.^[2]

Sherwin-Williams introduced its anti-graffiti coating in 2010 and its Emerald line of paints with no volatile organic compounds in 2012.^[5] More recently, in 2015, the brand announced the development of Paint Shield, the first EPA-registered, bacteria-killing paint that reportedly kills 99.9% of bacteria such as Staph, E. Coli, and MRSA on painted surfaces within two hours.^[8][9] Paint Shield sales began in 2016 as Sherwin-Willilams focused its early marketing efforts on hospitals, nursing homes, and schools.^[10]

Sherwin-Williams announced in 2016 that it would acquire rival paint-maker Valspar Corp. for more than $11 billion. When the deal closed in 2017 for the brand's acquisition of Valspar Corp., Sherwin-Williams became the world's largest coatings company.^[2] As of 2019, the company employed some 4,400 workers in Northeast Ohio alone, with more than 60,000 employees in 120 countries.^[1] Net sales hit $17.9 billion.^[2] As of 2020, the Sherwin-Williams brand is sold in approximately 4,900 company stores; the company's other brands are sold at independent retail stores.^[1] Sherwin-Williams announced in February 2020 that it is building a new corporate headquarters in Cleveland at Public Square and a new research and development facility in the nearby suburb of Brecksville, Ohio, a nearby suburb.^[11] Sherwin-Williams is ranked No. 180 on the Fortune 500.^[12]

Thanks again! MiraSherwin-Williams (talk) 21:13, 21 December 2020 (UTC)

MiraSherwin-Williams, thanks. This is an improvement, but still needs work.

On concision, "interior paint" is obviously "made to ... cover indoor surfaces", so why state that? Other parts of the draft, too, use many words when fewer would do. I'm loath to spend my (volunteer) time addressing them given that you are paid for this work. So, I'll leave that to you.

Likewise, scare quotes still not addressed.

And again, the school buses: why "success"? What obstacle was overcome here?

I appreciate that writing for Wikipedia is challenging. However, it's also frustrating to give feedback and see it only partly taken on board. Please make the third draft worthwhile. Thanks, Zazpot (talk) 10:32, 23 December 2020 (UTC)

Zazpot, thanks for your continued feedback and collaboration. I'll work more on the proposed text and post another update here for review in hopes of satisfying your suggestions. Best, MiraSherwin-Williams (talk) 15:56, 29 December 2020 (UTC)

Hi again, Zazpot. I am back with another updated version of the drafted History text I'm proposing to improve the current article. As you suggest: I have worked to simplify the language for readability and concision, and stripped out extraneous details to the best of my judgement. I removed the term "success" and added a bit more context to the mention of the 1939 campaign to paint school buses yellow, as well as an additional reference found on the entry for Frank W. Cyr. Finally, I have copy edited further, to the best of my ability, in hopes of satisfying the concern about MOS:SCAREQUOTES as well. If you agree that this version is acceptably improved, I'll thank you to please assist with its placement within the current article. I will not edit the entry directly myself because of my COI and welcome future edits and improvements to the text from other editors once placed. I have provided a clean VERSION-3 draft below instead of editing in-place this time, in hopes of making it easiest for you to place in your volunteer time. Thanks again for your collaboration thus far.

VERSION-3 Revised History section draft

Sherwin-Williams traces back to 1866, when Cleveland bookkeeper Henry Sherwin invested in Truman Dunham & Co., a paint distributorship.^[1][2] After it dissolved in 1870, he formed a partnership named Sherwin, Williams, & Co. with Edward Williams and A.T. Osborn.^[3][4] The company has operated from Cleveland since purchasing a cooperage from Standard Oil in 1873 for its first factory.^[1][3] Sherwin-Williams has housed headquarters nearby at the Landmark Office Towers Complex since its opening in 1930.

Sherwin-Williams incorporated in Ohio on July 16, 1884, two years after Osborn sold his interest in the company while retaining the retail operations.^[3] The brand focused thereafter on paint manufacturing and continued to grow through acquisitions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.^[2]

In 1877 Sherwin-Williams developed the first resealable paint can. Before 1880, when the company first marketed "ready-mixed" paint, consumers bought paint ingredients that they themselves would mix together.^[2][3][4] Alongside other efforts in the 1930s to standardize school bus design and appearance to be more visible, the brand led a drive beginning in 1939 to paint school buses yellow.^[1][5][6] Sherwin-Williams chemists invented the first water-based interior paint in 1941 and the washable Kem-Tone paint was made to dry within an hour. The American Chemical Society later named the product a National Historic Chemical Landmark in 1996.^[7] Also in the early 1940s, Sherwin-Williams launched Roller-Koater, its roll-on alternative to the paint brush.^[3]

Sherwin-Williams experienced a downturn in the 1970s,^[2][3] and Gulf and Western Industries unsuccessfully attempted to take over in that time.^[3][8] Instead, the brand recovered through a series of acquisitions in the 1980s and 1990s.^[2]

Sherwin-Williams introduced its anti-graffiti coating in 2010 and its Emerald line of paints with no volatile organic compounds in 2012.^[7] In 2015, the brand developed Paint Shield, the first EPA-registered, bacteria-killing paint.^[9][10][11]

Upon its 2017 acquisition of Valspar Corp., Sherwin-Williams became the world's largest coatings company.^[2] As of 2019, the company employed 4,400 workers in Northeast Ohio, with more than 60,000 employees in 120 countries.^[1] As of 2020, the Sherwin-Williams brand is sold in approximately 4,900 company stores; the company's other brands are sold at independent retail stores.^[1] The company announced in February 2020 that it is building a new corporate headquarters in Cleveland at Public Square and a new research and development facility in nearby Brecksville, Ohio.^[12]

Thanks again, MiraSherwin-Williams (talk) 22:32, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

@MiraSherwin-Williams: thanks for the update.

As a trained historian, the part about school buses still seemed fishy to me. I dug deeper.

The only sources I found suggesting Sherwin-Williams helped choose the yellow color for U.S. school buses are the two very recent (2019 and 2020) sources that you provided. Both those pieces were from the same journalist (Grant Segall), both were published by the same local news outlet (the Plain Dealer), both make similar claims, and both read as though they could have been ghostwritten by Sherwin-Williams PR. The 2019 piece clearly took as its starting point a press release by "Sherwin-Williams Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John G. Morikis". The 2020 piece also appears to be churnalism: its initial point is from tip by "anonymous sources" close to Sherwin-Williams, and the rest of it seems to just repeat the same points made in the 2019 piece.

That being so, and in the absence of further information to suggest otherwise, I will treat the two Plain Dealer pieces as though they were press releases: promotional works, not to be relied on for historical information.

(By contrast with the Plain Dealer pieces, I can find accounts from more reputable sources stating that the national yellow color for school buses was chosen via the national conference organized by Frank W. Cyr in the 1930s, which was attended by the paint companies DuPont and Pittsburgh Paint I can find no reliable sources at all saying that Sherwin-Williams participated in that conference.)

The Crain's Cleveland article is from around the same time as the Plain Dealer ones (2020), is also from the local press, and makes the same points in much the same way (minus the dubious yellow school bus claim). So it, too, seems to have been based on the same or a similar press release.

This all makes me a bit suspicious that in recent years Sherwin-Williams has perhaps been on a PR push; and that astroturfing (or similar) a prominent website like Wikipedia, especially if it favorably associated Sherwin-Williams with something as iconic, nostalgic and popular as yellow school buses, would be the capstone. I note that your engagement on this talk page only occurred after those pieces had been "seeded" - one might say - in local press outlets. Local press outlets are often susceptible to churnalism, and are comparatively liable to provide sympathetic and trusting coverage of local large employers. Forgive my scepticism, but it is clear that Sherwin-Williams has had some quite negative publicity in recent years that it has not always successfully defeated in court. Attempting to counter bad publicity like that with good PR is a pretty common corporate strategy. And any experienced PR person would know that they stand a better chance of getting claims into Wikipedia if a journalist has published them first, even if only local ones.

I am not assuming bad faith on your part, or even on Sherwin-Williams's part; but I am saying that the evidence for some of the claims in your draft is negligible outside of (effectively) promotional materials, and that the context should give any attentive encyclopedia editor cause for caution.

Anyway, this needs resolving. I intend to copy into the article those parts of your draft that do not strike me as WP:PROMO and whose sources seem to be more substantial than churnalism. I think that is a fair compromise that does actually add value to the article without creating hostages to fortune, and I hope we can leave the matter there. Thanks again for following Wikipedia's COI requirements, and for doing something to improve the article. Zazpot (talk) 16:54, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

 Done Zazpot (talk) 19:07, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

Thanks again for all of your feedback and assistance, Zazpot. The History section is much improved. Best, MiraSherwin-Williams (talk) 22:52, 15 January 2021 (UTC)

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

Hello again editors, I'm back with another request, this time addressing the Competition section as it is seen in the current article. First, I notice right off that this section is entirely unsourced. Secondly, the information included is not an exhaustive list. If editors think it a valuable addition to the article, I'll gladly help by listing sourcing here to help editors complete it. However, it seems to me that information about competing brands is not pertinent to Sherwin-Williams as the article subject and so is unusual to see included in a typical Wikipedia entry for a corporate brand. If the community agrees, are there any reviewing editors who might be willing to remove the existing Competition section and its unsourced contents from the article on my behalf? As with other requests, I will not make changes myself due to my conflict of interest. Thanks for any assistance or thoughts you might share. MiraSherwin-Williams (talk) 22:52, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

• Support deleting the competition section. Such sections are usually created by the competitors themselves looking for plugs/mentions, but those competitors are not the subject of the page. In rare instances, there are strong sources with an in-depth analysis comparing the article-subject to competitors that can be included in a Reception section, but most of the time it's just a spammy directory that violates "not a directory" and other policies. As previously stated, I have no connection to Sherwan Williams other than being a satisfied customer. CorporateM (Talk) 21:23, 14 February 2021 (UTC)
• Support deleting; category:Paint and coatings companies of the United States already fulfills that purpose. --Pokechu22 (talk) 21:30, 14 February 2021 (UTC)

 Done. That was completely rubbish, unsourced and should not have been created in the first place. Also did minor clean up while I was at it. Graywalls (talk) 03:57, 16 February 2021 (UTC)

Thanks CorporateM for your thoughts about this along with your above reply to Consumer brands. Thanks to you, Graywalls, too for your help with removing this section! I noticed your clean up within Awards and recognition and have a few thoughts for further improving that section. Trying to keep things tidy, I'll make a new section/post to that effect, below. In the meantime, thanks again for your help here! MiraSherwin-Williams (talk) 23:05, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest was declined. The request was not specific enough. You may consider leaving your comments on the Talk page or escalating significant issues to the conflict of interest noticeboard.

Hello editors, I'm back as promised with a few thoughts for improving the Awards and recognition section within the current article. These suggestions are on the heels of this recent adjustment to the section and thoughts above from User:Graywalls and User:CorporateM. Once again, due to my paid conflict of interest, I will not make changes to the entry myself. I'm providing a list of awards below, along with supportive sourcing, for editors to review and consider for inclusion in the live article, specifically from Forbes:

• Forbes awards:
  • America's Best Employers 2021 (#50)
  • Best Employers for Veterans 2020 #106)
  • America's Best Employers for New Grads, 2020 (#13)
  • America's Best Employers By State 2020
  • Best Employers for Women 2020 (#248)
  • Global 2000 2020 (#448)
  • Best Employers for Diversity 2020 (#435)
  • Top Regarded Companies 2019 (#239)
  • America's Largest Public Companies 2018 (#148)

Thanks for any guidance or assistance offered! MiraSherwin-Williams (talk) 00:31, 19 February 2021 (UTC)

Encyclopedia making is not copywriting and it is not an extension social media of a company even though unfortunately many articles are used in such a way. Those are statistics that can be exhibited on your own website. I don't see how any of those have encyclopedic value. The information isn't prohibited if context warrants it but just putting it in is not necessary in my view. Graywalls (talk) 14:23, 19 February 2021 (UTC)

Graywalls Thanks for this reply and for your input. I'm adding the edit request template above so other editors might review it and weigh in. I welcome collaboration and will defer to the consensus of the community. Thanks again! MiraSherwin-Williams (talk) 23:22, 24 February 2021 (UTC)

Dumping the list into the section is obviously not going to happen, because that is unduly promotional. With that said, your request on how you'd like like all/some of those utilized in the article is not specified and the request is too vague. Please make clearer suggestions. Graywalls (talk) 23:36, 24 February 2021 (UTC)

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

Hello editors, I'm here with what I think is a straightforward request to update parameters within the infobox. In particular, Products and Divisions, as follows:

• The current list of Products, "paint, wallpaper, flooring", seems to me like a random selection of Sherwin-Williams products that does not truly summarize the company's offerings. I propose replacing this list with: paints, coatings, stains, caulks, sealants and applicators
• Similarly, the listed Divisions appear arbitrarily selected and not representative of the company's official divisions, as outlined in the body of the article itself. I propose replacing this list with: The America's Group, Consumer Brands Group, and Performance Coatings Group as seen within the article body.

If editors agree, is there a volunteer willing to help by implementing these recommended changes to the infobox on my behalf? I prefer to remain hands-off, even within the infobox, to respect the site's guidelines for my conflict of interest. Thanks for any feedback or consideration. MiraSherwin-Williams (talk) 13:03, 23 March 2021 (UTC)

Hi again, I'm adding the edit request template above for visibility. Thanks! 72.23.172.228 (talk) 21:27, 30 March 2021 (UTC)

 Done. Sorry about the delay, there’s an edit request backlog of around 200 articles, and I’ve been going in chronological order. Saw this because you pinged me, otherwise it’d have to wait until someone got to it. But this was such a small edit, that it’s not worth to come back. It’s done. As you said, the infobox should be consistent with the body; it’s now better. Thank you. Ferkijel (talk) 21:45, 30 March 2021 (UTC)

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

Hello, Wikipedia volunteers, my name is Mira and I am the employee representative for Sherwin-Williams here on Wikipedia. As an employee, I will follow Wikipedia's conflict of interest guidelines and refrain from editing the article and related articles directly. My intention is to work with engaged editors that are interested in making constructive improvements.

I am wondering if editors would be willing to update the Carbon Footprint section based on new data available from the 2021 Sherwin-Williams Sustainability Report ESG Summary. We are proposing updating the figures on the page now, and also adding a data point for 2021. Please see below for what I believe should be reflected in the table on the page:

• December 2017: Keep as is
• December 2018: Keep as is
• Decebmer 2019: Change to 676
• December 2020: Change to 635
• Please add to the table: December 2021: 621

We will also want the top page updated to reflect the following:

Sherwin-Williams Co reported Total CO2e emissions (Direct + Indirect) for the twelve months ending 31 December 2021 at 621 Kt (-55 /-8.1% y-o-y)[68] and plans to reduce emissions by 30% by 2030 from a 2019 base year.

Please let me know if this is the preferred way for a conflict of interest editor like myself to best collaborate with editors! I welcome your questions and feedback if they arise. Thanks in advance! MiraSherwin-Williams (talk) 15:06, 15 November 2022 (UTC)

 Done Hi MiraSherwin-Williams, I believe you posted an incorrect citation for the 2021 ESG report. I've picked it up from the company website and updated the figures. Note that the "(-55 /-8.1% y-o-y)" no longer applies when comparing 2021 vs 2020 emissions. I've fixed this as well. Thanks, Ptrnext (talk) 16:15, 17 November 2022 (UTC)