History

          The Thornley Company was founded in 1954 by Herbert D. Thornley.  Mr. Thornley had previously worked for DuPont where he was a salesman offering fragrances and surfactants to the industrial and personal care marketplace.  Upon founding the Thornley Co., Mr. Thornley worked as a single proprietor representing several small privately held companies.  Union Carbide was one of the Thornley Company’s first customers and helped launch Mr. Thornley on his career for the next 20 years.

In 1976, Herb was joined in the business by his son, Doug.  Doug had recently graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in chemistry.  After serving for a year as a  synthesis chemist for Mona Industries, Doug joined his father at Thornley Company..

It was at this time that the direction of the Company was defined.  The Thornley Co. was to be a specialty chemical agent and distributor serving the industry found throughout the Mid Atlantic region.  The foundation of our product line would be surfactants.

Surfactants are used in a wide variety of industries.  They are predominantly found in the personal care industry, detergent industry, metal working industry, water treatment market, emulsion polymerization, textile lubrication, and the variety of allied process industries.

In conjunction with the uses surfactants there are many specialty chemical products that can be found to significantly complement the uses surfactants in the above mentioned industry’s which require a technical and detailed presentation.  As a small company it was it has always been felt that our strength resides in our technical ability to share the performance insights of our products.

In 1976, the Thornley Co. represented just three companies.  They were Mona industries, Petrochemicals Company, and Standard Aromatics.  Our sales totaled well under $1 million per year.  Our mission was clearly to add to our sales and add to our suppliers.

In 1978, Thornley Co. was appointed representatives for the Amerchol Corp., a supplier of lanolin derivatives to the cosmetic industry.  This association was a very profitable one for over 15 years, until Amerchol was purchased by Union Carbide and chose to go in a different direction.

By the early 1980’s, new suppliers such as Lipo Chemicals, the Mearl Corp., Wickhen Products, Nipa Laboratories and other suppliers were added to the Thornley Co. product line. We enjoyed many years of close collaboration with all of these fine organizations. Through a series of mergers, acquisitions, and management changes our relationships with these companies has expired and become an inspiration for growth in other areas.

In 1982, Thornley Co. moved to North Wilmington to their new offices where the Company resided for another 12 years.  During that time our business processes were computerized and our staff grew to 10 individuals and sales of $12 million.

In 1991 it was decided that we would incorporate a new company, Horizon Aromatics.  Our goal with Horizon Aromatics was to use our contacts within the industry to promote our line of fragrances nationwide.  We started from a small sales base and began to build a network of agents across the country.  Horizon continues to develop and patent new fragrance technologies that are available around the world.

The 1990’s were a period of many changes within the industry. Supplier and Customer Consolidations changed the landscape of our Representation affiliations and Customer Base. 

We immediately responded to this business threat by securing identical products to these brands from several key producers. All of these products would be branded under the Thorco Brand Name & Product Line, launching what has become our fastest growing Product Category!

Our Thorco Brand has continued to grow and has become one of our most successful product categories.

In December 2002, we added ExxonMobil and their line of Polyalpha Olephins for use in Personal Care products. Additional products were also added to our Thorco Product Line.

We have begun to expand our Raw Material search overseas. Recent trips to Europe and to China indicate that there is significant opportunity to pool our resources for much greater penetration throughout the region.

In 2006, we added Mike Corti to our Staff as our Technical Service Manager. Mike has almost 40 years of experience in Chemical Synthesis, Formulation and Development. He will assist our efforts in Technical Support, Brand Development, Literature Enhancement, and Web Publishing.

In May 2007, we moved to our current location in the Delaware Technology Center, at 1 Innovation Way, Newark, DE where we have both our headquarters and technology facilities.

We have a dedicated sales, technical and administrative team to answer your questions and provide outstanding customer service.