In The Cradle of Industry and Liberty

HARRY MILLER
CORP.
@
Right: Left to right, Founders Harry Miller
and Charlie Haas.
Below: Harry Miller.
Since its incorporation in 1936 the Harry
Miller Corp. has grown into a multimillion
dollar enterprise serving the steel and metalworking
industries with proprietary specialty
chemicals. The company’s quality products
include acid inhibitors, rust preventatives,
coolants, lubricants (i.e.-stamping and forming
compounds), cleaners and many others.
The company is recognized within its industry
for offering excellent customer service,
exacting technical expertise, superior quality
control and cost effective solutions for client’s
metalworking and manufacturing needs.
Harry Miller Corp. was founded by Harry
Miller and Charles Haas on December 3, 1935.
Both principals had previously worked
together for a local specialty chemical producer
and decided to strike out alone, albeit in
the depths of the Great Depression. The company,
originally known as the Haas-Miller
Corporation, formulated and produced chemical
specialties for the textile, leather and
paper trades that dominated local industry in
the 1930s. The company’s products were sold
primarily on the eastern seaboard.
With the advent of World War II, the
industrial climate transformed into a hot-bed
of steel and metal-working and the company
changed its focus to meet those needs. Sales
efforts expanded to include a region west of
the Mississippi, with a concentration on the
industrial cities of the Midwest.
The two founders parted in 1946 and the
name of the company was changed to the
Harry Miller Corp. Miller’s son-in-law, John
Entwisle, joined the company after his return
from service in WWII and directed the
company’s marketing efforts through, among
other efforts, the imaginative use of direct mail,
featuring the well-known ‘Miller Memos.’
Entwisle took the company helm when Harry
passed away in late 1967.
As sales grew through direct sales and
marketing, the steel industry in the Midwest
was booming and management decided to
enter the pickling inhibitor market. The
company’s pickling inhibitors utilized an
entirely new chemistry that not only drastically
reduced the steel industry’s cost of
pickling; they ultimately drove the dominant
competitor from the market. Harry Miller
Corp. enjoys the leadership position in this
niche market even today.
The company experienced rapid growth
during the 1960s and 1970s and earned a
reputation for making innovative products
while operating as an ethical and qualitydriven
enterprise.
Entwisle’s son, Bruce, joined the company
as the Cleveland-area salesman in October
of 1983. In 1986 he was transferred to
Philadelphia to run the local territory, and in
1989 was promoted to national sales manager.
He assumed the position of president/CEO
when John retired in 1994.
This third generation, under the guidance
of Bruce, has moved the company into the
international arena, selling its Activol ® line
of acid inhibitors and Hamico ® rinse aids
throughout the world through a network of
strategic partners and sales agents.
The Harry Miller Corp., located at 4309
North Lawrence Street in Philadelphia, has
seventeen full time employees plus six
independent representatives. The company
now sells more than 400 active products to
thousands of end-users, producing annual
revenues between $8 to $10 million.
For more information about the Harry
Miller Corp., visit www.harrymillercorp.com.
IN THE CRADLE OF INDUSTRY AND LIBERTY
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