Diego Gutierrez
Encounters 7
Mr. Skipper
April 27, 2020
Cranking the Soap
Lever Brothers was a successful soap company made by William Lever. William manufactured special soap brands that helped people with their needs and affected people and their daily lives. Other companies had begun to make soap in an attempt to be better than Lever Brothers, however, it is now known as Unilever. William had many competitors that had tried to compete with William and his company, but he managed to stay the best-selling company. Without Unilever, the world would not be able to prevent terrible disasters which can include diseases or bad hygiene. Williams creations are still used or recreated these modern days and would never be forgotten for their helpful and amazing uses.
William Lever
William Lever was born in Bolton, Lancashire, on September 19, 1851. His spouse was Elizabeth Ellen Hulme, along with his brother being James Lever. His company, Lever Brothers, had kept William very well known during his time. William's education had changed over the years, starting at a small private school until the age of nine. However, as he grew older, he was moved to be educated at church schools until fifteen. Not long after William’s fifteenth birthday, he had ended up working at his father’s grocery business. However, William didn’t want to work at his father’s business, as he wanted to become an architect instead. However, William still began to manufacture sunlight soap during his time at his father’s grocery business, along with many well-known brands such as Lux and Lifebuoy. Eventually, William's family moved to a larger house away from Wood Street, although they were still adjacent to their grocery business. Once they moved, the William family had recent bible readings at their new home. William was moved to the administration department at some stage, where he was taught about bookkeeping and accounting systems. William was always in his father’s close supervision, so he eventually took the place of a retiring sales representative, which meant a lot of travel and possibly days away from home. Sadly, William eventually passed away one day from Pneumonia on May 7, 1925. The amazing things William Lever and his company made would never be forgotten (Wales).
Company History
William wanted to capture a large international share of the soap trade in 1884. William Lever, along with his brother, James, had decided to enter the soap business in 1885 after a small soap works had been purchased by them. Later after their purchase, William, along with his brother, James Lever, had begun to make an establishment by founding the Lever Brothers company in 1886. It was one of the first companies to manufacture soap using vegetable oils. In 1887, Lever bought 56 acres of land, which then became a new site of Port Sunlight, where his soap creations were made. William's brother and his co-director James hadn't been a major part in their business, despite being named Lever Brothers. After a long while, along with having a small sales office in New York City, Lever Brothers eventually decided to enter the United States market in 1895. A soap manufacturer had soon been purchased by the company in 1898. Subsidiaries were set in Switzerland, Australia, United States, Canada, Germany, and elsewhere. Eventually, the Lifebuoy, Lux, Vim brands were added to the company in 1900. In the Solomon Islands and Belgian Congo, the company had made and developed its own oil palm plantations by 1911. Lever Brothers became the third-largest soap manufacturer in the U.S. by 1929, having employed 1,000 workers in the city of Cambridge, 1400 nationwide. A year later, in 1930, Margarine Unie began to merge with Lever Brothers to form the company known as Unilever. The new company, Unilever, managed to employ 250,000 people in 1930, making it the largest company in Britain in market value (Unilever).
Daily Life Uses
William Lever’s business has had many changes over the years. His company had helped other people and their lives be easier. William’s soap development allowed other people to be able to use his creations to help themselves. Lever Brothers’ soap creations allowed people to be able to clean their houses, furniture, silverware, and themselves. Without the company’s creations, houses, furniture, silverware, and people themselves would not be clean. People would have to walk around dirt and dust all the time. Fortunately, the soap inventions help prevent that. Soap helps people with their hygiene needs. Soap creations possibly helped prevent dangerous things. An example of this is insects and rodents. Dangerous insects such as mosquitoes can be prevented by a clean environment. Rodents can eat and contaminate our food if there are no clean objects. Another example of preventing dangerous things are diseases. Diseases can infect food objects or maybe people. However, diseases may be able to be prevented using soap, and the chemicals in it, to make a clean environment that can kill deadly bacteria. This company has manufactured great things that helped people make their lives easier. Lever Brothers’ is a company that we will always remember for their amazing soap creations.
Company Competition
Lever Brothers was a great soap company. However, it had to begin from the bottom. There were many other soap companies trying to work to the top as well. Lever Brothers had to compete with other companies in order to be able to be the best-selling soap company. Lever Brothers, now known as Unilever, had competitors that people may be familiar with. P&G is Unilever’s biggest competitor, as it is not too far behind compared to each other. Unilever’s CEO score is 74/100, while P%G’s CEO score is only 2 points away at 72/100. The second main competitor is Nestle. This company has a CEO score of 74/100, the same score as Unilever’s score. Nestle has 308,00 employees, while Unilever’s employee count is at 155,000. The final main competitor Johnson Johnson & Johnson. This company has a low CEO score of 65/100. This company also has 135,100 employees. Johnson & Johnson has raised a good $82.1 Billion dollars, which is more than Unilever. Fortunately, Unilever has remained the best company since 1900. Unilever has worked hard to be able to reach the top of all companies. Without the hard work done by all of their employees, Unilever would have never been the top and best selling company in the U.S..
Conclusion
Lever brothers was a company made by William Lever along with his brother, James Lever. Their company was successful as they were the best-selling soap company. William had worked hard with his brother to be able to fulfill this task. It was rough for them to get this far. Soap was hard to get back then, but Lever Brothers had made that easy. William’s soap had helped keep things clean and possibly prevent terrible things from happening, such as diseases. Without any soap, the world would have many problems with hygiene. Other companies had tried to compete with Lever Brothers, however, Lever Brothers, now known as Unilever, managed to stay as the top soap company. People finally know how soap was made and the deep history of Unilever.
Works Cited
Wales, Jimmy, “Lever Brothers”, Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, (22 February 2000) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lever_Brothers
Madhavan, Rajan, “Unilever’s Competitors, Revenue, Employees, Funding, and Acquisitions”, Owler, Rajan Madhavan, 2011, www.owler.com
Braiker, Brian “Unilever (Lever Brothers Co.)”, Ad Age, Brian Braiker, September 15, 2003, adage.com