H-I-S Paint Manufacturing Company, Inc. finds its roots with the story of Joe T. Cox, founder, owner and president.
It began in September of 1960. Mr. Cox started his career in the paint industry as an employee of Capital Paint Mfg. Company in Oklahoma City. There, as a paint maker, he earned $1.35 per hour. After only one year he was promoted to the position of plant manager.
In 1964, Joe moved on from Capital Paint for a short-lived insurance sales endeavor. When this excursion didn’t pan out, Del Paint Manufacturing Company hired Joe for the position of plant manager.
In 1965, Joe left Del Paint to be the plant manager for Gemini Lacquers. Through hard work and determination, Joe was promoted to Vice-President of Production. Joe attributes his personal self-discipline and hard work habits to his association with Bill Smith, founder of Gemini Lacquers.
In 1972, after leaving Gemini Lacquers and facing many personal problems, Joe prayed and trusted Jesus Christ for Salvation and Forgiveness of Sins. With God’s help Joe’s life began to change as he trusted and depended on God each day for guidance.
While still unemployed, Joe was encouraged by a good friend, Harry Currie, to start manufacturing and selling his own paint. With Mr. Currie’s financial help and counsel, H-I-S Paint was founded in April of 1972. From the very beginning, Joe dedicated H-I-S Paint to God and named it for Him. Thus the Origin of the name H-I-S Paint.
H-I-S Paint’s first manufacturing plant was located at 1037 SE 26th in Oklahoma City. H-I-S Paint started with a single paint-mixing machine and produced 3 different Interior Latex Wall Paints. Joe would mix paint in the evenings to sell and deliver during the day mainly to apartments and paint contractors. H-I-S Paint began to grow quickly, and soon a full time paint mixer and full time salesman were hired.
In 1975, H-I-S Paint relocated to 921 SW 29th. This was also the site of the first H-I-S Paint retail store, and business more than doubled. In 1980, Joe purchased the McKesson Chemical building at 1700 W Sheridan, relocating H-I-S Paint’s manufacturing division. The retail store remained at the 29th street location. Three years later, another building was added to the land on Sheridan for manufacturing. The manufacturing and warehouse space increased to approximately 20,000 square feet.
During the first twelve years of business, H-I-S Paint was primarily servicing the apartment industry and painting contractors. In 1984 the Oklahoma economy began to recede and H-I-S was forced to explore and develop new markets. Initially, H-I-S Paint had manufactured Latex (water based) paints only. In 1986, H-I-S began producing Alkyd (oil-based) paints also, allowing it to expand into industrial and specialty coatings.
In 1989 H-I-S moved its south retail store location to South Oklahoma City to be more convenient to painters and homebuilders in the area. This move more than doubled its business within 2 years.
By 1990 H-I-S had experienced growth pains at its present location on Sheridan. After looking for a new facility for more that two years, Joe purchased a 42,000 square feet building at 1801 W Reno. This move was completed in February 1992. With the purchase of additional equipment, H-I-S Paint more than doubled its manufacturing capacity. In addition, a retail store was added at the Reno location. The solvent paint manufacturing plant remained at the Sheridan Location. During this time, H-I-S Paint started private labeling their products to other paint stores in Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and Texas.
Recently H-I-S has experienced phenomenal growth in the area of Industrial Sales. In 1998, H-I-S began a massive renovation of the Industrial Coatings Manufacturing Facility, which was completed in June of 1999. The entire Industrial Coatings Facility was completely renovated and brought into compliance with all current regulatory guidelines. In addition, a brand new 6,000 square feet warehousing facility was also constructed on the site. This renovation also allowed H-I-S to double it’s output capabilities. This expansion into an ever-growing market has enabled H-I-S to increase their sales force and expand sales outreach. H-I-S currently sells paint regionally in Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Colorado, Iowa and Nebraska. H-I-S Paint is also currently exporting coatings to Mexico.
This recent growth in sales and market has allowed H-I-S Paint to undergo an extensive internal reorganization. This restructuring of responsibilities along with a new 5 year corporate projection plan have prepared H-I-S Paint to meet projections of $20 million dollar annual sales in the near future.