Jordan's History

Back in 1973 Jordan had signed a collaboration agreement with paint brush manufacturer Bankeryd Penselfabrik in Sweden. In 1979, Jordan purchased a majority stake in the Swedish manufacturer, which had been renamed Anza, before finally, in 1989, buying the rest of the company, making it a part of the Jordan Group. It was a logical move for Jordan, whose involvement in the production of paintbrushes dated back to Skippergaten at the end of the 1800s. While brush production had evolved over the years into a sophisticated industry, it had always been an important contributor to corporate growth and the acquisition consolidated Jordan’s position in this sector.

In 1987 Jordan bought into, and later took over, Peri-dent, a leading dental floss manufacturer, together with its production facility in Scotland. As a supplier Peri-dent had the capability to deliver consistently high-quality products, an important factor for Jordan when the quality of output from suppliers could sometimes vary markedly.

TV news magazine Business and Aftenposten, Norway´s largest newspaper, named Jordan its Company of the Year in 1986 citing, among other things, the company's ability to win market leadership, not least in an international context, following strong growth in the preceding years. Moreover, Jordan had distinguished itself as an enlightened district developer through its successful investment in Flisa, where the company has placed great emphasis on technological development, thereby delivering valuable efficiency gains.

Up until 1975 the company operated under the name A/S W. Jordan Børste & Penselfabrik. However with the strong growth internationally this was seen as impractical and it was decided to modify the name to simply Jordan AS.

January 1973 saw the introduction of a new celebrity to the Norwegian people. Jonatann from Jordan became very popular among both children and adults as he went about his task of helping people to take better care of their teeth and gums. Jonatann maintained excellent awareness rates among Norwegian children for a number of years, with at one point 72 percent of Norwegian children aged 6-12 years recognising Jonatann and aware of what he stood for. The Jonatann Club, established some years later, had nearly 7000 members at its peak. The year after the introduction of Jonatann the toothbrush T4 "Jordan's new long" was launched in the Scandinavian market and Spain. It replaced a toothbrush model that had been a success since 1960. The new T4 had a longer neck than other toothbrushes on the market. This meant that it was easier to clean teeth deep in the mouth, where cavities were likely to develop. As the world's second largest toothbrush producer Jordan felt a great responsibility for improving dental health, and continued to invest in research and development. As well as working to enhance its marketing, production and technical capabilities, Jordan also hired a dentist with special training in periodontistry as a dental consultant.

This year saw Jordan awarded the Norwegian Trade Council’s prize for exports, sponsored by SAS. The award was made in recognition of the company's pioneering efforts in export marketing. Later that year, dental floss was introduced to the oral hygiene range, while mouthwash was introduced in the Norwegian market. Along with toothbrushes, dental floss and dental sticks this created a comprehensive oral care offer from Jordan.

With the move into dental sticks Jordan realised that it needed to relocate its wood store, then located in Oslo, to a location near to where the raw materials were produced. This would result in substantial savings in transportation costs, a reduction in inventory, and the release of valuable assets. Åsnes municipality, located in Solør, was selected as the ideal location. It was close to the supply of timber and the site was 38 acres in size with the option to purchase an additional 30 acres. Jordan’s offer was accepted and the planning of a new and modern wood factory at Flisa begun. In autumn 1967, the turf cutting ceremony took place and by the end of 1968-1969, after a brief period of trial and the commissioning of machines, regular production started on the site and the wood division completed its move from Oslo to Flisa. Over the next few years, other production capabilities were transferred from Oslo to Flisa, and by the end of 1972 the factory had 60 employees.

In the middle of the 1960s oral health started to become a matter of serious public interest. At that time Jordan established links with a hygienist at the Department of Dentistry while the production department employed a designer for the first time. The purpose of these innovative moves was to ensure that Jordan maintained a consistent developmental lead over the competition, a task that was seen as the highest priority. In 1966, Jordan decided to work all-out on the production of dental sticks. It was one of the leading periodontists, Professor Jens Wærhaug, who suggested that Jordan should develop and produce dental sticks. The goal was to create a cleaner for dental spaces which would be both more effective and easier to use than dental floss. Although many were sceptical Jordan chose to follow this advice and the product was subsequently proven to be viable. However, the new product required new production methods. Hand milling the plates proved to be time consuming and expensive, so the company decided to construct a fully automated machine that could produce 40 000 dental sticks per sheet. Another specially developed product, which over the years has shown steady growth, was introduced at this time: the single-pack dental stick. From modest beginnings in the 1980s, demand for this product has grown over the years and they can now be found on most flights and restaurants throughout Europe.

This year saw Jordan employee Roald Aas win an Olympic gold medal in the 1500 metres speed skating at Squaw Valley, USA.

Toothbrushes had the major advantage that they were one of the few products that could be sold across almost all countries without changing the design, and Jordan made its first successful foreign sales supplying toothbrushes into the UK, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. A versatile toothbrush rack with round shelves and room for 12 toothbrushes on each shelf was developed and launched with great success across Western Europe in the 1960s, before subsequently going worldwide. By 1964 total sales of toothbrushes by Jordan had reached almost 8 million and sales and exports had increased 40 percent from the previous year, so it was decided to launch "Jordan" as an international trademark. By 1967, ten years after Jordan first started its export thrust, 35 per cent of total production was exported and Jordan toothbrushes were now the market leader in five countries outside Norway; Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

At the end of the 1950s Jordan entered a period of increasingly strong competition from abroad and intensified its sales activities. As a result an initiative to build a strong sales organization in Norway got underway. Jordan had at the time 32 different toothbrush models. These were packed in cardboard boxes and stocked out of sight in drawers behind the counter. It was now decided that it would concentrate on only one of these toothbrushes and this should be marketed and presented on the shelves in the new self-service stores. Production and sale of the other toothbrush models was stopped. This represented a very deliberate change in the marketing strategy. As Jordan began to expose its goods in a shop environment there developed a growing awareness of the influence of presentation on customers’ buying decisions. Jordan was one of the first companies in Norway to market-orientate its activities, with all its usual thoroughness. Until 1957 Jordan was still primarily focused on its domestic market. When discussions began at this time about the creation of a European Common Market, which would mean greater imports of competing products into Norway, it became necessary to explore new strategic choices. As a result it was decided that the company would start exporting more of its products. Jordan also began developing, manufacturing and selling vacuum cleaner brushes and plastic mouthpieces for products made by the major vacuum cleaner manufacturers in Europe. As a highly competitive sector the latter was subject to ever-increasing price pressures, so it became a priority to further intensify the sale of Jordan's own product ranges.

In 1954 Jordan began marketing their toothbrushes in Norway under the name "Pronto." The following year the familiar slogan "Jordan knows how" was introduced. This has been a trademark of Jordan ever since and has entered the Norwegian language as a universally-recognised catch-phrase.

By the early 1950s the business had two sales representatives covering the whole of Norway and had appointed distributors in all the major cities. It was at this time that nylon replaced the pig bristles that up until then had been used in toothbrushes.

1937 saw Jordan celebrate its 100th anniversary, and at the same time it was developing into a substantial business, producing 225,000 toothbrushes that year. Turnover in 1937 was NOK 1.3 million and the company employed 144 people.

In a far-reaching move Jordan introduced toothbrushes to its already wide range of brush products in 1927. This was brought about by Hjalmar Jordan, the founder’s grandson and former CEO, and brought a whole new dimension to the business. It came about as a result of his widespread travels abroad where he observed the large production of toothbrushes and realized the enormous potential that this represented. From that point Hjalmar Jordan set about transforming the company in his usual purposeful and systematic way. Technically, it was a very complicated task, and the first models were only introduced after a succession of long-term experiments and favourable test results. With the product perfected, the company secured a site at Sinsen/Løren and built the country’s first toothbrush plant, with production getting underway in 1933. Soon Jordan was supplying over half of the toothbrush market in Norway. With the production equipment purchased abroad the quality of the products was considered to be almost on a par with the foreign competition.

This was a slogan that Jordan introduced at the beginning of the 1920s, and at that time the company marketers had good reason for the claim. By then Jordan brushes could be found right across the country. Even in the remotest village it was possible to buy the company’s brooms and brushes.

Through his foresight as an experienced and substantial importer Jordan ensured that the warehouses were so well stocked that they maintained production without interruption throughout the war years.

He maintained a close eye on the developments made by his foreign competitors and investigated new methods of streamlining production. Subsequent investment in modern machinery and equipment improved corporate competitiveness and spurred further growth.

Jordan, compared to conditions elsewhere at that time, was seen as a good place to work. Staff were well looked after and co-operation between the workforce and managers was excellent. Strikes were very rare and once hired staff tended to stay for many years; 60 years of continuous service was not unknown. Jordan as a company was also something of a social pioneer.

Jordan was unwilling to invest in the means of mass production needed to compete in the comb sector and manufacturing ceased in 1886.