Company History

Founded in 1981, CORECHEM Inc. (formerly Greenway Products, Inc.) is a third-generation, family-owned chemical distribution and manufacturing company headquartered in Knoxville, TN. For over 40 years we’ve built our reputation on providing personal service and chemical expertise to customers nationwide.

The company was originally founded by Mr. Edwin Sherrod, an analytical chemist who worked in Oak Ridge at the onset of the nuclear age. Mr. Sherrod passed away in 2016 at the age of 90. His passion for the business remained throughout his entire life, as he continued to attend sales meetings from his wheelchair up until just weeks before his passing. His son, Mr. Jon Sherrod, is our current President; and his grandson, Wesley Sherrod, is the General Manager.

CORECHEM Inc has evolved dramatically since its humble beginnings as Greenway Chemical. In the 1980s, Greenway initially specialized in the formulation and production of industrial compounds for the HI&I (Health, Industrial, and Institutional) markets. Mr. Sherrod’s dreams transformed into a reality with the ability to offer several high-quality proprietary brands of industrial-strength chemical solutions to the consumer market.

In the years that followed, the company has steadily grown. In the late 90s and early 2000s, the global market started to change with consolidation within the chemical distribution industry. This created a huge ripple in a once robust and competitive market, allowing Greenway to pivot its focus and begin offering the supply of key raw materials and processing chemicals. To this day, CORECHEM continues to work with producers and suppliers that bring value to our product offering and our customers.

We currently provide industrial chemicals to a variety of markets, including but not limited to; Paints & Coatings; Pulp & Paper; Water & Wastewater; Automotive; Aerospace; Chemical Synthesis; Agriculture; and General Manufacturing. Additionally, we manufacture our own brands of Glycol-based and Alcohol-based Heat Transfer Fluids, used in HVAC & Geothermal systems across the country. We have a robust supply base, offering primarily domestically sourced products, with the ability to source globally as needed. By diversifying our supplier base, CORECHEM is better able to provide high-quality materials and ensure surety of supply for our customers.

Although CORECHEM has grown and changed dramatically over the years, our commitment to being the best for our customers is still the same. We regularly out-service multi-billion-dollar companies with our core focus being “Customer First”. We currently employ a staff of over 35 employees with 150+ years of combined industry knowledge and experience. We look forward to adding to our amazingly diverse team as we work to continue our CORE purpose of ‘helping people and supporting our communities’.