Little Time for Fly-Fishing in This ‘Retirement’ : Japan: Thirty years in chemical marketing put U.S. executive in a position to head several companies for their Asian owners.

After more than 30 years of moving up through the ranks at various chemical companies, Kenneth Wattman retired in 1987. The New Jersey native thought he was going to settle down to a quiet life of fly-fishing.

It didn’t last. Wattman, 67, now works for a big Japanese manufacturing conglomerate and has so many titles, he can’t remember them all.

The major ones are: president and board member of Kao Corp. of America (KCOA) and special adviser to the president of Kao Corp., KCOA’s parent company in Tokyo.

Wattman is also responsible for three KCOA subsidiaries in the United States: High Point Chemical Corp. in High Point, N.C.; Kao Infosystems Co. in Plymouth, Mass., and Andrew Jergens Co. in Cincinnati.

So what is Kao, pronounced “cow”?

It’s often called the Procter & Gamble of Japan--a diversified manufacturer of household and personal care products, industrial and specialty chemicals and floppy disks for personal computers.

Headquarters for its U.S. operations is tucked in a corner of an expansive glass-enclosed building north of Wilmington that also houses DuPont, the chemical maker, and drug manufacturer Merck.

Wattman has a small office, and a handful of employees work in an airy office about three times the size of his.

He’s not in the least bit bothered. Most of the work is done by phone and fax with the company’s parent in Japan.

“We file taxes and consolidate financial information,” Wattman said. “The important thing is not what’s done here. The important thing is what happens in the (subsidiaries).”

Wattman is the eyes and ears for Kao executives half a world away. He’s an American businessman who has operated in a global marketplace for more than three decades, using his analytical mind and quick smile to bridge cultural differences and make money for the parties involved.

It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t know much about Jergens lotion or shampoo or women’s hair dyes.

“I still don’t know a lot about the details of Jergens. But I can bring experience to bear in knowing the marketplace, the consumer,” he said.

“Ken’s job is really to consolidate and monitor all of the activities of these companies and give advice and let them know in Tokyo how to progress from here in those companies,” said Robert P. Barnett, a consultant to Kao who retired from the chemical maker ICI Americas in 1982 as president and chief executive officer.

He was the one who recommended Wattman, who directed specialty chemicals for ICI Americas before his retirement, to head Kao’s U.S. operations.

Wattman was a young engineer for Aquanest in Texas in the 1950s when it was acquired by Atlas Chemical Industries. Atlas sold Aquanest but kept Wattman, and it was Barnett who put him in Atlas’ international marketing division.

Wattman traveled all over Europe, Asia and Latin America, even after ICI acquired Atlas.

When he returned to the United States, Wattman was made a vice president of chemical operations and later was responsible for research and development and engineering for ICI Americas, which was headquartered in Wilmington.

“He was exposed to major companies throughout the world, their international divisions,” Barnett said.

Through ICI, Wattman also had to deal with the British way of doing business. He described it as a bit stuffy, recalling long, shadowy corridors with every office door closed.

“Somebody could die in there and you wouldn’t find them for two weeks,” he joked.

In the United States, there’s more of an open-door policy. But with shareholders the top concern, “there is much greater pressure for immediate performance and you pay the price if you don’t meet analysts’ expectations,” Wattman said.

That’s in sharp contrast to the Japanese culture where shareholders are third in line after customers and employees. But Wattman said he finds the Japanese style of business refreshing, so he’s having a good time even though his hoped-for retirement has vanished.

“The people who wake up every morning and hate going to the office, I feel sorry for them,” Wattman said.

“It doesn’t matter what you do, you’ve got to like what you’re doing because you’re going to be doing it for a long while.”