The Boehringer chemical business was founded in 1817 by Christian Friedrich Boehringer. In 1885, Albert Boehringer, the son of Christian, set up his own chemical factory in Ingelheim near Mainz in the Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany), to manufacture tartaric acid salts used by pharmacies and dyeing works. In 1895, Boehringer achieved a breakthrough discovery, that he could use bacteria to produce lactic acid in commercial quantities - becoming a pioneer of large-scale "biotech" production. From the 1950s up to the late 1980s, Boehringer Ingelheim enjoyed decades of untroubled growth. A new management structure was created in 1991, following the death of the Chairman and CEO, Hubertus Liebrecht, to meet the needs of the changing business environment. Boehringer Ingelheim group of companies is privately-held and consistently dedicated to researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing novel products of high therapeutic value for human and veterinary medicine. The Boehringer Ingelheim worldwide Corporation is built around the central concept of Value through Innovation. This sets out the objectives and framework for the future and serves as a guide for the entire corporation. The corporation has 140 affiliated companies in 42 countries worldwide on all seven continents.