Jump to content

Eastman Chemical Company

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 192.88.212.43 (talk) at 21:41, 1 February 2011 (→History). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Eastman Chemical Company
Company typePublic (NYSE: EMN)
S&P 500 Component
IndustryManufacturing
Founded1920
HeadquartersKingsport, Tennessee, U.S.
Websitewww.eastman.com

Eastman Chemical Company is a United States based chemical company, engaged in the manufacture and sale of chemicals, fibers, and plastics. Eastman has 11 manufacturing sites in seven countries, supplying its products throughout the world. Founded in 1920 and based in Kingsport, Tennessee, Eastman is a Fortune 500 company with 2008 sales of $6.7 billion, and approximately 10,000 employees.[1]

Eastman manufactures and markets chemicals, fibers and plastics worldwide. It provides key differentiated coatings, adhesives and specialty plastics products, is a major supplier of cellulose acetate fibers, and produces PET polymers for packaging.

Eastman is a member of Responsible Care, a global voluntary initiative developed autonomously by the chemical industry to improve health, safety, and environmental performance. In January 2008, Corporate Responsibility Officer Magazine (CRO) named Eastman one of the five best corporate citizens among chemical companies in the U.S.[2] Eastman was also ranked 64th in CRO magazine's list of 100 Best Corporate Citizens for 2008.[3]

Products

The products manufactured by Eastman Chemical Company are categorized in five key sectors. Defined by the end use of the products, these sectors provide a basic overview of the types of products produced. Included in the description of each sector is a brief summary of the type of consumer or industrial goods that utilize the products manufactured by Eastman.[4]

Coatings, adhesives, specialty polymers and inks

Utilizing raw materials including propane, ethane, butane, high sulfur coal, natural gas, wood pulp and acetone, Eastman produces several products in this category. Products include cellulosic polymers, cellulose esters, adhesion promoters, Texanol ester alcohol, solvents, hydrocarbon resins, rosin resins, resin dispersions, and polymer raw materials. These products are used for a variety of purposes ranging from packaging to automotive paints to disposable diapers.

Fibers

Manufactured from high sulfur coal and wood pulp, Eastman makes acetate tow, acetate yarn and acetyl chemical products. These fibers are used in apparel and home furnishings as well as cigarette filters and industrial applications.

Performance chemicals and intermediates

Raw materials including propane, ethane, high sulfur coal and natural gas are utilized by Eastman to produce acetic anhydride, acetaldehyde, oxo derivatives, plasticizers, glycols, polymer intermediates, diketene derivatives, specialty ketones, and specialty anhydrides. These products are used for numerous purposes, including toys, household products, textiles and more.

Polymers

Paraxylene, ethylene glycol, purified terephthalic acid (PTA), propane, and ethane are used by Eastman to manufacture polyethylene terephthalate (PET) polymers and polyethylene products including low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), as well as a clear amorphous thermoplastic in glycol-modified polyethylene terephthalate (PETG). Eastman also produces a BPA-free polymer in Tritan Copolyester. Polymers are utilized for a variety of packaging purposes, including food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. They are also used for industrial applications.

Specialty plastics

Utilizing some of the same raw materials as the Polymers division – paraxylene, ethylene glycol and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) – Eastman’s Specialty Plastics division manufactures copolyesters, polyester, cellulose esters, cellulosic plastics, and concentrates/additives. These products are utilized in the building and construction industry and for other purposes such as optical and photographic film.

History

An effect of World War I was a scarcity in raw materials such as photographic paper, optical glass, gelatin and many chemicals, including methanol, acetic acid and acetone. After the war ended, Eastman Kodak founder George Eastman began working to have an independent supply of chemicals for his photographic processes. His search for suitable quantities of methanol and acetone led him to the southern United States.

In 1920, Tennessee Eastman was founded with two major platforms – organic chemicals and acetyls. Products such as calcium acetate, sodium acetate, acetic acid and acetic anhydride became the basis the company’s platforms.

During World War II, RDX, a powerful explosive, was manufactured for the U.S. government at Holston Ordnance Works at Tennessee Eastman sites. At the peak of production near the end of the war, the ordnance plant was producing a million and a half pounds of explosives each day. Tennessee Eastman was responsible for managing the Y-12 National Security Complex at Oak Ridge, Tennessee which produced enriched uranium for the Manhattan Project, from 1943 to May 1947. The company transferred scientists from Kingsport, Tennessee.

Eastman introduced acetate tow to the industry in 1952 and remains a leading global manufacturer, selling under the trademark name Estron. Estron is used to produce items such as cigarette filters and ink reservoirs for fiber-tip pens. The most significant product line developed for use with cellulose acetate tow is Estrobond plasticizers, used to impart rigidity and hardness to acetate fiber rods.

By the late 1960s, Tennessee Eastman was manufacturing products that used in clothing, home furnishings, the automobile industry and other areas. Additional manufacturing facilities were constructed in strategic locations.

During the 1970s Eastman began producing PET plastics, a light-weight, recyclable packaging material. Today Eastman is the world’s largest producer of PET polymers, which are widely used in plastic packaging, including bottles for water, carbonated beverages, and cosmetics.

In 1983 Eastman opened the first commercial coal gasification facility in the United States at its Kingsport plant site to produce chemicals from syngas rather than petroleum. Eastman also owns and operates a gasification facility at its Longview, Texas, site to produce syngas from natural gas. Eastman Gasification Services Company, formed in 2003, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Eastman that supplies gasification facility design and start-up. The "Chemicals from Coal Facility" at the Kingsport plant received the American Chemical Society's National Historic Chemical Landmark designation in 1995.[5]

In 1994 Eastman Chemical Company spun off from Eastman Kodak and became an independent corporation. In early 2005 Eastman broke ground on the first world-scale manufacturing facility using IntegRex, a technology that reduces the number of intermediate process steps in producing PET resin.

Manufacturing sites

Eastman operates manufacturing facilities at many world locations, including:[6]

PET manufacturing assets in Mexico and Argentina were divested during the fourth quarter of 2007.

Environmental record

Based on year 2006 data,[7] Eastman was ranked twenty-seventh among U.S. corporate producers of air pollution according to a 2010 study conducted by the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute. Eastman facilities in four U.S. states released 7.02 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the air in that year.[8] The Environmental Protection Agency has also linked Eastman to several Superfund toxic waste sites, according to the Center for Public Integrity.[9]

Eastman is a member of Responsible Care, a global voluntary initiative of the chemical industry. Eastman was awarded the 2009 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award presented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The award recognizes technologies that incorporate the principles of green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture, and use.

Employee recreation programs

Eastman Chemical supports the Tennessee Eastman Recreation Club,[10] which offers a variety of activities to current and retired employees.

Corporate governance

Board of directors[11]

  • J. Brian Ferguson—Executive Chairman of the Board
  • James P. Rogers—President and Chief Executive Officer
  • Gary E. Anderson—Retired Chairman of the Board and CEO, Dow Corning Corporation
  • Michael P. Connors—Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Information Services Group, Inc.
  • Stephen R. Demeritt—Retired Vice Chairman, General Mills, Inc.
  • Robert M. Hernandez—Chairman of the Board, RTI International Metals, Inc.
  • Renee J. Hornbaker—Chief Financial Officer, Shared Technologies, Inc
  • Lewis M. Kling—President and Chief Executive Officer of Flowserve Corporation
  • Howard Lance -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Harris Corporation
  • Thomas H. McLain—Chief Executive Officer, Claro Scientific, LLC
  • David W. Raisbeck—Vice Chairman, Cargill, Incorporated
  • Peter M. Wood—Former Managing Director, J.P. Morgan & Company

Executive team[12]

  • James P. Rogers—President and Chief Executive Officer
  • Mark J. Costa—Executive Vice President, Specialty Polymers, Coatings and Adhesives & Chief Marketing Officer
  • Curt E. Espeland—Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
  • Richard L. Johnson—Senior Vice President, Fibers and Global Supply Chain
  • Theresa K. Lee—Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary
  • Ronald C. Lindsay—Executive Vice President, Performance Polymers and Chemical Intermediates
  • Greg W. Nelson—Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer
  • Norris P. Sneed—Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer

References

  1. ^ "Eastman Chemical Company Profile".
  2. ^ "Eastman Named One of Five Best Corporate Citizens among U.S. Chemical Companies by Corporate Responsibility Officer Magazine".
  3. ^ "100 Best Corporate Citizens 2008".
  4. ^ "Eastman Chemical Co. - Overview of Markets".
  5. ^ Peacetime use of radioisotopes at Oak Ridge cited as Chemical Landmark, American Chemical Society news release, Feb. 25, 2008
  6. ^ "Eastman Locations - Manufacturing Sites".
  7. ^ Political Economy Research Institute Technical Notes: Toxic 100 Air Polluters Index, retrieved 26 April 2010
  8. ^ Political Economy Research Institute Toxic 100 Index 2010
  9. ^ Center for Public Integrity
  10. ^ Tennessee Eastman Recreation Club website (accessed June 14, 2008)
  11. ^ "Eastman Chemical Company's Board of Directors".
  12. ^ "Eastman Chemical Company's Executive Team".
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eastman_Chemical_Company&oldid=411452853"