The
Dow Chemical Company is the second largest chemical company in the world. It was founded in 1897 by Canadian born chemist Herbert Henry Dow. It an American MNC with its headquarters in Midland, Michigan. The company is a major producer of plastics, chemicals and agricultural products. The company has offices in more than 175 countries and employs more than 43,000 people. The company spends more than $1 billion in R&D for the current CEO, Mr Andrew Liveris believes in constant improvement of the essentials of human progress.
Most products of Dow are sold to other manufacturers rather than to end users. The company is the largest producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethanes, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber. The chemicals produced by Dow are calcium chloride, ethylene oxide and various other various acrylates, surfactants and cellulose resins. Many agricultural chemicals are also produced, most famous being the pesticide Lorsban. The company's most well known consumer product is Styrofoam brand insulation.
PERFORMANCE PLASTICS:
25% of Dow sales are from these. Various products are designed for automotive and construction industries. The plastics include polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene, as well as the polystyrene most often seen in Styrofoam insulating material. The company also produces epoxy resin intermediaries like bisphenol A and epichlorohydrin. Polyurethane, polyether polyols and specialty acrylates are all derived from ethylene oxide (EO)
PERFORMANCE CHEMICALS:
17% of company earnings come from this segment. They are into producing material for water purification, pharmaceuticals, paper coatings, advanced electronics and paints. Nitroparaffins like nitromethane produced by Dow are used in the pharmaceutical industry. Important polymers include Dowlex ion exchange resins, acrylic and polystyrene latex, Carbowax polyethylene glycols. Specialty chemicals are used as starting materials for production of agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals.
AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES:
They provide 7% of the company sales. They produce a variety of insecticides and pesticides.
BASIC PLASTICS:
Here the company produces diaper lines, beverage bottles and oil tanks. They amount to 26% of sales.
BASIC CHEMICALS:
These products are used internally by Dow as raw materials. They are also sold worldwide in dry cleaning, paints and coatings, snow and ice control and food industry. Important products are ethylene glycol,, chlorine, caustic soda, vinyl chloride monomer and calcium chloride
HYDROCARBONS AND ENERGY:
This segment has succeeded in raising the energy efficiency by 92% since 1990. Oil based raw materials and fuels are also produced. Ethylene, propylene, benzene and styrene which are feedstock are produced by this segment.
The company has extended to North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Africa, Middle East and India. In Michigan, where the company has its headquarters, the following are the places where the company can be traced:
- Auburn Hills - Business Center
- Ludington - Manufacturing
- Midland - Corporate Headquarters
- Midland - Manufacturing, Research & Development, Business Center