The Wire and Cable Business of The Dow Chemical Company
Introduction
"World trade slows sharply in 2001 amid the uncertain international situation", reports the World Trade Organization in an October 2001 press release. Echoing the economic waves of uncertainty, the release reports on a decrease in import/exports worldwide - just one characteristic of a challenging business economy. Considering this, how are leading wire and cable companies planning to serve customers world-wide? For those with global presence, one strategy is to maximize local market production capabilities. |
As the world's leading producer of polyolefin-based wire and cable materials, and a leader for technology, performance and service, The Dow Chemical Company has the global presence to meet customers' needs region by region. EuroWire asked Mr John Yimoyines, vice president for Wire & Cable Compounds for The Dow Chemical Company, USA, to discuss its world-wide resources, products and technology commitments, involvement in Wire 2002 and its position as a "regional supplier globally".
Discussion
EuroWire: What exactly does "regional supplier globally" mean?
Mr Yimoyines: Unique to Dow, we are a global supplier with solid regional capabilities in all regions of the world. We have manufacturing platforms in Europe, Latin America, North America, and Asia through our joint venture Nippon Unicar (NUC) in Kawasaki, Japan. |
Mr John Yimoyines - Vice president of Wire & Cable Compounds, The Dow Chemical Company
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For example, in Schkopau, Germany, we have an asset and manufacturing platform that is able to effectively produce our telecommunications and power cable product lines. Serving as our strong manufacturing base, it allows Dow to be a significant, full-range supplier in the European region, thereby servicing our customers faster, better and with higher value.
Specifically, what is your presence in the Asia/Pacific region?
Dow maintains a strong customer presence in Asia and we see several opportunities for further growth in that region. Through our relationship with NUC, which is the leading Japanese supplier of wire & cable compounds, Dow is the exclusive marketer of wire and cable compounds from NUC throughout the rest of Asia. We also source materials from our manufacturing capabilities in other regions to supply product to Asia - a process that is seamless thanks to Dow's tight network of customer interface experts. This combination allows Dow to offer a broad product line to the wire and cable manufacturers in the Asia/Pacific region. And, we have a strong sales and service force located throughout Asia that can access Dow's global network to provide total support to our Asia/Pacific customers.
We now also have a laboratory in Singapore that taps into our very large, state-of-the-art polyolefins R&D facility. In addition, we bring an extensive product and service portfolio to that region that we intend to strengthen over the next few years.
What are the primary "drivers" of Dow's regional service to customers?
As our customers are becoming more global and have manufacturing facilities all over the world, they're looking for the capability to source products from one supplier and that are available within individual regions around the world. In order to be the most effective supplier, Dow must have the capability to manufacture these products closer to where are customers are going to consume them.
For example, we have a portfolio of products that we make in Latin America that are able to be made based on the technologies and facilities in that region - likewise for Europe and Asia.
What about product consistency among regions?
Good point, and one that we recognize as important. We know there are a number of global customers who are familiar with a single product and want to be confident of consistency in every region where they have their own manufacturing facilities.
This is where Dow's strong global network comes into play. Our regional resources give direct attention and services to customers in proximity. As part of a global network, those regional resources are tied together with other facilities all over the world - to share information, product knowledge, technology and learnings from our customer interactions.
Dow recently acquired Union Carbide; how did that merger affect its wire and cable capabilities?
The merger was completed a year ago and since then there are several milestones we can be proud of from a wire and cable perspective. |
With world-class, worldwide technology and compounding facilities, Dow offers a broad spectrum of insulating, semiconducting and jacketing materials for the power cable industry
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Most notably to our customers would be the seamless integration of our product and technology resources. For example, prior to the merger, Dow and Union Carbide had similar gas phase technology in place, in Latin America and North America, respectively. Dow's familiarity with that technology allowed us to absorb, integrate and immediately be productive for our customers - we hit the ground running in that region and have been sprinting ever since! The result is Dow's ability to put together a competitive mix of products from both high-pressure and low-pressure gas phase technology - unparalleled in our industry.
But the real excitement is yet to come. Our scientists are in the process of developing new and improved performance compounds for our customers based on our knowledge of the market's needs and a wealth of new polymers proprietary to Dow.
Can you talk about the sales processes for each region?
From a broad perspective, Dow has a dedicated direct sales force that covers wire and cable for all areas - Europe, the Americas and the Middle and Far East regions. Dow is committed to dedicating resources that refocused on servicing customers in specific market segments. Dow customers are provided with direct access to our people. In the Americas and Asia, direct sales dominate, and in Europe and the Middle East region, direct sales dominate with minor support from distributors and agents.
To what degree is research and development a focus of the Wire & Cable business?
Dow is committed to improving the essentials of human progress in a wide range of markets, principal among them: wire and cable. Exhibiting this commitment, Dow will invest $1 billion in research and development in 2002, two thirds of which will be invested for inventing new products and materials. Through this investment, Dow is helping invent the future of materials science and the plastics industry.
Dow is not resting on the accomplishments of the past but is using its considerable R&D know-how to stay on the cutting edge of material science innovation. We have our Global Technology Center and Materials Processing Skill Center, which are housed together at our Weston Canal facility in New Jersey, providing leading-edge wire and cable product development as well as compounding and materials processing technology and development. These two world-class facilities, featuring world-renowned scientists and state-of-the-art research and test equipment, work holistically together and in tandem with global satellite facilities in Europe, Latin America and Asia. And we intend to take the resulting innovations and technology breakthroughs directly to our wire and cable customers.
| For example, within Dow's resin business is a group of products called INSPiRE* performance polymers. Compared to conventional polypropylene, they provide a much higher melt strength, which greatly benefits processing and fabrication. Potential applications being examined include high modulus materials, next generation foamed and solid insulating materials, and next generation optic cable materials. Several of these enhanced products will be commercially available in 2002. |
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What can we look forward to regarding Dow's presence at Wire 2002 this month?
Visitors to the Dow booth at wire Düsseldorf 2002 can expect the strongest showing of wire and cable capabilities, services and solutions. We plan to highlight our extensive products and services in the Wire & Cable Compounds business, strengthened by the 2001 merger of Dow and Union Carbide Corporation, and complemented by Dow's other existing products, including ZETABON* coated metals and PRIMACOR* copolymers. In addition, we'll have our experts in attendance - senior business leaders, sales and marketing professionals and R&D managers.
At Wire 2002, Dow will be located at booth number 9A38 in Hall 9.
About Mr John Yimoyines
Mr John Yimoyines, vice president of Wire & Cable Compounds, part of Polyolefins and Elastomers, joined The Dow Chemical Company in February 2001 as part of merger activities with Union Carbide Corporation. He joined Union Carbide in 1970 as a chemical sales representative and has held various marketing, engineering and business management positions in both the chemicals and polymers businesses of Union Carbide. He was named director of corporate ventures in 1993 and became vice president of venture management the following year. Mr Yimoyines was named to his current position in March 1998.
Mr Yimoyines was instrumental in the formation of numerous joint ventures for Union Carbide including Equate with Petrochemical Industries Company of Kuwait, Optimal with Petronas of Malaysia, Polimeri Europa with EniChem, and Univation Technologies, with Exxon Chemical Company. He earned his B.S. in chemical engineering from Tufts University in 1970 and his M.B.A. in marketing from Seton Hall University in 1975.
About Dow Wire & Cable Compounds
Dow is the world's leading producer of polyolefin-based wire and cable materials, technology, performance and service. By recently merging with Union Carbide, Dow has combined UCC's unmatched industry leadership with Dow's own advanced process technologies, catalyst systems and proprietary resins to provide much of the world's wire and cable compounds and deliver exceptional value to customers.
Today, Dow offers:
- Market-leading products;
- Strong product development, technology and research capabilities; and
- Development of many power, telecommunications and flame retardant (FR) technologies.
The Global Technology Center, located in the United States, is a world-class R&D facility supported by satellite technology facilities in Europe, Asia and South America. It provides essential customer-focused technical services and next generation technologies. This includes joint development of new products and projects, troubleshooting support, expertise in end-use applications and analysis of performance requirements. The Materials Processing Skill Center is an R&D processing facility, also in the USA, and supported by satellite compounding facilities in the United States and Europe. It houses an extensive team of experts, technology and state-of-the-art equipment focused on compounding, palletizing, and process development.
Manufacturing of wire and cable compounds is worldwide, with facilities in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. Dow participates on key regulatory, standards and technical committees including ASTM, CSA, IEEE, ICC, UL and IWCS.
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