Eastman Chemical Company

Eastman Chemical Company
Public
Traded as NYSE: EMN
S&P 500 Component
Industry Manufacturing
Founded 1920
Founder George Eastman
Headquarters Kingsport, Tennessee, U.S.
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Mark J. Costa
(CEO)
Products Chemicals
Fibers
Plastics
Revenue Increase US$ 9.65 billion (2015)[1]
Increase US$ 1.384 billion (2015)[1]
Increase US$ 848 million (2015)[1]
Total assets Increase US$ 15.611 billion (2015)[1]
Total equity Increase US$ 3.941 billion (2015)[1]
Number of employees
 15,000 (2014)[1]
Website Eastman.com

Eastman Chemical Company is an American Fortune 500 company, engaged in the global manufacture and sale of chemicals, fibers, and plastics. Founded in 1920 and based in Kingsport, Tennessee, the company now has more than 40 manufacturing sites worldwide and employs approximately 15,000 people.[2]

Eastman Chemical was spun off from parent Eastman Kodak in 1994;[3] in July 2012, Eastman acquired Solutia for $4.8 billion. Eastman had 2012 pro forma revenues of approximately $9.1 billion.

Business segments

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

The company's products and operations are currently managed and reported in five operating segments: Additives & Functional Products, Adhesives & Plasticizers, Advanced Materials, Fibers, and Specialty Fluids & Intermediates.[1]

Additives & Functional Products

In this segment, Eastman manufactures chemicals for products in the coatings and tires industries in transportation, building and construction, durable goods, and consumables markets.

Adhesives & Plasticizers

In this segment, Eastman manufactures resins and plasticizers which are used in the manufacture of products serving the consumables, building and construction, durable goods, health and wellness, and industrial chemicals and processing markets.

Advanced Materials

In this segment, Eastman produces and markets specialty copolyesters, cellulose esters, interlayers, and aftermarket window film products for use in transportation, consumables, building and construction, durable goods, health and wellness, and electronics.

Fibers

In the Fibers segment, Eastman manufactures and sells Estron™ acetate tow and Estrobond™ triacetin plasticizers for use primarily in the manufacture of cigarette filters; Estron™ natural and Chromspun™ solution-dyed acetate yarns for use in apparel, home furnishings and industrial fabrics; and cellulose acetate flake and acetyl raw materials for other acetate fiber producers.

Specialty Fluids & Intermediates

The Specialty Fluids & Intermediates segment leverages large scale and vertical integration from the acetyl and olefins streams to manufacture diversified products that are sold externally for use in markets such as industrial chemicals and processing; building and construction; health and wellness; energy, fuels, and water; consumables; and agriculture, as well as used internally by other Eastman segments.

History

Early years

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 for 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.

Since the 1980s

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 was recognized as a National Historic Chemical Landmark by the American Chemical Society in 1995.[4]

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. This technology is now owned by DAK Americas.

In July 2012, Eastman Chemical Corporation completed its acquisition of Solutia Inc., a manufacturer of performance materials and specialty chemicals, for $4.8 billion.[1]

In December 2013, Glassdoor named Eastman Chemical Company one of its 50 Best Places to Work in its Employees’ Choice Awards 2014. The awards are based on feedback about the company from its employees. Eastman ranked fourth out of the list of 50 companies with 1,000 or more employees. This marked the sixth year Glassdoor has provided the rankings.

Manufacturing sites

Eastman Chemical Company operates more than 40 manufacturing sites in 16 countries:[1]

Environmental record

As of 2006,[6] Eastman was ranked twenty-seventh among U.S. corporate producers of air pollution according to a 2010 study conducted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst 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.[7] The Environmental Protection Agency has also linked Eastman to several Superfund toxic waste sites, according to the Center for Public Integrity.[8]

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.[9] Eastman was also ranked 64th in CRO magazine's list of 100 Best Corporate Citizens for 2008.[10] 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.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "2011 Form 10-K, Eastman Chemical Company". United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
  2. ↑ "Eastman Chemical Company Profile".
  3. ↑ Eastman Chemical Investor's FAQs, retrieved 13 June 2013, How can I find out about the tax consequences of Eastman Chemical Company 's January 4, 1994 spin-off from Eastman Kodak
  4. ↑ "Acetyl Chemicals from Coal Gasification". Retrieved April 27, 2012.
  5. 1 2 http://www.eastman.com/Company/Worldwide/Pages/Europe_MiddleEast_Africa.aspx
  6. ↑ Political Economy Research Institute Technical Notes: Toxic 100 Air Polluters Index, retrieved 26 April 2010
  7. ↑ Political Economy Research Institute Toxic 100 Index 2010
  8. ↑ Center for Public Integrity Archived October 23, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ "Eastman Named One of Five Best Corporate Citizens among U.S. Chemical Companies by Corporate Responsibility Officer Magazine".
  10. ↑ "100 Best Corporate Citizens 2008".

11.Eastman Announces Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2014 Financial Results http://www.eastman.com/Company/News_Center/2015/Documents/4Q_FY14_News_Release.pdf

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