Dow Corning Inc.

Type	Joint Venture
Founded	1943
Location	Midland, Michigan
Key people	Stephanie A. Burns, CEO & President
Industry	Manufacturing
Products	Speciality Chemicals, silicon derived polymers
Revenue	$3.37 billion(2004)
Operating income	{{{operating_income}}}
Net income	{{{net_income}}}
Employees	8800
Website	www.dowcorning.com
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Dow Corning is a multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, USA. Image File history File links Dow Corning logo, taken from their website at http://www. ... A joint venture (often abbreviated JV, and sometimes known by the older term joint adventure) is a strategic alliance between two or more parties to undertake economic activity together. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) is a common year starting on Friday. ... Midland is a city located in Midland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... In business, revenue is the amount of money that a company actually receives from its activities, mostly from sales of products and/or services to customers. ... EBIT stands for Earnings before Interest and Taxes (operating income). ... Net income is equal to the income that a firm has after subtracting costs and expenses from the total revenue. ... Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... The front page of the English Wikipedia Website. ... A corporation is a legal entity (distinct from a natural person) that often has similar rights in law to those of a Civil law systems may refer to corporations as moral persons; they may also go by the name AS (anonymous society) or something similar, depending on language (see below). ... Midland is a city located in Midland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. ...

Dow Corning specializes in silicone-based technology and innovation, offering more than 7,000 products and services. Dow Corning is equally owned by The Dow Chemical Company and Corning, Inc., (formerly Corning Glass Works). Dow Corning's headquarters is in Midland, Michigan. Silicones, or polysiloxanes, are inorganic polymers consisting of a silicon-oxygen backbone (...-Si-O-Si-O-Si-O-...) with side groups attached to the silicon atoms. ... The Dow Chemical Company NYSE: DOW is a multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, USA. In terms of market capitalization, it is the largest chemical company in the world, followed closely by DuPont. ... Corning Glass Works (NYSE: GLW) is a U.S. manufacturer of glass, ceramics and related materials, primarily for technical and scientific applications. ... Midland is a town in Ontario, Canada Midland is also the name of some places in the United States of America: Midland, Midland, Georgia Midland, Midland, Michigan Midland, Midland, North Carolina Midland, Midland, Pennsylvania Midland, Midland, Texas Midland, Midland, Virginia Midland City, Midland City, Alabama Midland Park, Midland Park, Virginia... Official language(s) English de-facto Capital Lansing Largest city Detroit Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 11th 96,889 mi² / 250,941 km² 239 miles / 385 km 491 miles / 790 km 41. ...

Products

Product developed over the years include silicone sealant, adhesive, silicone mold-making rubber, lubricants, release agents for cookware, sound-absorbing silicone, leather treatment, skin care lotion, preceramic polymers for high temperature applications, silicone waxes.

History

In 1942 moisture in aircraft engines and corona formation made high-altitude flight all but impossible. Dr. Shailer Bass developed Dow Corning's first product, a simple silicone grease (Dow Corning #4 Compound) that solved the problem. Dow Corning was formally established in 1943 specifically to explore the potential of silicones. Dr. E.C. Sulllivan was named president and Dr. William R. Collings was named general manger in 1943. Dr. Collings latter became president from 1954 until 1962.

A majority owned subsidiary of Dow Corning Corporation is the Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation. Founded in the 1960's at the start of the computer revolution, it is still one of the world's leading manufaturers of high-purity polycrystalline silicon which is sold in varying purity grades for use in both semiconductor silicon wafer manufacturing and photovoltaic applications as solar cells.

Controversies

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, consumer groups alleged that Dow Corning's silicone breast implants caused numerous health problems including breast cancer, auto immune diseases including lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, and various neurological problems. This led to numerous lawsuits beginning in 1984 and culminating in a 1998 class action settlement in which tens of thousands of plaintiffs accepted a $3.2 billion award. Dow Corning was in bankruptcy protection for nine years that ended in June 2004. Breast implant diagram A breast implant is a prosthesis used in cosmetic surgery to enhance the size and shape of ones breasts or to reconstruct the breast (for example, after a mastectomy). ... In law, a class action is an equitable procedural device used in litigation for determining the rights of and remedies, if any, for large numbers of people whose cases involve common questions of law and fact. ...

In 1999, however, an independent review of all previous research on the issue concluded that the implants, even when ruptured, caused no major health problems beyond local hardening or scarring of the breasts. The issue remains contentious, mostly because the aforementioned review could not address the scope of claims of injury due to ruptured implants, for example, the health impact on an unborn child.

References: Company website and The Human Spirit is a pioneering spirit, 1993, Dow Corning Corporation.

External links

• Dow Corning Company website
• Dow Corning Industrial Profile
• Corning Company website
• Dow Chemical Company website
• Dow Corning Chapter 11 Information