Mar 29 2004
The Dow Chemical Company announced today the divestiture of its technology and business relating to Fulcrum thermoplastic composite technology for the production of continuous fibre composites using a thermoplastic matrix to a newly formed company, Fulcrum Composites Inc.
The initial Fulcrum technology was developed at The Dow Chemical Company and is a revolutionary pultrusion process using resins manufactured by Dow. The new company, Fulcrum Composites Inc, acquired all physical and intellectual assets of the Fulcrum technology including the manufacturing facilities at the National Composite Center in Dayton, Ohio; a broad portfolio of patents, trademarks and commercial agreements.
Chris Edwards, formerly the Dow Business Manager for Fulcrum technology resigned from Dow to become the new CEO of Fulcrum Composites Inc. Edwards stated, "This is a great opportunity for the Fulcrum business. The development of Fulcrum technology was based both in chemistry and polymer science. This made Dow, with its world class material science expertise, the ideal place for the development. The challenge of the new company is to adjust to the scale and speed of the industries we serve. Fulcrum Composites Inc will continue the evolution of the process and technology and bring additional focus on design and structural analysis to accelerate development of new applications."
"Fulcrum Composites Inc now has an opening to maximize the value of this technology, and we benefit from increased demand for our resins," said Greg Jozwiak, Dow Business Director for Elastomers & Specialty Products. "Fulcrum technology has the potential to combine the flexibility and design freedom of thermoplastic extrusion with the structural attributes of high performance composites. We are pleased to see the creation of this new company with potential to have a significant, positive impact on the future of the plastics industry." Dow has acquired a minority equity position in Fulcrum Composites Inc.
For more information on pultrusion, click here.