Woodlands Villager - News
Huntsman diversifies product line to remain viable in market
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| A scientist works inside a lab at the Huntsman company headquarters in The Woodlands. |
By T.L. Hamilton
Huntsman Corporation’s recent $1 billion out-of-court settlement should bolster the company’s bottom line and keep its Woodlands research facility humming, according to company officials.
The settlement will help it weather the storm of waning demand for products connected to the automobile industry, said Peter Huntsman , president and CEO.
Many of Huntsman’s products used in automotive manufacturing include foam rubber and sound absorption materials, according to the company’s website.
“We’re seeing a real slowdown in demand as most manufacturers are with the automotive industry,” Peter Huntsman said.
High gas prices during the summer sent a shock wave throughout the automotive industry, which is still shutting down plants in response to the drop in consumer demand for new vehicles.
“Most of the U.S. economy has slowed down substantially in the last few months,” Peter Huntsman said. “This settlement will give us the liquidity and the financial strength to weather any imaginable storm I can think of.”
In addition to a dip in demand for automotive products, wild swings in the price of oil over the past year have also affected the price of petrochemicals nation-wide.
Gary Chapman, senior director of global communications, said the company has sought to diversify its product line in recent years to insulate itself from a volatile oil market.
“We’re now on the more specialized, differentiated end of things,” Chapman said. “The logic of being attached to the petrochemical side is perhaps not as strong as it was a few years ago.”
The research facility, located at Research Forest and Gosling Road, employs 300 people, covers 17 acres and is composed of 220,000 square feet of laboratory and office space, said Brian J. Pellon, the center’s vice president.
The Huntsman petrochemicals plant in Conroe employs 220 people, while the administrative headquarters in The Woodlands has 445 employees.
As area residents purchase items such as laundry detergents, facial scrubs, artificial sweeteners and tennis shoes, it is likely few realize the elements in those products are developed right in their backyard.
The research facility develops and creates components for all those products.
The facility’s front lobby contains a collection of products and items made possible by Huntsman’s work. In one corner stands a model of a wind energy turbine.
“You’ve probably seen the turbine blades going up and down Interstate 45 here recently on flat-bed trucks,” Pellon said. “Those blades are about 100 feet long. Our epoxy is used in construction of those blades.”
The company formulates acids that go into apple juice, dyes that are used in clothing, foam rubber used to fill car seats, insulation found inside refrigerators and scores of other everyday pieces to the puzzle of modern life.
“You won’t see our name on any labels,” Pellon said. “All those products, every one of these, goes into something that goes into something else. You have to come back four to five steps in the food chain to find our product.”
The main building at Huntsman’s research facility is built in a C-shape with windows looking into airy, bright labs lining the halls.
Each lab focuses on improving or creating new kinds of products such as maleic synthesis, which go into artificial sweeteners; epoxies; or amines, which become coatings for things like truck bed liners.
Another lab tests the products, such as the strength or flexibility of a truck bed liner coated with Huntsman’s amine product.
“Labs used to feel like little caves where you go in and do your work alone,” Pellon said. “When we built this facility we wanted to allow for better synergy between our lab technicians, engineers and scientists. We made the labs bigger and grouped similar items together to encourage brainstorming.”
Leaving the office-like environment of the labs, technicians enter a large warehouse where products go through more rigorous testing on a grand scale.
Machinery thumped loudly in the background as Pellon pointed out a handful of refrigerators, some of which had not filled completely with insulation in testing, something the researchers are working to resolve.
“At the end of the day we’re here to make things that can be manufactured and sold, not just made in the lab,” Pellon said. “That (research) might be nice and fun but it doesn’t keep the lights on.”
The settlement will help it weather the storm of waning demand for products connected to the automobile industry, said Peter Huntsman , president and CEO.
Many of Huntsman’s products used in automotive manufacturing include foam rubber and sound absorption materials, according to the company’s website.
“We’re seeing a real slowdown in demand as most manufacturers are with the automotive industry,” Peter Huntsman said.
High gas prices during the summer sent a shock wave throughout the automotive industry, which is still shutting down plants in response to the drop in consumer demand for new vehicles.
“Most of the U.S. economy has slowed down substantially in the last few months,” Peter Huntsman said. “This settlement will give us the liquidity and the financial strength to weather any imaginable storm I can think of.”
In addition to a dip in demand for automotive products, wild swings in the price of oil over the past year have also affected the price of petrochemicals nation-wide.
Gary Chapman, senior director of global communications, said the company has sought to diversify its product line in recent years to insulate itself from a volatile oil market.
“We’re now on the more specialized, differentiated end of things,” Chapman said. “The logic of being attached to the petrochemical side is perhaps not as strong as it was a few years ago.”
The research facility, located at Research Forest and Gosling Road, employs 300 people, covers 17 acres and is composed of 220,000 square feet of laboratory and office space, said Brian J. Pellon, the center’s vice president.
The Huntsman petrochemicals plant in Conroe employs 220 people, while the administrative headquarters in The Woodlands has 445 employees.
As area residents purchase items such as laundry detergents, facial scrubs, artificial sweeteners and tennis shoes, it is likely few realize the elements in those products are developed right in their backyard.
The research facility develops and creates components for all those products.
The facility’s front lobby contains a collection of products and items made possible by Huntsman’s work. In one corner stands a model of a wind energy turbine.
“You’ve probably seen the turbine blades going up and down Interstate 45 here recently on flat-bed trucks,” Pellon said. “Those blades are about 100 feet long. Our epoxy is used in construction of those blades.”
The company formulates acids that go into apple juice, dyes that are used in clothing, foam rubber used to fill car seats, insulation found inside refrigerators and scores of other everyday pieces to the puzzle of modern life.
“You won’t see our name on any labels,” Pellon said. “All those products, every one of these, goes into something that goes into something else. You have to come back four to five steps in the food chain to find our product.”
The main building at Huntsman’s research facility is built in a C-shape with windows looking into airy, bright labs lining the halls.
Each lab focuses on improving or creating new kinds of products such as maleic synthesis, which go into artificial sweeteners; epoxies; or amines, which become coatings for things like truck bed liners.
Another lab tests the products, such as the strength or flexibility of a truck bed liner coated with Huntsman’s amine product.
“Labs used to feel like little caves where you go in and do your work alone,” Pellon said. “When we built this facility we wanted to allow for better synergy between our lab technicians, engineers and scientists. We made the labs bigger and grouped similar items together to encourage brainstorming.”
Leaving the office-like environment of the labs, technicians enter a large warehouse where products go through more rigorous testing on a grand scale.
Machinery thumped loudly in the background as Pellon pointed out a handful of refrigerators, some of which had not filled completely with insulation in testing, something the researchers are working to resolve.
“At the end of the day we’re here to make things that can be manufactured and sold, not just made in the lab,” Pellon said. “That (research) might be nice and fun but it doesn’t keep the lights on.”
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