Dupont

Type:Public
Founded: 1802
Headquarters: Wilmington, Delaware, USA
Key people: Charles O. Holliday Jr., Chairman & CEO, Jeffrey L. Keefer, CFO, Richard R. Goodmanson, Exec. VP & COO, Thomas M. Connelly, CTO
Industry:Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber
Products: Neoprene, Nylon resins, Teflon, Delrin, Mylar, Kevlar, Zemdrain,Corian and Tyvek
Website:www.dupont.com

General Information

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE: DDPRA, NYSE: DDPRB, NYSE: DD) was founded in July 1802 as a gun powder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont on Brandywine Creek, near Wilmington, Delaware, USA. DuPont is currently the world's second largest chemical company (behind BASF) in terms of market capitalization and fourth (behind BASF, Dow Chemical and Ineos) in revenue. Its stock price is also a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

In the twentieth century, DuPont led the polymer revolution by developing many highly successful materials such as Vespel, neoprene, nylon, Corian, Teflon, Mylar, Kevlar, Zemdrain, M5 fiber, Nomex, Tyvek and Lycra. DuPont has also been significantly involved in the refrigerant industry, developing and producing the Freon (CFCs) series and later, more environmentally friendly refrigerants. In the paint and pigment industry, it has created synthetic pigments and paints, such as ChromaFlair.

DuPont is often successful in popularizing the brands of its material products such that their trademark names become more commonly used than the generic or chemical word(s) for the material itself. One example is “neoprene”, which was intended originally to be a trademark but quickly came into common usage.

current activities

DuPont describes itself as a global science company that employs more than 60,000 people worldwide and has a diverse array of product offerings. In 2005, the Company ranked 66th in the Fortune 500 on the strength of nearly $28 billion in revenues and $1.8 billion in profits.

DuPont businesses are organized into the following five categories, known as marketing 'platforms' - electronic and communication technologies, performance materials, coatings and color technologies, safety and protection, and agriculture and nutrition. In 2004 the company sold its textiles business, which included some of its best-known brands such as Lycra (Spandex), Dacron polyester, Orlon acrylic, Antron nylon and Thermolite, to Koch Industries. DuPont also manufactures Surlyn, which is used for the covers of golf balls, and, more recently, the body panels of the Club Car Precedent golf cart.

DuPont's annual R&D budget is $1.3 billion; its latest project is a research center in Hyderabad, A.P., India scheduled to open in mid-2008, that will focus on agriculture and nutrition products.

Positive Recognition

DuPont was four times awarded the National Medal of Technology, first in 1990, for its invention of 'high-performance man-made polymers such as nylon, neoprene rubber, 'Teflon' fluorocarbon resin, and a wide spectrum of new fibers, films, and engineering plastics'; the second for 2002 'for policy and technology leadership in the phaseout and replacement of chlorofluorocarbons'. Additionally, DuPont scientist George Levitt was honored with the medal in 1993 for the development of sulfonylureas — environmentally friendly herbicides for every major food crop in the world. In 1996, DuPont scientist Stephanie Kwolek was recognized for the discovery and development of Kevlar.