MARKETING
Carbide Opens Service Lab Tarrytown technical service laboratory gives Carbide Chemicals a central facility with room for growth Last Wednesday, Union Carbide Chemicals hung the open-for-business sign on its multimillion dollar technical service laboratory at Tarrytown, N.Y. The three-story, stainless steel and glass building has double significance for the company. It brings together six technical service groups previously located at separate sites; it provides room for a 50 % boost in the size of the firm's technical service staff. Although Carbide Chemicals feels that its past technical service efforts have been highly successful, it sees a clear need for increased activity. One reason: the quickening pace of competition in the chemical marketplace. Says John Field, vice president of marketing, "Basically there are just two ways to sell a product—give a price concession or give service. In general, chemical prices are set at levels that don't allow much room for maneuvering. Service then becomes the key factor that can tip sales our way." Another factor that gives increased importance to technical service in today's market picture is that customers are more cautious than ever about making changes. "A customer," says Mr. Field, "will not buy a new product unless he is sure it's good, and the only way to convince the customer of this is to offer complete test data and service backup." The Long Move. Since last November, Carbide chemists and engineers have been moving to Tarrytown from varied points: Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh; South Charleston, W.Va.; Whiting, Ind.; Bound Brook, N.J.; Tonawanda, N.Y.; and Milwood, N.Y. A few others came from universities
Poly Foam. A Hennek Mobay UBT-63 turns out flexible polyether foam for evaluation in Carbide's new service lab. Foam slabs can be made in box molds or in continuous lengths
where the company supports individual projects. Thus, for the first time, Carbide Chemicals has its entire technical service operation under a single roof. Besides the administrative problems of running a department spread across half the East Coast, Carbide Chemicals' service operations have been hamstrung because the group did not have a lab it could call its own. Space was "borrowed" from other organizations or from other sectors of the corporation—Mellon Institute, the Linde division, the corporation's central research laboratories, Union Carbide Plastics, and Pyrofax Gas, a subsidiary. Altogether, the "massing of forces" at Tarrytown has brought in 64 technologists from other locations. During
the last six months, other chemists and engineers have been added to the staff, and shortly the technical group will be brought up to its new full strength—100. In addition to the regular staff, Tarrytown will also be the temporary base for about 25 marketing trainees. The Tarrytown lab has already had a practical impact on the company's technical service program: more faceto-face contact with customers. Carbide believes that the mainstay of customer service should be informal contacts at the laboratory between its own staff and technical personnel from customers. In the past, with Carbide Chemicals using lab space that it did not actually own, the company too often had to discourage customer visits. Now the welcome mat is out. More than a month before the formal opening, one day's listing in the guest book at Tarrytown showed 50 entries. The importance Carbide Chemicals places on customer visits was a major factor in locating at Tarrytown. Among several sites considered, Tarrytown was chosen because of its proximity to customers. It also offers hard-to-beat working conditions for the staff—a friendly community, good schools, and all the attractions of New York City just 22 miles away.
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Street City
42
C&EN
Zone
MAY
16 f
State
1960
Gas Test. Gasoline additives that may correct the problem of ice forming on carburetors are being tested in a 1959 Buick Sabre engine at Carbide's new Tarrytown lab
Industry Groups. Technical service at Carbide Chemicals is set up along industry lines rather than by products or geographic areas. At present, the Tarrytown lab is divided into 29 industry groups. Some examples are automotive, petroleum, aerosols, textiles, and detergents. The size of any particular group varies depending on needs. For example, extra technical service effort is now going into flexible foams and aerosols because of the rapidly changing technology in these fields. Carbide Chemicals sees a definite advantage in organizing service along industry lines. Explains Art Steele, director of the laboratory: "Each group is an expert on its industry, and knows exactly where and how our products fit in. Because our people are thoroughly familiar with the needs and problems of their specific fields, they can do the best possible job in handling customer requests and screening new products for likely applications. "
While some firms draw a fairly firm line between applications research and technical service, Carbide Chemicals feels that these activities should not be separated on the organization chart. Thus both jobs will be done at Tarrytown. Often the results from an applications research project can be used later to fill a technical service request. Or perhaps a particular customer problem will lead to applications research with broad results. Carbide Chemicals does not have a standard budget allotment for technical service. It is considered a flexible activity that may increase when a new product is introduced; technical manpower may be shifted from project to project as needs dictate. In general, the company finds that technical service expense on chemical intermediates runs from 1 to l 1 / 2 % of gross sales. For finished products, such as functional fluids, more service is required and the bill can go as high as 5% of sales.
