MARKETING
Wyandotte Sharpens Polyols Sales Program Upgraded marketing function for urethane chemicals coordinates research, service, and sales efforts Wyandotte Chemicals is putting more muscle into its urethane chemicals program. A major supplier of polyols to urethane producers, the company has revamped its marketing organization. One of the key moves raises new products sales to a departmental status. The major concern of Wyandotte's new products effort is chemicals for use in urethanes, which are handled by a marketing specialist group. Thus the move puts polyols marketing on a par with Wyandotte's organic and inorganic chemicals sales functions. On the production end of the scale, construction of a new propylene oxide plant is well under way. The plant is slated to be completed this summer. Propylene oxide is a raw material for making polyols. And rounding out the picture will be the formal opening
this week of Wyandotte's new urethane applications research laboratories at Wyandotte, Mich. Goal of Wyandotte's concerted effort to strengthen both its marketing activities and facilities is a bigger slice of the booming urethane chemicals business. At stake is the fast growing polyols market, currently estimated to total about $20 million a year. Polyols account for about 65%, by weight, of the raw materials that go into urethane foams and urethane elastomers and coatings. Last year sales of rigid and flexible urethane foams amounted to between 100 and 120 million pounds. Foam producers estimate the market will climb to about 130 million pounds this year and will hit 350 to 400 million pounds by 1965.
KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH CUSTOMERS. Carl S. Smith (right), vice president of industrial chemicals marketing at Wyandotte, has a last minute chat with John Bahlburg, manager of new products sales, before leaving Detroit's Metropolitan Airport in his own plane on one of his frequent customer trips. Mr. Bahlburg's group, in charge of polyol sales, has been raised to departmental status putting it on a par with organic and inorganic chemicals sales groups 46
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But the polyols market is highly competitive. Other producers of chemicals that are vying for outlets in rigid and flexible foams include Dow Chemical, Jefferson Chemical, Olin Mathieson, Union Carbide, and Witco Chemical. Atlas Chemical and Pittsburgh Plate Glass produce polyols for rigid foams alone. Liaison Function. Wyandotte's interest in urethanes goes back to 1955, when the company began investigating polyols as urethane ingredients. Late the following year, Wyandotte entered the market with a series of polyols specially tailored for urethane foams. In 1959, after several years of development work, its new products sales section—under the organic chemicals sales department at that t i m e was given the job of marketing the chemicals. At that time, Wyandotte strengthened its position in urethane chemicals when it established a urethane marketing specialist group within new products sales. Last fall, the new products sales group was elevated to departmental status and now reports directly to Carl S. Smith, vice president in charge of industrial chemicals marketing. Wyandotte's urethane program is centered around four key aspects, Mr. Smith points out: Research, absolute product uniformity, customer service, and direct sales efforts. Under the realignment, the urethane marketing specialist group coordinates these efforts and acts as liaison between them and polyol customers. Headed by John H. Bahlburg, Jr., manager of new products sales, the technically-trained group has two major functions: To develop over-all marketing strategy and to help make initial polyol sales. Close to Customers. As new polyols are developed and screened by Wyandotte research, they flow directly to the new products group. The group keeps a close watch on all developments in the urethane field, decides how new polyols will be introduced to foam producers. Group personnel call directly on urethane producers and help them with their technical problems. If they have molding difficulties, for instance, the marketing specialists take the problem back to application research. Wyandotte research chemists work out the problem, and the group carries the answer back to the customer. The group also works very closely
WHEN YOU NEED TO
KNOW WHAT'S LEFT
ask the new CEC Residual Gas Analyzer LAB WORK. Liquid chemicals for making urethane foams pour into a test mold at Wyandotte's urethane applications lab. Company's urethane research efforts are largely directed toward flexible and rigid foams
I t uses a Diatron 20 mass spectrometer t u b e . . . measures minute quantities of gas and vapors in vacuum systems over a mass range of m / e 2 to 80 with a resolving power t h a t separates adjacent peaks u p t o mass 20 . . . makes possible analyzing
with Wyandotte's field sales force. It calls on customers with them, helps them make first sales of new polyols. Certain field salesmen are periodically brought in for a week of intensive training by the group in urethane applications. They return to their district offices as urethane field specialists to pass their training on to other members of the sales force. Most of Wyandotte's urethane research effort is directed at flexible and rigid foams. However, Wyandotte chemists are currently working on new forms of urethanes—particularly coatings and elastomers. Although they have relatively small markets today, both these applications are likely to have bright futures, Wyandotte feels. Ample evidence that the new program is paying big dividends is the current 25 to 35% annual growth rate shown by Wyandotte's polyol sales. The company is looking for sales to continue to expand at a 35%-a-year clip through 1965. The battle, though, to develop the best possible foams for particular applications is going to sharpen over the next few years, Mr. Smith predicts. "But we feel our new marketing setup, combined with our intensive research program, will not only strengthen present polyol markets for Wyandotte but will help crack new ones as well," he points out.
in t h e range of 10-* t o 10-9 mm
H g pressure! And
it's bakeable to 4 5 0 ° C . . . 150° hotter than any comparable instrument! For full details on the 21-612 Residual Gas Analyzer, call your nearest C E C office or write for ft ft flf Bulletin C E C 1865-X6.
CEC
Analytical & Control Division
CONSOLIDATED
ELECTRODYNAMICS
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA . A SUBSIDIARY OF BELL & HOWELL MARCH
5,
1962
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