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September 5, 2012

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News for American Chemistry

Top Story

Dow Chemical introduces "optimal" leadership structure
Dow Chemical will revamp its business structure by establishing an executive committee to oversee five business presidents. The "optimal structure" will promote streamlined leadership through direct reporting to the committee, which includes Dow Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris. "We will have less structure at the top of the company with more deployment and implementation in the markets and out in the field," Liveris said. Reuters (9/4), USA TODAY/The Associated Press (9/4), PlasticsNews.com (9/4)

The Texas A&M Turbomachinery Laboratory sponsors two annual symposia, held in the Fall of each year, to promote professional development, technology transfer, peer networking, and information exchange among industry professionals. Join us September 24-27, 2012 at the Brown Convention Center - Houston, Texas. Click here for more information.

Policy Watch

Public-private partnerships could be key to U.S. manufacturing revival
The U.S. manufacturing industry should look to public-private partnerships to spur sectors including advanced energy manufacturing and additive manufacturing, according to this analysis. "Industrial manufacturing is in transition in the United States because of advances in innovation and the globalization of our economy. A critical piece of this transition is public-private partnerships and leveraging those collaborations to increase overall performance and competitiveness of our manufacturing sector," said Monty Alger, chief technology officer at Air Products and Chemicals. Forbes (9/4)

ACC notes weaknesses of research into PFOA
Research that suggests a link between perfluorooctanoic acid and heart diseases is inconclusive, and the "study has several weaknesses that the authors themselves have pointed out," said Marie Francis of the American Chemistry Council. The study points to a possible association rather than a "causal" relationship between the two, Francis added. WebMD (9/4)

Natural gas firm to spend $1.34B to build W.Va. processing facilities
Natural gas processing and fractionation facilities will be built in West Virginia and receive $1.34 billion in funding from Williams Partners LP. The projects will mean hiring employees who "will be operating and maintaining Williams' facilities and pipelines for many years to come," said Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin. Area Development online (9/1)

Research & Innovation

Get your peanuts in a greener packaging with BASF baseball initiative
BASF and the Seattle Mariners will release a prototype snack-packaging material that uses BASF's biopolymer technology for bags of peanuts. "Flexible packaging with this BASF technology is a big step forward for the snack food industry. It means that popular snack foods can be brought to market in compostable packaging that delivers needed shelf life at a competitive price point, with a more sustainable 'end-of-life' solution," said Kimberley Schiltz of BASF. Chemical Week (subscription required) (9/4)

Chinese EPDM facility is planned by Lanxess
Lanxess will invest almost $300 million for an ethylene propylene diene monomer plant in China that would be the world's largest synthetic rubber site. "This plant also represents our company's third major rubber investment in Asia and strengthens our credentials as the world's leading provider of synthetic rubber," said Axel C. Heitmann, Lanxess CEO. Chemical Week (subscription required) (9/4)

Other News

Auto developer uses BASF's Ultradur PBT for aerodynamic component housing
European Plastics News (U.K.) (9/4)

Researchers tout use of cooking-oil leftovers in producing medical bioplastic
PlasticsToday.com (9/4)

Leadership & Management

How collaboration makes companies more efficient
Collaborative leadership is important to reducing organizational waste, write Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese. A culture of collaboration helps to ensure that individual managers don't hoard resources, helping the company as a whole to operate more efficiently. "By unlocking these trapped resources, organizations can more quickly and successfully pursue emerging market opportunities," Ricci and Wiese write. Strategy+Business online (free registration) (9/3)

Why 3M doesn't see social media as anything new
For 3M, social media is about learning to integrate new tools into an existing strategy for outreach and customer relations, Andy Sernovitz writes. 3M's Greg Gerik discussed how the company uses social media as a sounding board to gather customer feedback about its products. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Social Media (8/30)