Chemical Week back issues from June 1992:
BP and EniChem plot path for joint ventures. (BP Chemicals)
Jun 10, 1992; ... BP Chemicals (London) and EniChem (Milan) are forging close links across a range of activities, with styrenics and polyethylene (PE) at the forefront. But other businesses could follow, implying that the two firms are examining the possibilities for a broad-scale merger of overlapping or ...
Specialties mitigate continued earnings erosion for industry. (Chemical Week 300) (Industry Overview)
Jun 10, 1992; ... Composite profits for the CW300 declined 16% in the first quarter of 1992, despite some signs of a modest economic recovery under way. Industrial chemical company earnings dropped a composite 37%; specialty income improved 23%; diversified chemical companies managed a collective 10% gain ...
Doing more with less: trade groups feel recession's pinch. (Cover Story)
Jun 10, 1992; ... Depending on which guru you listen to, the recession is nearing an end. But the restructuring chemical companies have done will not be reversed anytime soon, nor will the effects of that restructuring on the industry's Washington network of trade associations. Those groups are ...
Persian Gulf CPI broadens its scope. (chemical process industry) (Industry Overview)
Jun 10, 1992; ... There is no such thing as a profitable product, certainly not in petrochemicals. What there are, of course, are products that can be profitable for some companies in the right situation. Not all companies are equally well suited to be involved in any particular product, said Chem Systems ...
Delivering on commitments. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Rapid transfer of technology has always been a feature of the chemical industry. Now, a parallel transfer--of a package of inductry responses to society's environmental expectation, Responsible Care--istaking place. "We are meeting the challenges of Responsible Care with many ...
U.S.-implementation time. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Given the scale of the undertaking, the Chemical Manufactures Association is pacing its expectations, if not its efforts, on Responsible Care. "Nobody has ever put anything this big together before," says CMA president Robert Roland. "Inculcating safety awareness took years at the big ...
Networks broaden the push to care. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... In an attempt to get the Responsible Care initiative to encompass the entire $285-billion/year U.S. chemical industry and to bring in key server industries like transportation, a huge network is being put in place. Key components are the regionally based executive leadership ...
Stoking the cultural revolution: setting buy-in to Care from the top down. (includes related article on Ciba-Geigy) (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... We have an industry that got religion fairly quickly in the last 10 years. We have CEO buy-in; it's not so clear below the surface," states Diane Sheridan of the Keystone Center, facilitator at five community advisory panels and a member of the Chemical Manufacturers Association's ...
Ads, advocacy, outreach, activists: sparks fly, but connections are being made. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... The past year has been a watershed for the Responsible Care program. On the positive side of the dividing line, it has gone public in national magazine advertisements that have begun to gain public recognition for the program. And there is anectdotal evidence that the program is ...
Financial impact? Wall Street yawns. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... A proactive environmental policy makes business sense. That's a basic premise underlying the Responsible Care initiative. But if environmental responsibility pays, why does Wall Street show so little interest in Response Care? "Interest in Responsible Care is not real high in ...
Wanted: a system to audit care. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... 'Don't trust us, track us" is a noble sentiment. But how do you shadows chemical operations and judge whether Responsible Care is more than a public relations exercise? Obviously, getting a measuring system in place is implicit in the prospects for the success of Responsible Care. ...
Growth in awareness and response. (community awareness and emergency response, environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(includes related article on public alert system) ( Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Even though the third-year self-evaluations will not be available until July, David Hastings, the Chemical Manufacturers Association's associate director in charge of community awareness and emergency response (CAER), says that companies are on the right track. More than 160 community ...
Going beyond regulations: integrating Responsible Care with the new OSHA rules. (Occupational Safety and Health Administration; process safety and environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(includes related article on worker certification) (Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Success of the process safety code of Responsible Care is perhaps one of the trickiest things to measure. Although there may be demonstration of continuous improvement, it takes only one major explorion to overturn that and seriously damage the image of the chemical industry. ...
Cutting waste goes public: changes are tough and expensive. (Pollution Prevention, environmental responsibility of the chemical industry) (Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Fourteen months after its approval by the Chemical Manufacturers Association, the Pollution Prevention code is beginning to mean tough and expensive changes in how some companies do business. And with the federal Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and CMA's annual waste survey acting as ...
Connecting the pieces: the code is doing 'reasonably well.' (distribution code, environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(includes related articles on National Association of Chemical Distributors' Responsible Distribution Process and transportation code)
Jun 17, 1992; ... By the end of this month, the second round of companies' self-evaluations is due under the Responsible Care distribution code of management practice. The code was published about a year ago, and the first round of self-evaluations was due in May 1991. Chemical producers, ...
The homestretch: worker input. (Employee Health and Safety, environmental responsibility of the chemical industry) (Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... The CMA committee that drafted the employee health and safety code (EHS) for Responsible Care-- adopted as the fifth code in January-- was sent back to do additional homework before finishing its assignment. After reviewing an in-house draft version of EHS, the national advisory panel ...
Implementing a philosophy: facing the challenges of the most sweeping code. (Product Stewardship, environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(includes related article on the pesticide industry) (Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... When the Chemical Manufacturers Association sent the draft product stewardship code out to its members for comment before approval, the overwhelming response was concern over how difficult they thought it would be to implement. Now that the code has won CMA board approval , companies are ...
Cleaning up processes: taking the next step. (pollution prevention and environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(includes related articles on technology and acid recovery) (Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Public disclosure of the releases of a wide range of compounds in the federal Toxics Release Inventory (TRI)--published initially in 1989--has put a glaring spotlight on the industry's pollution prevention efforts. The bad news is that U.S. chemical producers still release a staggering ...
Niagara Falls: cascading change. (community relations and environmental responsibility of the chemical industry) (Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... The mystery began two summers ago. trees in the working-class neighborhood directly across the street from Du Pont's and Olin's large Niagara Falls manufacturing facilities began to lose their leaves. The damage lessened but continued last summer. And everyone is holding their breath ...
West Virginia networks its panels: self-evaluations shared with activist groups. (community relations and environmental responsibility of the chemical industry) (Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... West Virginia's Kanawha Valley, a 40-mile stretch of dense chemical and heavy industry development centered on Charleston, is considered the birthplace of the key Responsible Care concept of community advisory groups. But after six years of experimentation, the issue of how to ...
Texas City bucks complacency: plans emergency drills. (community relations and environmental responsibility of the chemical industry) (Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Texas City, TX has the dubious distinction of being the only U.S. city to have been destroyed by a chemical-related catastrophe. That occurred in 1947. But today, industry representatives there say public complacency is their single greatest obstacle to implementing much of the ...
Sarnia: Canada's front line. (community relations and environmental responsibility of the chemical industry) (Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Saria, located on the St. Clair River, across from Port Huron, MI, is the center of Canada's chemical industry. With four oil refineries and 20 chemical companies on a 30-km riverside stretch, the aptly named Chemical Valley is noted for its long history of industry cooperation and ...
Sybron Chemicals. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Sybron Chemicals (Birmingham, NJ) embraced the concepts of the CAER code of Responsible Care before it knew such a code existed. For years a low-profile firm operating in a rural residential setting, Sybron experienced a harsh awakening in 1988 after two high-profile incidents forced the ...
FMC. (FMC's Chemical Products Group) (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Evidence of Responsible Car at FMC Corp.'s Chemical Products Group (CPG; Philadelphia) can be found in its sales contracts. "We had to change the terms of the sales contract to delivered pricing," says Paul R. Yochum, CPG's operations manager/sales and distribution. "That allows FMC to ...
3M Corp. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... In the late 1980s, when the Chemical Manufacturers Association began to discuss Responsible Care concepts, 3M Corp. (St. Paul, MN) was far ahead of the game. The company, with its strong research and innovation ethic, had already acted in the late 1960s to create an ...
Nalco. (Nalco Chemical) (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... The financial community pays little attention to Responsible Care, until it sees the program affecting the bottom line. But companies are confident there will be a long-term payoff and are beginning to see the importance of communicating information about the program to analysts. ...
Uniroyal. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Uniroyal (Danbury, CT) started a Responsible Care program even before CMA announced its effort in 1989. So impressed by what the Canadian Chemical Producers Association (CCPA) had established, Uniroyal -- which owns a specialty chemicals plant in Elmira, ON--brought in consultants from ...
Rhone-Poulenc. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... After an acquisition binge that pulled in 18 units, Rhone-Poulenc Inc. (RPI; Princeton, NJ) needed to develop a common culture and standards. With 8,800 employees from Stauffer, Union Carbide, GAF, and from small entrepreneurial "garage" plants, process safety was inconsistent. ...
Witco. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Witco's (New York) petroleum additives and specialty lubricants plant at Gretna, LA, with about 120 employees, is among the company's top sites in implementing Responsible Care. Unlike other Louisiana plants along the Mississippi, however, Gretna has not been in the public eye for ...
American Cyanamid. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... At some chemical plants it is not yet easy to get a straight answer to the question: What has changed since the adoption of Responsible Care? But at the American Cyanamid Fortier plant in Westwego, LA, employees are beginning to have answers. "Five years ago, managers would supply us ...
Exxon. (Exxon Chemical) (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... As enthusiastically as CMA member companies have taken to the Responsible Care initiative, and as thoroughly as they have incorporated the codes of management practice into their everyday operations, there is still a tendency to think of Responsible Care only in its own terms. But most ...
Texaco. (Texaco Chemical) (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Much of the trust-building and community relations that are integral to Responsible Care are damage control efforts. The chemical industry acknowledges that it has a bad overall image, and it is trying to repair that; trying to build bridges to a populace that is at worst hostile and at ...
Lubrizol. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Visit Lubrizol's (Wickliffe, OH) corporate headquarters in suburban Cleveland and you won't find the lobbies filled with annual reports, company brochures, or product literature. What you will find are some big posters illustrating the ideas of Responsible Care. Embracing ...
BP Chemicals. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... As a major producer of acrylonitrile worldwide--and a major licenser of technology--BP Chemicals Inc. (Cleveland) faces challenges in workers safety, pollution prevention, and, particularly, in product stewardship. "It will be very complex--there are going to be many pieces to this code," ...
Akzo Chemicals. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... "Simply put, Responsible Care is good manufacturing practice," says David R. Drummond, manufacturing manager/polymer production chemicals at Akzo Chemicals (Chicago). It has improved commuity relations, he says, and has provided a focus for employee involvement. "The hardest thing is not ...
BFGoodrich. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... The principles of Responsible Care are already being adapted to other process industries, particularly the oil sector, and they are also spreading to other parts of companies that have chemical operations. BFGoodrich (Akron, OH) has embraced Responsible Care so that it covers everything ...
ChemDesign. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... If exceeding regulatory compliance expresses the spirit of Responsible Care, then ChemDesign (Fitchburg, MA) is well on its way to making the industry-wide initiative gospel in its operations. The initiative fits in well with the specialty chemical company's corporate philosophy, says ...
General Chemical and Novacor. (Novacor Chemical) (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... For General Chemical (Parsippany, NJ), implementing Responsibe Care is largely a story of a small-to-medium-size chemical firm coordinating separate efforts in the U.S. and Canada. The same is true for Novacor Chemical (Calgary), which has manufacturing and research and development ...
Other industries embrace CMA's goals. (Chemical Manufacturers Association's Responsible Care initiative)
Jun 17, 1992; ... One mirror of the impact of the Responsible Care program outside of the chemical industry is its acceptance among other manufacturing industries. "Responsible Care has the potential to become an industrial ethic--to have a profound impact on society," says Dave Newman, site environmental ...
Canadian deadline approaches: contemplating continuous improvement. (Canadian Chemical Producers Association's Responsible Care program) (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)
Jun 17, 1992; ... As the year-end deadline for compliance with the Canadian Chemical Producers Association's Responsible Care program approaches, the Ottawa-based association and its members are taking stock of the progress that has been made along the way. More important, they are focusing on tough issues ...
Mexico: responsabilidad integral. (sewer explosions in Guadalajara) (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... The series of deadly explosions in Guadalajara's sewers on April 22--attributed to Pemex gasoline leaks--have made the Mexican public much more concerned about the chemical plants in their communities. "We were visited by a committee of neighbors, asking whether they should be concerned," ...
Europe: aiming to demonstrate a universal program. (includes related article on the United Kingdom) (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Think globally, act locally is the European Chemical Industry Council's (CEFIC) message to its member associations and companies. CEFIC technical director Louis Jourdan explains: "There is still a divergence of cultures across Europe, and Responsible Care needs to fit in with local ...
Germany. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... While Germany's Verband derChemischen Industrie (VCI; Frankfurt) appears to have dragged its feet on Responsible Care, it will shortly unveil details of a comprehensive program that aims to tackle health, safety, environment, products stewardship, and dialogue. Gregor Disson, VCI legal ...
Netherlands. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... In April the Vereniging van de Nederlandse Chemische Industrie (VNCI; The Hague) signed on the Responsible Care because it strengthens Milieuzorg in de Chemie, the Dutch chemical industry's Environmental Care program, in three key areas. By law, that program has to be in place by 1995 ...
Spain. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Known in Spain as Compromiso de Progreso (Progress Commitment), the program was approved by the industry association Federacion Empresarial de la Industria Quimica Espanola (Feique; Madrid) in September 1991. The following month, the group appointed a Responsible Care management committee ...
France. (includes related article on Rhone-Alpes) (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... France's industry association, Union des Industries Chimiques (UIC; Paris), has concentrated mainly on compiling and publishing a series of guides for members since the May 1990 launch of its Responsible Care program, Engagement de Progres. The list is being steadily expanded with ...
Getting the message across. (includes related article on press conferences) (environmental responsibility of the European chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... How well is the European chemical industry communicating its message of Responsible Care to its employees and to the public? Image surveys in Europe show mixed results. In the U.K., which has been the cradle of Responsible Care outside North America, surveys show a steep decline in ...
Rotterdam. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... The 400-sq. km area stretching along the Rhine from Rotterdam west to the North Sea, the world's largest port nad one of Europe's most concentrated industrial areas, is also home to 2.5 million people. Most chemical companies in the area have been implementing the mandatory Milieuzorg in ...
BP Baglan Bay. (BP Chemicals' petrochemicals facility in Wales) (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... BP Chemicals' Baglan Bay petro-chemicals complex in Wales has been a company flagship for Responsible Care since it started the program in 1990. Dave Stephens, management services supervisor, says the company had grown complacent with the local authorities and public, but, in 1989 a fire ...
Solvay. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... As president of CEFIC, Baron Daniel Janssen, Solvay's (Brussels) chairman, has been very active in promoting Responsible Care in Europe. The initiative has been adopted by the company in the U.S., where all Solvay's plants are already working under the Responsible Care banner. In Europe, ...
Hoechst. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... German chemical companies claim a long tradition of health, safety, and environmental awareness. Hoechst (Frankfurt) published guiding principles in these areas in 1985, and it now has 25 guidelines, covering corporate policy and the responsibilities of companies and employees. In ...
Dow Iberica. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Tarragona is Dow Iberica's largest site in the region covering operations in Spain and Portugal. Peter Berner, the company's general manager f manufacturing, is based here and belongs to the Responsible Care manufacturing task force that handles activities within a plant's boundaries, ...
Neste. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Recognizing new trends in transnational cooperation and industry-wide initiatives as a response to environmental issues, Neste Corp. (Helsinki) has stepped up the pace of advancing its newly incorporated Responsible Care blueprint and is committed to attaining specific goals by year-end. ...
Shell Chemicals U.K. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... "If Responsible Care is to have true meaning, it has to embrace simultaneously a company's commitment to the environment, to customers, to employees, and to the rest of the community. And transportation is one activity which links all of these in a highly visible manner," says Jim Shone, ...
Japan. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Last month, the Japan Chemical Industry Association (JCIA; Tokyo) agreed on a mechanism for moving forward with Responsible Care, when its main board approved a plan of action. The 28-page blueprint, based on life-cycle management of chemicals, was drawn up by a 10-person task force ...
Australia. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... The Australian Chemical Industries Council (ACIC; Melbourne) is at a crucial stage in implementing Responsible Care, which it adopted in September 1989. Having established four codes--transportation, emergency response and community awareness, waste management, and warehousing and ...
India. (environmental responsibility of the chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Ask most industry experts what they consider the turning point in the early development of Responsible Care and they will probably name the disaster at Union Carbide's plant at Bhopal, India in December 1984, which killed more than 3,000 people and injured as many as 25,000. The ...
South Africa. (environmental responsibility of chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... South Africa's major chemical companies are pushing the Chemical Manufacturers' Association (CMA; Johannesburg) to adopt Responsible Care immediately. "It's no secret that the public, or at least its more affluent members, has lost faith in most industry here. For the chemical industry, ...
Taiwan. (environmental responsibility of chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... Almost a full two years after the concept was first presented to Taiwan's chemical industry by former Environmental Protection Administrator Eugene Chien, a comprehensive Responsible Care program has, at last, been drafted and its implementation appears well under way. Drawing ...
Brazil. (environmental responsibility of chemical industry)(Responsible Care)
Jun 17, 1992; ... After a false start last year, when financial worries outweighed green concerns, Responsible Care finally took off in Brazil on May 20, with 90 of the 180 members of the Brazilian Chemical Industry Association (Abiquim) signing up for the program. "The list of companies actually ...
UniRoyal Chemical finds and fills niches: mature markets prove still fertile. (Company Profile)
Jun 24, 1992; ... Despite a public recapitalization that would not fly (CW, April 15, p. 8), Robert J. Mazaika, CEO of Uniroyal Chemical (Middlebury, CT), seems comfortable with the cards he is playing with, and somewhat relieved to be spared the short-term pressures impatient stockholders can impose. ...
Beyond the Earth Summit: industry says it can guide the way. (includes commentaries by Dow Chemical CEO Frank Popoff, Carbide CEO Robert Kennedy)
Jun 24, 1992; ... After three years of preparation, the Earth Summit--the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED)--culminated in the confluence of more than 100 heads of state in Rio de Janeiro to sign five major international environmental agreements. With President Bush's ...
The view from Warsaw: Western firms say make life simpler. (annual conference on the chemical industry of Central and Eastern Europe)
Jun 24, 1992; ... Delegates at Chemical Week's annual conference on the chemical industry of Central and Eastern Europe, held recently in Warsaw, witnessed interesting debate on the opportunities and frustrations of operating in a region shot through with social and economic change. Speaking as a potential ...