US Dow reorganises reporting segments along chemical chains

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Dow is reorganising its external reporting segments to align businesses within their chemical chains to more effectively allocate resources to their end-markets, executives said on Wednesday.

“These are alignments that really complete the integration value chain reporting and accountability in the company,” CEO Andrew Liveris said during a press conference at Dow’s campus in Lake Jackson, Texas.

In looking at ways to better track an integrated chemistry company that is in key end markets, it is very important to Dow that the tracking occur in segments, where most of the transfers are occurring inside the segments, he said.

For example, hydrocarbons and feedstocks will now join their performance plastics in one segment. The new Performance Plastics segment now enfolds most of Dow’s ethylene chemical chain.

This allows Dow’s companies to have their “polyolefins and olefins in one place”, Liveris said.

The Performance Plastics segment includes businesses of Dow Elastomers, Dow Electrical and Telecommunications, Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics, Energy and Hydrocarbons.

The new Performance Materials and Chemicals segment holds about 90% of Dow’s chlorine chain, including the Chlor Alkali and Vinyl, Chlorinated Organics and Epoxy businesses. It also holds about 60% of Dow’s propylene chain through its Industrial Solutions and Polyurethanes businesses.

Although Dow plans a divestiture of its Chlor-alkali, Chlorinated Organics and Epoxy businesses, the propylene-chain businesses will remain.

The new Infrastructure Solutions, formerly named Coatings and Infrastructure Solutions, will hold Dow Building & Construction, Dow Coating Materials, Energy & Water Solutions and Performance Monomers.

The new Consumer Solutions segment, which had been part of Electronic and Functional Materials, now includes Consumer Care, Dow Automotive Systems and Dow Electronic Materials.