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Letter from the Site Leader — Don Taylor
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Don Taylor
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2004 was an exciting year for Michigan Operations, with new investment and solid performance being our most notable achievements. We’ve made great strides in fulfilling our mission to make Michigan Operations globally competitive and to achieve our three-fold vision that Dow businesses invest in us, our community welcomes us and we continue to be a great place to work.
I am happy to report we learned in 2004 that several Dow businesses will be expanding or maintaining manufacturing operations in Michigan. This is a goal toward which we have been working for several years. The Michigan Operations investments include:
- A $16.2 million Dow AgroSciences rice herbicide facility which began production.
- An expansion to the Dow ETHOCEL™ plant.
- A state tax credit that will enable $45 million worth of improvements to the Saran™ plant and retain 41 full-time jobs.
- Additional tax breaks from the City of Midland and the State of Michigan that will allow consolidation of several Dow Automotive processes.
- The preservation of 24 full-time jobs when a plant chose to remain in Midland, rather than relocate. This change of plans was due in large part to the site’s enhanced environment, health and safety performance.
In 2004, we also had another rewarding year of involvement in the mid-Michigan community, sponsoring a range of local events such as blood and bone marrow drives, live concerts, charitable events and sports activities.
One of our more notable efforts occurred in September, when we entered a naming rights agreement with the Saginaw County Event Center. This collaboration gave Dow exclusive rights to name that facility, and it was subsequently renamed The Dow Event Center.
And finally, we had another solid year of safety and cost performance. Our injury and illness rate for 2004 was slightly above the record-breaking performance of 2003, but still on track toward our 2005 goal.
In 2004, the site had a 17 percent reduction in leaks, breaks and spills over 2003. Our cost performance was also excellent, with a 4 percent reduction in 2004 and an overall 19 percent reduction over the last five years.
You may be interested to note that 2005 marks the completion of our first set of 10-year environment, health and safety goals. This is a milestone that will be a beginning, rather than an ending, because at the end of 2005 we will announce our 2015 goals.
The next set of measures will look different than the first. They will have a broader external focus and include the areas of product impact, our responsibilities to the communities where we operate, as well as our overall impact on the world.
With these, we will strive for simplicity and for maintaining our outside-in focus while keeping safety at the forefront of everything we do. You will find a complete summary of our performance against the 2005 goals and an overview of the 2015 goals in next year’s Public Report.
As this year progresses, we will look for more ways to make Michigan Operations the best manufacturing site in the world. Thank you for your ongoing support of our site and Dow.
Don Taylor
Site Leader
Michigan Operations
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