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"Polymer
Chemical" (U-PCD) and "Chemicals - Plastics - Research"
(CPR) were two distinct organizations that separately
reported to Keith Edmondson.
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The Upjohn Polymer Chemical
(U-PCD) Division
was acquired in 1963. It
became an
international operation with
facilities and shares of joint ventures
in the United States, Japan, Portugal and the Netherlands.
It's biggest plant was in La Porte, Texas. It had 820
employees. It was sold to
Dow in 1985.
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The Upjohn
Chemicals - Plastics - Research (CPR) Division
was a systems house that was supplied with some of its raw
materials by Polymer Chem. It manufactured a number of foam
products. CPR was not an international organization. That
was mainly left to the U-PCD. It had 149 employees.
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The Donald S
Gilmore Research (DSG) Laboratories were located at North
Haven, CT. They peformed basic research into plastics and
new uses for them. It had a pilot plant and employed 108
people. North Haven was closed in 1993.
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In the early
1960’s Upjohn was manufacturing an oral diabetic medication
called Orinase. One of the ingredients was n-butyl
isocyanate, a product manufactured by the The Carwin Company
in North Haven, CT and later in La Porte,TX. Upjohn was
eager to have a reliable source of this important starting
material. This was the main reason Upjohn purchased Carwin
in 1962. At the time, the production of polymeric MDI for
polyurethanes was still fairly small and Upjohn apparently
had little inkling of its growth potential.
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