Member Spotlight: Eastman Chemical Company

Founding Member Eastman Chemical is a global specialty chemical company that provides advanced materials, additives and functional products, specialty chemicals, and fibers that are found in products people use every day. Markets served include transportation, building and construction, consumables, personal care, health and wellness, electronics, and agriculture.

Eastman is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, and while their reach is global with customers in more than 100 countries, they are particularly excited to supply materials to America’s flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) players. Eastman manufactures raw materials for films and flexible devices, materials, structures, and substrates. Those who encounter limitations with standard materials will find higher-performing alternatives through Eastman, due to their deep polymer materials and applications expertise. Eastman also has a strong functional film capability including metallization, nanoparticle dispersions, vacuum roll-to-roll, and optical coatings.

What compelled a business with revenues of $9 billion in 2016 to dive into the FHE space and become a distinguished NextFlex Founding Member is the opportunity to be a manufacturing partner. Being a part of the FHE community and understanding the market is a priority for Eastman. Indeed, for a range of funded developments currently underway from Project Calls 1.0 and 2.0, they serve as both advisors on projects and as industrial partners on others. Eastman has also leveraged their participation in NextFlex Technical Working Groups, seeing that as a valuable opportunity to define the future of FHE via road-mapping sessions. Eastman is also participating in the upcoming FLEX2017 conference in Monterey.

Finally, through NextFlex’s many networking events, Eastman has forged new partnerships and strengthened existing ones. Lee Boman, director of Eastman’s Palo Alto Advanced Technology Center, remarked, “The connections may have happened eventually, but it would’ve taken a lot longer. NextFlex is a catalyst for collaboration.”