《5 things to know about Dow Corning’s health care materials site in Thomas Township》：
SAGINAW TOWNSHIP, MI — Sherrie Fritze-Harris, the manager of Dow Corning’s Healthcare Industries Materials Site in Thomas Township, asked a crowd of businessmen and women if they had been treated at a hospital, a doctor’s office or a long-term health care facility in the last six months.
Most people in the room at the Horizons Conference Center raised a hand.
Sherrie Fritze-Harris
“When you were there, it’s very likely that the treatment you received included materials that were made right here in Saginaw County,” Fritze-Harris said on Thursday, Sept. 4.
She and Steve Bott, senior business development specialist for Dow Corning, were the guest speakers for the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce’s September Percolator Breakfast meeting.
Bay County-based Dow Corning has about $5.7 billion in annual sales, 11,000 employees globally, more than 5,000 active patents and 62 manufacturing and sales offices worldwide, Fritze-Harris told the crowd.
“Dow Corning was primarily built around the silicon atom,” she said. “What is silicon? Well, it’s one of the most abundant elements on the Earth.”
“We take it and we grind it up into a fine powder, react it with methyl chloride and water to make silicone polymers, and those silicone polymers are the backbone of most of the materials that we make at Dow Corning.”
Related: Movin’ on Uptown: Bay City, businesses welcome Dow Corning Corp. employees
Following are some more facts you might not know about Dow Corning and its Healthcare Industries Materials Site:
Built 50 years ago
The Dow Corning Healthcare Industries Materials Site, built in 1964, is at 1635 N. Gleaner in Saginaw County’s Thomas Township.
“Back in the late 50s and early 60s, Dow Corning was realizing that silicones had all these interesting properties, and one of the great uses for them would be in health care, in the medical field,” Fritze-Harris told the crowd.
Related: Dow Corning reports increased sales, profits in first half of 2014
Dow Corning officials decided to build a site dedicated solely to manufacturing materials to be used in health care, and they chose a rural spot in Thomas Township to do it.
“The reason it was chosen was because of the clean air and the strong workforce,” Fritze-Harris said of the location.
Production volume has doubled
In the last five years, production volume at the site has doubled.
That growth is fueled by technological advances and a health care industry that continues to grow because of an aging population, Fritze-Harris said.
“We also are attracting, within Dow Corning, continued capital investment right here in Saginaw County,” she said. “Over the last few years, we’ve invested $6 million a year in capital improvements in the site, both adding additional capacity and adding new production lines to make new and innovative materials.”
Fritze-Harris also talked about the scholarships Dow Corning offers to graduating seniors in Saginaw County who are planning to pursue a degree in a STEM field — science, technology, engineering and math — or a skilled trade.
“Over the the last eight years, we’ve given over $120,000 in scholarships,” she said.
Another Dow Corning program sends high school students to Michigan Technical University for a week in the summer to learn about STEM majors, she said.
“I, personally, went to a program just like this, and that’s what triggered my interest in engineering. And, 30 years later, here I am, continuing to enjoy that profession.”
Benefits of silicone
On each table at Horizons was a box of Dow Corning products used in the health care industry.
Steve Bott
“We have over 700 different products,” Bott said, noting that the select products in the boxes represented six segments.
“I have over 20 years experience directly selling into the health care market. … I didn’t really appreciate all the benefits silicone brought forth until I joined Dow Corning.”
According to Dow Corning’s website, Dow Corning HIMS produces high-quality silicon-based materials used in health care applications including:
Silicone tubing for pharmaceuticals manufacturing and medical applications;
Elastomers for various medical device applications;
Adhesives for transdermal drug delivery and wound care applications;
A variety of other products used in medical devices.
Shots hurt less
Among the items in the boxes were small viles containing clear, colorless liquid.
“It doesn’t look like much, but you will appreciate this product more than anything else in the products we’re going to talk about today,” Bott said.
The mystery material is used to lubricate needles.
“If you think back into health care 25, 30 years ago, when you got an injection, it was a very painful process. To this day, I’m still traumatized every time I have to get a shot. I see the needle coming at me, I close my eyes, I turn my head and I flinch, and the clinician says, famous words, ‘You’re going to feel a little prick,'” he said. “That’s all you feel. The reason behind that is, those needles are coated with this material.”
Bott got the crowd laughing when he added, “The next time you get a shot, thank me. It’s because of us.”
Silicone helps scars fade
When it comes to scars, silicone can be an effective, albeit costly, remedy, Bott said.
“Did anybody know that silicone can help scars?” he said. “I didn’t. I was 20 years in the medical industry. I didn’t have a clue.”
Silicone can be applied to a wound to reduce the redness and size of scars. This happens over the course of weeks or months. In some cases, the scar will go away completely, Bott said.
“The form doesn’t matter, either. That’s the interesting part. It can be in the form of gel sheets. You can use gel creams, so think lotions and that,” he said. “This is something that’s kind of a quiet secret in health care.”
These products are available at any major pharmacy. They’re not cheap, he said. A two-ounce tube of silicone cream might cost $30. Gel sheets might be $50 or $60.
“But it’s a small price to pay if you don’t want to have scars.”
The next Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce Percolator Breakfast meeting is Thursday, Oct. 2.
— Heather Jordan covers business for MLive/The Saginaw News/The Bay City Times. She can be reached at 989-450-2652 or hjordan@mlive.com. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
《5 things to know about Dow Corning’s health care materials site in Thomas Township》：
SAGINAW TOWNSHIP, MI — Sherrie Fritze-Harris, the manager of Dow Corning’s Healthcare Industries Materials Site in Thomas Township, asked a crowd of businessmen and women if they had been treated at a hospital, a doctor’s office or a long-term health care facility in the last six months.
Most people in the room at the Horizons Conference Center raised a hand.
“When you were there, it’s very likely that the treatment you received included materials that were made right here in Saginaw County,” Fritze-Harris said on Thursday, Sept. 4.
She and Steve Bott, senior business development specialist for Dow Corning, were the guest speakers for the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce’s September Percolator Breakfast meeting.
Bay County-based Dow Corning has about $5.7 billion in annual sales, 11,000 employees globally, more than 5,000 active patents and 62 manufacturing and sales offices worldwide, Fritze-Harris told the crowd.
“Dow Corning was primarily built around the silicon atom,” she said. “What is silicon? Well, it’s one of the most abundant elements on the Earth.”
“We take it and we grind it up into a fine powder, react it with methyl chloride and water to make silicone polymers, and those silicone polymers are the backbone of most of the materials that we make at Dow Corning.”
Related: Movin’ on Uptown: Bay City, businesses welcome Dow Corning Corp. employees
Following are some more facts you might not know about Dow Corning and its Healthcare Industries Materials Site:
Built 50 years ago
The Dow Corning Healthcare Industries Materials Site, built in 1964, is at 1635 N. Gleaner in Saginaw County’s Thomas Township.
“Back in the late 50s and early 60s, Dow Corning was realizing that silicones had all these interesting properties, and one of the great uses for them would be in health care, in the medical field,” Fritze-Harris told the crowd.
Related: Dow Corning reports increased sales, profits in first half of 2014
Dow Corning officials decided to build a site dedicated solely to manufacturing materials to be used in health care, and they chose a rural spot in Thomas Township to do it.
“The reason it was chosen was because of the clean air and the strong workforce,” Fritze-Harris said of the location.
Production volume has doubled
In the last five years, production volume at the site has doubled.
That growth is fueled by technological advances and a health care industry that continues to grow because of an aging population, Fritze-Harris said.
“We also are attracting, within Dow Corning, continued capital investment right here in Saginaw County,” she said. “Over the last few years, we’ve invested $6 million a year in capital improvements in the site, both adding additional capacity and adding new production lines to make new and innovative materials.”
Fritze-Harris also talked about the scholarships Dow Corning offers to graduating seniors in Saginaw County who are planning to pursue a degree in a STEM field — science, technology, engineering and math — or a skilled trade.
“Over the the last eight years, we’ve given over $120,000 in scholarships,” she said.
Another Dow Corning program sends high school students to Michigan Technical University for a week in the summer to learn about STEM majors, she said.
“I, personally, went to a program just like this, and that’s what triggered my interest in engineering. And, 30 years later, here I am, continuing to enjoy that profession.”
Benefits of silicone
On each table at Horizons was a box of Dow Corning products used in the health care industry.
“We have over 700 different products,” Bott said, noting that the select products in the boxes represented six segments.
“I have over 20 years experience directly selling into the health care market. … I didn’t really appreciate all the benefits silicone brought forth until I joined Dow Corning.”
According to Dow Corning’s website, Dow Corning HIMS produces high-quality silicon-based materials used in health care applications including:
Shots hurt less
Among the items in the boxes were small viles containing clear, colorless liquid.
“It doesn’t look like much, but you will appreciate this product more than anything else in the products we’re going to talk about today,” Bott said.
The mystery material is used to lubricate needles.
“If you think back into health care 25, 30 years ago, when you got an injection, it was a very painful process. To this day, I’m still traumatized every time I have to get a shot. I see the needle coming at me, I close my eyes, I turn my head and I flinch, and the clinician says, famous words, ‘You’re going to feel a little prick,'” he said. “That’s all you feel. The reason behind that is, those needles are coated with this material.”
Bott got the crowd laughing when he added, “The next time you get a shot, thank me. It’s because of us.”
Silicone helps scars fade
When it comes to scars, silicone can be an effective, albeit costly, remedy, Bott said.
“Did anybody know that silicone can help scars?” he said. “I didn’t. I was 20 years in the medical industry. I didn’t have a clue.”
Silicone can be applied to a wound to reduce the redness and size of scars. This happens over the course of weeks or months. In some cases, the scar will go away completely, Bott said.
“The form doesn’t matter, either. That’s the interesting part. It can be in the form of gel sheets. You can use gel creams, so think lotions and that,” he said. “This is something that’s kind of a quiet secret in health care.”
These products are available at any major pharmacy. They’re not cheap, he said. A two-ounce tube of silicone cream might cost $30. Gel sheets might be $50 or $60.
“But it’s a small price to pay if you don’t want to have scars.”
The next Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce Percolator Breakfast meeting is Thursday, Oct. 2.
— Heather Jordan covers business for MLive/The Saginaw News/The Bay City Times. She can be reached at 989-450-2652 or hjordan@mlive.com. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.