Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
      • 2023 winners
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Bioplastics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
News
December 11, 2017 01:00 AM

Dow spin-off decks halls with lightweight composite

Tom Henderson
Crain's Detroit Business
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Fulcrum Composites Inc.
    Fulcrum Composites produces curved and one-of-a-kind architectural panels.

    An economic downturn for Dow Chemical Co. 15 years ago turned out to be a blessing for one of its engineers, Chris Edwards, who had been working on a composites technology the company was no longer interested in commercializing.

    At a meeting in 2002, Edwards recalls then-Dow CEO William Stavropoulos announced: "If it's not profitable today, and it's not profitable tomorrow, it's going to be gone Wednesday."

    Maybe I can buy my patents back, Edwards thought. His work on a lightweight thermoplastic polyurethane composite that could mimic drywall had generated about a dozen patents, and he hated the idea of all of that just hitting a dead end.

    "It was kind of a weird product. It was never going to be that $10 billion a year product the company wanted," he said.

    So he broached the idea to his bosses of buying the patents from the company.

    Reluctant at first, Dow told him he'd have to get third-party validation of commercial potential in the form of a venture-capital investment, Edwards said. Enter Lindsay Aspegren, a partner in North Coast Technology Investors LP, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based venture capital firm with an office in Midland, Mich., and deep ties to Dow.

    Fulcrum Composites Inc.

    Edwards

    They negotiated a deal to buy the patents, with North Coast eventually investing $600,000 in Fulcrum Composites Inc., which was formally spun off in April 2004. Dow continues to own a 21 percent stake. Dow has now merged to become part of DowDuPont Inc.

    Since then, Fulcrum has carved out a profitable niche providing products for high-end construction projects. It employs five at a factory just east of downtown Midland, and Edwards expects sales next year of about $2 million.

    Fulcrum makes curved panels that can be fitted over concrete columns in buildings, as lightweight frames for circular windows, kits for curved archways, one-of-a-kind displays for museums and any number of one-offs for construction managers.

    Projects for museums include a big castle kids can climb on at the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia as well as displays at the International Museum of the Horse in Lexington, Ky.; the U.S. Institution of Peace in Washington; and the Midland Center for the Arts.

    "We do everything from big construction projects to selling to a DIY guy doing his own bathroom," Edwards said.

    The ultra-high-end Faena Hotel in Miami Beach, a Forbes Travel Guide five-star hotel that opened late in 2015, bought 5,000 of Fulcrum's curved panels. Tesla showrooms use them, too.

    Fulcrum Composites Inc.

    Fulcrum's curved panels, ready for shipment.

    You can see Fulcrum's work throughout the new H Residence, a five-story office and condominium project built and managed in downtown Midland by Saginaw, Mich.-based Shaheen Development, used for items such as wine racks in kitchens to a curving blue ceiling in a conference room that evokes waves.

    "We're happy to have stumbled into Chris. We use him to design things we thought up but couldn't figure out how to make," said Al Warr, Shaheen's project manager at the H. "And as long as we keep designing things we can't figure out how to build, we'll keep using him."

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Phillips-Medisize closing Medford, Wis., plant, cutting 83 jobs
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    PP resin prices saw a big drop in May
    2
    Plastics lead growth at Palmer Holland, new CEO says
    3
    Stelray boosts capabilities by adding its largest press
    4
    Resin Prices
    5
    Resin Prices - North America
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
          • 2023 winners
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • Bioplastics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified