Corning Inc.
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Corning Incorporated NYSE: [GLW]
The company's headquarters is located in the city of Corning, New York.
In the fall of 1970, the company announced that its researchers had succeeded in making an optical fiber useful for long distance communication, having an optical attenuation of only 17 dB per kilometer, made from extremely pure silica glass doped with titanium. That invention resulted in Corning Incorporated becoming the world's largest manufacturer of optical fiber by the 1990s.
As of 2004, Corning Incorporated is the world's dominant manufacturer of glass for liquid crystal displays in notebook and desktop computers and LCD televisions. The company continues to produce optical fiber and cable for communications, but at a reduced volume from the peak years of 1998-2000. It is also a major manufacturer of ceramic pollution control devices for catalytic converters in cars and light trucks that use gasoline engines. The company is also making a major investment in production of ceramic pollution control products for diesel engines as a result of tighter emission standards for those engines both in the U.S. and abroad.
Other notable products manufactured by Corning Incorporated include mirror blanks for some of the world's largest telescopes, windows for all U.S. Space Shuttles and Steuben art glass. From 1982 to 1996, Corning owned Corning Clinical Laboratories; Corning did a spin-off of that business to their stockholders at the time as Quest Diagnostics.
Corning Incorporated employs about 26,000 people worldwide and has annual revenues as of 2005 of $4.58 billion. It was for many years listed among Fortune magazine's 500 largest industrial companies, but lost that distinction when its revenues slumped as a result of the telecommunications industry collapse that began in 2001.
It traces its origins to a glass company established in Massachusetts in 1851 by a member of the founding Houghton family. In 1918, it acquired Steuben Glass Works.
Although the company is publicly owned, James R. Houghton, a descendant of the founder, serves as chairman of the board of directors (as of 2005). Wendell P. Weeks is president and chief executive officer (as of 2005).
Other Corning notables over its 150 year history include: invention of a process for rapid and inexpensive production of light bulbs; early major manufacturer of glass panels and funnels for television tubes; invention and production of VycorTM (high temperature glass with high thermal shock resistance), and invention and production of CorelleTM (durable glass dinnerware), PyrexTM, and PyroceramTM (glass-ceramic cookware). In fact, Corning developed the glass for Thomas Edison's light bulb.
See also
External links
- [Corporate website]
- [The Trials of Amory Houghton Jr.], article in Forbes Magazine, September 1977, describing the company's mid-1970s crisis.
- [2003 annual report]
- [2004 annual report]
- [Latest quarterly financial report.]
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