C ERAMIC STRENGTH half title
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
3
C ERAMIC STRENGTH CoorsTek at 100
By Russ Banham
C
ERAMIC STRENGTH CoorsTek at 100
Editorial Director .................................................Rob Levin
Managing Editor ........................................Sarah E. Fedota
CoorsTek Liaison ..........................................Heidi Robbins
Publisher............................................................Barry Levin
Chief Operating Officer ..................................Renée Peyton
Writer.............................................................Russ Banham
Design.............................................................Laurie Porter
Prepress..................................................................Jill Dible Copyediting and Indexing ....................................Bob Land
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from CoorsTek.
Amazing Solutions®; Cera-Fan®; CeraLase™; CeramiCell™; Cera-Slide®; CeraShield™; CeraSurf®; CoorsTek®; DitherSeal®; DuraSense™; DuraStrate™; Dura-Z™; Gaiser®; JunseiSet™; Meta-Plast®; MidFilm®; MiniGroove®; PhaseSiC™; PlasmaPure™; PlasmaPure-UC™; PlasmaResist™; PolyGlyde™; PureSet™; PureSiC®; RF Pure™; RO Pure™; SilkEdge™; SmoothEdge™; StatSafe™; SuperCharge™; SuperStrate®; SurgeTek™; ThermTile™; TekService™; TetraCap®; TetraFlex®; Tetrafluor®; Tetralon®; Tetra-Temp®; UltraFine™; UltraSiC™; Wilbanks® are marks or registered marks of CoorsTek.
© 2010 CoorsTek
Corporate Headquarters 16000 Table Mountain Parkway Golden, Colorado 80403
Book Development by Bookhouse Group, Inc. Atlanta, Georgia www.bookhouse.net Printed in Canada
Formerly a bottle manufacturing plant, Adolph Coors deeded this building at 600 Ninth Street in 1910 to John Herold as a place to make pottery. The business was named the Herold China and Pottery Company— the precursor to today’s CoorsTek. This photo was taken in 1916.
To make ďŹ ne ceramic ware requires access to high-grade clays, and in Golden, Colorado, thousands of acres of every kind of clay oered a bountiful supply in the early 1900s.
CONTENTS Letter from the President...........................................................................9 Chapter 1: A Dream Fulfilled ......................................................................10 Chapter 2: Golden Clay...............................................................................18 Chapter 3: Art, Business, and Growth.......................................................30 Chapter 4: An Era Dawns ..........................................................................54 Chapter 5: Building Character...................................................................90 Chapter 6: Forever Looking Forward .......................................................110 One Hundred Years of History ...................................................................116 Index.........................................................................................................120
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Russ Banham is the author of twenty-one books, including the international best-seller e Ford Century, translated into thirteen languages; e Fight for Fairfax, a political and economic history of Fairfax County, Virginia; Wanderlust, which profiles his journeys in an Airstream travel trailer; and Rocky Mountain Legend, his best-selling chronicle of the Coors brewing dynasty. He writes regularly for the Wall Street Journal, CFO, Chief Executive, and other business publications.
W
Letter from THE PRESIDENT hen I think about CoorsTek, I view it as a gi. Not a gi to use on ourselves, like a present, although each of us derives benefit from it. No, it is more like a lump of clay or a chunk of marble or a diamond in the rough that God has placed in our hands. e question is “What will we do with it?” Inside
that rather ordinary-looking rock is something of great beauty and value, waiting to be discovered and unlocked. ink about a marble statue like Michelangelo’s David. Where did that statue come from? It did not begin as the
masterpiece we know, but rather it began as a rock and the sculptor’s idea. e first thing the sculptor does is examine the rock, study it, get a sense of where the flaws are, where the hidden beauty lies, how the rock will respond to his creative work. At some point, though, the studying stops and the artist must take out his hammer and chisel and begin to shape it. at is a painful process; change always is. But, if the artist doesn’t swing the hammer, all he will ever have is a rock and an unfulfilled idea. e shaping is a slow, deliberate process, with the artist keeping in mind what it is he is trying to create, a thing of beauty, a thing of great value. Every one of us is an artist, creative beings, endowed by our Creator with gis and talents. Our creativity at work is expressed in the way we organize people or the way we operate a piece of machinery or the way we respond to our customers’ needs, whether inside the company or outside. CoorsTek is in the business of making things of beauty and value for our customers. To me it is unacceptable to leave our talents unused, to leave the potential of this company untapped, to leave the rock, if you will, untouched. Sometimes when we swing the hammer, we make a mistake. But I would rather take that risk in the hope of creating something of greater value than never swing the hammer at all. And just like a beautiful piece of sculpture reflects the talent of the artist and ultimately brings glory to God the Creator, so it is with our artistry. In this book you will read stories of men and women applying their talents in various ways over five generations to create products, solve problems, make history, and form CoorsTek into the company it is today. And what we leave for those who come aer us, our legacy, becomes their rock, a bigger rock, and the cycle begins again. As we celebrate our one-hundred-year anniversary, I can only strain to get a glimpse of what works of remarkable beauty the next generations of artists will create as they pick up the hammer and chisel to shape the future of CoorsTek and the world around us. —John Coors
The Colorado gold rush was an open invitation for thousands of people to ock to the Rocky Mountains. Along with them came Adolph Coors, who tapped the nearby waters to make beer and the raw materials of the earth for pottery.
A DREAM FULFILLED
1 chapter
and possibly even inside your body. Its importance for
mankind is even more valuable than gold—removing pollution before it contaminates the atmosphere, assisting the production of freshwater from seawater, sending space shuttles into orbit, and saving the lives of soldiers abroad, among countless other uses that make the world a discernibly better place to work and live.
An early Adolph Coors beer delivery truck.
This white gold is industrial ceramic, an expansive assortment of materials possessing an incomparable
T
Today a different kind of gold, industrial ceramic, bursts forth from Golden, Colorado. combination of properties including high mechanical o the west of Denver, along the eastern
strength, hardness, insulating qualities, dimensional
edge of the foothills of the Rocky
stability, resilience, corrosion resistance, and other
Mountains, lies Golden, Colorado.
unique features of great relevance to many industrial
Although founded during the Pikes Peak gold rush of
applications. These advanced materials are produced
1859, the city is actually named in honor of Thomas
by CoorsTek, based in Golden, among the largest such
Golden, an aptly named prospector who struck the
manufacturers on the planet. The company’s legacy
mother lode at a sandbar on Clear Creek, thus setting
stretches back one hundred years to a wanderer who,
in motion the gold rush that followed.
like Tom Golden, was irresistibly drawn to the bounty
Today a different kind of gold bursts forth from Golden, Colorado—white gold. It, too, comes from the
of the region’s natural splendors. Here he found his reason for being, and here his journey ended.
earth. Mined, refined, shaped, and sintered, it can be
This man was Adolph Coors, the famed brewer
found in your car, cell phone, kitchen faucet, computer,
whose surname is world renowned for beer. He did not
A Dream Fulfilled
13
venture west in search of gold; his quest was pure water to feed
Dozens of plants around the world produce components as vital
the stuff of his dreams: the brewery he would build. How he
as personnel and vehicle armor, hip and knee implants, semiconduc-
came to own a company that is revered today for its sophisti-
tor components and electronics substrates, pollution control devices,
cated solutions to industrial problems is a story unto itself. For
automotive cooling methodologies, and unique aerospace optical
a century now, his family—his great-grandson John Coors runs
mirrors, among many others. Thanks to CoorsTek, computers are
CoorsTek today as its chief
made less expensively,
executive and chairman —
motor engines are more
has nurtured the company.
reliable, and implantable
On
occasions
medical devices are
through its long history,
more wear-resistant and
it barely survived. Yet
thus less likely to require
each time its existence
surgical replacement.
many
was threatened it grew
Much of the com-
stronger and bolder, creat-
pany’s output touches
ing products of bewilder-
facets
ing variety and remarkable utility that would change lives for the better.
By 2010 CoorsTek had long been a global enterprise, with manufacturing and sales facilities in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
of
everyday
human life. Perhaps this morning you took a shower, turned on the
“A beautiful statue starts as a rock and a sculptor’s idea,”
heat or the air conditioner, brewed a cup of coffee, and used the
John Coors says. “The process is full of unknowns, but if the
microwave. You drove to work, made a call on your cell phone, and
artist never swings the hammer, all that is left is a rock and an
turned on the computer and printer at the office. With each activ-
unfulfilled dream.”
ity you encountered a technology that comprises an indispensable
CoorsTek for a century has swung the hammer, fulfilling
component that CoorsTek produces.
the crucial needs of virtually every industry in the global econ-
It took great skill, passion, resourcefulness, and tenacity over
omy. It is at the forefront of advanced materials research and
one hundred years for CoorsTek to become one of the world’s
development, creating next-generation components that are
largest and most sophisticated manufacturers of advanced materi-
essential to enhancements in aerospace, electronics, defense,
als. It also required adherence to strict values that form the foun-
telecommunications, transportation, traditional and alternative
dation of the company’s business activities. Chief among these is
energies, and lifesaving medical technologies. The company
the golden rule—“to do to others what we would have them do to
provides value through its scientific innovation, custom
us,” John Coors says. “We do what we say and say what we mean.”
engineering, operational excellence, and rapid execution of
CoorsTek is a company whose purpose is an honorable one: to
customer orders, pushing the envelope on an astonishing array
make the world measurably better. This mission inspires its
of technologies.
over three thousand employees across the globe to create exceptional
14
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
The vast array of industrial ceramics produced by CoorsTek today stands in stark contrast to its beginnings as a maker of pottery one hundred years ago. While the process of forming ceramics has become signiďŹ cantly more complex over the last century, the technical beauty and utility of the products have stood the test of time.
H
The Life and Times
of Adolph Coors
His life was one of nearmythic proportions, a Horatio Alger tale like few others. Adolph Coors was penniless when he immigrated to the United States, yet by his life’s conclusion he had achieved great fortune and renown. He was born on February 4, 1847, in an area of Germany now called Wuppertal-Oberbarmen. A year later his parents, Adolph Coors Joseph and Helene, relocated to the industrial city of Dortmund, where Adolph at age fourteen became an apprentice at the famed Wenker Brewery. Henry Wenker, the brewery’s owner, charged him a fee for the apprenticeship, and to pay for it Adolph worked as a bookkeeper, accumulating an important business skill that would serve him well in future enterprises. Tragedy struck the Coors family in April 1862 when Helene died. Eight months later Joseph also passed away. Fifteen-yearold Adolph continued to work at the brewery, eventually
16
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
transferring from the commercial side to the technical side of the business, where operations were changing from manual brewing methods to industrial production using steam engines. Before long, he knew the brewery trade inside and out. Seeking opportunities beyond what Wenker offered and facing conscription in the Prussian Army, the twenty-one-yearold Adolph made his way to Hamburg, where he stowed on board a ship bound for Baltimore. The ship’s crew discovered him hiding in steerage, but he was later able to persuade the port authorities to grant him entry and give him time to pay off his passage. No stranger to hard work, he soon settled his debts and gradually made his way west. In his mind always was the fabled American Dream. His plan was to find employment along the way, save the money he earned, and invest it someday into the creation of his own brewery. He toiled as a bricklayer, stonecutter, and fireman. No job was beneath his dignity; he even dug ditches to build the Chicago Drainage Canal which, when completed, became the first shipping link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Adolph eventually took a position at the Stenger Brewery in Illinois, resigning after two years to continue his journeys westward. Arriving in Denver in 1872 he purchased a partnership in a bottling business and soon became the sole proprietor. On his Sundays, Adolph scoured the foothills west of the city for a spot to build his brewery. Discovering crystalline springs in the Clear Creek Valley east of Golden, he sold the bottling business and, with a former customer, confectioner Jacob Schueler, invested the proceeds in a small parcel of land. On it sat a six-year-old tannery that the pair swiftly converted into a brewery. In October 1873 Schueler & Coors was incorporated. Its first beer—Golden Lager—poured forth the following year. Business flourished as mining camps spread the word. Saving his income, Adolph gradually bought out Schueler, becoming sole owner in 1880. As Colorado’s population surged, the brewery expanded to keep pace. Self-reliance is a virtue of all orphaned children, and Adolph applied this philosophy to business. He sought to control as many facets as possible in the production of beer, once remarking, “The more we do ourselves, the higher quality we have.” This outlook led him in 1884 to incorporate Colorado Glass Works, another bottle-making enterprise. He built a bottle manufacturing
facility at 600 Ninth Street. Although the business did not succeed as hoped, the plant would serve another more vital and lasting purpose. Anticipating the eventual prohibition of alcoholic beverages, Adolph presciently deeded the plant to Herold in 1910, allowing it to become a pottery to produce ovenware, “which bids fair to be one of the greatest institutions of its kind,” the Colorado Transcript reported. The newspaper predicted accurately: one hundred years later, this pottery is the foundation of the modern CoorsTek.
products of demonstrable value. Their employees strive to make good on the company’s pledge, aligning their unique skills in a highly collaborative effort to create things of everlasting utility and beauty, to turn a rock into a glorious statue. “No single individual is more or less important at CoorsTek,” John Coors says. “Everyone has God-given talents, gifts, and purpose.” Many women worked at the pottery in the finishing and quality control departments, while men tended the forming and firing processes. Below: Wet finishing chemical and scientific laboratory ware prior to a trip in the kiln.
An advertisement for another of Adolph Coors’ related companies. Coors firmly believed that “the more we do ourselves, the higher quality we have.” A Dream Fulfilled
17
Coors Brewery Company’s former bottle manufacturing plant lay vacant until founder Adolph Coors found more productive use for it as a pottery. He could not possibly have imagined the remarkable company that would sprout from these humble origins.
For a century now, companies have come to CoorsTek for
artisans are ceramic. At its simplest, the raw material is pulverized
solutions to their vexing manufacturing problems. Like Tom
into a powder, mixed with water, partially dried, compacted and
Golden and Adolph Coors, these companies are on a journey,
formed, and then carefully placed on a refractory for its journey
searching for the path to a better tomorrow, realizable in the
into the intense heat of a kiln. The process is captivating and
advanced materials that CoorsTek produces. Some components
artistic, akin to baking a glorious pie and then awaiting the mouth-
begin with raw materials as old as the earth itself, awaiting the
watering results from the oven.
touch of human hands, imagination, and ingenuity. The basic process of making ceramic has not altered much in thousands of years; after all, the earthenware vases of Egyptian
At CoorsTek’s original plant at 600 Ninth Street in Golden, the “green” ceramic this very moment is entering the kiln. Hours will pass before it reemerges as white gold. The expectation builds.
CoorsTek’s first products were casserole dishes and other ovenproof pottery, formed and then fired in a coal-fired periodic kiln.
A Dream Fulfilled
19
GOLDEN CLAY
2 chapter
By now, the “millionaire brewer of Colorado,” as
Early view of Coors Porcelain (left) on Ninth Street. (Right) Adolph Coors made his mark with beer; the pottery came later.
newspapers called him, was the stuff of legend. He had left his native Germany in 1868, his pockets empty, stowing on board a ship to America—a New World where men with imagination and grit could make their fortune. As a boy, he had learned the brewer’s trade at the famous Wenker Brewery in Dortmund, and he was determined to parlay this expertise into a profitable business venture. He traveled west, finding whatever work he could, saving every penny he earned. He
T
Adolph Coors built his brewery in 1873 in the rich Clear Creek Valley east of Golden. arrived in Colorado in 1872, and purchased a partnerhe air was thick with anticipation as
ship in a bottle manufacturing business. At the same
the businessmen awaited the riches
time, he scoured neighboring regions for a place to
of the kiln. Among them that brittle
build a brewery. In the rich Clear Creek Valley east of
December day in 1910 was sixty-three-year-old Adolph
Golden, where crystalline springs promised the purest
Coors, the founder and owner of the Coors brewery in
water, Adolph’s journey drew to an end. He built his
Golden that anchored one end of the town. He had
brewery in 1873, and in the decades since had come to
deeded an abandoned bottle manufacturing plant at
embody the fulfillment of the American Dream.
600 Ninth Street on the north side of Clear Creek to
Now in 1910, although it was the best year financially
master potter John J. Herold, whose fireproof ovenware,
in the brewery’s history, his livelihood was threatened.
sintering in the beehive kiln inside the plant, Adolph
Small breweries were closing by the week as the anti-
and the other men had gathered to observe.
alcohol temperance movement gathered strength. In
Golden Clay
21
anticipation of the worst, Adolph diversified into the cement
Unfortunately, Herold suffered for his art. The fumes from the
business. He sought another enterprise to offset the unimaginable
distinctive glazing process caused chronic respiratory distress, and
loss of the brewery and the economic impact on his family and
doctors recommended a drier climate such as that found in the
workers. At an exhibition of fireproof cookware in Denver, he
high-elevation air west of Denver. But where Adolph saw pure
encountered John Herold.
water to make beer, Herold spied high-grade clay to make pottery.
Herold, too, had emigrated from Germany, where he was born
The alluvial deposits of the great seas that once covered this part of
in Carlsbad in 1871. In Bonn he received training as a decorator of
the country had laid down the clay, brought to the earth’s crust by
glass and china, most likely at one of the large German pottery
the formation of the Rocky Mountains. There was enough clay in
manufacturers. Like Adolph, the lure of the New World proved
and around Golden, it was remarked at the time, to supply the pot-
irresistible, and Herold settled in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1890,
ter’s needs “for at least a hundred years.”
securing work as the manager of the Owens Pottery Company and
By 1908 Herold had approached several businessmen to back
then Roseville Pottery. For the latter, he created Rozane Mongol
him in establishing a local pottery. Although Adolph was not an
deep red glaze pottery, reviving the ancient Chinese style of blood-
initial investor, a few years later he deeded free of charge the aban-
red coloring with a high-glaze finish. The eye-catching pottery was
doned bottle manufacturing plant/facility to Herold as a studio,
awarded the first place prize at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair
marking the official incorporation in December 1910 of Herold
and Exposition.
China and Pottery Company—the precursor to today’s CoorsTek. Adolph had built the plant in 1884 on land he owned twelve miles west of Denver to make bottles for the brewery and for general sale. Called Colorado Glass Works, the plant closed when dealers starting collecting and reselling the used bottles at onequarter the price of new ones. The plant sat deserted for many years, until the discovery of a useful new purpose for it. That winter afternoon, the men watched as the chamber of the kiln revealed its contents—an ovenproof casserole, hand-shaped from the locally mined clay and sintered into a vitreous state by the kiln’s prolonged intense heat. The pottery had used clay, the Rocky Mountain News reported, “found almost at [its] back door.” The investors were elated at their prospects. A better artist than businessman, Herold’s company encountered financial difficulties from the start, requiring an almost immediate cash infusion to survive. At a meeting on March 12, 1912,
In the company’s earliest decades, the rich clay veins within the hills of Golden supplied the raw material to manufacture pottery and chemical ware. (Right) This flowing river became famous in Coors advertising in later years.
22
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
the company was recapitalized with $7,950—7,950 shares of common stock holding a par value of $1 a share. Adolph subscribed
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
23
clay, which is porous unless glazed, porcelain is nonporous, giving it improved strength, durability, scratch resistance, and low permeability. It also can resist acids, alkalis, and thermal shock, as well as withstand extremely high temperatures. Because Germany enjoyed a virtual monopoly in chemical porcelain, scientists in the United States were compelled to use inferior equipment, resulting in inconclusive experiments. Perturbed by these developments, the U.S. Department of Commerce appealed to American potteries to undertake the manufacture of porcelain chemical ware. Seventeen responded, among them Herold China and Pottery. Although stirred by this great opportunity, Porcelain workers pause for a photograph in the 1920s before resuming their day.
to 3,000 shares, or 38 percent of the stock, making him the largest stockholder, and he joined the board of directors. That August he bought an additional $10,000 of stock, solidifying his ownership. The funds were earmarked to expand the building and buy a new kiln. Herold subsequently turned over his interests to the investors in the recapitalized company, departing Golden to acquire work at Denver’s Western Pottery Company. In 1913 Adolph was elected president of Herold China and Pottery. His oldest son, Adolph Coors Jr., who graduated from Cornell University in 1908 with a degree in chemical engineering, was elected vice president and manager. Two other sons, Grover and Herman, had just finished college, where the topic of the day was the escalating hostilities in Europe. When war broke out in 1914, chemical laboratories throughout the United States were in a bind. An embargo on German goods curtailed the supply of scientific equipment like laboratory mortars and pestles, funnels, and crucibles for experimentation purposes. German ceramists had perfected the art of producing high-grade porcelain for chemical and scientific ware. Unlike fire-hardened 24
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
When the call came from the U.S. government to assist the war eort in making quality chemical laboratory ware, the company heeded it. Shown here are examples of mortars and pestles, funnels, and other chemical ware.
the company was acutely cognizant of its deficiencies. Looking back
Adolph had another rea-
in 1920, it acknowledged that chemical porcelain “required a highly
son for responding to the
specialized knowledge and technique in the various stages of its
government’s request. In
manufacture.” Other, more practical challenges were also cited: “The
November 1914 Colorado
plant was small, with only one kiln, and employing a handful of men
voted to make selling alco-
with scant experience in the making of pottery.”
holic beverages illegal as of
Possessing this “knowledge and technique” was one man—John
January 1, 1916. That day
Herold. “Because his expertise
the great brewer watched
was so highly valued by my
in anguish as his workers
grandfather and his fellow stock-
dumped 561 barrels of
holders, they offered Herold half
beer—17,391 gallons—
ownership in the company,” says
into Clear Creek. The
William K. “Bill” Coors, grand-
brewery was subsequently
son of Adolph Coors, and former
modified to produce a
chairman and CEO of Adolph
nonfermented
Coors Company. In 1915 Herold
beverage called Mannah.
returned to the pottery that still
The company also diversified into the manufacture of malted milk,
bore his name.
soon becoming a major supplier.
M
Adolph Coors Jr. receiving a plaque for his work.
cereal
This 1916 letter from the Herold China and Pottery Company urged customers to consider their product and to let Herold China know of defects. The company was relentless in its quality control efforts.
The Other Coors Pottery
More than one pottery carried the Coors brand in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1925 Adolph Coors had a falling out with his youngest son Herman about the management of the Golden pottery. Herman offered to buy the company, and when his father declined to sell, Herman departed for Inglewood, California. There, with help from three key employees from Golden who joined him, Herman launched a competing pottery—H. F. Coors Porcelain Company. “My Uncle Herman fully intended to put my grandfather out of business,” says Bill Coors. Like Coors Porcelain, Herman’s pottery manufactured a variety of tableware for hotels, hospitals, and other commercial establishments. He also made porcelain wall tiles, faucet handles, showerheads, plumbing fixtures, and even doll heads.
Herman was not much of a businessman, however, and the company endured near-constant financial duress. “To keep the company afloat, Uncle Herman sold stock to his brothers and sisters, who, in turn, resold their shares to their father,” Bill notes. “Thus, we have a poignant tale of a father financing his wayward son’s efforts to put him out of business.” Adolph Coors eventually ended up with 47 percent of the stock of H. F. Coors Porcelain Company. In 2003 Catalina China in Tucson acquired its assets. The company remains in business under its original name today as a manufacturer of china and accessory items.
Golden Clay
25
repurchased his half-ownership of company stock. Management of the pottery now fell to Adolph Jr., whose training as a chemical engineer put him in good stead to meet the task. “He is at the factory at the opening hour in the morning and works all day,” the Colorado Transcript reported in February 1915. “Clad in flannel shirt and rough outer garb, and with his hands white with clay dust, Adolph Coors, Jr., is working with an energy which dispels the illusion that the sons of rich men have no real liking for hard work.” His efforts bore fruit, evidenced by the rapid growth in the company’s sales. For the month of January 1915, revenues amounted to a trifling $80.61. In December that same year, they skyrocketed to $2,930.31. The following year, the company’s output fulfilled the needs of laboratories across the country. “With a small plant, few employees and scant knowledge of ceramics, young Coors, after suffering many disheartening experiences, met with success, producing a ware the quality of which [was] the equal of the best European product,” wrote Ernest Child in The Tools of the Chemist. As business flourished, employment escalated to seventy-five workers in 1917, more than double the thirtyMalted milk was just one of several Coors products, as seen in this display.
four employees in 1915. Adolph Jr. and his brother Herman, who assisted him at the pottery, traveled to universities,
Adolph’s foresight in investing in the pottery also paid off,
chemical society meetings, and trade shows to promote the com-
if only modestly at first. Of the seventeen potteries heeding the
pany’s chemical and scientific ware. “Many of the leading chemists
government’s call, just two were successful in developing a quality
of this country tell us that our Coors porcelain is the best they have
line of porcelain ware: Champion Spark Plug Company and Herold
ever used,” wrote Charles Quaintance, the company’s secretary, to
China and Pottery Company. The Golden pottery’s letterhead as of
prospective customers in December 1916.
February 2, 1915, noted the new line under its name: “Fireproof
The pottery’s contributions to the war effort and to postwar
China Cooking Utensils, Hotel and Chemical Laboratory China.”
America were of incalculable benefit. “Coors decided to spare no
Herold stayed but a year in Golden, and Adolph eventually
effort or expense to make the United States independent of foreign
26
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
ware,” Child wrote. “It is doubtful if America would
serving bowl. The ovenware, as Bill Coors points out,
have become the world’s leading producer of chemical
“was very much in vogue for gourmet cooking in
porcelain ware but for the zeal and financial resources
this pre-Pyrex era.”
of Adolph Coors, Sr., and the patience and marked ability
The products were a step up from previous ovenware Americans had known. An early advertisement touts Coors Baking Ware as
of his son.” By 1920, the war over and Herold long gone, Adolph changed
“thinner and much lighter in weight than ordinary baking ware,
the name of the pottery to Coors Porcelain Company. The company
able to withstand intense heat without discoloring or cracking.” The
now produced three hundred different shapes and sizes of chemi-
ad boasts that Coors Porcelain “duplicated, even to the exact color,
cal porcelain bearing the trademark of Coors, U.S.A. This extensive line sold well through-
e pottery’s contributions to the war effort and to postwar America were of incalculable benefit.
out the world, especially in America. Coors Porcelain also manufactured heat-resistant
the baking ware used for generations in the most famous restaurants
ovenware like casseroles and ramekins, a small glazed ceramic
in Paris.” Other lines included Thermo-Porcelain household cooking utensils and Thermo-Porcelain White Hotel Ware, inexpensive, durable dinnerware for commercial kitchens, hospitals, hotels, and university cafeterias. The company also dabbled in making outdoor camp stoves from porcelain, although the venture did not prove successful. Still, business flourished for the various other pieces. “Colleges and universities were growing; hospitals, chemical and scientific laboratories expanded; and the hotel trade began to increase,” Robert Schneider wrote in Coors Rosebud Pottery. All were customers for the company’s wares. In 1922 the federal government came calling again, this time looking for assistance in early experiments in producing atomic energy. “[In] our experiments on an Chemical ware marked the future of the company by 1920, but it continued to manufacture its legacy heat-resistant ovenware, lining the shelves at left. (Above) An early Coors Porcelain logo.
Golden Clay
27
The so-called beehive kilns for Coors Porcelain were a very visible sign in Golden of the company's growth. The slash rising from the base to the top of the mountain is the railroad track for the Funicular Train.
attempt to disintegrate atoms, it is necessary to detect very minute
trademark. Funicular train cars whisked revelers to and from
quantities of helium,” reads a letter from the
the festivities. On Sunday afternoons, they
University of Chicago, which was conduct-
gathered to cheer the company football team,
ing research on behalf of the government.
the aptly named Potters, at Brooks Field. Grover Coors and Herman Coors
“For this purpose we need about six each of
departed Golden in the mid-1920s to
the glazed porcelain tubes.” Despite such serious endeavors, Coors
pursue business ventures elsewhere, leav-
Porcelain was a fun place to work during
ing the pottery and Coors’ other enterprises
the Roaring Twenties, a period of buoyant
to the solitary care of their older brother
economic prosperity. On weekend nights, many employees kicked up their heels danc-
Porcelain casserole dishes manufactured by Coors.
Adolph. Their father, Adolph Sr., whom employees affectionately called “Papa,” still
ing the Charleston at Castle Rock Dance Hall, built in 1919 on the top
visited the pottery in his fur cap and dark overcoat, eager to greet
of Castle Rock, the mountain featured in the Coors brewery’s
longtime workers and offer advice wherever needed. Not that he had
28
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
Everybody worked hard, but on weekends you could go dancing at the Castle Rock Dance Hall, getting there via the Funicular Train.
any concerns over the direction of the company—Adolph Jr. was a
by Homer Laughlin Pottery Company, maker of Fiesta dinner-
superb businessman and possessed a sharp, analytical mind. “From
ware beginning in 1936. “By the end of the [1920s], Adolph
his father my father inherited considerable business acumen,” Bill
Coors . . . knew that America’s stage was about to be set with colored
Coors says. “He was taught a high standard of ethics and a basic
dinnerware,” Schneider wrote.
philosophy of hard work to meet goals.”
In succeeding years, several additional lines of beautiful
Adolph Jr. was determined to revive the company’s consumer-
dinnerware, as well as coffeemakers, teapots, vases, and even
oriented dinnerware, with “a line of true porcelain for culinary
figurines, were unveiled, pieces considered rare collectors items
and table use,” the company asserted in 1928. Later that year Coors
today. Many were matte glazed in two different colors, one on the
Porcelain introduced Glencoe Thermo-Porcelain. An advertisement
interior and another on the exterior. Others were decorated with
extolled the dinnerware as “unsurpassed in resistance to thermal and
hand-applied gold and silver floral designs.
mechanical shock, in beauty of design and finish and wide range of colors available.”
Two significant events rocked the company in 1929: the crash of the stock market and the death of the beloved “Papa,” patriarch
The ivory, pink, yellow, blue, and green pastel-colored Mel-
Adolph Coors. More than ever now, the fate of the family pottery
lotone and Rosebud lines, as they were branded, preceded by
rested in the hands of his capable son, as a Great Depression
several years the introduction of similar ovenproof dinnerware
loomed on the horizon.
From the outset, quality control was a key consideration of Coors Porcelain Company. The company would permit “no compromise with perfection,” it wrote in the 1930s. Here, a worker vacuums in the casting and molding department.
30
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
By the 1920s, Coors Porcelain’s Rosebud ceramic dinnerware line had become a nationwide best-seller, preceding by several years a similar style called Fiesta.
Workers put the ďŹ nishing touches on Coors Porcelain Company products.
ART, BUSINESS, AND GROWTH
3 chapter
gardens and a greenhouse, and marveled at outbuildings housing a bowling alley, pool, and gymnasium. After dinner, they played bridge and danced until midnight. “Nothing was overlooked,” gushed the Post. Coors Porcelain was a fitting choice to host the event, having captured 90 percent of the domestic chemical ware market. The Ninth Street plant, enlarged in 1926, produced ten thousand pieces a day. Not
A simple, early logo for Coors Scientific Labware.
all was laboratory equipment. In addition to colorful dinnerware, the company made orange juicer bowls
T
By 1932 Coors Porcelain had captured 90 percent of the domestic chemical ware market. and extractors, neon sign insulators, and a drip he society pages of the Denver Post
coffeemaker, advertised with the tagline “For a Better
called it the “most elaborate and costly
Cup of Coffee.” The lines helped balance financial
affair of its kind in the state’s history.” In
losses in chemical ware during the 1930s. German
the summer of 1932 Coors Porcelain Company hosted
manufacturers intent on recapturing the market
the eighty-fourth annual convention of the American
charged half of Coors’ prices. When Coors Porcelain
Chemical Society, attended by more than one thousand
matched them to maintain market leadership, profits
distinguished scientists and their spouses.
fell. Coors still, though, maintained a full workforce of
The guests spent the afternoon touring Coors’ near beer, malted milk, and porcelain plants. At the
two hundred people through the Great Depression years.
fabled Coors mansion built by the founder as a gift for
The day Adolph Coors had hoped to see in his
his wife Louisa in 1890, they ambled through lavish
lifetime arrived in 1933, as the U.S. Congress enacted
Art, Business, and Growth
33
The stately mansion of Adolph and Louisa Coors sits in sharp contrast to the industrial world surrounding it. The family used the mansion often for entertaining.
the Twenty-first Amendment, again legalizing alcoholic beverages.
remarkable job of maintaining the status quo with almost no help
A banner in New York’s Times Square captured the moment:
from my father, who had his hands full with the brewery startup.”
“Happy Days are Here Again!” Adolph Jr. turned his attention
At the plant, a modern circular kiln and tunnel kiln were
toward resuscitating the brewery. “[We] expect to use the profits
installed, replacing the old beehive kilns. Manufacturing methods
from the sale of beer to make more jobs for idle men,” he told the
remained much the same, however. Local clays were ground wet in
Colorado Transcript.
pebble or ball mills, the excess moisture hand-pressed out, and the
General management of the porcelain company was left to
resulting cake aged in cellars for about three months. When ready,
Harold Ryland, an analytical chemist who joined the company in
water was again added, and depending on the application, the
1923. Plant supervision fell to Van Johnson, hired the same year for
material was cast using plaster of Paris molds. After drying, it was
a singular reason. “Van’s hands were small enough to reach inside
removed from the mold and sintered in the kiln. Since the material
certain chemical porcelain items that required a sponged finish,”
endured heat shrinkage, precise measurements were required
Bill Coors notes. “The two men disliked each other, yet they did a
beforehand to ensure the desired post-firing dimensions.
34
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
I
Dinner for Eight
In the 1930s and 1940s, tables were set across America with colorful dinnerware lines manufactured by Coors Porcelain Company. This china typically was hand painted in gold or silver decorative patterns describing the five different brands—Garden, Tulip, Chrysanthemum, Hawthorne, and Floree. Less expensive lines also included Golden Ivory, Mellotone, Coorado, and Rosebud Cook-N-Serve, among others. Today, it is not uncommon for a Rosebud honey pot-with-spoon to fetch three hundred dollars and more on eBay.
The Rosebud pottery line became a huge success for Coors Porcelain Company in 1932, when it redesigned and expanded its housewares line and introduced bright colors. Today, they are collectors’ items.
Previously, the 600 Ninth Street pottery made inexpensive, durable high-fire Glencoe and Thermo-Porcelain baking, serving, and tableware lines for hotels and other commercial establishments, typically fired in white, brown, and green colors. In 1932 the company redesigned the lines for household use, expanding the color palette into a variety of pastels like pink and yellow. The pottery also turned out a great variety of other household items, including vases, saltshakers, beer mugs, ashtrays, cookie jars, drip coffeemakers, crocks to store candy, and even piggy banks in the shape of a clown’s head. Rosebud was the pottery’s most successful line, with forty-seven different types of dishes in six different colors available in 1940, according to Robert Schneider in his definitive book, Coors Rosebud Pottery. Six specially made Rosebud table service sets also were manufactured. The pieces are ink-stamped COORS ROSEBUD USA in a cobalt blue color on the bottom.
Early display racks at Coors Porcelain represented products from the simple to the increasingly more complex, a sign of the company’s future direction.
Some products required several trips through the kiln. High-
“Nothing sub-standard ever bears the Coors Trademark,” the book-
end dinnerware, for instance, was fired at seven hundred degrees
let asserted. “There is no compromise with quality. . . . ‘Porcelain by
centigrade in the circular kiln for a period of twenty-four hours
Coors, U.S.A.’ is a phrase as full of meaning as the ware is full
(a full turn of the kiln), then glazed and fired again at a higher
of wear.”
temperature. When gold or silver was applied on top of the glaze,
Seconds—ware discarded for having imperfect form, color,
another low temperature firing was
or other defects—were a problem from a
necessary. The Evolution of a Lump o’
financial standpoint, averaging 50 percent
Clay, a booklet the company originally
of total production. When Bill Coors joined
published in 1935, described these
the company in 1939, having graduated
processes. Interestingly, the publication
from Princeton University with a degree in
captures in photographs the fact that
chemical engineering, his father’s instruc-
many women worked at the plant. They
tions were direct: “Do something about the
performed a range of tasks, from assem-
losses, but don’t change a thing.” Says Bill,
bling and finishing parts to inspecting
A worker removes a cast pitcher from plaster of Paris mold.
them for quality, a primary consideration. 36
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
“It struck me as a contradiction in terms, but it was not my role to question authority. All I said to myself was, ‘Mission impossible.’”
Still, the company barely survived. Business was breakeven at best until 1940, when Champion Spark Plug Company decided
Then he got to work. His first impression of the plant was
to pull out of the chemical ware business to make sparkplugs
“disbelief—too much dust in the air, due to inadequate ventilation,”
exclusively. Fortunately, Ryland had cultivated a friendship over the
Bill explains. “To accommodate the summer heat, windows were opened wide, which upset the
e isostatic forming process opened the door to the burgeoning industrial ceramics market.
combustion of the air and natural gas fueling the kilns. This, in turn, affected the ware, causing
years with Frank Riddle, his Champion counterpart. “Frank and
it to blister.” The dust also caused iron spots—tiny, dark marks in the
Harold arranged a quick and friendly sale of the business for ten
glaze. “Installing an air-dryer and filters on the blow-off
thousand dollars, leaving us sole possession of the field,” Bill says.
hoses worked wonders,” says Bill. “Presto—no more iron spots.”
As part of the deal, Coors Porcelain obtained a license to
Gradually, the defects declined.
Champion’s proprietary process for producing high-performance ceramic insulators and other products. The isostatic forming process, as it was called,
An isostatic forming press, one of the gateways to modern industrial ceramics.
opened the door to the burgeoning industrial ceramics market. Coors Porcelain also took over Champion’s production of insulators for Allis-Chalmers, a large industrial manufacturer. “We inherited this business, and even got the specialized equipment like a spray dryer and an isostatic chamber to make the insulators,” Bill says. “Not bad for ten thousand dollars.” With isostatic forming, material is prepared in a spray dryer then poured into a rubber mold approximating the outer contours of the desired part, and then placed in an isostatic chamber, a pressurized vessel filled with water. The water pressure reaches several tons per square inch and is equal in all directions.
Art, Business, and Growth
37
Compacting the material from all sides provided more uniform
brilliant, if dangerous, solution. After a three-day cool-down period,
shrinkage and thus greater manufacturing control. Even in its green
a worker wearing the type of heavily insulated suit worn by fire-
state, the material had enough mechanical strength to stand by it-
fighters battling oil-well infernos ran into the kiln, gathered debris in
self and not collapse. With careful handling, it could be machined
a steel bucket, and ran out to be hosed down by fellow workers. A
on a lathe or similar tool before being positioned on the kiln re-
few such trips and the wreck cleared. To confirm the procedure’s
fractory furniture for firing. In its post-sintered state it was further
safety, Bill and his younger brother Joseph Coors were the first sprint-
machined into the final shape.
ers. “In case of an emergency, a safety cable was attached to our suits
Isostatic forming yielded large insulators and other parts com-
so we could be dragged out,” Bill says.
bining great strength with electrical and chemical resistance. More
While the procedure succeeded, another problem surfaced—
complex shapes could be produced with uniform properties.
worker dehydration from the sprinting and intense heat. “Water and
Greater ratios of length to diameter were achievable, as well as
most other liquids ingested immediately after the effort often came
homogenous parts with thin and thick sections. Bill Coors created a one-man insulator department—himself—in an unoccupied corner of the plant. “My daily quota was ten insulators,” he recalls. “A decent beginning.” When war clouds gathered in Europe again, government demand surged for the insulators and a new line of ceramic pyrometer tubes, used to accurately measure high temperatures, such as in a foundry. Both were deemed essential to the war effort. To meet this demand a second tunnel kiln was erected, and a third designed by Bill in 1945. Dubbed L-3, the new kiln was narrow and tall, permitting more uniform heat transfer in the sintering process. L-3 is still in service today. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, plant workers by the droves enlisted for service, creating a manpower drain that affected productivity. Another dilemma challenging the yield was the risk of a kiln wreck—the collapse of the refractory furniture supporting the ware on its journey through the kiln. When a wreck occurred, the kiln was shut down for a couple days to cool. But with the government’s critical need for insulators in military aircraft, a more expeditious remedy was required. Adolph Jr.’s eldest son, Adolph Coors III—a chemist by trade whom Bill recruited to assist in making insulators—devised a 38
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
Adolph Coors Jr. and his sons improved productivity at the porcelain plant by installing transportation elevators to deliver ware directly to the kilns.
Dubbed L-2 upon its installation, this kiln is still functioning today at the 600 Ninth Street facility in Golden.
During the war, consumer items like cookware were discontinued to confine production to insulators, chemical ware, and other war-related materiel. With manpower tight, Bill and Joe supplied the necessary technical expertise at the plant. Joe, who had worked a short stint at DuPont after graduating from Cornell University in 1940 with a degree in chemical engineering, assumed the leadership role at Coors Porcelain in 1946, while Bill assisted their father at the brewery. Bill recollects his brother fretting over the quality of the insulators, and putting his shoulder behind improvements. Alumina grinding media comes in different shapes and sizes depending on the milling application.
D
When the war ended, Joe was determined to beef up the company’s technical skills. He recruited and hired ceramic, structural, and other engineers; revitalized the technical and design staff; initiated the first research and development group; and gradually modernized
up,” Bill explains. Time for another novel solution. “One of the
and standardized production methods. A key goal was leveraging the
volunteers said, ‘If I’m going to feel this badly at least let me drink an
isostatic process to create new products and market opportunities.
ice-cold beer,’” Bill remembers. “We sent down for a case of Coors
“My brother’s mission was turning the company into the technologi-
and, sure enough, the beer stayed down. Miracle of miracles.”
cal leader of the industrial ceramic industry,” Bill says.
The
Manhattan Project
During the height of World War II, Bill Coors, then working at Coors Porcelain as its one-man insulator department, received a phone call from Rick Condit, an engineer with the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley. “He said, ‘I understand you make insulators,’” Bill recalls. The large industrial manufacturer Allis-Chalmers, a key customer, had suggested Coors Porcelain to the lab, touting its ability to make high-quality alumina ceramic insulators very quickly. Bill requested that Condit send him the specifications for the various insulators the lab sought to determine if their manufacture was in the realm of possibility. Confident he could meet the need, a deal—of sorts—was struck. “There was no paperwork, no quotes, no order—just an escrow account that was set up for us at First National Bank of Golden, from which I could draw money,” Bill says.
40
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
Each day, Bill would call a phone number that Condit had provided to learn how many insulators of a particular dimension the lab needed. Thousands were manufactured over the next six months when Bill’s phone rang again. “It was Condit, and he thanked me and said he didn’t need our help anymore,” Bill remembers. “That was it. We made no profits on the insulators, operating at cost. And we had no idea what the lab was using the insulators for, not until seven years later.” Newspapers had an inkling of the facts, but the government had precluded them from reporting it. As the Denver Post stated shortly after the war ended in 1946, Coors Porcelain “played an extremely vital role [during the war], a role so important the full story cannot yet be told.” When the story finally was told, Bill learned that the company had been engaged in one of the most top-secret military endeavors ever undertaken—the Manhattan Project
A new application for the isostatic process emerged in 1949. The
outside its primary market,” says Mike Fenerty, a chemical engineer
plant turned out a range of different-sized grinding balls made of 85
born in the United Kingdom of Irish parents, who hired on at Coors
percent aluminum oxide (also called alumina) ceramic. The acceler-
Porcelain in 1971 and concluded his career at the company as vice
ation of wartime demands had brought about newer ceramics like
president. “They essentially gave us the technology for making
alumina that surpassed the properties of porcelain. Alumina was
alumina ceramic. We’d make the grinding balls and then sell them to
stronger and harder than porcelain, and better resisted wear, temper-
General Motors and many other companies in diverse industries. It
ature, and corrosion. These properties made alumina balls superior to
marked the start of our high alumina ceramic business.”
steel balls to pulverize a broad array of materials. Markets included the automotive, paint, steel,
“My brother’s mission was turning the company into the technological leader of the industrial ceramic industry.” —Bill Coors
and mining industries, Alumina ceramic bricks and tiles to line chutes, mills, silos, and
among others. Once again a sparkplug manufacturer assisted the company’s
pipes subsequently were developed for mining, material processing,
technological advancement, guiding the development of new product
and material handling applications. Ceramic refractory furniture for
lines. “AC Spark Plug, then part of General Motors, manufactured
customers like AC Spark Plug was another growing line.
alumina grinding balls during the war, but felt the business was
During World War II, Coors Porcelain made some highly specialized insulators connected to the creation of the atomic bomb for the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Two of the final four in existence were made into lamps for Adolph Coors Jr. and his wife.
in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Scientists were developing the atomic bombs that would end the war in Japan, saving countless American lives. Previous insulators had failed to meet the rigorous insulating requirements. Not those made by Coors Porcelain, which were used at the so-called Y-12 plant for electromagnetic separation of fissionable Uranium-235 from Uranium238. “The irony is that despite the highly classified
All of these efforts and market leadership were not lost on
nature of this work, we operated totally out in the open—no security guards, no background checks on employees, no locked doors, and no paper trail from Oak Ridge to Golden,” says Bill. “Obscurity is the best form of security.” Of the thousands of insulators produced for the Manhattan Project during the war, only four are known to still exist—the rest presumably disposed of as radioactive waste when the Y-12 plant was decommissioned. One insulator is on display at the Department of Energy museum in the lobby of the Forrestal Building in Washington, DC. Coors Porcelain preserved another insulator that was damaged during production. The remaining two were made into matching table lamps by Bill and his brother Joe Coors, and were presented to their parents, Adolph Jr. and May. Says Joe’s son, W. Grover Coors, “These two lamps stand today on end tables in a sitting room of the Adolph Coors residence, where they have resided for sixty years, virtually unnoticed for their extraordinary historical significance.” Art, Business, and Growth
41
Corning Glass Works, which offered to buy Coors Porcelain in 1949 for $5 million. The Coors family politely rejected the offer. Five years later, a buyout offer from a large eastern refractory manufacturer at twice Corning’s offer also was turned down. “There was too much love, too much respect, too much admiration for the people at Coors Porcelain,” Bill commented years later. The Coors sons met with their father most workdays for lunch to discuss the family enterprises. Although initially deemed uneconomical, Coors Porcelain reentered the consumer market with a few items like vases, beer mugs, and feeding cups for animals. It also manufactured beautiful porcelain toiletry bottles for Courtley’s, a maker of lotions, powders, and perfumes. To the chagrin of collectors, Rosebud and Mellotone dinnerware were never revived. Nevertheless, business was on a decided uptick. Jobs were plentiful, and consumerism revived in the 1950s. The postwar prosperity was reflected in new suburban ranch houses with
These 1950s advertisements were for a variety of Coors Porcelain Company products for the home and laboratory.
42
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
manicured lawns and two-car garages. Technological innovation
To grasp this potential, the industry first needed to develop
also was in high gear. New types of ceramics and new forming tech-
highly precise manufacturing methods, given the complex shapes
niques burst forth. The availability of alumina powder as a pure,
and sizes of many components. Coors Porcelain distinguished itself in
low-cost raw material spurred the development of many new
this regard, honing alumina components to extremely close
applications, especially in the budding electronics equipment
tolerances of one ten-thousandth of an inch (better than one micron
market. Alumina ceramic’s inert, non–chemically reactive nature,
today). At the plant, an overhead crane–operated “removable
exceptional insulating qualities, and compressive strength made it
envelope” kiln also was installed to sinter the new materials. For
the preferred material for applications in a wide range of advanced
certain applications the ceramic material was bonded to metal, a
electronics equipment. These included magnetrons, cyclotrons,
recent advancement. In 1955 Coors Porcelain launched its own
radio tubes, and high-frequency power transmission units, used in
metalizing division as a three-man department to provide this serv-
television, communications, CB (citizens band) radio, radar, and
ice to industry. The department occupied part of a new three-story
other advanced forms of electronics. Ceramic Industry projected
plant addition built the prior year.
that of all areas in the industry, it was electronics that represented “the largest potential for the future.”
Customers of the alumina components were a Who’s Who of industry: General Electric, Westinghouse, Raytheon, DuPont, and Sperry, among others. New markets emerged, including the chemical and petroleum industries,
A worker removes the “hang-fire” collar from a fired tube. At this point, the material has been formed and is still in its green (non fired) state.
which sought components that could function under high temperatures or abrasive and corrosive conditions. Frequently, ceramic replaced steel and other materials that these industries traditionally used. For petroleum and chemical companies, Coors Porcelain manufactured highly finished ceramic pump plungers and liners, valve balls, valve seats, chokes, mechanical seal parts, combustion tubes, and thermocouple tubes destined for use in oil wells. “Even specially hardened metal alloys can’t take that punishment for more than a few days of pumping,” the Denver Post acknowledged.
Art, Business, and Growth
43
On January 22, 1959, the container division at Coors Porcelain stamped out the world’s ďŹ rst seamless aluminum can, and revolutionized the beverage industry.
I
The Aluminum Can
In 1954 the Coors family, in its constant quest to enhance the freshness and quality of Coors beer, realized two factors that were negatively affecting taste—pasteurization and the tin cans containing the beverage. Tin cans also leaked and caused environmental issues. Change was in order. Bill Coors, then-president of Adolph Coors Company, made the development of a superior container a key strategic imperative. Five years later, the aluminum can was born. “This invention revolutionized the beer and consumer packaged goods industry and spurred recycling efforts nationwide,” stated Advanced Materials and Processing magazine on the fiftieth anniversary of the container’s creation. The task of developing the aluminum can was presented to engineers and toolmakers at Coors Porcelain. “We lacked the technical expertise at the brewery,” Bill explains. “It was a burdensome, grueling adventure into the almost unknown. If you’re not going to pasteurize beer, you have to brew it without any chance of it coming in contact with microorganisms. We started from scratch.”
Aside from the challenge of making a container that could be sterilized to prevent spoilage, Coors Porcelain encountered tremendous resistance from tin can manufacturers and competing breweries that preferred the status quo. Determined to proceed despite these risks, Bill, Joe Coors, and other company engineers traveled to Europe to learn about impact extrusion manufacturing processes. Necessary equipment was imported, and a protracted period of trial and error ensued. The failure rate was high, and research and development expenses neared $1 million. “We kept at it, convinced the work we were doing was important,” says Bill. On January 22, 1959, Coors Porcelain’s new container division plant stamped out the world’s first seamless, lighter weight aluminum can. The pioneering event has been designated a Historical Landmark by ASM International, a society serving the materials science and engineering profession. The new container plant had the capacity to manufacture 1 billion cans per year, making it the largest single metal container facility in the world. Initially, the plant produced small, seven-ounce aluminum containers for Coors beer, retailed in eight-packs for sale in Colorado. The company offered consumers a penny for each can they returned to the brewery, marking the beginning of the recycling revolution. It was ahead of the times, presaging the coming environmental movement, while developing another commercial enterprise. Coors Porcelain “proved that the aluminum can is both technologically feasible and economically practical,” reported Modern Metals in 1960. The magazine named Bill its Man of the Year. Gradually aluminum cans replaced tin containers. Pasteurization was avoided. And Coors beer, always revered for purity, tasted even better. Bob Mornin (left) and Bill Coors (right) with an aluminum bar at the can plant. At its peak, the plant had the capacity to manufacture 1 billion cans per year.
Art, Business, and Growth
45
Coors Porcelain leveraged numerous ways of forming alumina ceramic, including dry press and isostatic methods. Here, a master mold maker turns a plaster of Paris mold to produce laboratory ware.
New forming techniques complemented the new alumina ceramic materials. Among these breakthroughs was Coors Porcelain’s historic development of dry press forming. In both isostatic and dry press forming, the same dry ceramic body material is used. With dry pressing, however, the ceramic powder is poured into die sets and compacted by hydraulic presses at a force of 2 tons and more (up to 1,600 tons today). The pressed shape is generally the final shape, although complex machining can be performed while the ceramic is still in its green state.
Dry press process was faster and more economical than isostatic forming in the manufacture of smaller, high-volume ceramic grinding balls, and components like ceramic mechanical shaft bearings. Dry press forming also was used to make substrates—thin sheets of strong, lightweight alumina ceramic upon which electronic circuits are placed. Since alumina ceramic does not conduct electricity, it emerged as the ideal material for electronic circuit boards. “A substrate is essentially a platform for applying patterns of conductors and resistors through a silk-screening process, similar in principle to decorating T-shirts,” Fenerty explains. “The inert nature of alumina ceramics allowed these patterns to be fired on to make a permanent and rugged electronic component.” The pottery that began with less than a handful of workers making ovenware now employed five hundred people engaged in highly sophisticated endeavors for private industry and government. “Clay This early style “ram” press utilized clay in the mold on the bottom half of the machine to form the outside of the shape. The upper “ram” was then brought down to squeeze the clay, and form the inside of the part. Excess clay was then removed from the edge of the shape.
46
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
dishes have been taken off the shelves . . . to make room for alumina ceramics,” the Rocky Mountain News reported. “Where assembly lines once turned out colorful porcelain teapots, rocket nose cones to carry complicated electronic equipment are now produced.”
The United States was engaged in a cold war with the Soviet Union, each seeking a technological edge. Alumina ceramic, unlike steel, permitted radar to pass through it, making it the preferred material for nose cones of radar-controlled defense rockets. Unlike glass, it also withstood temperatures up to three thousand degrees Fahrenheit. As Joe Coors told the newspaper, “Alumina ceramics . . . is going to play a bigger and bigger role in the air age.” Coors Porcelain also made ceramic tubes for radio sets aboard fighter planes and bombers, and flat ceramic armor plates worn by soldiers. Its most highly classified work was the production of uranium-enriched fuel elements for a nuclear-powered ramjet aircraft engine armed with nuclear warheads. To elude detection, the fuel elements were created in a nearby plant. “We had what the government calls ‘Q Clearance,’ meaning it was top secret,” says Chuck Alexander, who joined Coors Porcelain in 1957 and worked on the project. “The government later cancelled the program, concerned the jet might unexpectedly crash and cause severe devastation.”
Coors revolutionary alumina grinding balls were touted for vastly reducing milling time. The properties of alumina surpassed those of traditional steel grinding balls.
Still, the U.S. military establishment was indebted to the company for its many innovations during the Cold War. “Dressed
Employee screen printing a metal paste onto ceramic components. Art, Business, and Growth
47
in gabardine work clothes, [Joe] Coors looked like anything but the
sometimes pitted father against daughter, brother against brother,
top executive of a firm playing a vital role in America’s defense
and mother against son, given the number of multigenerational
programs,” the Rocky Mountain News reported.
families working at the company.
The work undertaken by Coors Porcelain during the Cold War
Bill Steinkuhler, a chemical engineer who joined the company’s
was so essential to national defense that anxieties often surfaced
process control department in 1962, recalls infamous Teamsters
about the presence of Soviet spies at the plant—not that any were
organizer Jimmy Hoffa coming to the plant shortly after Steinkuh-
ever identified. Apprised of employees’ concerns about a particu-
ler hired on. “Hoffa stood on this chain link fence with a bullhorn,
lar worker’s national allegiances, Bill Coors responded, “No way
and the sheriff stood right next to him,” Steinkuhler says. “The
we’re firing him; we need all able bodies to maintain production.”
sheriff told him that if he stepped off the fence towards the plant he’d arrest him. Rumors circulated that the goons he’d brought with him were packing heat.” Hoffa wasn’t arrested, though his presence left an imprint. Within a few years, the workforce voted to decertify the unions. It was a testament to the close relations that employees enjoyed with the Coors family. The company gave them lasting jobs and considered their health and safety a top priority. A profit-sharing plan unveiled in 1960 provided three straight salary increases, without collective bargaining. Employees also felt pride in their work, knowing their efforts pushed technological barriers and made America safer.
As Coors Porcelain sales increased nationwide, the front office at 600 Ninth Street expanded to keep pace.
Working for Coors Porcelain was friendly and enjoyable. Many employees nostalgically recall a company salvage
Segments of the workforce unionized in the 1940s and 1950s,
yard where they could buy ceramic seconds at a discount. Slightly
and labor leaders undertook efforts to unionize the remainder.
cracked insulators made great planters and lamps, several
Strikes were as common at Coors Porcelain as they were at most
remarked. Even better was the employee discount on Coors beer.
other manufacturers. The difference was that the labor disturbances
The company further sponsored a range of activities promoting
48
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
Scrap yard for ceramic seconds.
Another Coors generation was in the wings in the 1960s, dreaming of the day when they, too, could pitch in at the family business. Joe’s eldest son, Joseph Coors Jr., remembers visiting his father as a boy on weekends at the pottery. “He’d let me play with the clay and put it in the kiln,” Joe Jr. says. “I couldn’t wait to see how it hardened and shrank.” Thanks to its many new undertakings in the 1950s and early 1960s, Coors Porcelain gained invaluable technical expertise steering the development of additional products and processes through the remainder of the decade and beyond. To discover fresh applications for alumina ceramic, the R&D department experimented with different purity levels, as much as 99 percent alumina, fired at different temperatures. “Painstaking care, technical skill, ingenuity and resourcefulness are the principal attributes to which Coors keeps up with increasing demands for precision-made products,” Ceramic Industry stated.
collegiality. To this day, employees assemble for company picnics and awards banquets celebrating years served, and gather with retirees to talk about old times. Although occupied with the brewery, Adolph Jr. frequently stopped by the plant to say hello. So did his eldest son Adolph III. “Ad,” as he was affectionately called, had worked at the brewery alongside his father since the end of World War II. When he was shockingly kidnapped and murdered in 1960, the tragedy affected everyone at Coors Porcelain. “We were all devastated,” Chuck Alexander says. “Adolph Jr. was more or less retired at the time, and I guess to put his mind on matters other than his son’s death, he got more involved in
Ceramic substrate with metalized screen printing pattern.
the operations at the ceramics plant. We were a close bunch.”
Art, Business, and Growth
49
Over time, the factory machinery became increasingly complex, including this early style grinding mill.
Precision-made components for manufacturers required increasingly sophisticated quality control oversight.
Business continued on an upswing, requiring more than eleven hundred employees in 1962, a workforce equal to the brewery’s. From no engineers other than Joe and Harold Ryland in 1946, sixty-five engineers in metallurgy, chemistry, mineralogy, physics, and ceramics now hung their hats at Coors Porcelain. Continued expansion was forecast, as the scope and usage of ceramic products broadened. New applications included components for atomic reactors and ceramic pieces that went inside the navigational controls in the early Apollo space missions, as well as in the Nike-Zeus antimissile under development by the U.S. Army. Not all products were space age, however. The plant still made porcelain beer mugs for the brewery, and in 1962 manufactured the Anholt “safety” ashtray—“available in 14 colors.” Also sold to the Among the last to see a product before it was shipped were the workers in the packing department, on the second floor of the plant.
brewery and similarly branded with the names of different Coors beer products, the ashtrays were distributed to taverns and hotels for advertising purposes. The U.S. Patent Office awarded a patent for the
Art, Business, and Growth
51
however. Manufacturing the tiles had an aesthetically unpleasant side effect—they turned the buildings at the ceramic plant pink. Apparently, when the ceramic material was spray dried, some of the powder traveled through the air and settled on buildings and cars outside the plant. When it rained, the red iron oxide effectively dyed the buildings. Most of the ceramic pieces the company manufactured found their way into a varied product line. Coors Porcelain “manufactures a bewildering variety” of components that “touch many facets of everyday living, in unobtrusive ways,” the Denver Post reported. “Chances are Palettes of Coors Porcelain products await shipment.
that the pigment in the paint in and on your home and car was ground with iron-hard
ashtray’s novel design, featuring undulating indentations inside the
ceramic balls made by Coors, that the
saucer to safely clutch a cigarette in place.
lifetime metering valves
Coors Porcelain also manufactured and sold red ceramic tiles to
in the single-handle
the brewery. Made of moisture-resistant high-purity red iron oxide,
faucet
the tiles inhibited the growth of bacteria. Six by six inches wide and
kitchen are two
three-quarters of an inch thick, the tiles were affixed to
precision discs of
the floor of the brewery, which was in the process of eliminating the pasteurization of beer—an industry breakthrough—to enhance purity and taste. The brewery bought tens of thousands of the tiles, nearly exhausting the high-purity iron
Coors ceramic, that the water pump in your automobile contains everlasting ceramic seals by Coors, and that the laboratory porcelain ware used by your kids in their chemistry course is stamped
time jibed half in jest. The
‘Coors USA.’”
A boxed four-pack of ceramic ashtrays is ready for the marketplace.
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
your
oxide market, workers at the bullish business came with a price,
52
in
These Coors Porcelain ashtrays featured a patented design that prevented an unattended cigarette from tipping out of the ashtray.
Other novel product lines included ceramic tubes for the transmission of television signals, ceramic substrates for LED (lightemitting diode) screens on calculators, and several ceramic parts within high-pressure vessels conducting ocean-bottom research.
Coors Porcelain workers are taking “pugs,” made from filter cakes, and readying them to age for several weeks. A porcelain lump of predetermined size was squeezed out depending upon the size of the part being manufactured.
Alumina ceramic substrates were a breakthrough of historic proportions, becoming the ideal material for making electronic circuit boards.
more wear-resistant material. The breakthrough revolutionized the industry, widening the range of ceramic applications. A few years earlier, the company had developed AD-999, which contains virtually no glass. Even stronger than AD-995, the high cost of production made it too expensive for many industrial applications, and it achieved only modest market success. A more lasting market—mainframe computers—blossomed following a major contract with IBM in 1965 to manufacture half-inchsquare tile ceramic substrates. These components were formed via the dry press process and subsequently punched with twelve holes for circuit leads, for use in the IBM System/360 mainframe computer, sold between 1964 and 1978. “IBM came to us and
Then there was the company’s alumina ceramic armor for soldiers
said, ‘We’d like for you to make these substrates and here is the price
and helicopters in the Vietnam War, which “saved the lives of
we will pay,’” Bill Steinkuhler recalls. “We said there was no way we
many,” the Denver Post stated.
could make them to the precision they wanted, with all these little
The constant experimentation with higher-purity alumina ceramic finally paid off in 1964, with the historic development of
holes, at that price. Then they told us how many they wanted to buy. We soon changed our minds.”
AD-995, the strongest and hardest ceramic to that point. AD-995—
IBM contracted Coors Porcelain to manufacture 25 million
the number refers to the 99.5 percent alumina concentration—was
ceramic substrates the first year. It was just the beginning. Demand
harder and more corrosion and wear resistant than steel and nearly
soon skyrocketed, and at its peak the company produced 15 million
as hard as diamond. Finer grades of higher-purity alumina acquired
substrates per week. IBM soon relied on the company for the bulk
from aluminum companies like Alcoa and Reynolds enabled the
of its substrates. As the computer industry progressed, substrate
ceramic to densify with less of a glass phase, permitting a harder,
dimensions, specifications, tolerances, and the number of holes
54
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
evolved, which required constant manufacturing enhancements at
maker of industrial ceramics. Joe hired the scientists and engineers
the Ninth Street plant to keep up with the innovations and the
whose knowledge and skill moved the company forward techno-
volume. New tooling, much of it developed internally, was required
logically. He modernized and standardized production methods.
in some cases. “We revised these two-ton Dorst presses banging
He traveled the world opening new markets across the globe. And
out the substrates to operate at one hundred strokes a minute,”
he managed the company with ears and eyes open. “You could
Steinkuhler says. “A
always contribute your
representative of Dorst
ideas to Joe,” says Chuck
came here and said,
Alexander. “No problem
‘You can’t do that. It’s
there at all.”
too fast for such a
Years before, Joe saw
small press.’ Well, we
as his mission making
were doing it.”
Coors
Porcelain
the
To manufacture
technological leader in
15 million substrates a
industrial ceramics. In
week also required a
this he succeeded, and
new lubrication system
then some. Though not a
to keep machinery op-
ceramics engineer him-
erating hours on end.
self—his degree like his
Ceramic powder can
father’s was in chemical
stick to tooling, requir-
engineering—he
ing the shutdown of
named an honorary
equipment for clean-
member of the American
ing.
company
Ceramic Society, a pres-
developed a lubricant
tigious accomplishment.
The
combining
Adolph Jr. had done
kerosene
and oleic acid with two binders—polyvinyl
was
Brothers Bill and Joe Coors (second and third from left) collaborated closely on building the family’s two primary businesses, beer and ceramics.
well to entrust the company to Joe’s care. It is
alcohol and polyethylene glycol. It smelled terrible because of the
a fitting testament that Coors Porcelain was at the top of its game in
oleic acid, which is emitted by the decaying corpses of insects like
1970, the year Adolph Jr. passed away. Fifty-five years earlier, his
bees and some ants. Nevertheless, the lubricant—combined with the
hands “white with clay dust,” he had persevered to perfect a quality
binder systems—kept machines humming. Says Steinkuhler, “It
line of chemical ware, thus saving the pottery. His sons inherited his
worked so well we called it ‘Maiden’s milk.’”
intelligence, work ethic, and tenacity. A new decade now dawned,
Under Joe Coors, the family pottery became the world’s largest
and with it a new era in industrial ceramics.
Art, Business, and Growth
55
AN ERA DAWNS This early view of Golden shows 600 Ninth Street, the Coors Brewery, its support buildings, and the early version of Clear Creek Valley (behind the brewery).
4 chapter
elapse before industry switched to ceramic, an expensive material in a period of prolonged economic recession. For now the fever incubated, while Coors Porcelain endeavored to enhance the cost effectiveness of its production processes to transform industry The Clear Creek Valley plant catches some sun rays. It was the first facility expansion outside of the Ninth Street campus.
interest into profitable demand. As the decade dawned, the company was well positioned to capture this demand once it surfaced. A 175,000-square-foot plant in Clear Creek Valley opened in 1970 to house metalizing and research as well as
T
e unique properties of ceramic aroused tremendous interest in its use as an alternative to traditional materials. he industrial world awakened to the
grinding media and substrate production. The plant
potential of ceramic components in the
was a short distance from the Coors Brewery and less
1970s, encapsulated by business maga-
than two miles from the original facility at 600 Ninth
zines in a phrase: “Ceramic Fever!” It was a combina-
Street. Of the 2,285 people then employed by Coors
tion of unique properties that made the ceramic
Porcelain, 385 worked at the new plant.
extremely hard and durable. Combined with its insulat-
Fifteen years earlier, 3 employees worked in the
ing qualities and its resistance to high temperatures, wear,
metalizing division. Now 150 people served customers
and corrosion, the product aroused tremendous interest
like Motorola, Western Electric, Bell Telephone, Texas
in its use as an alternative to traditional materials.
Instruments, and General Electric, brazing metal to
Where metals corroded or glass melted, ceramic
ceramic to produce electronic circuit packages, hous-
promised a solution. Nevertheless, time needed to
ings for high-frequency microwave tubes, insulators
An Era Dawns
57
Viewed through a pipe section lined with wear-resistant bricks, this worker makes finishing touches on an installation, the most complex part of pipe lining.
for high-voltage lines,
in data processing, Jeff worked on ceramic substrates for micro-
and other components
electronics applications, and Grover installed some of the first com-
for the electrical and
puter numerically controlled machines at the Ninth Street plant.
electronics industries.
Each would supply his varied talents to other facets of the organiza-
The research division at
tion in the years ahead. Joe’s other sons included Pete, who worked
the new plant totaled 75
at the brewery, and John, away in college.
employees, many in the
The company’s first acquisition was Wilbanks International in
Spectro-Chemical Labo-
Hillsboro, Oregon, in 1973. Wilbanks was the largest manufacturer
ratory, which provided
in the country of wear- and corrosion-resistant ceramic cyclone
commercial testing serv-
cones, Cera-Slide branded foil blades, and other components that
ices for more than four
paper and pulp mills worldwide used to make paper products.
hundred
Ceramic was a preferred material since the dewatering slurries
customers
across the country.
(water and wood pulp under pressure) used to make paper were
The company also directed capital toward a series of strategic
too abrasive and corrosive for most metals. Coors Porcelain already
acquisitions to engage new markets and acquire additional cus-
served the industry, manufacturing ceramic cyclone and vortex
tomers in industries already served. Shepherding Coors Porcelain
liners that also replaced metal components. Wilbanks bolstered
through these deals was a new president, Derald Whiting, who succeeded Joe Coors in 1972. Whiting had joined the company in 1954 as its chief accountant, rising through the ranks to become executive vice president in 1968. Joe joined his brother Bill at the brewery, which was rapidly expandDerald Whiting succeeded Joe Coors as president of the company in 1972.
ing. In succeeding years, Coors would evolve from a regional
beer producer into a major international brand. One year after Joe departed Coors Porcelain, the eldest of his five sons, Joseph Coors Jr., joined it. Around the same time, two other sons, Jeff and Grover, also hired on. Joe Jr. provided his skill 58
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
Members of the Coors family gather in a home library. From left seated: Jeff, Joe Sr., and Bill. Standing: Joe Jr. and Pete.
Ceramic and metal plunger and pump parts used in the petroleum industry and a primary product of the second non-Golden acquisition of Research Instruments in Norman, Oklahoma.
share of this market as well, and in 1978, the subsidiary’s name was changed to RI Ceramics. Like Wilbanks, RI Ceramics manufactured alumina ceramic components, which replaced traditional metals that eroded. In secondary oil recovery processes, water is injected or pumped into an oil well to force remaining crude to the surface. The materials involved in the process, such as salt crystals and dissolved sulfides, added to high temperatures and friction, corroded steel. Alumina ceramic plungers withstood these strains, lasting three to five times longer. “The acquisitions gave us great inroads into product lines that would have cost us ten times as much to develop from scratch,” Joe Coors Jr. says. RI Ceramics and Wilbanks enjoyed superior customer relations, a consequence of manufacturing products to address a buyer’s
A ceramic jar mill advertisement for a new type of industrial grinding media that was faster and longer lasting.
the company’s market share and validated the advisability of acquisitions as a growth strategy. “It was a breakthrough for the Coors family to accept that everything didn’t have to happen in Golden,” says Dean Rulis, who joined Coors Porcelain in 1971 and retired as vice president of acquisitions and technology. “They were skeptical at first, but Derald persuaded them that it would be one heck of a good deal. He was right, and it paved the way for other acquisitions.” Two years later, the company acquired Norman, Oklahoma– based Research Instruments Company, a leading manufacturer of ceramic pump plungers used by the petroleum industry in secondary oil recovery processes. This addition enlarged Coors Porcelain’s 60
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
In the 1970s and 1980s, Coors Porcelain manufactured an ever-expanding array of minute and extremely tight tolerance alumina ceramic components, some smaller than the eye of a needle.
immediate needs. “We made ceramic pumps in Golden, but our
and as Whiting explained at the time, “We have run out of
delivery times were months, whereas with RI Ceramics it was closer
production space in the Golden plants.”
to a week,” Mike Fenerty notes. “The previous owner, Frank
The facility initially specialized in making multihole substrates
McGuiness, really took care of his customers. Whereas our culture
for IBM, as well as microsized ceramic parts like switch insulators
at the time was to never start a part until the order came in, Frank
and small cylinders. The plant later developed expertise in the use
decided up front what his customers needed and had the parts
of laser beams to burn holes in substrates to the various configura-
finished or semifinished on the shelf. When a customer needed a
tions that electronics companies requested. The Grand Junction
part fast, he always got the business.” The acquired organizations also provided Coors
e semiconductor market offered great potential for the sale of ceramic components.
Porcelain with new skill sets, state-of-the-art machinery, and intellectual talent. “What we
facility dispatched parts requiring special grinding or metalizing to
learned from one organization we’d pass on to the rest of the com-
the Clear Creek Valley plant for the final touches.
pany,” says Fenerty. In 1975 the sizzling growth in brewery sales compelled the Coors family to make Adolph Coors Company a publicly
As more industry sectors were served, the company changed internally from a centralized manufacturing structure to a decentralized, team-based approach. For example, one team focused on the wire industry, which
traded company. That June, in one of the
produced ceramic pulleys and wire
most successful initial public offerings
guides; another served the automo-
of stock then on record, Coors joined
tive industry, just beginning to utilize
the NASDAQ stock exchange. As part of a public company,
ceramic substrates within the electronic systems of cars; and a third han-
Coors Porcelain had access to
dled the booming semiconductor capital
shareholder capital for further
equipment industry. Semiconductors are
expansion. In the fall of 1977, a
primarily silicon-based materials that
new 150,000-square-foot plant
conduct electricity under certain condi-
was built in Grand Junction,
tions. Virtually every electronic device that
Colorado. Business was bullish,
is computerized or uses radio waves depends on semiconductors for its operation.
Coors Ceramics always pushed the notion that it was a company of innovation and ideas, and didn’t hesitate to tout it in this product catalog.
The semiconductor market offered great potential for the sale of ceramic components. Coors Porcelain initially made multilayer
An Era Dawns
61
I just stepped aside.” Needless to say, manufacturing reigned triumphant in football. The collegial atmosphere and collaborative spirit extended to the work that employees performed. Each time a manufacturing challenge surfaced, they drew together to solve it, often in remarkable ways. “We’d been making these Electrostatic precipitators effectively remove particulates including smoke from electricitygenerating utilities (coal and oil fired), salt cake collection from boilers in pulp mills, and catalyst collection from fluidized bed catalytic cracker units in oil refineries.
ceramic components out of AD-995 for the paper industry at the Ninth Street plant and, as sometimes happened, they were different shades of white, with some pieces having a yellowish tinge,” says Bill Clark, who joined the company in 1972 as a utility worker. “Some customers wanted them to be the same white color for cosmetic purposes. Bill Herbert, an engineer here, accidently figured out that if you put the
ceramic pin grid array packages used in motor controls and
pieces in the sunshine it would absorb the UV light and turn to the
communications equipment. A matrix of pins, often plated with
same shade of white.”
gold, was brazed onto the bottom or top of the package base. It later
A new step in the manufacturing process, albeit a rather primi-
expanded into the manufacture of single-layer alumina metalized
tive one, was born. “We’d press, form, and grind thousands of
(SLAM) carriers—a step up technologically from traditional packages,
components and set them out in the parking lot on cardboard trays
offering faster speed, less metallization, greater temperature reliabil-
to absorb the sun,” Clark says. “We even experimented with a tanning
ity, and reduced circuit board space.
booth to see if that worked, but the natural sun was better.”
During the 1970s employees gathered to enjoy various company-
Before the 1970s concluded, the company’s bulging product list
sponsored activities, as they had in past. Many retirees and a few
comprised such diverse items as ceramic base plates for microwave
current employees recall organized football, softball, golf, and
ovens, residential water faucet valves advertised to “last a lifetime,”
basketball outings pitting members of the sales, accounting, and
and seal rings for automotive water-cooling systems. “Previously,
manufacturing staffs against each other. “There was a guy in man-
water pumps in cars would last around twenty-five thousand miles
ufacturing who weighed about 250 pounds of pure muscle stand-
and then have to be replaced, which was an expensive proposition,”
ing across the line from me in a football game,” says Bill Czaplinski,
says Ray Paracio, an engineer who joined Coors Porcelain’s grind-
who joined the company’s multi-layer engineering department in
ing media marketing staff in 1962. “A ceramic seal lasted four times
1970. “His job required lifting heavy ceramic insulators all day long,
as long, giving manufacturers the confidence to guarantee the
and he literally towered over me. The first time I had to block him
pumps for up to one hundred thousand miles.”
62
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
The company’s technological prowess guided the development of such diverse alumina ceramic components as substrates for use in mainframe computers and other applications. In the process, the company advanced several forming methods including dry pressing, tape casting, roll compaction, and metallization capabilities.
Other products provided enormous value to mankind, such
The substrates were formed using tape casting, a higher-cost process
as electrostatic precipitator insulators, used in pollution control
for making large-area, thin, and flat ceramic components, which
equipment. The alumina insulators reduced smokestack emissions
are difficult to press or extrude. In addition to these many refined
at power plants, mills, and refineries, withstanding extremely high temperatures to efficiently trap and remove contaminating dust and fly ash. Grover Coors, PhD, the fourth son of Joe Coors, is an engineer and research fellow who assisted in the development of the insulators. He noted that “a smokestack belching black smoke used to be a sign of progress. We helped put an end to that status symbol,” said Coors. Pivotal relationships were cultivated in the 1970s with major companies like IBM, Honeywell, Texas Instruments, and AT&T. For the latter, Coors Porcelain made thin-film ceramic substrates (called a “Herman board”) used in telephone switching gear. Thin-film substrates addressed new advances in electronic circuitry, particularly the trend toward miniaturization. Unlike substrates utilizing a silk-screen process, the circuitry was applied by a vapor, not a paste. Pictured are a variety of metalized electronic circuit packages.
Coors Porcelain is at the forefront of ceramic tube manufacture for diverse applications, from early television sets to solar panel systems today.
applications, the company continued to produce the legacy chemical ware and newer grinding media lines. Another acquisition was in the offing in 1979—Alumina Ceramics Inc. (ACI). The company manufactured ceramic for extremely tight-tolerance hard-faced seals in a 150,000-square-foot plant in Benton, Arkansas. Its markets ran the gamut, including fluid handling, food and beverage, semiconductor, and petrochemical markets, among others. For several months the company scrutinized ACI as a potential acquisition. “They were making seal rings and grinding balls, which we made, but they were making them more efficiently,” Fenerty says. “They also were making seal rings out of silicon carbide rather than alumina, and we had very little expertise with that material at 64
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
the time. Eventually, silicon carbide became the preferred material for seal rings, and we were right there to take advantage.”
Joe Coors’ global crisscrossing in the 1960s and 1970s had helped Coors Porcelain enter multiple foreign markets on a sales and marketing basis. A paradigm shift toward an interdependent global economy, rather than self-sufficient national economies, was now under way. Industrial concerns seeking lower-cost labor erected manufacturing plants in Asia and South America. Foreign companies at the same time were planting flags in the United States to manufacture and distribute their products locally. When Kyocera, a Japanese competitor of Coors Porcelain, established operations in San Diego in 1978, it represented a flagrant threat to the company’s domestic market share. Kyocera also recruited and hired several skilled engineers from Coors Porcelain. “It was the beginning of an assault that forced change here,” Bill Czaplinski says. “We realized the best defense often is the best offense.” Although it had a foreign sales presence for many decades, Coors Porcelain was now determined to manufacture overseas. In 1979 the company opened a 35,000-square-foot plant in Singapore called CIPCO to make ceramic integrated circuit packages, known as CER-DIP, for the semiconductor market. The half-inch by half-inch packages housed, protected, and insulated the integrated circuits deployed as the brains inside cars, computers, telecommunications systems, and other machinery. Customers included Intel and National Semiconductor, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that had previously set up production facilities in Singapore to take advantage of lower labor and duty costs. “We’d send the ceramic pieces to CIPCO, and they would affix the gold and glass pieces to them to make
The company today makes a variety of ceramic medical components used in sophisticated blood analysis equipment and other applications, as well as valves for water faucets, all shown here.
the packages, which the OEMs then plugged into the
An Era Dawns
65
At left is the Grand Junction, Colorado, facility, and below is the company’s plant in Glenrothes, Scotland. The 1980s were a time of rapid growth for Coors Porcelain.
substrate production to Grand Junction, so it made sense to relocate CER-DIP there,” says John Trotter, who joined Coors Porcelain in 1969 and later managed the Grand Junction plant. “We had grand plans for CERDIP, but not everything pans out as hoped.” Ultimately the business was sold to National Semiconductor. Still the company was convinced it could achieve significant revenue opportunities and cost savings beyond domestic borders. It was resolutely set on becoming a truly global enterprise. And Coors Porcelain remained eager to serve the growing electronic and semiconductor capital equipment manufacturers that were fast moving to offshore production. Ceramic seal rings are used in a variety of applications, and the company built a robust market for the components in automotive cooling systems.
The 1970s ended with the establishment of a division in El Cajon, California, called CERAM, to manufacture ceramic magnetic tape guides
circuitry board,” recalls Dean Rulis, project manager for CIPCO at
and other electronic ceramic components. Much of the output was
the time. “We crammed a lot of stuff in those packages, in what was
destined for Storage Technology Corporation, a provider of
a very large-scale integration effort for us.”
computer data storage systems. The plant later made ceramic
CIPCO did not live up to the company’s financial expectations.
diamond grinding wheels and ceramic piston and sleeves for Fluid
The CER-DIP packages were essentially a commodity, and compe-
Metering Inc., a pump manufacturer. The latter component proved
tition was keen. Coors Porcelain endured difficulty gaining mar-
difficult to manufacture, recalls Bob Wells, a product engineer who
ket share from more established players, even with the lower costs
joined Coors Porcelain in 1974. “Fluid Metering had an applica-
provided by foreign manufacture. Three years later the Singapore
tion for an extremely precise metering valve to measure fluids for
facility was closed, and the CER-DIP operation moved to the Grand
machines like kidney dialysis,” he explains. “We were tasked to
Junction plant. “We had moved all dry pressing other than the IBM
make a ceramic piston and sleeve with a diametrical clearance of
An Era Dawns
67
A small plant in Wales predicated on the same premise also was acquired, and the company undertook a joint venture with a German manufacturer in South Africa. As the new plants sprouted, Coors Porcelain vertically integrated its manufacturing. Plants in Golden and Grand Junction, for instance, shipped ceramic materials to Scotland for finishing. The international ventures achieved varying success; some were later sold or evolved into larger enterprises. Still, by 1984 the company could report that its products were sold in sixty-two countries. Back home in 1981 the company established Coors Biomedical Company in Lakewood, Colorado. The subsidiary manufactured Alumina and zirconia (zirconium oxide) valves and other products were part of the company’s repertoire by the 1980s as Coors Porcelain continued to forge new territory with different materials.
the first all-ceramic dental crowns, under the CERESTORE brand. Traditional porcelain crowns were bonded to metal bands that were often visible, whereas CERESTORE crowns were made of white alumina ceramic with an alumina-reinforced porcelain veneer. Johnson and Johnson distributed the product under exclusive agree-
75 millionths of an inch, which took time and a lot of effort. Once
ment. “Crowns made of gold and other alloys may be a vanishing
we figured out how, they ordered millions of them.”
species if a metal-free, all-ceramic crown developed by Coors
Coors Porcelain branched out farther across the world in the
Biomedical Company catches on,” the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
1980s. A new international subsidiary, Coban Industriale Limitada,
Capital also was directed toward a new fifty-thousand-square-
was established in Rio Claro, Brazil, to manufacture ceramic
foot plant built for Wilbanks, and dedicated in 1981 by Joe Coors Jr.,
dewatering devices for the country’s large paper and pulp industry.
the subsidiary’s president. The plant soon rolled out a new line—
A small plant also was built in Glenrothes, Scotland, to make ce-
ceramic fan blades under the CERA-FAN brand. “The previous fa-
ramic water faucet valves, wire products, and other ceramic prod-
cility was an old lumberyard with rats running around—just awful
ucts for the European market. To train workers in ceramic grinding
working conditions, and I had been there for eight years,” Joe recalls.
techniques, quality control, and equipment use, several employees
“The new plant was a foundation supporting the business to grow.”
from Golden traveled four thousand miles to Glenrothes. Waiting
By now, Coors Porcelain was in the vanguard of major strides
for the equipment to arrive, they played soccer with their Scottish
in the development of new ceramic materials. As in the past with
counterparts in the empty plant. “The facility ground and finished
AD-995 and AD-999, researchers tested the properties of ceramics
seal rings, tubes, cylinders, and substrates to European customer
made from different concentrations of alumina, and other materi-
specifications,” says Ed Mahardy, designer of the twenty-thou-
als like silicon carbide and zirconium oxide or zirconia. Constant
sandsquare-foot Glenrothes plant. Mahardy joined Coors Porce-
experimentation with the composition, density, grain size, and
lain at the Clear Creek Valley facility in 1974 as a plant engineer.
formulations of these materials fostered a broad range of ceramic
68
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
materials of different hardness, strength, wear resistance, and
But industry had a way to go to embrace these possibilities, due
temperature resistance, among other properties, all with potential
to the longtime use of more traditional materials that were less
industrial applications. Zirconia ceramic, for instance, offered
expensive than ceramic alternatives. “Customers were beginning to
superior strength and toughness, whereas silicon carbide’s great
become more sophisticated about ceramics. but it was still up to us to
hardness presented superior wear resistance and weight reduction
explain what they needed,” says Brian Seegmiller, who started his career
features. During the decade, much work would be conducted on
at Coors Porcelain in 1977 as a ceramic engineer in the R&D Depart-
Transformation-Toughened Zirconia or TTZ, a magnesia partially
ment. “They were learning that ceramic was more than bricks or spark
stabilized zirconia ceramic.
plugs and how using ceramics would lower their product life costs.”
By the end of the 1990s most mills, lathes, and other machines used to make ceramic components were computerized and no longer manually operated. The image at left is of an early CNC—computer numerically controlled machine.
An Era Dawns
69
Ceramic fever was spreading, but another decade would pass
presented to employees, and the South Africa venture was discon-
before it became contagious. The industry needed to improve
tinued. Quality assurance and zero-defects programs also were
external communications with potential customers and its internal
implemented to enhance productivity. In succeeding years,
productivity to lower costs. More trial and error with newer mate-
Coors Porcelain, like many U.S. manufacturers, learned from their
rials like boron carbide, silicon carbide, and zirconia was required,
Japanese counterparts and implemented Total Quality Management,
Ceramic fever was spreading, but another decade would pass before it became contagious. as were new forming processes and more refined tooling and machinery. Each would come in due time. Although the first years of the 1980s marked a period of economic decline in the United States, sales at Coors Porcelain held steady. To conserve resources, an early retirement plan was
No Smoking,
Please
Coors Porcelain built the McIntyre plant—nicknamed Big Mac—in 1989 to handle a large Philip Morris account. When the product was discontinued, the plant was converted to other uses.
70
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
I
Continuous
Quality Improvement, and other business management philosophies. The company
now routinely met or exceeded customer-specific production
targets. Not even Colorado blizzards stopped the flow of goods: a company van picked up workers stranded at home. More processes were automated, a movement that picked up
steam in the 1990s. Manual operations emphatically shifted to
In the late 1980s tobacco giant Philip Morris contacted Coors Ceramics with a novel idea—the manufacture of small ceramic cylinders to function as the filter in smokeless cigarettes. The tubes would contain a heat source and a nicotine flavor pack that would burn and glow but not give off any smoke. “This way the recipients get a nicotine buzz, but the people around them don’t have to endure secondhand smoke,” explains Len Rontantini, who joined the company in 1977 and later worked on the project. As always, Coors Ceramics’ engineers took to the assignment with their customary skill and vigor. “R. J. Reynolds, a key competitor, was ahead in the development of the smokeless cigarette, and Philip Morris wanted to catch up,” recalls Siegfried Mundhenke, who joined the company in 1984 as a cost and product engineer. “We had six months to do our part.” After numerous experiments in developing a porous ceramic material permitting the nicotine to flow smoothly to the user, an application was made to the U.S. Patent Office for
computer numerically controlled (CNC) mills, lathes, and other
to-produce components, such as tiny alumina ceramic tubes for
machines. From just two CNC machines in the Golden plant in
use in telephone surge arresters, could now be manufactured more
the 1980s, the company soon invested in a broad range of CNC
easily and faster. The tubes prevented electrical disturbances causing
equipment at all its manufacturing facilities. Some machines
disconnections, not to mention the risk of electrocution in case light-
performed multiple tasks like grinding and hole drilling. “CNC
ning struck the phone line. They were made via dry pressing,
dramatically transformed the way we made ceramics,” Grover
an economical forming process in which the spray-dried ceramic
Coors says. “Previously, we might use ten different machine setups
powder is uniaxially compacted on a die in the pre-sintering phase.
to drill complex holes and slots, which added time and increased
Customers included AT&T’s manufacturing arm Western Electric.
the risk of defect. Now you could configure one machine with tool
Other novel components included alumina ceramic seals
changers to machine it all, even the OD [outside diameter] and ID
for batteries in heart pacemakers; ceramic parts for NASA’s Space
[inside diameter], which vastly improved productivity and led to
Shuttle; alumina ceramic bearings for oil and gas pumps, replacing
higher-quality products.”
customary steel bearings; and ceramic gyroscope housings for
These various enhancements abetted a greater output of diverse
Boeing Corporation.
ceramic components, while lowering manufacturing expenses to
The decade truly ushered in the development of ceramic
provide more cost-effective ceramic solutions. Previously difficult-
components made from the new, specialty materials. The industry
the invention. Company engineer Mike Readey, PhD, subsequently was awarded U.S. Patent #4,973,566, for “Cordierite Material Useful in a Heat Source Retainer and Process for Making the Same.” Philip Morris found what it had sought, and ordered millions of the ceramic cylinders, a contract worth $1.25 million to Coors Ceramics. To furnish this demand, the company built a new plant in 1989—the McIntyre facility, nicknamed “Big Mac” by employees. “We designed the building to be long and narrow, imagining a long, continuous production line from one end to the other,” Rontantini notes. When Philip Morris executives came to visit the new plant, they were shepherded to a special conference room where they could light up—smoking being a longtime prohibition at all company facilities. “It’s the only exception we’ve ever made for smoking,” Rontantini acknowledges, “but they were paying us a lot of money.”
Mundhenke was not surprised the executives ignored the rules. “Mike Readey and I once visited a Philip Morris facility where there was a big sign that read, ‘No Smoking—Don’t Even Think About It!’” he says. “Meanwhile, ten guys were smoking away.” Small quantities of the tubes initially were manufactured, and taste panels were convened to evaluate the product. All pointed to success—at least enough for Philip Morris to undertake early marketing efforts. And then “the whole thing ground to a halt,” Rontantini says. R. J. Reynolds was the first to come to market with the smokeless cigarette, which required approval by the Food and Drug Administration. “The FDA ruled that ceramic cylinders were a drug deliverance device, and that was the end of that,” Rontantini explains. Big Mac was converted to other uses, including metalizing ceramic pieces for electronics applications. Looking back, Rontantini has no regrets. “Smokeless cigarettes are the new thing today,” he says. “We were ahead of the times.”
An Era Dawns
71
owes a debt to the research undertaken at the undergraduate and
was that they wore out. “Zirconia is stronger than alumina but
graduate ceramic engineering programs that had sprouted at sev-
softer,” Seegmiller explains. “It was back to the drawing board. We
eral colleges and universities. Great strides also were accomplished
had to come up with another new material.”
in ceramic pressing, firing, and finishing processes.
The company did just that, creating zirconia-toughened
Large industries like papermaking grasped the advantages that
alumina, which possessed the toughness of zirconia and the hard-
the new ceramic materials offered. Papermaking machines had be-
ness of alumina. Down the line, the company developed other new
come faster and smaller as the produced paper increased in
ceramic materials made from silicon carbide and silicon nitride,
dimension. Manufacturers like Beloit, Valmet, and Voith used anywhere from
each geared to specific A variety of ceramic grinding media like balls, tiles, and bricks in the early 1990s.
paper machines making a particular kind of paper,
forty to two hundred foil
such as alkaline- and acid-
blades in their machines.
based papers. “We just do
Then, trouble reared. The
not give up here,” Seeg-
customary alumina com-
miller says.
ponents within the new
The broadening prop-
machines broke within a
erties of the new ceramic
couple of weeks—a conse-
materials ignited other in-
quence
faster
dustries to consider their
speeds, higher stresses,
use in diverse applications.
and greater thermal shock.
Coors Porcelain soon un-
“I was in R&D at the time
veiled a zirconia ceramic
and got a phone call from
oxygen sensor tube meas-
Dean Rulis at Wilbanks
uring oxygen concentra-
that he needed a new ce-
tions in the emissions of
ramic that was tougher,
industrial
stronger, and had better
equipment, and zirconia
thermal shock resistance,
ceramic industrial knives
of
the
and he needed it immediately,” says Seegmiller. “Fortunately, we were working on zirconia ceramic at the time.”
fuel-burning
and slitting discs. Extant product lines also grew. The company maintained mar-
Within three days, the zirconia powder was dispatched to
ket leadership in the manufacture of thin-film ceramic substrates
Wilbanks to make the foil blades, which were subsequently sent to
for AT&T and thick-film ceramic substrates for electronic applica-
Beloit. Everyone crossed their fingers as the machine fired up. The
tions. Thick-film substrates were used to make hybrid microelec-
good news was that the components didn’t break. The bad news
tronic circuit boards for IBM mainframe computers, as well as the
72
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
An employee group shot taken in the late 1980s shows just a portion of those who worked for Coors Porcelain at the time.
An Era Dawns
73
electronics systems aboard automobiles, among other applications.
Wilbanks at the time. “We were successful, and it guided other
While earlier thick-film substrates were formed primarily through
applications. For example, the semiconductor capital equipment
dry pressing, plants now used roll-compaction to form the parts.
industry started using the ceramic probes in their photolithography
By now, the company leveraged virtually all methods of forming
processes. It became a very significant business.”
ceramic, including casting, molding, jiggering, wet pressing, dry
Wilbanks’ annual sales skyrocketed from $7 million in 1984 to
pressing, roll compaction, tape casting, isostatic pressing, extrusion,
almost $30 million in 1991. In future years, Wilbanks adapted its
and injection molding. The growing expertise in manufacturing
competencies to the development of heat-tolerant ceramic parts for
thick-film substrates steered the launch of a new Coors Porcelain
the flat-panel television and solar-panel markets. “We’re always
subsidiary called MicroLithics, headed up by Grover Coors. “IBM
transferring the knowledge we’ve gained in one market to other
had won a big contract with the U.S. Navy to develop the UYK-44
markets,” says Rulis.
computer for submarines, and we were one of IBM’s top suppliers,”
Each new project stretched the company’s capabilities. For the
Grover says. “After President Reagan ended the Cold War, defense
military, Coors Porcelain manufactured highly complicated nuclear
budgets were frozen and we eventually shut down the company.”
bomb failsafe components, nicknamed Rosebud, Diamond, and
Nevertheless the company continued to search for additional
Double Boss. Part of the bomb’s triggering device, the components
ways to tap its growing capabilities in manufacturing advanced ce-
played a crucial role—preventing it from unexpectedly going off.
ramics materials. The journey led to a variety of ceramic components
“The tolerances were extremely tight, some of the tightest we’ve ever
for applications inside coordinate measurement machines, devices
ground,” recalls Renée Schovajsa, who joined the company in 1989
that measure the physical, three-dimensional geometrical characteristics of an object, typically via a probe that is attached to a moving axis. e low thermal expansion coefficient, rigidity, and wear resistance of ceramic made it the ideal material for several components like probes, beams, and stanchions within the machines. Unlike steel and other alloys, the expansion of ceramic is relatively constant in response to temperature variations, obviously a critical requirement for a measuring device. Making the parts was a stiff challenge, however. Each component required precision finishing to extremely tight tolerances. “The beams were two inches by two inches and about eighteen inches long, and we’d hand lap them down to a couple millionths of an inch in tolerances,” says Rulis, president of 74
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
Joseph Coors Sr. (second from left) was a valued member of President Ronald Reagan’s informal, advisory Kitchen Cabinet. The men had forged a close friendship since first meeting in 1967.
The proud fabricators of the largest ceramic tube ever made by Coors Porcelain are photographed through its four-feet-diameter width.
and today is general manager for the Clear Creek Valley facility. “When you make a nuclear weapon failsafe device, it also has to be good for a thousand years and not degrade or deteriorate because of changes in temperature conditions. We learned a lot that became useful in other markets.” Joe Coors was a trusted advisor and member of President Reagan’s informal Kitchen Cabinet, and his close ties to the president assisted introductions to many government agencies and officials. Learning more about the physical properties of ceramic from Joe often fostered new projects, including one for a transparent ceramic called spinel for use in the nose cones of heat-seeking missiles. The new material boasted better transmission at the wavelengths required than glass, as well as being more erosion
shaped the material, and then figured out how to fire it so its own
resistant than glass. “It may look like window glass, but it is nearly
weight wouldn’t crush it. We sent it to Southwest Research
three times as hard and much stronger,” reported White Gold, the
Institute in Texas to do the grinding. The navy never told us what
company’s employee newsletter at the time.
it was destined for, but they’re the biggest one-piece, monolithic
Coors Porcelain also signed a contract with the navy to make
things we’ve ever made here.”
four giant alumina ceramic tubes weighing more than a ton each.
Ingenuity, resourcefulness, and tenacity describe the ways in
“They were about four feet in diameter and about five feet tall,”
which Coors Porcelain attacked customer requests for new ceramic
recalls Mike Chipman, a chemist who joined Coors Porcelain in
components. Kavlico, a maker of pressure sensors for the automotive
1977 and worked on the project. “We didn’t have the equipment at
market, sought next-generation ceramic components for its sensors,
the Ninth Street plant to press, fire, or grind it, it was so huge. So we
which technically monitor, measure, and report on different kinds
An Era Dawns
75
of liquid and gas pressures. Ceramic was the preferred material due
No sooner was one challenge met than another arose. The
to the harsh, hot, under-the-hood automobile environment. Kyocera,
company had served the power generation market for many years,
the company’s main competitor at the time, was Kavlico’s primary
manufacturing ceramic insulators to reduce smokestack emissions.
supplier and had just won its Supplier of the Year award. “We took
It now sought to develop ceramic components inside scrubbers,
this as a challenge,” says Mark Petty, who joined the company in 1983
pollution control devices that remove harmful gases and particulate
and is today executive vice president.
matter from the exhaust of coal-fired power plants. The ceramic
The Clear Creek Valley plant was given the task of precisely fin-
components, made of nitride-bonded silicon carbide, make up the
ishing the components. Initial attempts failed, however, because of
spray nozzles used to trap the pollutants. Since each scrubber
the extremely challenging strength-to-size ratios required. Engineers
contained as many as three thousand nozzles, the commercial
refused to throw in the towel. They rented new lapping equipment
opportunity was tantalizing. It also was a business the company had
that had come on the market and gradually achieved the appropriate
to learn from scratch.
dimensions. Kavlico ordered a modest four thousand components, encouraging the purchase of new lapping machines. “Kavlico requested thinner and thinner parts, and we were determined to improve upon what we’d already accomplished,” Czaplinski says. “So we reconfigured the machines, undertook multiple trials, and began to get really good at planarizing the components. Eventually we developed the ability to planarize the materials at Clear Creek to the size of thirty one-thousandths of an inch, which was really pushing the envelope.” Engineers also overcame a nagging problem with the finished components—a powdery residue that clung to the ceramic. “We invented what we call ‘vibratory finishing,’” Czaplinski smiles. “We’d truck the components back and forth from the plants, and the rattling would shake off the residue. We’ve since bought a piece of equipment that does this in a more sophisticated way.” In 1988 Coors Ceramics was named Kavlico’s Supplier of the Year. Today the company sells more than 80 million ceramic components annually to pressure sensor manufacturers. In succeeding years the Clear Creek Valley plant and other company facilities would acquire several state-of-the-art grinding machines to finish some of the thicker components that the automotive and industrial sensor markets required. 76
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
The roll compaction process for forming ceramic permitted the manufacture of tapes used in the information systems of mainframe computers. Here, tape is being fed into a laser finishing machine.
Silicon carbide components made by Coors Ceramics are used to make spray nozzles inside devices like scrubbers that trap air pollutants.
Alumina ceramic pressure sensors measure oxygen in automotive applications.
“Ed Mahardy and I traveled to Germany to meet with Lechler,
needed. Fortunately, everything went together the way we’d hoped.”
a designer and manufacturer of spraying systems,” recalls Tom
More orders flew in over the transom, and Lechler ultimately
Riley, who joined the company in 1982 and today is an engineer in
signed an exclusive supplier agreement with Coors Porcelain. “We
cost and product engineering. “We looked at the specifications they
were making on the order of a thousand nozzles a week, adding up
wanted, and said we could easily make the nozzle, even though we’d
to millions of dollars a year,” says Mahardy. “We called the period ‘nozzle mania.’”
“We looked at the specifications they wanted, and said we could easily make the nozzle, even though we’d never made one before.”
Solving industrial problems became a core competency at Coors Ceramics.
Longtime
never made one before.” Lechler placed an order for fifteen hun-
customer IBM, for instance, expressed a need for ceramic caps ab-
dred ceramic nozzles. “On the plane home, Ed and I figured out
sorbing the heat produced by the circuit boards within its mainframe
how to make the molds, cast the material, and do the firing,” Riley
computers. Ceramics’ superior thermal conductivity made it the ideal
notes. “The pieces required a Styrofoam core, so I stopped off at a
material, but the technical demands of making the caps “pushed
company called RADVA that made the cores and drew up what we
our technical limits,” Schovajsa acknowledges. “It drove our dry
78
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
pressing capabilities to another level. But the contract was a big one,
Joe introduced Managing Relationships at Work, a program
and we got everyone here to provide input on a solution. Ultimately, we
designed to “get all our employees on the same page of music,” he
solved the challenges together, which is often how things are done here.
explains. “MRW taught basic lessons of practicing ‘win-win’ and
We made the caps and metalized them so they could be soldered or
taking 100 percent responsibility.” Stevenson says MRW helped her
brazed onto the circuit board as a thermal conductor.”
gain a firmer grasp of her particular personal strengths and weak-
Robust sales of the pressure sensor and spray nozzle components
nesses, while Renée Schovajsa says the program taught her to listen
helped make up for the loss of the landmark IBM substrate contract
better. “I now tell new people here that they need to listen more—that
in the 1990s, as the pioneer mainframe computer manufacturer
if they simply ask customers a leading question the rest will fall into
started making personal computers using plastic substrates instead.
place,” she says.
Also during the decade, AT&T ended its use of ceramic tubes inside surge arrestors. “We’re always adapting to diversify our competencies into other markets,” Mark Petty says. Back in the 1980s a new generation of the Coors family was at the helm of the company. In 1985 Joe Coors Jr. succeeded Derald Whiting as president of Coors Porcelain. His first order of business “was to get people talking to each other,” he says. “I encouraged employees to dream, to brainstorm. We had so much creative talent that was hidden. We needed to experiment more—to get out of our comfort zone.” Joe was an extremely accessible president and someone of good cheer and humor. He favored an open-door policy “to liberate employees to dream up solutions to customer needs,” as he put it at the time. It was not uncommon for him to take everyone within earshot to lunch at a nearby hamburger joint. He also ran an unofficial football pool, with as many as eight hundred employees faxing their picks to his office. The winner got a free trip to Las Vegas. One of Joe’s favorite business books is Managing from the Heart. Still, he expected a lot from his employees. “Joe would have these out-of-the-box ideas that he’d pass on to the staff, who’d say they were impossible,” recalls Cheri Stevenson, his executive assistant at the time. “He’d say, ‘Bring me a solution.’ He had this can-do attitude, and it infected everyone.”
Joe Coors Jr. may have joked around with golf balls, but when he became president in 1985 he was all about generating new ideas. He also authored the company’s first Vision Statement, mandating that Coors Porcelain should make a difference “in the lives of those we have touched.”
An Era Dawns
79
P
Puttering
Around
Past became prologue in 1989, when Coors Ceramics decided to return to the consumer market—not with dishes or vases but with golf putters and drivers, hammers, shirt buttons, knife sharpeners, and other products made primarily from Transformation-Toughened Zirconia ceramic. To advance the concept, a separate line of business called Ceramicon Designs Ltd. was incorporated, and a new plant at 16000 North Table Mountain in Golden was built to accommodate the business—replete with a store to sell the merchandise locally. “I had heard that a competitor was manufacturing a ceramic knife sharpener, and not to be outdone decided to get into the consumer products business,” says Joe Coors Jr., then-president of Coors Ceramics. Joe says these words today with a grin, knowing the business ultimately failed to meet financial expectations, but the colorful stories more than make up for the hard landing. “Our first product was a zirconia ceramic putter, which did pretty well,” says Joe. “Then I read in the New York Times about businessmen squawking that the buttons on their expensive shirts were being ruined by launderers. They’d press the shirts, and the buttons would break.” Joe seized on the idea of ceramic shirt buttons that could withstand the heat and pressure of ironing. Department store Nordstrom’s bought into the idea for its signature line of shirts. Other shirt manufacturers were dubious, however. “I remember sitting in this cramped office with the manufacturer of Arrow shirts,” Joe recalls. “The guy asked how much a ceramic Even ceramic shirt buttons— button would cost, and I said about capable of resisting irons and dry cleaners—became part of the seven cents. He said it would cost product mix with Ceramicon him $1.44 wholesale to put the Designs. The concept was valid, buttons on the shirts. ‘That’ll put us but the marketplace deemed the price too high and they were soon discontinued.
80
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
out of business,’ he said. I couldn’t understand why an extra $1.44 for an upscale shirt was too costly, but he was adamant.” Cost was a similar dilemma for the company’s zirconia ceramic ball-peen hammers. “They were stronger than steel and nice to look at, but these advantages didn’t outweigh the extra costs,” says Bart Hart, a retired company senior engineer.
Under the Ceramicon Designs Ltd. imprint, Coors Ceramics ventured into a variety of new markets, including golf putters and drivers.
Golf drivers with zirconia ceramic club heads endured a different obstacle: the strike heads were bonded to wood, which undermined the integrity of the club. Serious work was undertaken at Ceramicon to iron out the difficulties. “We had this big open space on the second floor that we turned into a driving range, with a big net and a mat,” says Bill Clark, a former Ceramicon sales manager. “It was our golf testing range. We had half a dozen different golf clubs here, and anyone who
felt the urge could come up, swing a club, and mark down how many swings they took with that club. This way we could measure club fatigue. There were a lot of slices and ricochets, but we never took a window out. We learned that the bonding between the wood and the ceramic didn’t work. You’d take a swing and a piece of ceramic would go flying. Fore!” Unlike the putter and golf shoe cleats made from ceramic, the drivers never made it to market. Not that the various drawbacks affected the enthusiasm of the sales force. “We’d go to discount golf stores and the big sporting goods houses and convince them to buy them,” Clark recalls. “We marketed the clubs as Cerasport, and named one putter ‘JC2’ to honor Joe. A few pros on the Tour used the putters, but not the drivers. We used to joke, ‘You’ll miss straighter with our putters than any others.’” Joe Jr., an avid golfer, wanted a big ceramic putter—the theory being the heavier the putter the shorter the stroke. Company engineers were given the assignment. “We called the project ‘Operation Heavyweight,’” confides Brian Seegmiller, a ceramic engineer then in the R&D department. “We made one out of alumina and then zirconia, but Joe kept saying it wasn’t big enough. So we kept making them bigger and bigger, until they were getting grotesque and the shaft would bend. Finally Joe switched his putting coach, and I went to Rolling Hills, asked them for their best putter, based ours on theirs, made it out of zirconia, and then gave it to Joe. It became JC2. It didn’t always make an eagle putt, but it was strong enough to chop down a six-foot tall saguaro cactus, if you catch my meaning.” Ironically, alumina ceramic knife sharpeners—the impetus for Ceramicon—proved to be the only durable product from a sales standpoint. In 1992 Ceramicon folded. The North Table Mountain plant was converted to manufacturing, and today it makes a variety of ceramic pieces for structural, automotive, mining, medical, and other industry applications. Corporate headquarters were relocated to the building from 600 Ninth Street. As for the former retail store out front, it is presently an office. The golf driving range is no more. A few years ago, Joe gave up his Cerasport putter. “I was getting the yips,” he explains. “I use a long putter today.”
Joe also restructured the sales and marketing organization along product lines instead of geographic location to assist a better understanding of customer and market needs and instill greater accountability for performance. He also drafted the company’s first Vision Statement. “It incorporated ‘partnering with customers, creating an environment where we could be the best we could be, and making a difference in the lives of those we touched,’” he says. “It’s one of my proudest accomplishments.” Yet another major initiative was on tap: a new name. To reflect more accurately the breadth of its product lines, the name of the company was changed in 1986 to Coors Ceramics Company.
The years of productivity enhancements, material breakthroughs, and a stubborn never-say-no attitude coalesced in 1987. For the first time in the company’s history, its retained earnings were positive, meaning that cumulative profits since 1910 were in the plus column. Capital was plowed into new equipment, making plants more campuslike, and strategic expansion. Acquisitions included Humphrey’s Mineral Industries, which made ceramic mining and mineral processing equipment, and Siemens Components, a manufacturer of ceramics for semiconductor applications like motor speed controls. In 1988 the company also acquired a majority share of CERCOM, a maker of specialty ceramic materials for automotive applications. To further enlarge its presence in the global semiconductor market, Coors Ceramics acquired General Electric Ceramics Inc. of Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1989. It later merged this company with Interamics, an electronics packaging company. The following year
An Era Dawns
81
it opened a plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Mark Chenoweth, who
Coors Courier, a company magazine for employees, noted that
began his career at RI Ceramics in Oklahoma and was tasked with
when the Snotiles were lubricated with water from a sprinkler
designing, building, and moving to the new facility in Oak Ridge,
system, a skier could hit speeds of more than sixty miles per hour
and who eventually became the plant
before becoming airborne. A promotional movie of the finished ski
manager, explains the reasoning for
ramp was filmed, with manufacturing engineer Tom Riley, who
the new addition: “The area was ripe
worked on the project, playing the “ski jumper.” “I weighed about
with a skilled labor force anxious for
two hundred pounds then and could barely fit into the jumping
work, it was near the National High
outfit,” Riley recalls. “I stood at the top of the ramp scared to death.
Temperature Materials Laboratory,
They filmed me and then cut to an actual ski jumper going down
and at a time that the government was
the ramp. It worked like a charm.”
Mark Chenoweth managed the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, plant, where some of the leading research and development programs in ceramics were taking place.
attempting to transfer technology
The company made Snotiles for just the one ramp. To this day,
to commercial applications.” As in
no one is sure if it is still in use. Fortunately, the great expanse of
the past, some subsidiaries were
other company wares flew off the shelves. When the Gulf War
absorbed into the company, while
erupted in 1990, Coors Ceramics received a substantial order for
others were shuttered or sold as tech-
ceramic armor plates to protect soldiers, helicopters, and battle tanks.
nologies and markets evolved. By the
end of the decade, Coors Ceramics still employed more than two thousand people combining their skills to manufacture tens of thousands of parts each day, shipped to customers across the globe. No request from a potential customer was left on the table— even prosaic ones. In 1988, for instance, Coors Ceramics was approached to develop high-alumina ceramic tiles for a ski ramp used during summer months. The ramp was destined for professional ski jumpers training in Lake Placid, New York, scene of the 1980 Olympics. Previous summertime ski ramps were made of plastic tiles, which wore out quickly and lacked the smooth, slick surface characteristics of ceramic. Another company manufactured ceramic tiles for the ramps, but they were considered overly expensive. Coors Ceramics was determined to produce a less costly
Ceramic proved the ideal material for summertime ski ramps, offering a smoother, more durable, and less costly surface material than plastic. While the questionably named “Snotiles” provided a ski ride at about sixty miles per hour, they had a short life span and were discontinued.
alternative. It did just that, although the name of the product— “Snotiles”—could have used some improvement. “We pronounced
Although it made armor for the military during and after the Viet-
the word differently to customers than we did among ourselves,”
nam War, the orders had tailed off. Now they suddenly escalated, a
Bill Clark concedes.
phenomenon that company engineers call “lumpy order syndrome.”
82
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
Each time the military placed a massive order, all facets of the organization collaborated on the solution. Frequently this entailed technological enhancements in ceramic materials and manufacturing processes. “The Gulf War was unique in that it was urban warfare, which involves a lot of sniper fire,” says Tim Haen, sales manager for ceramic armor products. “It became critical that infantry soldiers wear smaller and lighter-weight body armor. We met the need with AD-995 alumina ceramic, rather than the AD-85 alumina we used in Vietnam.” During the Gulf War, Coors Porcelain also manufactured ceramic antenna components for Raytheon, which deployed them in the radar guidance system of the surface-to-air Patriot missile. The components were made from cordierite (magnesium aluminum silicate), a very difficult material to sinter. “When you press it, it’s 40 percent air, and after it’s sintered it becomes a 99.9 percent solid,” Clark explains. “It was the first time we’d used the material, and we had trouble getting the density right, leaving all these puddles of green goo on the refractory furniture. But we don’t give up here. Eventually we figured it out.” When the war ended, the armor orders again fell precipitously, though not entirely. For example, the company manufactured zirconia-toughened alumina pellet armor for U.S. defense contractors. The pellets were imbedded inside rubberized sheets that protected vehicles like school buses and limousines
The Gulf War provided Coors Ceramics an opportunity to improve upon its Vietnam-era body armor. By using AD-995 alumina ceramic, the company was able to produce lightweight armor more suited to the urban warfare and sniper-fire environment.
transporting dignitaries in war-torn regions of the world.
capabilities, and state-of-the-art CNC machinery abetted this
Greater growth was in store as ceramics fever spread in the
contagion. “Industry finally moved from ‘technology push,’ where
1990s. The explosion in specialty ceramic materials, new processing
we had to convince customers of the utility of our products, to
An Era Dawns
83
ACX Technologies was the parent of four Coors subsidiaries—Coors Ceramics, Graphic Packaging Corporation, Golden Technologies Company, and Golden Aluminum Company. It was a new public company, though the Coors family retained 45 percent of the stock.
Coors Ceramics still had to prove its mettle, but with Joe Coors Jr. adroitly guiding its growth and expansion, and with ceramics fever spreading, it was positioned perfectly with the right medicine. Over the years, Joe had piloted several strategic acquisitions that broadened the company’s products and services. He had prudently invested in automated machinery and
modern
manufacturing
strategies. Most important, he had empowered employees to think outside the box. New ideas burst forth, such as the creation With defense work a major component of Coors Ceramics efforts, the company branched out into all kinds of body armor.
of a new subsidiary—Coors Ceramicon Designs—to manufacture ceramic products like golf
‘market pull,’ where they came to us for the answer,” Seegmiller says. “We were at the forefront of all these developments.” A different type of company emerged to provide these solutions, following the spin-off of Coors Ceramics from Adolph Coors Company in December 1992. There was ample reason for the spin-off. Coors had become one of the world’s best-known and best-selling breweries and wanted to focus on building its various
Ceramicon Designs was formed to manufacture ceramic products for the consumer market. The company was housed in a new facility at 16000 North Table Mountain in Golden, later to become headquarters for CoorsTek.
putters and knife sharpeners aimed at the consumer market. Past became prologue—even if only for a few years. The products were produced at a new plant erected in 1991 at
beer brands globally. But, even with its separation from the brew-
16000 North Table Mountain
ery, Coors Ceramics wasn’t completely on its own. It joined three
in Golden. Two years earlier, another new facility opened—the
other Coors subsidiaries—Graphic Packaging Corporation, Golden
McIntyre plant, nicknamed “Big Mac,” also predicated on a singu-
Technologies Company, and Golden Aluminum Company—in a
lar idea: the making of ceramic “smokeless” cigarettes. Despite these
new holding company called ACX Technologies. The Coors fam-
capital costs, expenses were pared to a minimum. “We tossed nickels
ily owned 45 percent of the stock of the new public company.
around here like manhole covers,” Joe says.
84
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
Not all was a bed of roses in the early 1990s. A brief economic re-
The Electronic Products Group made primarily substrates and met-
cession reemphasized the need for additional cost reductions.
alized ceramics, and the Electronic Packages Group made ceramic
Several subsidiaries and foreign operations—Coors Biomedical,
packaging systems for manufacturers of semiconductors, com-
the plant in Brazil, and CERCOM—were shuttered or sold in the
puters, and military and aerospace equipment. Electronic packages
late 1980s and early 1990s. Fortunately, the semiconductor capital equipment market that
e semiconductor capital equipment market that Coors Ceramics served enjoyed a cyclical upswing in the 1990s.
Coors Ceramics served enjoyed a cyclical upswing as the decade took shape.
were a complex lot—ball grid arrays, pin grid arrays, SLAM arrays,
Vice president Jim Wade succeeded Joe as president in 1992,
and other highly sophisticated components. Although the division
while Joe retained the titles of CEO and chairman. Jim immigrated
was the smallest in sales terms, it served businesses like the semi-
to America from England as a young man, hiring on with Coors
conductor market that were riding high at the time.
Ceramics in 1959 to mix ceramic
As in the past, Coors Ceramics continued to provide cutting-
materials in the preparation area.
edge solutions to manufacturing problems—the difference being
Ironically he’d previously been
that customers now came to it for the answers. Immense challenges
turned down for a job at the
were laid at its door. Storage Technology Corporation, for instance,
brewery. Jim later worked on a
applied for alumina ceramic components to guide the high-speed
wide assortment of projects, from substrate manufacturing and early metalizing operations to making ceramics components for the first electronic calculators. “We were right there Jim Wade succeeded Joe Coors Jr. as president in 1992. A native of England, he began with Coors Ceramics in 1959, working in a wide variety of positions.
at the beginning,” he says. “We threw away our slide rules then.” To improve customer serv-
ice, the new president partitioned the company into three operating divisions: Structural Products, Electronic Products, and Electronic Packages. The largest division in terms of sales was Structural Products, which made an assortment of ceramic pieces ranging in size from micro-miniature components to several-hundred-pound cylinders.
From complex medical devices and computer components to, well, something as simple as a button, nothing was considered too small nor too big for the company to handle. An Era Dawns
85
magnetic tape embedded in the information systems of large
less steel valves to control the volume of syrup and liquid dispensed
mainframe computers. “The tape is fairly abrasive and moves at
into a cup, but the metal couldn’t withstand the corrosion of the
high speeds, making alumina the preferred material,” says Brian
chemicals within syrup, leading to improper dispensing. Again, the
Seegmiller. “The difficulty was forming ceramic gear teeth.
challenge was stiff. “We needed to produce a high volume of valves
The material also had to have a very smooth surface finish and
at a relatively low price,” says Bob Wells, an engineer at the North
uniformity so the tape would ride the guide but not bind to it. En-
Table Mountain facility.
gineers figured out how to roll-compact a ceramic substrate that
“We struggled initially with developing a cost-effective solu-
could be laser-cut with gear tooth patterns, and finished to a virtual
tion since the forming requirements were intricate, with the piston
sheen. Once we solved the problem, orders flew in.”
sleeves requiring very tight clearances. We had to develop new materials and processes, and buy equipment like multispindle honing machinery. After a lot of trial and error, we made the grade. The product line took off, and it is still running great.” Diesel engine manufacturer Cummins knocked next with its predicament: new environmental regulations required Cummins to remove a greater volume of sulfur emissions from its diesel fuel injection systems. “Without sulfur, the fuel injection systems kept seizing, causing huge warranty problems,” Seegmiller explains. “The company came to us to replace the metal pistons in the fuel pumps with Transformation-Toughened Zirconia, given our reputation with solving the paper industry’s problems with this material. Not that this was remotely easy—they wanted a threeeighths-inch-diameter, two-inch-long ceramic piston with a
The development of cost-effective ceramic valves for dispensing beverages replaced traditional metals that corroded and affected beverage taste.
cylindricity of two microns. In other words, it couldn’t waver more
A similar feat took place for Beckman Coulter. The manufac-
One hundred microns is about the thickness of a piece of paper.
turer of biomedical laboratory instruments sought the development
Coors Ceramics overcame the steep challenges, produced the
of close-tolerance ceramic valves and seals for use in blood cell
desired result, and the warranty issues abated. The failure rate
separators—highly technical equipment that analyzes red and white
of Cummins’ fuel injection systems plunged from six hundred
blood cells, plasma, and platelets. Company engineers put their
engines per million to nearly zero.
collective ingenuity and expertise to the task and met the need, creating yet another new product line.
than two microns.”
These practical solutions demonstrate the market-pull phenomenon in play—the increasingly widespread knowledge within indus-
Other industries came calling. Manufacturers of beverage
try of the capability of ceramic to overcome the technological barriers
dispensers at fast-food and other restaurants had been using stain-
that customary materials cause. When industry came calling, the
86
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
Shown here are some of the many components made by the company used in data processing applications.
company responded.
located. Coors Ceramics targeted companies with specific capabil-
“Coors rarely turns
ities that meshed with its core strengths to present an integrated
down the opportunity
solution to the market. Among the first was Edwards Enterprises,
to develop a solution
a maker of precision-machined single-billet aluminum sheets the
for any of the industries
size of a pool table. Machined to very tight tolerances, the sheets
it serves—even if the
served as the mainframe structures for processing silicon wafers
opportunity appears at
during the chemical deposition and planarization process.
first to be a risky ven-
Around the same time the company also acquired Precision
ture,” Ceramic Industry
Technologies, which made process chambers and other critical
noted.
components utilized in the manufacture of semiconductors at a
To
the
small plant in Pleasanton, California. “We combined our special-
moment, a small plant
ization with the expertise of the acquired companies to provide
opened
subassembly services to the semiconductor capital equipment
Texas,
Among the many acquisitions in the 1990s was Dallas Ceramics, a leader in chemical vapor deposition processes. Shown here are components produced using the process.
seize in in
Austin, 1995
to
market, moving us several notches up in the supply chain,” says
supply components to
Chenoweth, a company executive vice president today. “We’d
Applied Materials, a
assemble a variety of machined components into a kit—a two-
major semiconductor
hundred-piece bill of materials in some cases—at the Pleasanton
manufacturer and key
facility, which we kept expanding as the semiconductor market
customer located in the
boomed. We’d then deliver these submodules on the mainframe to
city. This eagerness
key customers like Applied Materials and Lam Research, and
to overcome customer
they’d add the final bells and whistles.”
obstacles reaped financial rewards. In the Structural Products
Edwards Enterprises also manufactured precision-machined
Group, where the ceramic semiconductor capital equipment com-
parts for the aircraft industry, and Precision Technologies further
ponents and other ceramic parts like blood cell valves and seals
served the medical device market.
were all designed and manufactured, sales surged from five cus-
Three additional acquisitions were executed before decade’s end.
tomers providing about $1 million of business each in 1991, to
They included Dallas Ceramics, a leader in chemical vapor deposition
twenty-three customers providing more than $1 million of busi-
(CVD), a chemical process used to produce high-purity, high-
ness each in 1995. The following year, company revenues exceeded
performance materials. The process is often used in the semiconduc-
$276 million, up from $100 million only eight years earlier.
tor industry to produce thin films. Dallas Ceramics also augmented
In the mid- to late-1990s, Coors Ceramics engineered several strategic acquisitions to become more of a value-added supplier to
the company’s expertise in making silicon carbide ceramic components for semiconductor memory chips and microprocessors.
the semiconductor capital equipment market. Several acquisitions
Also acquired was Tetrafluor, an El Segundo, California–based
occurred in the Bay Area, where suppliers to the industry were
manufacturer of high-performance seals made of a plastic called
88
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
CoorsTek provides extremely high-purity ceramic components for use in the solar panel and semiconductor manufacturing equipment industries.
The acquisition of Tetrauor provided expertise to manufacture rings, seals, and other components combining plastic with ceramic and metal.
PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), used primarily for automotive,
country,” he adds. “Following the acquisition, our business has grown
military, and aerospace applications. The venture marked the pro-
from $2 million our first year there to more than $30 million a year.”
vision of another value-added service—advanced plastics. More
The robust sales encouraged the company to build a new sixty-
were in the offing: in succeeding years, the North Table Mountain
thousand-square-foot facility in South Korea in 2008, to make
plant developed expertise in injection molding specialty plastics
ceramic components for the semiconductor, flat-panel television
and in overmolding plastic onto ceramic pieces. “We do a lot of
display, and other markets.
off-the-wall stuff here,” John Coors, the youngest of Joe Coors’ sons
The various acquisitions in the 1990s served the strategic goal
to join the company, acknowledged to Ceramic Industry. “[It’s] one
of vertical integration—moving upstream in the supply chain to
of our strengths. And occasionally these off-the-wall things lead to
provide additional value-added assembly and other services. “We
large markets, so it’s worth the risks.”
wanted to become more of a complete outsourcing partner to our
The final acquisition of the decade was Doo Young Semitek in
customers,” explains John Coors.
South Korea. The impetus was to supply locally the many semi-
This strategy would bear fruit under John, who would succeed
conductor, telecommunications, and power generation companies
his older brother Joe as president of Coors Ceramics in 1998. Two
that had established manufacturing operations in Asia. Doo Young
years later John also added the titles of CEO and chairman. He hit the
Semitek operated a ten-thousand-square-foot plant outside Seoul
ground running, as the semiconductor capital equipment market—
with a broad range of capabilities, including isostatic pressing and
the company’s largest—boomed during the Information Age.
computer numerically controlled mills, surface grinders, surface polishing, and other tooling. “Our intent was to establish an Asianbased company to access and serve the region, and instead we found
The acquisition of Doo Young Semitek in South Korea assisted CoorsTek in supplying semiconductor components to companies in the region.
this small yet fully integrated ceramics company to acquire,” Mark Petty says. The acquisition is the first wholly U.S.-owned business in South Korea. Mark Petty recalls a visit to the plant in 2000 by U.S. Ambassador to South Korea John Bosworth. “It was quite comical seeing an entourage of black Cadillacs and Suburbans coming down these rural roads, but it just shows how important this was to the
An Era Dawns
91
For the memorial at Ground Zero, CoorsTek was the only supplier able to meet the extremely tight tolerances needed for this high-intensity beam. Also in the wake of September 11, 2001, CoorsTek began the process of taking the company private and was selected as part of the team to manufacture a new breed of airport security baggage scanners.
BUILDING CHARACTER
5 chapter
science) at the Technical University of Munich in
At right, ceramic body armor plates continued to improve at the hands of CoorsTek’s engineers.
Germany. His first job was at the family brewery in 1979, but by the mid-1990s he’d ventured into the thriving technology industry to run a startup solar electric company called Golden Genesis, before selling the business in 1998. Two years later he was leading Coors Ceramics. John was at his brother Joe’s side a few months before to celebrate the last day of the twentieth century. It was an auspicious occasion for another reason—the spinoff of Coors Ceramics from ACX Technologies.
Like the Industrial Revolution more than a century before, the Information Age revolutionized global economics.
L
Coors Ceramics traded on the NASDAQ under the ike his grandfather, Adolph Jr.,
symbol CRTK, which reflected its new name—
John Coors’ critical thinking was
CoorsTek Inc.
sharpened by academic excellence
The spin-off was predicated on the booming
followed by extensive managerial experience. A Chris-
consumer markets fed by CoorsTek’s customers in
tian, John believes leadership also requires empathy,
the semiconductor and electronics industries. Like the
humility, and kindness. Consequently, he would seek
Industrial Revolution more than a century before,
to balance the growth of the company with the personal
the Information Age revolutionized global economics.
fulfillment of its workforce.
People now had the remarkable ability to transfer
John’s diverse educational background includes an
information freely and access a vast trove of knowledge
undergraduate chemical engineering degree, a master’s
almost effortlessly. In this new era, CoorsTek’s financial
in biochemistry, and a doctorate in engineering (brewing
prospects were lofty. “The semiconductor market was
Building Character
93
riding high, and we were a major
COORSTEK EXECUTIVE STAFF
supplier to this industry,” explains Steve Rask, who joined the company in 1997 as finance manager and today is CFO. “Our materials were part of all these new products, and we renamed the company to emphasize our connection to technology. The excitement level was high.” While the company long saw its role as solving the manufacturing challenges posed by its customers in
John K. Coors Chairman, President, and CEO
Mark Chenoweth Executive Vice President
diverse markets, John Coors sought to synthesize and articulate this purpose in more meaningful terms. “John reflected on our history to arrive at a more compelling conclusion of what we are all about,” says Janet Comerford, chief administrative officer. “He realized that our singular mission was ‘to make the world measurably better.’ We change the world through our ‘amazing solutions,’ and the world changes us. He really got to the core
Brad Coors Executive Vice President
Doug Coors Executive Vice President
Janet Comerford Chief Administrative Officer
of our values, and it deeply affected and inspired people.” More now than ever, the company would set its own course. It was solely responsible for its own financing needs—through operating cash
flow
from
the
business,
issuing shares in the public market, and incurring debt. CoorsTek was 94
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
Mark Petty Executive Vice President
Steve Rask Chief Financial Officer
positioned to Wall Street as a growth company, not surprising given the high-flying semiconductor market. From 6 percent of revenue in the fourth quarter of 1998, the semiconductor market represented 57 percent of revenues in the fourth quarter of 2000. That year CoorsTek breached $500 million in sales for the first time. The technology sector was on a tear, especially the dotcoms that were the talk of Wall Street. Acquisitions remained a key strategy to augment the company’s value-added services. In 2000, CoorsTek acquired Fremont, California–based Liberty Machine Company, a supplier of sophisticated metal machining services to the semiconductor, aerospace, and medical industries. Just when it seemed the sky was the limit, the economy faltered badly. The dotcom bubble burst, and the semiconductor market was awash in red ink. The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, made a bad economic situation even worse, and CoorsTek’s stock value took a beating. “We got hammered,” John Coors says. “It was rapid and nasty.” The problem in large part was Wall Street’s valuation of CoorsTek, a company with a complicated story. “We were slotted into the semiconductor capital equipment business with big companies like Applied Materials, even though we’re a second-tier supplier and semiconductor is just one of our niches,” John explains. “We were penalized on the market’s upswing for not being 100 percent in this market, and we didn’t get credit on the downswings for our diverse markets. We needed to rethink our public company status.” John mulled the benefits of taking CoorsTek private. First he needed to persuade the biggest block of shareholders—the Coors family—to back him. Then he had to arrange additional financing to present an offer to the board of directors. The board, in turn, A CoorsTek poster reflected the company’s new tagline: “We make the world measurably better.”
would solicit bids from others. Several serious inquiries were made. “It was a fascinating process, and it nearly drove me nuts,” John confides.
Building Character
95
Steve Rask elaborates: “John essentially had to step back from
quality, and customer service. All plants have since earned ISO
the acquisition process for conflict-of-interest reasons. Meanwhile,
9001 certification, while others are headed in that direction. The
the board had to represent non-Coors-family shareholders . . . since
company also unveiled Operational Excellence (OpX), a hybrid of
there was a definite chance of other acquirers.”
several best-practice manufacturing and quality methodologies like
Management of CoorsTek essentially fell to the executive staff.
Six Sigma and LEAN. “Many of our key customers had already
“We worked six months straight and Sundays to make this happen,”
adopted these disciplines, and we felt we would achieve better
says Rask. “We were driven by this company’s long, successful, and
alignment with them to follow suit,” says Bill Christie, the founder of
cherished history as a private, family-owned business.” On March 28, 2003, in the midst of a major Colorado blizzard, CoorsTek stockholders approved the family’s offer. Rask perceives the storm as metaphor. “Like the cyclical downturn in the semiconductor market, it was just one more thing we would overcome,” he explains. “This company never shrinks from the big challenges.” Two weeks earlier, Joe Coors Sr. had died at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, after a three-month battle with lymphatic cancer. “Up until the end, Dad felt sure the deal would go through,” John says. “My only regret is that I didn’t get the chance to tell him.” The hard work had just begun, however. The company had accumulated a mountain of debt, which John made a top priority to repay or refinance. Within two years, he succeeded in this quest. As a private company, CoorsTek also could no longer fund expansion through shareholder capital, but it could at last focus on long-term strategy and not the quarterly expectations of Wall Street analysts. Privatization further liberated the company to divest noncore semiconductor assets that it had held onto to assist the stock valuation. And it freed CoorsTek from the more onerous provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which saddled public companies and their boards with high compliance costs and time consumption. Rebuilding the top line was in order, but at least the semiconductor market had essentially hit bottom and there was only one place to go—up. Other product lines had held fairly steady through the economic upheaval. A key objective was to improve productivity, 96
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
Adoption of Operational Excellence methodology enhanced productivity and customer service in the new millennium.
the CoorsTek OpX program. “We constantly have to improve our efficiency and make it easier for customers to acquire from us.” OpX was pushed out to all facets of the organization and is now an integral part of the company’s culture. Projects are pursued with specific quality targets in mind, such as cost reduction, cycle time improvements, and safety advancements. In this context, training is provided toward the achievement of different color belts, beginning with a White Belt, es-
CoorsTek exceeded the U.S. government’s exacting deadline to provide baggage scanners to domestic airports in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy.
sentially a primer on LEAN principles. The next level up is a Red Belt—training geared to eventually manage a project—followed by a Green
projects—the ones that involve a lot of work, are extremely inten-
Belt, which delves more deeply into LEAN techniques to actually
sive, and take several months to reach fruition,” says Heidi Rob-
lead a project. “Our Black Belt program trains leaders of high-value
bins, John Coors’ daughter and a Black Belt–trained R&D engineer. These skills would be tested as the tragic events of September 11, 2001, unfolded. The world was on alert for terrorists, and CoorsTek would play a vital role in reducing their methods of attack. The federal government’s new Transportation Security Administration had mandated that checked baggage at airports be screened for the presence of concealed explosives. InVision Technologies, one of only two domestic manufacturers of the scanning systems, contacted CoorsTek in February 2002 to become its manufacturing partner, and the project’s supply chain manager. TSA wanted every U.S. airport to have the scanners in place by the end of the year. The deadline loomed large. CoorsTek scurried to source and manufacture various compo-
Many baggage screeners at U.S. airports are made by InVision Technologies with critical components manufactured by CoorsTek, which also assembled the scanners.
nents for the scanners and assemble half the number of machines at its facility in Fremont. The plant had suffered in the wake of the
Building Character
97
F
Amazing Solutions from
Amazing People
For much of its one-hundred-year history CoorsTek has been a family-owned business. And just as several generations of the Coors family have worked side-by-side at the company, so have several generations of employees. At the company’s Oak Ridge, Tennessee, plant, approximately twenty current employees have had the opportunity to work with their family members. Among them are Vince Amos and his son Brad, and Leonard Campbell and his son Bradley. Vernon Jones, who started his career in Norman, Oklahoma, in 1984 operating a lathe and today is the plant’s manufacturing manager, enjoys the company of his son Kristopher, who was hired in the grinding area after graduating high school in 2005. Kristopher is now in college and plans to become an engineer. “It’s nice to see that he’s doing well,” says Vernon, “though I try not to treat him special here. We’re all family.” At the plant in Benton, Arkansas, twenty-four employees are related, including four sets of siblings and three sets of husbands and wives who actually met at the facility. Jamie Woodall, in the grinding shop, is a second-generation employee, his father James hiring on in 1979 in industrial maintenance and retiring in 2008. “My dad’s really mechanically inclined, and I inherited some of that,” says Jamie, who joined in 1993. “Working with him all those years got us a lot closer. Like most teenage boys I didn’t get along with him for a couple years. Then when I came here he saw what kind of person I was. We’re very close now.”
98
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
Whether connected by family or a love of the company, CoorsTek employees develop an intense loyalty to the firm. The commitment to the workers was fostered from the beginning by the Coors family. Back Row: Bill, Joe, Adolph III. Front Row: Grover, Herman, Adolph II.
Multigenerational families also are common at the Hillsboro, Oregon, facility, where Song Ngov, who retired recently following a thirty-year tenure, worked alongside his son Jimmy Ngov, a CNC operator today. Cousins David and Daryl Kemper, and brothers Mateo and Juan Salvador, also work at the plant. Dennis James in the Maintenance Department has no relatives here, but he sums up the family-like atmosphere. “Everyone here takes pride in the products we make,” Dennis says. “We really got a kick out of learning that the ceramic we made was in a satellite in space. We’re all pretty close.”
The same companionable spirit prevails overseas. Suzanne Stevenson at the Glenrothes, Scotland, plant touts the opportunities she has had through the years to expand her career horizons. “I joined for a summer job in the early 1980s, finished my college degree, got married, had a child, and then looked for some part-time work in the evenings,” she says. “I inquired at CoorsTek in 1990. They remembered me, and I got a job operating a laser making ceramic substrates. I liked it.” One day a week Suzanne worked in Human Resources, and in 1994 she requested and received a full-time HR position. Today, she is the plant’s HR manager. “I guess I was in the right place at the right time with the right attitude,” she adds. Andrew Golike, who manages the Glenrothes plant today, and another plant in Grand Junction, Colorado, started his career as a temporary employee in 1988, after fulfilling his military duty. “I drove a forklift and loaded tanks with powder at the beginning of the process,” Andrew recalls. “I’m a curious kind of guy and wanted to learn what happened next—how this powder eventually ended up as a ceramic component. It was all amazing to me—part science and part mystery.” After securing a full-time position, he went to college mostly at night, paid for by the U.S. Marines. The company gave him permission to take some classes during work hours. He moved into sales and became the ferrules sales manager, rising through the ranks to his current positions. “Had not the company allowed me to go to college during the day, I don’t know what I’d be doing today,” he says. “I cannot believe where I am today when I look back.” Employees at newer subsidiaries like Ceramatec and DEW Engineering say the passion they felt about their work has intensified since their companies’ acquisitions. “Our mission, values, and culture were compatible,” says Ian Marsh, vice president of operations at DEW. “Both companies believed in entrepreneurship and in owning the process.” Marsh joined DEW in 1987 as a junior engineer “pushing a broom and cleaning the sumps at one point,” he says. “We were small then, but had great faith in our purpose. People here are pleased to be part of something much bigger, with a company that is connected to history.”
Anthony Nickens, vice president of engineering at Ceramatec, is a relative newcomer to the organization (he joined in 2007), having spent his career as a program manager in the U.S. Navy. “We’ve got a research and development culture here, and CoorsTek was determined to preserve this culture—to give scientists room to innovate, to tackle the hard challenges,” he says. “We’re the brain trust of tomorrow’s solutions.” There was only one drawback to the acquisition. “Employees thought they’d get a discount on Coors beer, and I had to point out the legal restrictions,” Nickens explains. Of course, the multigenerational family of all families at the company is the Coors family itself. Darden Coors, assistant general counsel, is the daughter of Joe Coors Jr. She started work at the company while in college in the 1990s, as her dad’s assistant, and then joined ACX before taking her new position at CoorsTek in September 2008. She is in the fifth generation of the Coors family to work at the old pottery in Golden. “Knowing this is [your] family makes you more invested in what you do,” Darden says. “There is a lot of pride in the history of the company and the ability to keep it a family business after so many generations, when that seems to be rarer and rarer these days. And to have a skill set that can benefit the family and not just work here because I am related is really special.” CoorsTek’s employees at these and other facilities say they often gather with colleagues at company picnics, golf outings, hunting expeditions, and other activities. Tom Riley, cost and product engineer at the Golden plant since 1983, says his colleagues gave him something even better than their time. “I was diagnosed with myelofibrosis, a blood cancer, in 2005, and gradually lost all my white blood cells awaiting my third stem cell transplant. The first two didn’t take,” Tom says. “In the hospital I caught a lung infection that my body couldn’t fight. My wife put out the word that I desperately needed blood cells.” Tom’s colleagues Mike McDonnell and Catherine Walter donated blood cells, as did Tim Hayes, the company’s chaplain in its Marketplace Chaplains Employee Care Program. “Their cells fought off my lung infection,” Tom says. “Because of them I’m still here.” The third stem cell transplant in June 2009 was the charm. “I’m doing really well now,” Tom confides. “Some people have no one to turn to. That’s not the case here.” Building Character
99
steep declines in the production and assembly of components for
inch of the light armored vehicle. Some tiles are flat and square,
the semiconductor capital equipment market, and the new work
while others are curved and angled. The larger tiles or panels are the
was greeted with open arms. The first scanner was shipped one
dimensions of a card table while the smaller tiles are the size of a
week ahead of schedule on July 1, 2002. The partners met the
playing card. e company assembles and ships them to DEW En-
exacting deadline, ultimately producing more than twelve hundred
gineering for integration into a mosaic. “It was a technical jigsaw
scanners. The work with InVision affirmed the company’s
puzzle to design and manufacture the system,” says Tom Riley, who
competence at rapid execution and confirmed the wisdom of the
worked on the project. Bolted in place, the Stryker is virtually
strategic decision to vertically integrate. “We took our CoorsTek’s vital work for the U.S. Army includes composite ceramic tiles made for the Stryker armored combat vehicle.
capabilities in semiconductor equipment manufacturing and applied it to baggage scanners—literally gutting and retrofitting our Fremont plant for this purpose,” says Doug Coors, son of Joe Coors Jr., who led the project. One of the first to respond to the government, the company had much to be proud of; it had made good on its promise “to make the world measurably better,”
by
making
it
markedly safer. More of the same soon followed, as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq commenced. The government called upon CoorsTek to manufacture
impenetrable by a ballistic event. If a single tile suffers a hit, only
ceramic tiles for the U.S. Army’s extraordinary Stryker 8-Wheel
that tile will shatter, with little to no collateral damage to the rest of
Drive Armored Combat Vehicle, built by General Dynamics. The
the vehicle.
Stryker is plated in roughly four thousand different-sized tiles made
CoorsTek also developed and manufactured next-generation
from AD-995 alumina ceramic, covering virtually every square
armor for the military made from alumina ceramic and boron
100
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
carbide ceramic. Once again the company’s dormant armor line
a single bullet shatters the material, making the wearer vulnerable to
required revitalization—“lumpy order syndrome” revived—with
a second shot. Not RBB4C.”
astounding advancements.
CoorsTek landed one of the largest single orders in its history
The government requested Small Arms Protective Inserts
for the new, lightweight ceramic body armor. The armor more than
(SAPI) that weighed less than the ceramic body armor worn
made up for the sales declines caused by the cyclical turmoil in the
during the Gulf War. CoorsTek initially responded with silicon
technology sector, be-
carbide ceramic plates, which met the need but were costly
coming a major line
to manufacture and could not withstand penetration by new
of business. McNerney
steel-core armor-piercing bullets. Time was of the essence. A
and other researchers
new effort—E-SAPI (the “E” stands for Enhanced)—was quickly
didn’t rest on their lau-
undertaken to respond to the urgency.
rels; they’re at work on next-generation X-
In 2004 engineer Kevin McNerney in the R&D department de-
SAPI body armor.
veloped a new ceramic—reaction-bonded boron carbide or RBB4C—that not only weighed less than silicon carbide ceramic, it
Other technologi-
also stopped the steel-core bullets. “We reaction bonded boron car-
cal advancements were
bide with silicon carbide and silicon metal, which gave the
in
resulting material toughness, light weight, and the ability to endure a multi-hit,” McNerney explains. “With more brittle ceramic,
CoorsTek has developed a broad range of composite ceramic armor components to protect U.S. soldiers and military equipment. Above: Silicon carbide armor tiles.
store.
CoorsTek
developed a one-ofa-kind,
monolithic
ceramic helicopter seat for the government
made from reaction-bonded boron carbide. “No one thought we could make it, but we’re determined here,” says Steve Brazil, general manager for sales and operations at the company’s Benton, Arkansas, plant, which designed and manufactured the lifesaving seat. Early prototypes were made from a plaster mold of a chair in the plant’s cafeteria. “We pressure cast the piece, which wasn’t easy because of the curvatures,” Brazil notes. “We also had to puncture holes into the seat using a water jet so it could be secured to the aircraft and seat belts. We made a few more prototypes, and the orders started coming in.” CoorsTek has now manufactured sixtyMore than four thousand different-sized composite ceramic tiles were made for the Stryker combat vehicle built by General Dynamics for the U.S. Army.
six helicopter seats for aerospace contractor BAE Systems, and was in the process of ramping up production to produce on the order of thirty-six seats per month.
Building Character
101
As it had in many previous U.S. military excursions beginning
the architects desired. The memorial made its debut on March 11,
with World War I, the company put its singular knowledge and
2002, and has been repeated each year since (through 2008) on the
ingenuity to the task. Its focus on rapid execution to satisfy the
anniversary of the disaster.
government’s orders expeditiously reaped financial and emotional
Other amazing solutions were on tap during the decade, many
dividends, saving the lives of many fighting for freedom. Grateful
with reciprocal benefits—properties guiding applications in other
soldiers and journalists wearing CoorsTek armor made pilgrim-
markets. The company improved upon its groundbreaking AD-995
ages to Golden to thank everyone in sight. Often they carried with
ceramic, solving the semiconductor, telecommunications, and
them the abraded, but not punctured, armored vests.
medical industries’ needs for higher purity alumina in computers,
When the Tribute in Light art installation was created on the
cell phones, and medical devices. The new material, PlasmaPure,
vacant site of the Twin Towers, employees felt a tug in their hearts
withstood the harsh plasma environment of chip manufacturing, and
watching the dual light beams pierce the night sky. Only one
reduced by half the amount of microwave energy lost to heat as it
supplier—CoorsTek—could make the tight-tolerance, zirconia-
was transmitted through the material.
toughened alumina components to produce the optimal performance
Plants also turned out other breakthrough components made from ceramic, metal, and plastic for minimally invasive surgical devices. And they manufactured revolutionary multilayer channel components
for
electronic,
medical, and other applications. The components were used to cool circuitry, extending the life span of many electronics devices. A smaller but more profitable CoorsTek
emerged
after
privatization. In the middle of the decade, the company entered a phase of renewed value-building growth, beginning with the strategic reacquisition of VZS Technical Ceramics in Glenrothes, Scotland, Soldiers facing growing ballistic threats are protected by CoorsTek’s lightweight ceramic body armor.
102
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
which now boasted a sixty-threethousand-square-foot plant. In
CoorsTek provides a variety of ceramic components integral to an eective body armor system. Shown are examples of alumina (white) and silicon carbide (black) plates.
A Match Like Few Others
103
previous years CoorsTek had reduced the size of its facilities in
of cancerous tumors, and a product line abandoned several years
Scotland to a laser operation, but with its customer base in Europe
before: ceramic teeth components. “We designed a new ultra-high-
rapidly enlarging, the decision was made to revitalize its presence
purity material set specifically for implantable applications.” Brad
in the region.
Coors says. “e market response has been extremely positive.” Capital
In the middle of the decade, CoorsTek entered a phase of renewed value-building growth.
also
was
directed toward growth in the semiconductor and petroleum markets in early 2007. To better serve
Other growth initiatives included the formation of a new sub-
the former, CoorsTek acquired Gaiser Tool, a precision bonding tools
sidiary—C5 Medical Werks—in 2005 to take advantage of the grow-
supplier for the semiconductor industry with a large manufacturing
ing market for implantable ceramic medical components. Ceramic is
presence in Ventura, California. A few months later, CoorsTek
more wear-resistant than metal or plastic, thus reducing the risk of
enhanced service levels for petroleum industry customers by
additional surgeries. “As the population ages, and as more people in
opening a new thirty-thousand-square-feet facility in Houston.
their forties and fifties
Joe Coors Sr. had
lead active, athletic life-
visited the plant in the
styles, there will be a
1970s and introduced en-
greater need to replace
gineers there to ceramic
hips, knees, and verte-
powder for use in making
brae,” says Brad Coors,
tiny tubes called capillar-
president of the sub-
ies, which the company
sidiary, and another of
manufactured from steel at
Joe Jr.’s sons.
the time. “When Gaiser
C5 Medical Werks
passed on the opportunity,
makes these replacement
my grandfather swept up
parts. It also manufac-
every bit of powder to en-
tures ceramic seals for
sure the company would
implantable
electrical
not reverse engineer the
devices like pacemaker
material,” Doug Coors
batteries, ceramic seeds for brachytherapy that absorb radioactive isotopes to diminish the size 104
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
C5 Medical Werks, a CoorsTek subsidiary, manufactures implantable ceramic medical components like these long-lasting hip sockets.
says. “Twice before when they came up for sale we tried to buy them—to no avail. Third time’s the
charm. They bring us incredible competencies in making extremely
small
ceramic
parts, for which they’re the best in the world.” The growth initiatives continued into 2008, when CoorsTek acquired Ceramatec, an R&D company developing advanced ceramic materials for emerging markets like alternative energy and pollution control. Located in Salt Lake City, Ceramatec specializes in research guiding the development of products using advanced ceramic materials, particularly electrochemical applications. Founded in 1976, Ceramatec was pur-
The acquisition of Gaiser Tool, a maker of extremeprecision bonding tools, enhances the company’s services to customers in the semiconductor and microelectronics industries.
chased in 2000 by Dr. Ashok Joshi, a world-renowned electrochemist whose family immigrated to the United States from its native India. After finish-
the coal-based power industry it invented a chemical treatment
ing his PhD, Dr. Joshi moved to India to launch a startup company
technology to entrap carbon, making fly ash available for use by
making batteries. Ceramatec lured him back. “Dr. Joshi really got
the concrete industry, thereby keeping it out of landfills. Dr. Joshi
the company focused on R&D, whereas the previous owners were
remains president of the company, which has a workforce of 165
distracted by trying to commercialize products,” says Doug Coors,
employees, 40 of them scientists.
appointed Ceramatec CEO after the acquisition. “Since then,
The year 2008 brought another acquisition, this time to bolster
several great ideas have sprung forth, a few of which have been
the company’s presence in the armor market. DEW Engineering
commercialized.”
was a leading supplier of vehicle armor to companies like General
For the U.S. military, Ceramatec has created a solid oxide fuel
Dynamics, making the acquisition another vertical play. “We had
cell leveraging plasma technology to produce electricity, and for
been making ceramic pieces that DEW bought and integrated as
Building Character
105
F
A Hero’s
Hero
Few companies can assert that their products actually save human lives. From the Vietnam War to ongoing battles in Afghanistan and Iraq today, CoorsTek has manufactured ceramic body armor that literally makes a difference between life and death. It was during the war in Vietnam that CoorsTek became one of the first to respond to the military’s request for ceramic armor, made primarily from its breakthrough AD-85 alumina. The government sought bulletproof materials that would possess the hardness of steel without the weight. Alumina ceramic, which is half the weight of steel, was the solution. Previous ceramic body armor pieces were flat plates six-by-six inches in size, and the army wanted larger pieces that weighed less and were slightly curved. “It had never been done before,” says Lee Harder, CoorsTek vice president. “Like always, we did our best to figure out how. We never like to say ‘no’ to a customer.”
An earlier ceramic body armor torso and back plate, these were the critical components in what would become modern, lightweight body armor.
Two company engineers, Bill Herbert and Bill Steinkuhler, discovered how to “slump” the ceramic on the refractory entering the high-temperature kiln to obtain the curvature. “They also figured out how to double production by putting one piece on top of another,” Bob Clarke, CoorsTek general manager, says. The curved plates were affixed to fiberglass backing, plastic weave, and other materials to trap bullet fragments, since alumina ceramic can shatter in a ballistic event. The bonded materials were then tucked inside the fronts, sides, and backs of vests and leg protectors worn by soldiers. The components were a technological step up from previous body armor that failed to protect soldiers from armorpiercing bullets and shrapnel. “At first, crewmen tried to protect themselves with flak jackets (like those worn by policemen),” the Denver Post reported in an article on the company’s armor in 1966, “but these proved of little help in fending off highvelocity bullets.” When it became evident that the helicopters used extensively in the war were vulnerable to attack from below, lightweight alumina ceramic sheets were formed and secured beneath the pilot and gunners. The CoorsTek’s vital work for the U.S. Army includes composite ceramic tiles made for the most dangerous job during the war was Stryker armored combat vehicle. 106
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
This ceramic armor tile array was another advancement by CoorsTek in its efforts to protect U.S. forces.
that of gunners. The enemy hid in the dense jungle foliage waiting for the helicopters, and then shot at them from below. Many gunners’ lives were saved by the ceramic sheets. In the late 1980s the company manufactured giant alumina ceramic targets for U.S. military testing purposes, and also made ceramic bullets for manufacturer Olin Corporation, though the government was the end user. During the Persian Gulf War in 1990–91, the company introduced its first armor for land vehicles. The U.S. Marine Corps had developed Light Armored Vehicles (LAVs) that were protected exclusively by steel armor. The government wanted a secondary set of armor as an upgrade and CoorsTek took on the task, manufacturing ceramic tiles that could be affixed to the vehicles using simple Velcro. The product worked beautifully. Today CoorsTek manufactures advanced body armor made from alumina, boron carbide, and silicon carbide ceramic materials; vehicle armor modules; and aircraft armor panels and seats. The company equipped the outer shell of the U.S. Army’s Stryker LAV, a family of armored combat vehicles produced by General Dynamics Land System, with a mosaic of ceramic tiles developed to stop armor-piercing machine-gun rounds and artillery fragments. Its recent acquisition of DEW Engineering moves CoorsTek one rung up the supply chain to provide armor integration services.
“I recently gave a speech at Belmont University in Tennessee, and showed clips of our body armor and vehicle armor,” says John Coors, CoorsTek president and CEO. “One of the clips showed a soldier who’d been saved by the armor revealing a bruise about six inches long, where the bullet had hit the vest. Afterward, a student came up to me and said his bruise was eight inches long. He, too, had been saved by the armor. Then, a woman who’d just returned from Afghanistan said she was standing next to a fellow soldier who took three shots and also survived. Finally, a third student with tears in his eyes came forth and said his brother was a Stryker commander. A day earlier the vehicle had been hit by an IED [improvised explosive device] and all survived. He shook my hand and said, ‘Thank you for saving my brother’s life.’ I’ll never forget the experience.”
Marco di Lauro, a photographer for the Associated Press, was embedded with armed forces in Afghanistan in 2001 when he was shot. He credited body armor made by CoorsTek with saving his life.
Building Character
107
ballistic panels for the Stryker and other vehicles, so now we’re one
CoorsTek remained the place to go for industry in the twenty-
notch up the supply chain,” says Jonathan Coors, John Coors’ son
first century. When NASA needed more reliable optics for
and CoorsTek Armor Solutions
enhanced space telescopes, the
plant manager.
company took on the task.
DEW Engineering is based in
CoorsTek manufactures silicon
Ottawa, Canada, and has opera-
carbide optical mirrors for space-
tions in New Brunswick, Canada,
based and ground-based astron-
and Ogdensburg, New York. The
omy and defense applications.
Canadian facilities, which con-
Silicon carbide’s very high, spe-
tinue to operate as DEW Engi-
cific stiffness allows for the ex-
neering, provide vehicle armor
treme flatness required in many
systems to non-U.S. buyers. The
optical applications. The mater-
Ogdensburg plant is now part of
ial’s superlative thermal conduc-
CoorsTek, and is the armor inte-
tivity and low degree of thermal
grator for a newly formed sub-
expansion are other valued prop-
sidiary called CoorsTek Armor
erties. Of course, not every com-
Solutions (CTAS), which serves
pany can form, machine, polish,
only U.S.-based customers.
and assemble the optical compo-
The acquisition was timely,
nents to the dimensional toler-
given the government’s goal to
ances
required
for
vastly increase the armor protec-
sophisticated applications.
such
tion capabilities of a wide range of
CoorsTek also heeded the
military vehicles. “Ceramic is
appeal from the automotive in-
being embraced more and more as
dustry for components offering
the primary ballistic protection
greater motor engine reliability.
material because of its light
The company developed Dura-Z
weight, strength, hardness, and other properties,” says John Cook, CTAS vice president. “Obviously we have good access to the future
Medical-grade ceramics are precision formed in the “green” at approximately 20 percent larger than their final size. This bio-compatible (USP Class VI) ceramic is used in a wide variety of medical components including pumps, surgical equipment, blood cell separators, and many others.
development of ceramic materials.
Zirconia, a more fracturetoughened, stronger, and durable zirconia ceramic. “Dura-Z is used in making timing plungers in diesel engine fuel injectors, and has
And with DEW Engineering, we now have superior armor integra-
exhibited endurance limits beyond 100 million cycles—nearly twice the
tion capabilities as well.”
endurance of traditional zirconia materials,” Brian Seegmiller notes.
108
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
Injection-molded medical ceramic components shown here in microsurgery components oer high strength and stiness while providing superior electrical and thermal insulation.
A prominent printer manufacturer came calling for a ceramic
Such successes are legion, and they testify to a corporate ethos
printer head for its next-generation thermal ink-jet printers. The
of intently listening to customer needs and doing what it takes to
giant technology company wanted to end the need for users to
deliver the solution. In this regard, the company is constantly
replace the printer head each time they replaced the ink cartridge.
enhancing its capabilities. For example, when it had reached what
Previous printer heads were plastic and eroded fast, whereas
it sensed were the limits of its materials processing capacity,
ceramic offered good dimensional stability, corrosion resistance, and
CoorsTek made a multimillion-dollar investment in the establish-
thermal conductivity. A competitor had presented a design to the
ment of a Specialty Material Center in 2007. The center’s mission
manufacturer using dry powder compaction with a plastic overmold.
is to develop next-generation ceramic materials for applications in
CoorsTek’s design instead called for injection-molding the compo-
the semiconductor, electronics, laser, advanced armor, medical, and
nents from a specialty grade of AD-995 alumina. “Our design was
other high-technology markets. In this quest, top researchers in
considered a long shot,” recalls Hank Prey, who hired on at the
the advanced materials field leverage state-of-the-art processing,
company in July 1991 and today is vice president. “The competitor
manufacturing, finishing, and materials analysis equipment. “Their
had about three years to refine its processes; we had about six months
work has helped us improve our time to market with a new mate-
to tool up and start making prototypes.”
rial from weeks to days,” says Frank Anderson, PhD, vice president
It was an extremely difficult component to manufacture at the
of research and development.
specified dimensions and price target. Each piece is about one-and-
As the company neared its one hundredth anniversary in 2010,
one-quarter-inch long, a half-inch wide, and one-fifth-inch thick,
it was in the process of becoming the largest technical and
with two long, parallel slots that run down the center of the part that
industrial ceramics manufacturer in the world, once regulatory
act as an ink manifold, transporting the ink from the cartridge to the
hurdles had been cleared following the historic acquisition of the
printer head. In 2005 the company chose CoorsTek’s design as the
advanced ceramics division of Companie de Saint-Gobain, a major
enabling technology for the next-generation printer heads. More
manufacturing conglomerate based in Paris, France. Five years
than 16 million printer heads have since been sold and shipped to
earlier, publicly traded Saint-Gobain had approached CoorsTek
the manufacturer for use inside their high-end four-color printers
about acquiring it, but like other purchase offers made in the past
for small businesses.
it was politely declined. Nevertheless, a dialogue opened up
This same story is told time and again. Customers like Energy Recovery Company, which has a mission of desalinating seawater to produce freshwater, applied for ceramic components for use inside extremely powerful, massive pumps that forced seawater through fine filters to remove salt. “They had difficulty making the pumps economically because of their size,” explains Bob Wells. “We were able to make ceramic components that allowed them to substantially reduce the size of the pumps, cutting their costs in half and thereby making the project feasible.” 110
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
between the two ceramic leaders. When finalized, the acquisition will catapult CoorsTek into the number-one spot in the world.
This new, high-purity spray dryer expands CoorsTek’s capability in specialized ceramics.
FOREVER LOOKING FORWARD
112
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
6 chapter
spawned are coming together in exciting ways to create new opportunities for industry in the twenty-first century. The acquisition of DEW Engineering, for instance,
John Coors is directing CoorsTek toward an ever-expanding horizon. In 2010 that horizon included supplying 90 percent of American industry sectors. “Our creativity is expressed in the way we organize people, operate a piece of machinery, or respond to a customer’s needs,” Coors said.
F
brought into the organization a range of competencies beyond ceramic armor production and integration, such as electromechanical engineering and composite metals fabrication. The company’s mechanical design and fabrication expertise is assisting another CoorsTek subsidiary, Ceramatec, in commercializing the latter’s cutting-edge research in biodiesel fuel production.
Each acquisition and the new subsidiaries they have spawned are coming together in exciting ways to create new opportunities. ollowing the momentous acquisition
To turn vegetable oils and animal fats into this
of Saint-Gobain’s ceramics division,
renewable energy source, a catalyst called sodium
CoorsTek will emerge as the largest and
methoxide or SMO must be used. Traditional methods
most sophisticated developer of advanced materials on
of making SMO require large amounts of energy and
the planet. Its primacy will continue to offer the potential
result in impurities. Ceramatec developed a unique
of stunning innovations and immense benefits for
ceramic ion transport membrane that provides a more
manufacturers and their consumers. By all standards, the
economical and less energy-intensive way to produce
company is enhancing its capabilities to make the world
SMO. When electricity is applied to the membrane,
measurably better.
very pure SMO is produced. The technology makes it
CoorsTek’s extraordinary depth and scale are coa-
possible for manufacturers to produce SMO on-site
lescing to allow the transfer of knowledge on a grand
for use in biodiesel production and other industrial
scale. Each acquisition and the new subsidiaries they have
applications.
Forever Looking Forward
113
CoorsTek has combined Ceramatec’s novel membrane technology with its own production capabilities in a new subsidiary
over the life of the project, thus leading to a smaller total amount of waste.”
called SelectIon Technologies. In a pilot program for agricultural
There are additional applications for this novel technology.
giant Archer Daniels Midland, DEW Engineering, Ceramatec, and
“The sodium transport membrane is just one of the many ceramic
CoorsTek have constructed the world’s first SMO production
membranes we hope to help Ceramatec commercialize,” says
facility leveraging the prototype membrane.
Michael Coors. “For example, a similar membrane can be used to
At the Hanford nuclear site in Washington state, there are 149
recycle sodium in a radioactive waste cleanup application.”
huge storage tanks full of a radioactive soup brewed over the past
Other ceramic membranes also are being worked on at Ceramatec,
fifty years. The site was part of the Manhattan Project in World War
including a solid electrolyte oxygen separation membrane that can be
II. Over the next fifty years, this waste will be vitrified—slowly
used to make pure oxygen, and both lithium separation and potas-
converted into glass and then stored. “Large amounts of sodium
sium separation membranes. Applications include lithium and
hydroxide are used to keep some of the dangerous chemicals in
sodium batteries powering tomorrow’s homes and vehicles.
liquid solution,” explains Michael Coors, who is John Coors’ son
SelectIon Technologies is one of two subsidiaries created
and operations manager at SelectIon Technologies. “By recycling
by CoorsTek in 2010. The other is EmiSense Technologies, a
the sodium hydroxide and looping it back through the process, we
subsidiary that developed advanced emissions sensor technology.
will significantly reduce the amount of sodium hydroxide needed
“EmiSense is at work on three products: oxygen sensors, NOx
Shown in a biodiesel production facility, the NaSelect Methylate Module System provides extremely high-purity sodium methylate on-site and on-demand—eliminating the need for costly and hazardous transport and storage.
114
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
Posed to make the world measurably better tomorrow are CoorsTek’s next-generation EmiSense oxygen sensors improving automotive engine efficiency while lowering polluting emissions.
[nitrogen oxide] sensors, and particulate matter sensors, all of which are still in development,” says Sophie Menzer, CoorsTek R&D project manager. Oxygen sensors measure the amount of oxygen in the intake of an automobile engine and its exhaust to regulate the combustion process. While all cars have oxygen sensors, EmiSense is focused on next-generation, smarter sensors that will improve engine efficiency while lowering the volume of polluting emissions. The same story applies to its NOx sensors, which measure nitrogen oxide in the intake and exhaust systems. The particulate matter sensor is a bit different, combining the customary functions with a filter that captures particulate matter exiting a diesel engine. The oxygen and NOx sensors are made from zirconia ceramic, while the particulate matter sensor is manufactured from alumina ceramic and metal. “We expect to have the particulate matter sensors in production in 2012, and the oxygen and NOx sensors commercialized by 2013,” Menzer says. “It’s all part of making tomorrow’s nextgeneration vehicles more efficient by making their emissions cleaner.” As these examples emphasize, industry will continue to benefit greatly in the future as it does today from CoorsTek’s Amazing Solutions. Of the twenty-four industry sectors listed annually in BusinessWeek, the company currently supplies twenty-one of them. The world can look forward to extraordinary product breakthroughs that will have been touched in some way by CoorsTek’s curiosity, imagination, and ingenuity. “Our
Forever Looking Forward
115
While CoorsTek began with the humble oven-safe pottery of the early 1900s, it now offers some of the most technologically advanced components like these silicon carbide mirrors for use in space telescopes.
creativity is expressed in the way we organize people, operate a
More than three thousand employees across the globe give the
piece of machinery, or respond to customer needs,” John Coors
most of their talent, effort, and enthusiasm to develop advanced
says. “We are in the business of making things of beauty for our
materials that improve our lives and make the world measurably
customers, things they depend on and value, and things that make
better. They walk in the path of thousands before them, hewing
them successful.”
closely to the values of the Coors family—treatment of others as
Although the company no longer makes dishes and teapots,
they themselves would like to be treated, and the pride in knowing
the family pottery still supplies laboratories and universities across
the vital importance of their work. “What has made the difference
the planet with chemical ware, owning an 80 percent global mar-
for us always has been the people who work for us, the way we run
ket share. Most of the ware is still made at the original plant at 600
our business, and our passion for meeting customer needs,” John
Ninth Street, which has been expanded eighteen times since
Coors says.
Adolph Coors built it to bottle his brewery’s beer. 116
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
Leadership is crucial to all organizations, and in John employees
have been passed down to succeeding generations of his family, and
have an adroit and approachable leader who lives the corporate
to the people in their employ. The one-man insulator department
values. He and his wife Sharna have lovingly assembled a home
of the 1940s—Bill Coors—still comes to work most days of the
filled with a unique modern American family—two parents, four
week, keeping an office at a building not far from his grandfather’s
biological children, and six adopted children of diverse nationalities.
old pottery, his one-time bottling enterprise. Bill is a physically fit
Often, it is the little things that matter in life. John hand signs
and mentally sharp ninety-four-year-old, the consequence of daily
birthday cards to employees—no easy task given the size of the
exercise on a rowing machine (he was a member of Princeton
workforce. On Thanksgiving, his favorite holiday, he reflects on life’s
University’s rowing crew in college) and a couple of Coors beers a
difficulties and blessings in deeply heartfelt messages to workers
day, he insists. Like Adolph Coors, he has become a figure of
about hope, charity, and gratitude. He appends uplifting and inspi-
respectful veneration—whether he likes it or not. Decades earlier,
rational psalms or scriptures to these letters. On Thanksgiving 2008,
employees affectionately referred to the founder as “Papa.” Bill, to
he wrote, “Near the top of my list, next to family and friends, will al-
most everyone at CoorsTek, is “Uncle Bill.” Then and now, the
ways be you, the employees of CoorsTek.”
import is apparent—CoorsTek is family.
This workforce is justly proud of its contributions to the world in which we live. Many
e CoorsTek workforce is justly proud of its contributions to the world in which we live.
employees say the company helped them grow as human beings. They learned new skills
The company has accumulated one hundred years of wisdom
from diverse and often complicated tasks, and are grateful to have
and insight, assuring increasingly technologically sophisticated and
had the opportunity to bid on the different jobs and expand their
important contributions to our world today, tomorrow, and for the
career horizons. “It’s tremendously rewarding and fun to work on
next one hundred years.
different projects and then see all the types of applications it leads to,” says longtime engineer Tom Riley. “On occasion, I’ll get to design a new precipitator or an insulator or new armor, never knowing if it will make the grade but always confident that my colleagues across the organization will do their best to make it work. Most of the time we all get it right.” From the beginning CoorsTek has dreamed large to get it right, to make things of great utility, purpose, and everlasting value. The company is forever looking forward, while always learning from its past. It also has never lost sight of the ideals set by the founder, a man of vision, resourcefulness, tenacity, and integrity. These traits
Forever Looking Forward
117
1910s
• Name changed to Coors Porcelain in 1920
• Prohibition enacted—focus turns from brewery to expanding the pottery
• Herold Pottery is incorporated on December 10, 1910 • Oven-safe cookware first product line • Adolph Coors becomes president of Herold Pottery and China in 1913
• Hosted the 84th Annual Convention of the American Chemical Society in 1932 • Prohibition repealed in 1933—energies redirected to the brewery • Continued success in dinnerware lines • Expansion of chemical and scientific labware
118
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
• Porcelain tubes for military applications • Production of dinnerware lines —Glencoe ermo-Porcelain —Melotone —Rosebud
• Mid-twenties—Adolph Coors II takes charge of Coors Porcelain • Adolph Coors dies in 1929 at the age of eighty-two
1940s
• Development of scientific and chemical labware during World War I
1930s
1920s
CoorsTek—One Hundred Years of History
• Champion Spark Plug deal in 1940 includes: —labware line —isostatic forming process —spray drying material preparation technology —ceramic insulator process • Joe Coors Sr. becomes president in 1946 • Make first isostatically pressed grinding balls
1960s
1950s
• Began producing ceramic electronic components for burgeoning consumer market • Developed revolutionary dry press forming technology
• Produced ceramic armor for Vietnam War
• 1959—invented the world’s first seamless aluminum can— changes beverage industry
• Opened Clear Creek Valley plant
• Broke ground on Clear Creek Valley plant— the first outside of the original plant campus
• Opened Glenrothes, Scotland, facility to better serve European markets
1980s
1970s
• Revolutionized modern technical ceramics with introduction of high-purity AD-995 alumina • Introduced ceramic substrates for electronics industries
• Developed ceramic nose cones for military applications • Produced first ceramic armor plates
• Developed patented Anholt safety ashtrays
• Invented Zirconia-Toughened Alumina (ZTA) for the pulp and paper industry • Created nuclear bomb fail-safe components for U.S. government
• Derald Whiting became president in 1972
• Developed spinel (transparent ceramic) for advanced aircras
• Acquired a pulp and paper manufacturing components supplier, Willbanks International, in 1973
• Manufactured nozzle components for emission systems at coal-fired power plants
• Purchased RI Ceramics in Oklahoma, a supplier to petrochemical industries
• Joe Coors Jr. becomes president in 1985
• Built Grand Junction, Colorado, facility in 1977 to make substrates for IBM
• Acquired Alumina Ceramics, a seal face manufacturer with silicon carbide materials located in Benton, Arkansas, in 1979 • Developed Transformation Toughened Zirconia (TTZ) for heavy-duty applications
• Name changed to Coors Ceramics in 1986 to reflect technical ceramics offering • Opened McIntyre facility in 1989 • Launched Ceramicon Designs to satisfy consumer markets in 1989 • Shipped first semiconductor part to Applied Materials in late 1980s • Developed YTZP (yttria partially-stabilized zirconia) for extreme-duty applications One Hundred Years of History
119
2000s
1990s
• Changed name to CoorsTek in early 2000 • Initial public offering on NASDAQ as symbol CRTK • Developed reaction-bonded boron carbide (RBB4C) to meet new E-SAPI steel-core bullet resistant armor standard • Selected supplier of ceramic components for Stryker armored vehicle • Rapidly built hundreds of InVision luggage scanning equipment aer 9/11 tragedy • CoorsTek returns to private company in 2003
• Manufactured armor plates for soldiers, tanks, and helicopter seats during Gulf War
• Developed Dura-Z™ zirconia, an extremely durable material for the automotive industry
• Ceramic antennas for mobile telephone industry
• Launched C5 Medical Werks in 2005 for the production of implantable medical devices
• Spun off from Adolph Coors Brewing Company in 1992 • Jim Wade named president in 1992 • Austin, Texas, facility opened in 1995 to serve semiconductor industry • Acquired Dallas Ceramics, an established manufacturer of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) silicon carbide • Purchased Tetrafluor in El Segundo, California, for high-performance seals in aerospace, automotive, and military markets • Acquired Doo Young Semitech in South Korea to expand Asia presence • John K. Coors became president in 1998
• Acquired Gaiser Tool in early 2007, a precision tool manufacturer located in Ventura, California, and Tokyo, Japan • Expanded service to petrochemical market by opening Houston facility in March 2007 • Purchased Ceramatec, a ceramics research and development company in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2008 • Acquired DEW Engineering, a former customer, to build integrated armor solutions for military markets in 2008 • Introduced CoorsTek Armor Solutions in 2008 following the DEW product line, but specific to the United States • EmiSense Technologies starts in late 2009 to serve the emissions needs of automotive manufacturers • Created SelectIon Technologies in 2010—offering unique ion-transport products for industrial applications
120
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
Current Coors family employees: (From left to right) John K. Coors, Michael Coors, Brad Coors, Heidi Robbins, Doug Coors, Grover Coors, Jonathan Coors (not pictured: Darden Coors).
One Hundred Years of History
121
Index Numbers in italics indicate figures. ———
A
acquisitions, 56–59, 62–63, 79–80, 86–89, 93, 100–106 AC Spark Plug, 39 ACX Technologies, 82 AD-85, 81, 104 AD-995, 52, 81, 98, 100, 108 AD-999, 52 Adolph Coors Company focusing on brewery operations, 82 going public (1975), 59 Advanced Materials and Processing magazine, 43 advanced plastics, 89 Afghanistan, war in, 98–99 aircraft industry, 86, 105 Alcoa, 52 Alexander, Chuck, 45, 47, 53 Allis-Chalmers, 35, 38 alumina ceramic applications for, 39, 41 binding to metal, 41 customers for, 41 developing manufacturing methods for, 41 minute and tight-tolerance components, 58 new forming techniques for, 44 new markets for, 41 purity levels of, experimenting with, 47, 52 surpassing properties of porcelain, 39 Alumina Ceramics Inc. (ACI), 62–63 alumina plates, 101 alumina powder, availability of, 41 alumina valves, 66 aluminum cans, development of, 42, 43 aluminum sheets, 86 American Ceramic Society, 53 American Chemical Society, annual convention of (1932), 31 Amos, Brad, 96 Amos, Vince, 96 Anderson, Frank, 108 Anholt “safety” ashtray, 49–50 122
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
antenna components, 81 antialcohol temperance movement, 19–20 Apollo space missions, 49 Applied Materials, 86 Archer Daniels Midland, 112 armor, 52, 98–100, 103–6 armor plates, 45, 80–81 armor tile array, 105 ASM International, 43 AT&T, 62, 70, 77 atomic bombs, 38–39. See also Manhattan Project atomic energy, 25–26, 49 automation, 68–69 automotive industry, 59, 106 pressure sensors for, 73–74 water pumps, 60
B
BAE Systems, 99 baggage scanners, 95–98 ball-peen hammers, 78 Bay Area (California), acquisitions in, 86 Beckman Coulter, 84 beehive kilns, 26 beer delivery truck, 11 beer mugs, 49 Beloit, 70 Benton (Arkansas) plant, 96, 99 bio-compatible ceramic, 106 blood analysis equipment, 63 body armor plates, 91. See also armor Boeing Corporation, 69 Bosworth, John, 89 bottle manufacturing, 14–15, 20 Brazil, Steve, 99 bullets, 105 buttons, 78, 83
C
Campbell, Bradley, 96 Campbell, Leonard, 96 capillaries, 102 carbon entrapment, 103 casserole dishes, 26 casting and molding department, 28 Castle Rock, 26 Castle Rock Dance Hall, 26
cast pitchers, 34 Catalina China, 23 CERA-FAN, 66 CERAM, 65 Ceramatec, 97, 103, 111–12 ceramic attracting increased interest, 55 combining with plastic and metal, 88 components, whitening of, 60 materials, broadening properties of, 70 production process for, 17 ceramic engineering programs, 70 Ceramic Industry, 41, 47, 86, 89 ceramic jar mill, advertisement for, 58 Ceramicon Designs Ltd., 78–79, 82 ceramic powder, 53 ceramic products, new applications for, 49 ceramic sheets, military applications for, 104–5 ceramic tiles, sold to the brewery, 50 ceramic tubes, 62 Cerasport, 79 CERCOM, 79, 83 CER-DIP, 63–65 CERESTORE, 66 Champion Spark Plug Company, 24, 35 chemical porcelain challenges of, 23 German monopoly on, 22 chemical vapor deposition, 86 chemical ware, 114 German manufacturers of, 31 losses in, during the 1930s, 31 workers with, 22 Chenoweth, Mark, 80, 86, 92 Chicago Sun-Times, 66 Child, Ernest, 24–25 Chipman, Mike, 73 Christie, Bill, 94–95 Chrysanthemum dinnerware, 33 CIPCO, 63–65 circular kiln, installation of, 32 Clark, Bill, 60, 78–79, 80, 81 Clarke, Bob, 104 Clear Creek Valley (Colorado), 14, 19 Clear Creek Valley plant, 54, 55, 74 coal-fired periodic kiln, 17 Coban Industriale Limitada, 66 Cold War, Coors’ involvement in, 45–46 Colorado Glass Works, 14–15
closing of, 20 Colorado gold rush, 10 Colorado Transcript, 15, 24 Comerford, Janet, 92 Companie de Saint-Gobain, 108, 111 computer numerically controlled (CNC) machines, 56, 67, 69 Condit, Rick, 38 Continuous Quality Improvement, 68 Cook, John, 106 Coorado dinnerware, 33 coordinate measurement machines, 72 Coors, Adolph, 5, 10, 11–12 called “Papa,” 26–28 death of, 28 deeding bottle manufacturing plant to Herold, 19, 20 directions to son, regarding seconds, 34–35 diversifying in face of Prohibition, 19–20 elected president of Herold China and Pottery, 22 falling out with son Herman, 23 investing in Herold China and Pottery, 20–22 life of, 14–15, 19 recognized for contribution to war effort and postwar America, 24–25 repurchasing Herold’s interest in Herold China and Pottery, 24 as shareholder in H. F. Coors Porcelain Company, 23 Coors, Adolph, Jr., 23, 96 death of, 53 determined to revive company’s dinnerware line, 28 left in control of the company, 26–28 managing Herold China and Pottery, 22, 24 promoting chemical and scientific ware, 24 resuscitating the brewery after end of Prohibition, 32 stopping by Coors Porcelain, 47 Coors, Adolph, III, 38, 47, 96 Coors, Brad, 92, 102, 119 Coors, Darden, 97 Coors, Doug, 92, 119 on baggage scanner project, 98 on purchasing Ceramatec, 103 on purchasing Gaiser Tool, 102–3 Coors, Grover (son of Adolph Sr.), 22, 26, 96 Coors, (W.) Grover (son of Joe Sr.), 56, 119 assisting in development of insulators, 62 on CNC’s impact on making ceramics, 69 heading up MicroLithics, 72 Coors, Helene, 14 Coors, Herman, 22, 23, 96 leaving Golden, 26 promoting chemical and scientific ware, 24
Index
123
Coors, Jeff, 56, 56 Coors, John, 12, 15, 56, 89, 92, 119 balancing corporate growth and personal fulfillment, 91 becoming president, chairman, and CEO, 89 leadership of, 115 on CoorsTek’s creativity, 111, 113–14 on CoorsTek’s success, 114 on market conditions in early 2000s, 93 receiving personal thanks for CoorsTek’s armor, 105 synthesizing the company’s purpose, 92 on taking CoorsTek private, 93, 94 on vertical integration, 89 Coors, Jonathan, 103–6, 119 Coors, Joseph (Adolph’s father), 14 Coors, Joseph (Joe), Sr., 39, 45–46, 49, 53, 56, 96, 102 building up foreign business, 63 on building a new plant for Wilbanks, 66 clearing kiln wrecks, 36 death of, 94 improving the company’s technological capabilities, 38 named honorary member of American Ceramic Society, 53 openness of, 53 as part of Reagan’s Kitchen Cabinet, 72, 73 providing technical expertise during World War II, 38 on role of alumina ceramics in air age, 45 working for the brewery, 56 Coors, Joseph (Joe), Jr., 47, 56, 97 on acquisitions, 58 as CEO and chairman, 83 joining Coors Porcelain, 56 as president of Coors Porcelain, 77 on returning to the consumer market, 78–79 restructuring sales and marketing organization, 79 Coors, Louisa, 31 Coors, Michael, 112, 119 Coors, Pete, 56 Coors, Sharna, 115 Coors, William K. “Bill,” 23, 39, 53, 56, 96 on clearing kiln wrecks, 36–38 on development of the aluminum can, 43 on his father and grandfather, 28 on Joe Sr. improving the company’s technological capabilities, 38 on joining the company, 34–35 named Modern Metals Man of the Year, 43 as one-man insulator department, 36 on offers to purchase Coors Porcelain, 40 on ovenware, 25 supplying technical expertise during World War II, 38 on Van Johnson and Harold Ryland, 32 124
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
as venerated figure, 115 working on the Manhattan Project, 38–39 Coors Baking Ware, 25 Coors beer becoming national brand, 56 helpful during kiln wrecks, 38 improving the taste of, 43 Coors Biomedical Company, 66, 83 Coors Brewery, 54 Coors Ceramics core competency of, as solving industrial problems, 76–77 cost reductions at (early 1990s), 83 exclusive supplier agreement with Lechler, 76 first positive retained earning in company history (1987), 79 name changed to, 79 named Kavlico’s Supplier of the Year (1988), 74 as part of ACX, 82 partitioned into three operating divisions, 83 returning to the consumer market, 78–79 spun off from ACX Technologies, 91 spun off from Adolph Coors Company, 82 Coors Courier, 80 Coors mansion, 31, 32 Coors Porcelain Company, 18, 25, 26 adopting decentralized, team-based approach, 59 advertisements for, 40, 58 becoming world’s largest maker of industrial ceramics, 53 corporate culture of, 26, 46–47, 60 defects at, 34–35 display racks, 34 early products of, 25 early retirement plan at, 68 employee group shot (late 1980s), 71 employees of (1970), 55 enhancing cost effectiveness of its production processes, 55 entering foreign markets, 63–66 experimenting with new ceramic materials, 66–68 families working together at, 46 first Vision Statement of, 77, 79 holding 90 percent share of domestic chemical ware market (1932), 31 hosting 1932 annual convention of the American Chemical Society, 31 increased workforce at (1962), 49 largest ceramic tube ever made by, 73 launching a metalizing division, 41 logo, 25 manufacturing components that affect everyday living, 50 manufacturing methods at (1930s), 32
name changed from Herold China and Pottery, 25 obtaining license for Champion’s proprietary production process, 35 offers to purchase, 40 operating as part of a public company, 59 product line diversity, 60 reentering consumer market after World War II, 40–41 vertically integrating its manufacturing, 66 women working at, 34 workers at, 30 Coors Rosebud Pottery (Schneider), 25, 33 Coors Scientific Labware, early logo for, 31 CoorsTek becoming world’s largest technical and industrial ceramics manufacturer, 108, 111 companies seeking out, for solutions to manufacturing problems, 17 corporate culture of, 96–97 creativity of, 113–14 depth and scale of, 111 efficiency improvements at, 94–95 facilities of, 12 mission of, 12–15 new name for Coors Ceramics, 91–93 output of, 12 poster for, 93 pride among its workforce, 115 privatization of, 93–94 values of, 12 Wall Street’s valuation of, 93 CoorsTek Armor Solutions (CTAS), 106 cordierite, 81 Corning Glass Works, 40 C3 Medical Werks, 102 Cummins, 84 Czaplinski, Bill, 60, 63, 74
D
Dallas Ceramics, 86 data processing applications, 85 David (Michelangelo), 8, 9 dental crowns, 66 Denver Post, 31, 38, 41, 50, 52, 104 DEW Engineering, 97, 103–6, 111, 112 dinnerware, 28, 33, 34 Doo Young Semitek, 89 Dorst presses, 53 dry press forming, 44, 52, 69 Dura-Z Zirconia, 106
E
Edwards Enterprises, 86 El Cajon (California) plant, 65 electronic circuit boards, 44 electronic circuit packages, 62 Electronic Packages Group, 83 Electronic Products Group, 83 electronics equipment market, 41 electrostatic precipitator insulators, 62 electrostatic precipitators, 60 EmiSense Technologies, 112–13 emissions sensor technology, 112–13 Energy Recovery Company, 108 E-SAPI (Enhanced Small Arms Protective Inserts), 99 Evolution of a Lump o’ Clay, The (Coors Porcelain Company), 34
F
families, working for Coors, 46, 96–97 fan blades, 66 Fenerty, Mike, 39, 44, 59, 62–63 Fiesta dinnerware, 28, 29 Floree dinnerware, 33 Fluid Metering Inc., 65–66 foil blades, 70 foreign business, 63–65 foreign manufacturing, 63–66 front office staff, 46 fuel elements, uranium enriched, 45 fuel pumps, 84 Funicular Train, 26, 27
G
Gaiser Tool, 102–3 Garden dinnerware, 33 General Dynamics, 98, 103 General Dynamics Land System, 105 General Electric Ceramics Inc., 79 Germany, monopoly of, on chemical porcelain, 22 Glencoe porcelain lines, 33 Glencoe Thermo-Porcelain, 28 Glenrothes (Scotland) facility, 64, 66, 97, 100 Golden, Thomas, 11 Golden (Colorado), 11, 20, 54 Golden Aluminum Company, 82 Golden Genesis, 91 Golden Ivory dinnerware, 33 Golden Lager, 14, 19
Index
125
Golden Technologies Company, 82 golf equipment, 78–79 Golike, Andrew, 97 Grand Junction (Colorado) facility, 59, 64, 65 Graphic Packaging Corporation, 82 grinding balls, 39, 44, 45 grinding media, 70 grinding mill, 48 Ground Zero, memorial at, 90, 100 Gulf War, 80–81
H
Haen, Tim, 81 hang fire collar, 41 Harder, Lee, 104 Hart, Bart, 78 Hawthorne dinnerware, 33 Hayes, Tim, 97 heat-seeking missiles, nose cones for, 73 helicopter seats, 99 Herbert, Bill, 60, 104 Herman board, 62 Herold, John J., 5, 15, 19 early life of, 20 establishing local pottery, 20 expertise of, in pottery making, 23 leaving Golden for a second time, 24 relinquishing interest in Herold China and Pottery, 22 returning to Herold China and Pottery, 23 Herold China and Pottery Company, 5 early years, rapid growth in sales, 24 incorporation of, 20 manufacturing porcelain chemical ware, during World War II, 22–24 name changed to Coors Porcelain Company, 25 recapitalization of, 20–22 H. F. Coors Porcelain Company, 23 Hillsboro (Oregon) plant, 96 hip sockets, 102 Hoffa, Jimmy, 46 Homer Laughlin Pottery Company, 28 Humphrey’s Mineral Industries, 79
I
IBM, 52–53, 70–71, 72, 76–77 implantable ceramic medical components, 102 industrial ceramics market for, beginnings of, 35 126
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
properties of, 11 variety of, 13 industrial knives, 70 injection molding, 108 installation, finishing touches on, 56 insulators, 35, 36 for the Manhattan Project, 38–39 Intel, 63 Interamics, 79 InVision Technologies, 95, 98 ion transport membrane, 111–12 Iraq war, 98–99 iron spots, 35 ISO 9001 certification, 94 isostatic forming, 35–36, 38, 39, 44 isostatic forming press, 35
J
James, Dennis, 96 Johnson, Van, 32 Johnson and Johnson, 66 Jones, Kristopher, 96 Jones, Vernon, 96 Joshi, Ashok, 103
K
Kavlico, 73–74 Kemper, Daryl, 96 Kemper, David, 96 kiln wreck, risk of and response to, 36–38 knife sharpeners, 78, 79 Kyocera, 63, 74
L
Lam Research, 86 Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (UC-Berkeley), 38 LEAN, 94, 95 Lechler, 76 Liberty Machine Company, 93 Light Armored Vehicles, secondary armor for, 105 lithium batteries, 112 lithium separation membrane, 112 L-2 kiln, 37 L-3 kiln, 36 lubrication system, for manufacturing substrates, 53 lumpy order syndrome, 80–81, 99
M
magnetic tape, 65, 83–84 Mahardy, Ed, 66, 76 mainframe computers, substrates for, 52–53 malted milk, 23, 24 Managing from the Heart, 77 Managing Relationships at Work, 77 Manhattan Project, 38–39, 112 Mannah, 23 Marketplace Chaplains Employee Care Program, 97 Marsh, Ian, 97 McDonnell, Mike, 97 McGuiness, Frank, 59 McIntyre plant, 68, 69, 82 McNerny, Kevin, 99 mechanical shaft bearings, 44 medical device market, 63, 86 Mellotone dinnerware, 28, 33 Menzer, Sophie, 113 metalizing division, 55–56 microelectronic circuit boards, 70–72 MicroLithics, 72 micro-surgery components, 107 miners, 6, 10, 20 miniaturization, trend toward, 62 minimally invasive surgical devices, 100 mirrors, for space telescopes, 114 Modern Metals, 43 Mornin, Bob, 43 MRW (Managing Relationships at Work), 77 multilayer channel components, 100 Mundhenke, Siegfried, 68, 69
N
NASA, 106 NaSelect Methylate Module System, 112 National High Temperature Materials Laboratory, 80 National Semiconductor, 63, 65 Ngov, Jimmy, 96 Ngov, Song, 96 Nickens, Anthony, 97 Nike-Zeus antimissile, 49 nitrogen oxide sensors, 112–13 Norman (Oklahoma) plant, 96 nose cones, for defense rockets, 45 nuclear bomb fail-safe components, 72–73 nuclear-powered aircraft engine, 45
O
Oak Ridge (Tennessee) plant, 80, 96 Ogdensburg (New York) plant, 106 Olin Corporation, 105 Operational Excellence methodology (OpX), 94–95 optical mirrors, 106 ovenware, 25 Owens Pottery Company, 20 oxygen sensors, 70, 113 oxygen separation membrane, 112
P
packing department, 49 paper industry, 56, 66, 70 Paracio, Ray, 60 pasteurization, 43 petroleum industry, 57, 58, 102 Petty, Mark, 74, 77, 89, 92 Philip Morris, 68–69 pin grid array packages, 60 PlasmaPure, 100 plunger parts, for petroleum industry, 57, 58 pollution control, 62, 74 porcelain, properties of, 22 porcelain chemical ware, U.S. manufacture of, during World War I, 22–23 porcelain workers, 22 potassium separation membrane, 112 Potters (company football team), 26 power generation market, 74 Precision Technologies, 86 pressure sensors, 76, 77 Prey, Hank, 108 printing technology, 108 Prohibition, 19–20, 23, 31–32 pugs, 51 pump parts, for petroleum industry, 57, 58 pyrometer tubes, 36
Q
Quaintance, Charles, 24 quality control, 28, 49, 68
R
radioactive waste, vitrification of, 112 radio sets, tubes for, 45 RADVA, 76
Index
127
ram press, 44 Rask, Steve, 92, 94 Raytheon, 81 reaction-bonded boron carbide (RBB4C), 99 Readey, Mike, 69 Reagan, Ronald, 72, 73 removable envelope kiln, 41 renewable energy, 111 research division, 56 Research Instruments Company, 57, 58 Reynolds, 52 RI Ceramic, 58–59, 80 Riddle, Frank, 35 Riley, Tom, 76, 80, 97, 98, 115 rings, 88 Rio Claro (Brazil), subsidiary in, 66 R. J. Reynolds, 68, 69 Robbins, Heidi, 95, 119 Rocky Mountain News, 20, 44, 45–46 roll compaction, 72, 74 Rontantini, Len, 68, 69 Rosebud Cook-N-Serve dinnerware, 33 Rosebud dinnerware, 28, 29 Roseville Pottery, 20 Rozane Mongol deep red glaze pottery, 20 Rulis, Dean, 58, 63–65, 70, 72 Ryland, Harold, 32, 35, 49
S
Salvador, Juan, 96 Salvador, Mateo, 96 Schneider, Robert, 25, 28, 33 Schovajsa, Renée, 72–73, 76–77 Schueler, Jacob, 14 Schueler & Coors, 14 screen printing, 45 seal rings, 62–63, 65 seals, 88 seawater desalinization, 108 seconds problem of, 34–35 scrap yard for, 47 Seegmiller, Brian, 67, 70, 79, 81–82, 84, 106 SelectIon Technologies, 112 semiconductor industry, 59–60, 86, 87, 91–92, 128 shirt buttons, 78, 83 Siemens Components, 79 silicon carbide, 67, 70, 106 128
Ceramic Strength—CoorsTek at 100
armor tiles, 99 plates, 99, 101 components, 75 silicon nitride, 70 single-layer alumina metalized (SLAM) carriers, 60 600 Ninth Street, 4–5, 16, 18, 46, 54 expansions to, 31, 114 manufacturing enhancements at, 53 Six Sigma, 94 16000 North Table Mountain (Golden, CO), 78, 79, 82, 89 ski ramps, 80 slitting discs, 70 Small Arms Protective Inserts (SAPI), 99 smokeless cigarettes, 68–69 Snotiles, 80 sodium batteries, 112 sodium methoxide (SMO), 111–12 solar panel industry, 87 solid oxide fuel cell leveraging plasma technology, 103 South Africa, joint venture in, 66, 68 South Korea, acquisition in, 89 Southwest Research Institute, 73 space industry, 106, 114 Specialty Material Center, 108 Spectro-Chemical Laboratory, 56 spies, at Coors Porcelain plant, 46 spinel, 73 spray dryer, 109 spray nozzles, 74–77 Steinkuhler, Bill, 46, 52, 53, 104 Stenger Brewery, 14 Stevenson, Cheri, 77 Stevenson, Suzanne, 97 St. Louis World’s Fair and Exposition (1904), 20 stock market crash, 28 Storage Technology Corporation, 65, 83–84 Structural Products Group, 83, 86 Stryker 8-Wheel Drive Armored Combat Vehicle, 98, 99, 104, 105 substrates, 44, 52 for mainframe computers, 52–53 manufacturing large numbers of, 53 with metalized screen printing pattern, 47 variety of forming methods for, 61
T
tape, fed into laser finishing machine, 74 tape casting, 62 targets, for military testing, 105
Teamsters, 46 telephone switching gear, 62, 69 terrorism, response to, 95 Tetrafluor, 86–89 thermal ink-jet printers, 108 Thermo-Porcelain, 25, 33 Thermo-Porcelain White Hotel Ware, 25 thick-film substrates, 70–72 thin-film substrates, 62, 70 timing plungers, 106 Tools of the Chemist (Child), 24–25 Total Quality Management, 68 Transformation-Toughened Zirconia (TTZ), 67, 84 Transportation Security Administration, 95 Tribute in Light, 90, 100 Trotter, John, 65 Tulip dinnerware, 33 tunnel kilns, 32, 36
U
unionization, 46 University of Chicago, 26 U.S. Department of Commerce, 22 U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 69 U.S. government early experimenting in atomic energy, 25–26 preparing for World War II, 36 U.S. Navy, giant ceramic tubes for, 73 U.S. Transportation Security Administration, 95
V
vacuum wafer chuck, 128 Valmet, 70 valves, 84 vehicle armor modules, 105. See also armor vertical integration, 89 vibratory finishing, 74 Vietnam War, 81, 104 Vision Statement, 77, 79 Voith, 70 VZS Technical Ceramics, 100–102
W
Wade, Jim, 83 Wales, plant in, 66 Walter, Catherine, 97 water faucet valves, 63 Wells, Bob, 65–66, 84, 108 Wenker, Henry, 14 Wenker Brewery, 14, 19 Western Electric, 69 Western Pottery Company, 22 wet finishing, 15 White Gold, 73 Whiting, Derald, 56, 58, 59 Wilbanks International, 56–59, 66, 72 wire industry, 59 Woodall, James, 96 Woodall, Jamie, 96 World War I, 22–24 World War II challenges of, 36 items produced during, 38
X
X-SAPI body armor, 99
Z
zero-defects programs, 68 zirconia ceramic, 67 zirconia powder, 70 zirconia-toughened alumina, 70 zirconia-toughened aluminum pellet armor, 81 zirconia valves, 66
Index
129
Ultra-at vacuum wafer chuck made with PureSiC Silicon Carbide. This material is 99.9995 percent pure— particularly important for semiconductor manufacturing to reduce particulate contamination.