Producer
Eastman Chemical Company
Specialty chemical company (NYSE: EMN, HQ Kingsport, TN); world's largest PVB producer under the Saflex® brand with ~28% global market share. Eastman Chemical was founded in 1920 as a subsidiary of Eastman Kodak to supply Kodak's chemical needs at Kingsport, Tennessee — spun off as an independent public company in 1994. Acquired Saflex PVB through purchase of Solutia Inc. (2012). Saflex® PVB is used in automotive windshields, building laminated glass, and hurricane-resistant glazing. Primary manufacturing at Springfield, MA (original 1938 Saflex plant) and Kingsport, TN.
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Inputs supplied
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Goods downstream
2
Facilities
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Stories
What they make
2 inputs Eastman Chemical Company supplies
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Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something Eastman Chemical Company makes, pick one to see the full supply chain.
Where they make it
2 facilities
Eastman Chemical Kingsport Tennessee HQ & Plant →
USTennessee · manufacturing
Eastman Chemical Company headquarters and primary chemical manufacturing complex in Kingsport, Tennessee — the original facility founded in 1920 as a Kodak subsidiary. Major site for specialty polymers and chemical intermediates supporting the Saflex® PVB production chain. Source: https://www.eastman.com/en/who-we-are/history
Eastman Saflex PVB Plant — Springfield, MA →
USMassachusetts · manufacturing
Original Monsanto PVB plant (founded 1938); acquired by Eastman; primary Saflex® PVB interlayer film production for automotive and architectural laminated glass. Oldest industrial PVB manufacturing site in the world.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map, where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Saflex® PVB Interlayer (World #1 — Automotive + Building Glass)
30%NMP Solvent (Battery Electrodes + Semiconductor)
15%Tritan™ Copolyester & Specialty Polymers
25%Molecular Recycling (Chemical Recycling) — Strategic
15%Chemical Intermediates
15%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains, chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2023
Eastman Chemical's NMP (N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone) solvent serves two completely separate supply chains: (1) lithium-ion battery electrode manufacturing — NMP is the solvent that dissolves PVDF binder to create the electrode slurry that coats cathode active material on aluminum foil in every NMC lithium-ion battery; and (2) semiconductor manufacturing — NMP strips photoresist (spent photosensitive polymer) from semiconductor wafers between process steps. The same polar aprotic solvent in the Eastman catalog enables both EV battery production (energy transition) and semiconductor fabrication (advanced electronics). A specialty chemical company formerly known as Eastman Kodak's chemistry supplier now provides critical solvents for two of the most consequential industrial technology transitions of the 2020s — electrified transport and advanced computing.
Eastman Chemical Company ↗Capacity2023
Eastman's Saflex® PVB (polyvinyl butyral) interlayer — the world's largest PVB brand — serves both automotive windshields AND solar panel lamination, connecting two major clean energy infrastructure supply chains. In automotive: PVB interlayer in laminated windshield glass prevents shattering on impact — a 100+ year-old application in virtually every automobile. In solar: PVB is used as an encapsulant in glass-glass bifacial solar modules (competing with EVA — ethylene-vinyl acetate), where it bonds silicon cells between two glass sheets. The same PVB chemistry that makes windshields shatter-resistant for driver safety also protects solar cells from moisture and mechanical damage for 30+ years of energy production. A Kodak-heritage specialty chemical company is a critical material supplier to both the electric vehicle era (windshields for EVs, solar encapsulation for home EV charging) and the solar energy era.
Eastman Chemical (Saflex Brand) ↗Origin2023
Eastman Chemical Company was founded in 1920 in Kingsport, Tennessee as Eastman Kodak's captive chemicals supplier — providing the acetic acid, acetate esters, and cellulose acetate needed for photographic film. Kodak's Tennessee chemical operations were isolated from the Rochester NY film operations for fire safety reasons (cellulose nitrate film was extremely flammable). Eastman became a major chemical manufacturer in its own right and was spun off as an independent public company in 1994 when Kodak divested its chemical operations. The PVB (Saflex) safety glass business came through the 2012 acquisition of Solutia Inc. (formerly Monsanto's specialty chemicals) for $4.7B. Eastman's Kingsport Tennessee campus is still powered partly by coal gasification — a process using Tennessee coal to produce synthesis gas for acetic acid — a direct heritage from Kodak's 1920s self-sufficient chemical manufacturing model.
Eastman Chemical Company ↗