OMNOVA Solutions Recognizes Employee Innovations With 2009 Technology Awards

FAIRLAWN, Ohio, July 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- OMNOVA Solutions (NYSE: OMN) today announced its 2009 Technology Award recipients. This annual award program recognizes exemplary technology-based contributions by associates in OMNOVA's research and development, sales and marketing, technical service, operations, product management and LEAN SixSigma organizations.

Technological innovations in new product development and process improvements are positively impacting customers in virtually all of OMNOVA's served markets including coated fabrics for automotive interiors, decorative paper laminates, commercial wallcoverings, performance films used in healthcare products, as well as performance chemicals for paper, floor care, oil drilling and other specialty applications.

Recipients hail from across OMNOVA's global operations, including its Performance Chemicals business segment facilities in Akron, Ohio; Mogadore, Ohio; Chester, South Carolina; Green Bay, Wisconsin; and Fitchburg, Massachusetts; and Decorative Products business segment facilities in Monroe, North Carolina; Jeannette, Pennsylvania; Columbus, Mississippi; Fairlawn, Ohio; and Shanghai, China.

"Innovation enables OMNOVA to grow by differentiating our Company as a value-added supplier to our customers in today's challenging operating environment," said Kevin McMullen, OMNOVA Solutions' Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "This year's recipients have successfully built on OMNOVA's core competencies in our existing markets and further enhanced our products and processes as we continue to broaden our scope in new, adjacent markets. Several of these award-winning technologies also deliver environmentally preferred attributes, expanding on our sustainability commitment. These breakthroughs represent another example of OMNOVA's unyielding commitment to our customers and markets, and to making investments that further expand our capabilities to meet our customers' needs."  

Innovation titles, summaries and recipients are as follows:

RECORE® Recycled Wall Technology

Ronnie Bell – Columbus, Mississippi

Rob Moore – Columbus, Mississippi

Otis Allen – Columbus, Mississippi

Reba Ingram – Columbus, Mississippi

Tony Warrington – Columbus, Mississippi

When OMNOVA introduced its revolutionary RECORE® Recycled Wall Technology, it was an industry first with the highest content of recycled material. Wallcoverings with RECORE technology contain 30% recycled content and have been certified to contain a minimum 20% post-consumer recycled content by Scientific Certification Systems, a global leader in independent certification of environmental product claims. This team from OMNOVA's Columbus, Mississippi facility worked with plant associates and outside suppliers to fully integrate this innovation into its processes. Today, OMNOVA's most popular wallcovering brands, including Bolta®, Essex™, Genon® and Tower®, as well as viewnique™ digital wall murals, utilize RECORE Recycled Wall Technology.

GenCryl Pt® 9457 High Performance Paper Latex

Pam Arndorfer – Green Bay, Wisconsin

Brian Doucet – Mogadore, Ohio

Michael Flickinger – Akron, Ohio

Joy Untch – Mogadore, Ohio

Bill Verhasselt – Green Bay, Wisconsin

John Westerman – Akron, Ohio

Building on OMNOVA's award-winning GenCryl Pt® paper latex technology platform, this cross-functional team, along with associates from the Company's Mogadore, Ohio pilot plant and Green Bay, Wisconsin facility, developed a high performance latex with enhanced paper printing attributes. GenCryl Pt 9457 latex is currently being utilized at several printing mills across the United States. OMNOVA is continually working with its paper latex customers to develop products based on this innovation to meet the needs of their manufacturing processes and end use specifications.

Mor-Shine® G-31.5 Environmentally Preferred Floor Polish Formulation

Jamey Gaston – Chester, South Carolina

Bill Beers – Chester, South Carolina

Don Kim – Akron, Ohio

Russ Craig – Chester, South Carolina

Suzanne Hurrey – Fitchburg, Massachusetts

This team led OMNOVA's floor care specialty chemicals group in the commercialization of Mor-Shine® G-31.5 floor polish formulation. This formulation has been qualified under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Design for the Environment program for containing ingredients with more positive environmental characteristics than conventional floor polishes. It is also California Air Resources Board (CARB) 2010 compliant for low VOC emissions. Building on OMNOVA's core technical competencies in commercial and industrial floor care products, Mor-Shine G-31.5 utilizes two innovative and proprietary components - NM® 128 floor care polymer and PolyFox™ PF-2002 fluorosurfactant – to deliver the performance desired by the end user, as well as a strong environmental profile.

Paper Laminates Performance Coating Development

Milton Johnson – Monroe, North Carolina

Nick Gusler – Monroe, North Carolina

Bill Guillot – Monroe, North Carolina

Ron Collette – Monroe, North Carolina

This team worked closely with internal and external stakeholders to develop a new coating for OMNOVA's Paper Laminates. Following extensive research and development that was supported by the Company's strong LEAN SixSigma process improvement approach, the coating was fully integrated into the Monroe, North Carolina facility's manufacturing processes. The coating delivers excellent functional attributes, while improving plant productivity.

Inflatable Medical Mattress Films

Sunil Deoras – Jeannette, Pennsylvania

Tim Polaski – Jeannette, Pennsylvania

Roxanne Smith – Fairlawn, Ohio

This cross-functional team recognized an opportunity for OMNOVA to increase its participation in the medical products market with vinyl films for use in inflatable mattress applications. Mattresses for this particular application are selectively inflated with air to reduce the potential for bed sores, providing relief to patients. Working in close collaboration with a customer, the team developed a product to meet the strict specifications for products used in patient care facilities, as well as those mandated by federal regulations.

Bio-Based Copolymer for Oil/Gas Drilling Fluids

Lulu Alborno – Chester, South Carolina

Dan Bode – Field Sales

Dan Hagerty – Mogadore, Ohio

Doug Harper – Chester, South Carolina

Tim Saddow – Chester, South Carolina

Rita Vickerman – Mogadore, Ohio

This team worked to leverage one of OMNOVA's environmentally preferred paper latex product platforms for use in oil and gas drilling applications. In collaboration with customers, OMNOVA successfully developed and commercialized a revolutionary new copolymer for use in drilling muds. This chemistry is gaining broad acceptance in the market through its superior performance features and strong environmental profile.

Bio-Based Copolymer Manufacturing Process

Jim Vaughn – Mogadore, Ohio

Brian Doucet – Mogadore, Ohio

Glen Pellett – Chester, South Carolina

Heather Hackenbracht – Mogadore, Ohio

Rachel Blei – Mogadore, Ohio

This cross-functional team successfully enabled OMNOVA to develop and commercialize unique, environmentally preferred copolymers for release coatings and other specialty chemical markets. Development took place at OMNOVA facilities in Mogadore, Ohio and Calhoun, Georgia. The team overcame a number of hurdles through strong collaboration and data analysis.

Automotive Seating – Asia Market

Frank Chen – Shanghai, China

Jiang Bin – Shanghai, China

Sam Zhang – Shanghai, China

Jiming Sun – Shanghai, China

Henry Hong – Shanghai, China

Titan Tian – Shanghai, China

Lily Liu – Shanghai, China

Grace Chen – Shanghai China

Coco Zhang – Shanghai, China

In close collaboration with the customer and external partners, OMNOVA's Decorative Products China team developed an innovative leather upholstery with a unique textile backing for automotive interior applications. This required adherence to the customer's detailed specifications, as well as enhancements to OMNOVA's manufacturing processes. The new upholstery product was utilized in three models for a major automaker at the end of 2009 with additional business expected in 2010.

OMNOVA Solutions is a technology-based company with 2009 sales of $696 million and a workforce of approximately 2,300 employees worldwide. OMNOVA is an innovator of emulsion polymers, specialty chemicals, and decorative and functional surfaces for a variety of commercial, industrial and residential end uses. Visit OMNOVA Solutions on the internet at www.omnova.com.

GENCRYL PT, MOR-SHINE, NM, RECORE, BOLTA, GENON and VIEWNIQUE are registered trademarks of OMNOVA Solutions Inc.

POLYFOX is a trademark used under license by OMNOVA Solutions Inc.

TOWER is a registered trademark used under license by OMNOVA Solutions Inc.

SOURCE OMNOVA Solutions