W. L. Gore and Associates

W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.

Type	Private
Founded	1958
Founder(s)	Bill Gore and Vieve Gore
Headquarters	555 Paper Mill Road Newark, Delaware 19711
Key people	Robert W. Gore, Chairman of the Board Terri Kelly, President
Revenue	$2.6 billion
Employees	9,000
Website	gore.com

W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. is a manufacturing company specializing in products derived from fluoropolymers. It is a privately held corporation headquartered in Newark, Delaware, with operations around the globe. Although best known as the developer of waterproof, breathable Gore-Tex fabrics, Gore’s products are also used in a variety of industrial and consumer products, such as electronic signal transmission, diverse industrial applications and medical implants.

History

The company was founded in 1958 by Wilbert (Bill) Lee Gore and his wife Genevieve (Vieve) Walton Gore in Newark. Bill Gore had spent 16 years with the DuPont Company in a number of technical positions that included fluoropolymer research when he decided to form his own company. While working in his basement, he set out to develop a process for insulating a series of parallel electrical wires using polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), a fluoropolymer discovered in 1938 by Roy Plunkett, a chemist with DuPont.^[1] His son, Robert W. Gore (Bob), in college at the time, suggested a method for encapsulating the wires which proved successful and led to the company’s first patent. The resulting product was called Multi-Tet cable, a multi-conductor ribbon cable used in computers, communications, and process control equipment.^[2]

The company operated from the basement of the Gores' home until 1960, when an order from the Denver Water Company for seven and a half miles of Multi-Tet cable made it necessary to expand manufacturing capacity. The Gores built a new facility in Delaware, not far from their home, which is still in operation. By 1970, Gore and its subsidiary companies had manufacturing plants for wire and cable in Arizona, Scotland, Germany, and Japan.

Bob Gore joined the company in 1963 upon completion of a Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota. In 1969, he was researching a process for stretching extruded PTFE into pipe thread tape when he discovered that the polymer could be “expanded.” The discovery followed a series of unsuccessful experiments in which he was attempting to stretch rods of PTFE by about 10%. As it turned out, the right conditions for stretching PTFE were counterintuitive. Instead of slowly stretching the heated material, he applied a sudden, accelerating yank that unexpectedly caused it to stretch about 800%. This resulted in the transformation of the solid PTFE into a microporous structure that was about 70% air. The company initially referred to this new material as “fibrillated PTFE”. One year later, it was given the name of “Gore-Tex expanded PTFE”.^[3] Today, expanded PTFE (ePTFE) accounts for the vast majority of the company's products.

In 1985, Bill Gore received the Prince Philip Award for Polymers in the Service of Mankind, which honored Gore’s Medical Products Division. The award is given in recognition of polymers that have provided a significant service for mankind. In 2005, the Society of Chemical Industry presented Bob Gore with the Perkin Medal, which recognizes the most significant achievements in applied chemistry. In 2006, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame^[4] for the invention of ePTFE.^[5]

Bill Gore served as president of the company until 1976, when Bob Gore assumed the position. Bill continued as chairman until he died in 1986 at the age of 74. Genevieve (Vieve) Gore continued in active service to the company until she died in 2005 at the age of 91.

Charles (Chuck) Carroll, a long-term business leader in the Electronics and Fabrics Divisions, replaced Bob Gore as president in 2000. Terri Kelly, who joined Gore in 1983 as a mechanical engineer in the Fabrics Division, became president in 2005. Bob Gore continues as Chairman of the Board. The company remains privately held. Gore is one of the 200 largest privately held companies in the United States. Gore and its subsidiaries employ approximately 8,500 associates at more than 50 facilities throughout the world in East Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas.

Gore Culture

In 2009, for the twelfth consecutive year, W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. earned a position on Fortune magazine's annual list of the U.S. "100 Best Companies to Work For."^[6] Its European operations have also earned similar honors. Gore UK has been named seven times by London’s The Sunday Times as one of the “Best Companies to Work For.”^[7] In 2009, Gore Germany ranked eighth in the "100 Best Places to Work in Germany" among mid-sized companies.^[8] Gore Italy ranked sixth among the "35 Best Places to Work in Italy."^[9] Gore France topped the list of “Best Workplaces in France”^[10] while Gore Scandinavia ranked fourth among small companies on the list of “Best Workplaces in Sweden.”^[11] Gore was listed 12th on the “50 Best Large Workplaces in Europe 2009.”^[12]

An important factor in this recognition is Gore’s unique culture, which evolved from the company’s success with small teams during its early years. This approach to business was based on Bill Gore’s experience with “task force teams” while he was employed at the DuPont Company. Such groups were formed at DuPont on an ad hoc basis to attack problem situations. They were usually multidisciplinary and typically operated for short periods of time outside of the company’s formal management hierarchy.

Bill Gore first presented the concept of a “lattice” organization to Gore associates in 1967. He later refined his ideas and presented what he termed “culture principles” in a paper entitled “The Lattice Organization – A Philosophy of Enterprise.” It was distributed to Gore associates in 1976.^[13]

Unlike the traditional management structure that Bill Gore had experienced at DuPont, he proposed a flat, lattice-like organizational structure where everyone shares the same title of “associate.” There are neither chains of command nor predetermined channels of communication. Leaders replace the idea of “bosses.” Associates choose to follow leaders rather than have bosses assigned to them. Associate contribution reviews are based on a peer-level rating system.

Bill Gore articulated four culture principles that he called freedom, fairness, commitment and waterline:

• Associates have the freedom to encourage, help, and allow other associates to grow in knowledge, skill, and scope of responsibility
• Associates should demonstrate fairness to each other and everyone with whom they come in contact
• Associates are provided the ability to make one's own commitments and are expected to keep them
• A waterline situation involves consultation with other associates before undertaking actions that could impact the reputation or profitability of the company and otherwise “sink the ship.”

In the lattice organization, associates are encouraged to communicate directly with each other and are accountable to fellow members of their teams. Hands-on product innovation and prototyping are encouraged. Teams typically organize around opportunities, new product concepts, or businesses. As teams evolve, leaders frequently emerge as they gain followership. This unusual organizational structure and culture has been shown to be a significant contributor to associate satisfaction and retention.^[14]

This corporate culture was highlighted in Malcolm Gladwell's 2000 book, The Tipping Point.

Product Portfolio

Gore’s product line builds around a core material set using expanded PTFE and other fluoropolymers. PTFE has a combination of properties well suited to high performance applications. Some of those properties are

• Low dielectric constant (good electrical insulator)
• High thermal resistance (-200°C to + 260°C)
• Low coefficient of friction
• Low flammability
• UV-resistant
• Hydrophobic and oleophobic (non-wetting to water and oil)
• Chemically inert (and biocompatible)

In addition to these properties, PTFE is soft and mechanically weak, which can be a disadvantage in certain applications. However, Gore has developed capabilities using forms of expanded PTFE with engineered microstructures that can significantly increase its strength and durability. Other Gore capabilities enable different materials to be incorporated into the ePTFE microstructure, such as catalysts and antimicrobial agents. This leads to products that can extend the inherent properties of PTFE, such as gas diffusion membranes with chemical reactivity.

Gore’s product portfolio derives from a number of basic ePTFE forms that include tubes, fibers, tapes, membranes and custom shapes, such as gaskets and patches. Extreme performance testing and reliability are important steps in the development process.

Gore Products

A representative list of Gore products follows:

Fibers

• Weaving and sewing threads
• Dental floss
• High tensile strength fibers
• Packing materials
• Filtration felts

Tubes

• Peristaltic pump tubing
• Vascular grafts and stent grafts
• Endoscope sheaths
• Medical instrumentation cable sheaths
• Oil exploration probes
• Ground reclamation analytical sensors

Tapes

• High frequency data cables
• Space exploration wire and cable
• Microwave transmission cables and connectors
• Flat cables for extreme environments
• Guitar strings
• Shifting and braking cables for bicycles

Membranes

• Waterproof, breathable laminated fabrics
• Static and reactive filtration laminates
• Fuel cell electrodes
• Battery electrodes and separators
• Super-capacitor electrodes
• Dielectric shields
• Vents

Custom forms

• Surgical implant patches and meshes
• Sealing gaskets
• Electromagnetic interference shields and gaskets

Applications of Gore Products

These products are utilized in a wide variety of industries and end uses, which includes the following:

• Aerospace
• Automotive and transportation
• Chemical process industries
• Clean room operations
• Communications
• Computing and electronics
• Energy
• Environmental reclaim and composting
• Healthcare and medical
• Industrial manufacturing
• Military and defense
• Outdoor apparel and sports clothing
• Pharmaceutical manufacture
• Safety and protection

Trademarks

The company has more than 200 active registered U.S. and foreign trademarks. The following is a partial list of its more widely used marks:

Electronic Products Division

• GORE-FLIGHT Microwave Assemblies
• GORE-SHIELD EMI Gaskets
• GORE EYE-OPENER + Conductor Technology
• GORE Infiniband Assemblies
• GORE PHASEFLEX Microwave/RF Test Assemblies
• GORE POLARCHIP Thermal Interface Material
• GORE SIL-KORE Tubing and Jacketing
• GORE SKYFLEX Aircraft Sealant
• GORE SNAPSHOT EMI Shield
• GORE SPEEDBOARD C Prepreg
• GORE TETRAD MicroArrays

Industrial Products Division

• CLEANSTREAM Vacuum Cleaner Filters
• ELIXIR Strings
• ELIXIR Cables
• GORE Cooling Filters
• GORE INLIGHTEN Window Screens
• GORE LYOGUARD Freeze-Drying Products
• GORE PRIMEA Membrane Electrode Assemblies
• GORE Packaging Vents
• GORE Protective Vents
• GORE REMEDIA Catalytic Filtration
• GORE RIDE-ON Bike Cables
• GORE STA-PURE Tubing
• GORE TENARA Architectural Fabrics
• GORE TENARA Sewing Thread
• GORE Turbine Filters
• PRISTYNE Filter Media by Gore

Medical Products Division

• GORE DUALMESH Biomaterial
• GORE EXCLUDER AAA Endoprosthesis
• GORE HELEX Septal Occluder
• GORE INFINIT Mesh
• GORE INTERING Vascular Graft
• GORE MYCROMESH Biomaterial
• GORE PRECLUDE Pericardial Membrane
• GORE PROCEL Cast Liner
• GORE PROPATEN Bioactive Surface
• GORE PROPATEN Vascular Graft
• GORE SEAMGUARD Staple Line Reinforcement
• GORE TAG Thoracic Endoprosthesis
• GORE VIABAHN Endoprosthesis
• GORE VIABIL Biliary Endoprosthesis
• GORE VIATORR Endoprosthesis

Fabrics Division

• CROSSTECH products
• GORE BIKE WEAR products
• GORE RUNNING WEAR products
• GORE CHEMPAK Selectively Permeable Fabric
• GORE CHEMPAK Ultra Barrier Fabric
• GORE Medical Protective Fabrics
• GORE Cover for Composting
• GORE OPTIFADE Concealment
• GORE-SEAM Tape
• GORE-TEX products
• GUARANTEED TO KEEP YOU DRY promise
• SURROUND Product Technology
• WINDSTOPPER products

References

1. ^ DuPont's trade name for PTFE is Teflon
2. ^ Gore, Robert W. “Multiconductor Wiring Strip.” U.S. Patent 3,082,292. 19 March 1963.
3. ^ Gore, Robert W. The Early Days of W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. (Newark, DE: Published by the Author, 2008): 90-95. In the collection of the Archives of W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc., Newark, DE.
4. ^ "Invent Now | Hall of Fame | Search | Inventor Profile". Invent.org. 1937-04-15. http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/240.html. Retrieved 2010-10-01. 
5. ^ Gore, Robert W. “Porous products and process therefor.” U.S. patent 4,187,390, 5 February 1980.
6. ^ "Best Companies 2010 - FORTUNE Magazine's Top 100 Employers to Work For". Money.cnn.com. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/. Retrieved 2010-10-01. 
7. ^ "The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For - Times Online". Business.timesonline.co.uk. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/best_100_tables/. Retrieved 2010-10-01. 
8. ^ "Great Place to Work Institute". Greatplacetowork.com. http://www.greatplacetowork.com/best/list-de-2004.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-01. 
9. ^ "Great Place to Work Institute". Greatplacetowork.com. 2009-12-14. http://www.greatplacetowork.com/best/list-it.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-01. 
10. ^ "Great Place to Work Institute". Greatplacetowork.com. 2010-03-15. http://www.greatplacetowork.com/best/list-fr.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-01. 
11. ^ "Great Place to Work Institute". Greatplacetowork.ie. http://www.greatplacetowork.ie/best/list-se.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-01. 
12. ^ "Great Place to Work Institute". Greatplacetowork-europe.com. 2010-05-20. http://www.greatplacetowork-europe.com/best/list-eularge.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-01. 
13. ^ Gore 2008: 129.
14. ^ Hamel, Gary and Bill Breen. The Future of Management. (Boston: The Harvard Business School Press, 2007): 83-100.

External links

• Gore Corporate Web Site
• GORE-TEX Fabric
• ELIXIR Strings
• CLEANSTREAM Filters
• Gore Medical Division
• GORE OPTIFADE Concealment
• Alan Deutschman. The Fabric of Creativity. Fast Company. : An article describing the Gore business culture