Great Lakes is unique in that our revenue is derived from a combination of consumer products, those items you can purchase directly from the shelves of your local stores, and specialty chemicals used by manufacturers to improve the performance characteristics of their finished products. Here’s a sample of how Great Lakes is helping to create the world we all want.
In agriculture, farmers have relied on Great Lakes fumigants to improve crop yields, protect grain and other food sources from contamination, and eliminate non-native pests from imported crops. Our soil fumigants help turn sandy loams into highly productive farmland and enable developing nations to prosper by exporting grapes, certain fruits, and other high-value agricultural products to world markets. And, our polymer stabilizers provide light stability to agricultural films.
Great Lakes helps ensure that products used in the building and construction industry such as high-performance foam insulation, acoustical ceiling tiles, carpeting, roofing, and cables are protected from fire; that siding, soffit, and fascia are fade-resistant; that sheathing on electrical wire remains flexible; and that PVC pipe maintains its strength.
With a full line of versatile and effective all-purpose cleaners, Great Lakes cleaning products keep surfaces in and around the home shining and are especially effective in hard water conditions or for automotive applications.
In electronics, Great Lakes offers flame retardancy to television sets, business equipment, and printed circuit boards, and safeguards polymers used in such applications as computer housings from ultraviolet ray degradation.
Our solutions play a part in protecting the furniture and furnishings in your home, at work, and in public settings. Great Lakes flame retardants are incorporated into combustible materials such as furniture foam, textiles, and carpet and carpet backings to reduce or eliminate their tendency to burn. And, we’re helping to extend the life of such items as outdoor furniture and stadium seating by ensuring that they are as colorful two years from now as the day you purchased them.
Great Lakes is improving health around the world by helping pharmaceutical companies produce safer drugs, by ensuring cosmetics and sunscreen protect us from damaging UV rays, by producing additives used in converting salt water into purified drinking water, and by supplying the propellant in metered dose inhalers used by those with asthma.
Great Lakes products are added in small amounts to household and office products such as appliances, bottles, and packaging to protect the plastic from loss of mechanical strength, cracking, crazing, yellowing, and loss of gloss due to day-to-day exposure to air and light; to soaps and detergents for better sudsing action; to cables to protect against fire; and to ensure wire and cable jacketing used in everything from computers to electrical applications remains flexible during cold temperatures.
Great Lakes keeps water flowing in industrial water treatment applications such as wastewater treatment, cooling systems used in the generation of electricity, and pulp and paper processing through the use of antiscalants, biocides, and corrosion inhibitors.
Great Lakes is making the oilfield industry’s task of extracting oil, gas, and other resources from the earth easier with clear brine fluids.
In the rigid and film packaging industries, Great Lakes is helping to ensure that items—from food to pharmaceuticals—are protected inside and out. This allows for easier transport, keeps products looking good, and maintains the hygienic nature of the end products.
By offering pool and spa treatment products that are easy to use, Great Lakes is helping residential pool owners spend less time caring for their pool and more time enjoying it. And, our commercial water business provides equipment and water treatment products for commercial pools, as well as wireless remote monitoring and application of water maintenance products so that resorts, water parks, and municipal pools can treat the water any time, day or night with the touch of a button.
The power generation, metal production, and mining industries run vital equipment such as turbines all day, everyday and depend on fire-resistant fluids and lubricants from Great Lakes to ensure safe operation under hazardous working conditions.
Exposure to heat and light can lessen the effectiveness of protective apparel, fibers, and fabric used by athletes like runners and mountain climbers. Our solutions ensure gear such as climbing rope and gear and clothing are protected from the elements.
Great Lakes ensures valuable equipment such as telecommunications, computer rooms, and air traffic control systems are protected from fire with waterless fire protection offered by FM-200® fire suppressant. And, we’re keeping cables strong and protecting the casings to ensure uninterrupted service.
In the transportation industry, Great Lakes is helping to extend automotive, aviation, and machinery performance with lubricants and fluids that protect braking systems and engines from wear and extreme temperatures; by applying flame retardancy to electrical components and the foam and textiles used in seats; and by protecting dashboards, door panels, and paint from sun damage.
Great Lakes is doing its part to ensure drinking water is available around the world by producing a number of additives used in the water purification process that converts salt water to purified drinking water.
