Corning

Corning is a manufacturer of building materials including glass, ceramic, related materials and technologies, and more. It does have capabilities such as synergistic and versatile which allow the company to evolve to meet changing market needs and also help its customers capture new opportunities in dynamic industries. 

The company manufactures and develops Gorilla Glass, which is used by many smartphone makers. Corning creates and makes keystone components that enable high-technology systems for consumer electronics, mobile emissions control, telecommunications, and life sciences. it also provides industry products including precision glass for advanced displays, connectivity solutions for state-of-the-art communications networks, clean-air technologies for cars and trucks, damage-resistant cover glass for mobile devices, and trusted products to accelerate drug discovery and delivery.

Corning was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Corning, New York, United States.

1851: Corning Glass Works was founded in 1851 by Amory Houghton, in Somerville, Massachusetts, originally as the Bay State Glass Co.

1864: Houghton and his sons buy the Brooklyn Flint Glass Co.

1868: The glass company is renamed Corning Flint Glass Co. The company moved again to its ultimate home and eponym, the city of Corning, New York, under the leadership of the founder's son, Amory Houghton, Jr.

1877: The company first called upon scientists at Cornell University for help in improving the optical quality of its lenses.

1880: Thomas Edison asks Corning to make bulbs for his electric lights.

1897: Corning has a long history of innovation with the development of a bulb-shaped glass encasement for Thomas Edison's new incandescent lamp.

1908: Under the leadership of Dr Eugene Sullivan, a glass research centre was set up which became Corning as a name synonymous with Glass research. Corning has a long history; it was one of the companies that created bulb-shaped glass encasements for Thomas Edison’s incandescent lamps. Corning continues to maintain its world headquarters at Corning, N.Y. The firm also established one of the first industrial research labs there.

1912: American railroads faced a situation where the glass globes of signal lanterns which are needed for safe transportation shattered due to thermal expansion which happened due to changes in temperature.

1915: Corning creates an improved glass formula under the PYREX® brand.

1926: In the postwar years, demand for Corning products led to the invention of the ribbon machine, which produced blanks for incandescent lamps at the rate of 2,000 bulbs per minute.

1932: George Ellery Hale approached Corning with the challenge of fabricating the required optic for his Palomar project.

1933: Later, the ribbon machine is used to manufacture radio bulbs. Steuben began producing the crystal for which it became famous, when Arthur A. Houghton Jr., great-grandson of the founder, became president of the subsidiary.

1934: Dr J Franklin Hyde, an organic chemist working for Corning developed Silicones which are a cross between glass and plastic. Corning built the 200-inch mirror for the Mount Palomar telescope.

1935: Doctor George McCauley, a Corning physicist, designs and directs Corning’s production of a 200-inch mirror blank for the Hale Telescope at Mount Palomar- the world’s largest piece of glass at that time. Corning formed a partnership with bottle maker Owens-Illinois, which formed the company known today as Owens Corning.

1938: Owens-Corning Fiberglas was organized. A year after Pittsburgh Corning Corporation began producing glass blocks. Owens-Corning Fiberglass is created as a joint venture.

1943: Corning would develop an electrical process to seal the bulbs, enabling the production of more than 3 million large tubes for this application. Dow Corning was established to produce silicones. 

1944: Corning Chemist Dr Charles F. DeVoe developed Optical and Ophthalmic glass by the process of continuous melting of glass with improvised stirring techniques which made way to manufacture 100 pounds of optical glass per hour.

1945: Amory Houghton Sr. continued to lead as the first chairman of the board, an office created that year.

1948: Corning would begin its journey into the television market by manufacturing television glass.

1952: Corning Glass Works Foundation became a free-standing non-profit organization, responsible for administering the company’s charitable donations to educational, cultural, community, and civic organizations.

1953: Corning introduces colour television tubes.

1957: The process for producing Pyroceram, or glass ceramics, was developed that year and led to the marketing of Corning Ware cookware the following year.

1958: Corning Ware cookware is marketed.

1961: Corning had an opportunity to be a part of Mercury Spacecraft where it created heat-resistant windows for the spacecraft.

1962: Another problem involved Signetics, a semiconductor manufacturer, purchased this year. Corning developed Chemcor, a new toughened automobile windshield designed to be thinner and lighter than existing windshields, which reduced the danger of personal injury by shattering into small granules when smashed.

1966: Sales of bulbs, globes, panels, Corning Ware, and television tube blanks grew especially fast in the early part of the decade and led to record earnings of $9.28 per share.

1970: One of Corning’s greatest achievements was the invention of low-loss fibre optics, which helped launch the age of optical communications. Signetics lost $6 million on $35 million in sales. In the fall, the company announced that researchers Robert D. Maurer, Donald Keck, Peter C. Schultz, and Frank Zimar had demonstrated an optical fibre with low optical attenuation of 17 dB per kilometre by doping silica glass with titanium.

1974: The latter permanently bonded active catalytic materials, such as enzymes, to inorganic substrates, or carriers, leading to the development of radioimmunoassay products for diagnostic testing.

1975: Corning had never developed expertise in electronics and sold Signetics, absorbing a pretax loss of $9.5 million.

1976: In July, Corning filed suit against ITT Corporation and its customer, the United States government, charging patent infringements.

1977: Considerable attention was given to Corning's Z Glass project.

1982: Corning Labs worked on manufacturing of Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) which was formed by Corning’s Fusion Process, this made way for LCD to be used in various flat panels TV and many other accessories. Sales volumes fell for some consumer products, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex, and Corelle dinnerware. MetPath, a leading clinical testing service in the United States, was purchased.

1984: The company did not begin market research until this year.

1985: Corelle product designs had not changed in more than a decade, and Corning had not advertised, until this year, that its products had always been suitable for the microwave oven.

1987: Hazelton Laboratories, was purchased, and became one of the world’s leading independent suppliers of services for biological and chemical research.

1989: Cultural and educational programs, infrastructure improvements, and disaster relief are just a few ways the Foundation — renamed Corning Incorporated Foundation — has helped answer community and humanitarian needs. Corning Inc., known as Corning Glass Works until this year, operates as a global technology firm with three major business segments including Telecommunications, Advanced Materials, and Information Display. Enseco, which specialized in environmental testing is acquired.

1990: In June, Corning joined a company in India to form Samcor Glass.

1991: Workers spent 5 percent of their time in paid training.

1995: Corning's earnings were negatively affected by the ordeal and the subsidiary eventually declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, after a highly-publicized $4.25 billion class-action lawsuit.

1997: James Houghton retired, naming Roger Ackerman his successor. Corning announces plans to sell its consumer products division.

1998: The firm’s consumer products division was sold to Borden Inc. In fact, earnings dropped by 44 percent in the first half of the year as the firm was forced to lower its fibre prices.

1999: According to a Business Week article, “Ackerman began building up other businesses that supplied the almost boundless demand for broadband telecommunications." Revenues increased to $4.37 billion, with telecommunications products accounting for 60 percent of the total, up from 21 percent just four years earlier.

2000: Hyde would be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2000. Sales increased to $7.1 billion, a 50 percent increase over the previous year.

2001: Roger Ackerman ceded the title of CEO to 36-year company veteran John Loose, who had been named president a few months earlier. Corning operates as the number one producer of fibre optic cable; the firm celebrates its 150th anniversary.

2003:Corning and bankrupt joint venture subsidiary Pittsburgh Corning Corporation agreed to settle all legal claims from lawsuits over asbestos in insulation products made by the latter, resolving cases that dated back 30 years.

2004: Corning began a massive multiyear expansion of LCD glass production capabilities, spending nearly $2 billion on projects that included a new plant in Taiwan.

2005: James Houghton handed the title of CEO to president Wendell Weeks, while retaining the role of chairman.

2006: With these many discoveries and upgrading of technologies, Corning did not stop with what is provided to humankind. Corning developed revolutionary Epic label-free technology that helped pharmaceutical researchers to identify drug compounds for treating a specific disease. Revenues topped $5.17 billion, with net earnings more than tripling to $1.86 billion.

2007: In April, James Houghton retired as chairman and CEO Wendell Weeks added the title, with Peter Volanakis named president. Corning scientists developed ClearCurve Optical Fibres which made Optical fibre cables to bend around 90Degree angles which helped in minimizing signal loss and helping data centres and enterprise networks for easy transportation of data. Cellphone companies approached Corning to find a cover glass that would withstand pressure, and scratch and be more damage resistant. However, the company had posted five straight years of improving financial performance.

2010: Corning Developed Synthemax surface which provides a Synthetic and animal-free surface for stem cell culture.

2011: In December, it acquired Mediatech, Inc.

2012: In November, Corning acquired the majority of the Discovery Labware business from Becton, Dickinson and Company.

“Through leadership and collaboration, Corning Incorporated Foundation strives to foster vibrant, enriching, and supportive communities.”

“Total Quality demands continuous improvement in all our processes, products, and services. Our success depends on our ability to learn from experience, to embrace change, and to achieve the full involvement of all our employees.”