Ceradyne

Ceradyne Inc.
Public
Industry Industrial Equipment & Components
Founded 1967 (1967)
Headquarters 3M headquarters, St. Paul, Minnesota, United States
Area served
 Worldwide
Divisions Advanced Ceramic Operations
Ceradyne Armor Systems, Inc.
Ceradyne Boron Products LLC
Ceradyne Canada ULC
ESK Ceramics
Minco, Inc.
Thermo Materials
Tianjin Technical Ceramics
SemEquip, Inc.
Semicon Associates
Vehicle Armor Systems[1]
Website www.ceradyne.com

Ceradyne, Incorporated is a wholly owned subsidiary of 3M based in the United States. Ceradyne, Inc. is a manufacturer of advanced ceramic systems and components and involved in many technical industries including nuclear power, oil and gas, solar energy, automotive, and defense.[2] It is traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market.

Background

Ceradyne was founded in 1967[3] and in late 2004, the company added new product lines by acquiring ESK Ceramics of Kempten, Germany.[4]

In addition to producing ceramic components for industrial processes such as silicon foundries and ceramic fuel pellets for nuclear reactors, Ceradyne researched and produced varieties of ballistic armour for both personnel and vehicles.[5] The ceramic armor was lighter than regular steel plate armor facilitating greater mobility. In September 16, 2007 the company was selling 25,000 sets of armor a month to the Pentagon.[6]
In December 2007, Ceradyne's lightweight armor was approved by the Army for use on military vehicles. Oshkosh Truck produced the first of these armored vehicles using the armor on HEMETT crew cabs.[7] Ceradyne was also the producer of ceramic Enhanced Small Arms Protective Inserts (E-SAPI) for the US Army's Interceptor body armor, and the blast-proof components of the Ceradyne BULL MRAP/MMPV vehicle project.
In January 2008, the company also received an order for $9.6 million worth of body armor from UNICOR (Federal Prison Industries Inc.), which provided jobs and job training to inmates in US federal prisons.[7]

On November 28, 2012, Ceradyne, Inc. was fully acquired by 3M becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of 3M.[8]

Product recall

In November 2012 thousands of SPEAR Generation III ballistic armor plates manufactured by Ceradyne for issue to United States Special Operations troops were recalled due to "safety defects". An analysis by the Department of Defense discovered the flawed plates. Defects were identified in less than five percent of plates tested according to United States Special Operations Command (USSOCCOM). USSOCCOM says "No one has been killed or wounded as a result of the defective body armor".[9][10]

References

  1. ↑ "About Ceradyne, Inc.". Ceradyne, Inc. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
  2. ↑ "Official 3M Ceradyne page". 3M's Ceradyne site. 3M Advanced Materials. Retrieved 2014-07-28.
  3. ↑ . 3M. 3M. November 29, 2012 http://news.3m.com/press-release/company/3m-completes-acquisition-ceradyne. Retrieved 28 July 2014. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ "Ceradyne Divisions". Ceradyne, Inc. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  5. ↑ Ceradyne, Inc., a world leader in Advanced Technical Ceramics
  6. ↑ Money: A stock caught in the Iraq debate
  7. 1 2 Ceradyne - OC Business News - OCRegister.com
  8. ↑ "Press release". 3M. 3M. November 29, 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  9. ↑ Newcomb, Alyssa (2012-11-24). "Special Ops Body Armor Recalled After Safety Defects Found". abcnews.go.com. Retrieved 2012-11-25.
  10. ↑ Curtis, Rob (November 24, 2012). "Body armor used by special ops troops recalled". USA Today. Retrieved November 25, 2012. the SPEAR Generation III armor plates, as they're known, 'display a latent delamination defect,'

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/3m-buying-ceradyne-for-43-premium-2012-10-01

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