Dow And Haier Reach New Agreement On FILMTEC RO Components

Strengthening Cooperation in Water Purification to Structure a New Industry Landscape

Dow Water & Process Solutions (DW&PS), a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, celebrated the first anniversary of its water purification business cooperation with Haier. Meanwhile, a new collaboration agreement between the two parties was also agreed upon – Haier will purchase original USA-made residential FILMTEC reverse osmosis (RO) components for its high-end residential water purification products.

“The cooperation between Haier and DW&PS worked out very well over the last year, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration to provide safer, healthier drinking water to China,” said Mr. Lance Johnson, Asia Pacific commercial director, Dow Water & Process Solutions.

The residential FILMTEC RO components involved in the new agreement are US-made products, processed from fully automated and highly efficient production technologies. All specifications of these products measure significantly above international and Chinese standards.

“We are confident in the differential advantages that FILMTEC RO brings to our clients in terms of performance and durability,” adds Johnson. “Dow is committed to the development of the water purification market in China to provide high quality water, essential for a high-quality life.”

Haier became a partner of Dow’s FILMTEC RO Ingredient Branding Program in January 2013, when it was authorized to use the FILMTEC RO Inside composite logo for both its water filtration products, and within its marketing materials.

“Thanks to the great support from Dow, Haier’s water purification business was able to develop very rapidly in 2013,” said Mr. Guinan Qu, Haier water purification business head. “The signing of the new cooperation agreement not only concludes a year of successful cooperation between the businesses, but also confirms our mutual commitment to providing quality water purification products to China. The cooperation will help contribute to the development of the industry, rising water purification standards, and structuring a new industry landscape.”

Haier Group is an important strategic partner of Dow Chemical in China, and the two parties cooperate across several business units. In 2009, the two companies co-organized an innovation workshop covering several multiple business areas, followed by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Global Technical Partnership in 2010. In the past year, DW&PS and Haier partnered in diversified formats in the area of residential water purification. Aside from the latest agreement on FILMTEC RO components, Dow and Haier will also join in exploring opportunities for cooperation in the area of commercial water purification. Drinking water safety and sustainability themed corporate social responsibility campaigns are also under discussion.

“For half a century, Dow has been dedicated to providing innovative water treatment and process solutions to a variety of industries,” remarks Ms. Christina Fang, Greater China commercial director, Dow Water & Process Solutions. “With profound technical knowledge, global influence and a diverse product portfolio, Dow brings innovations to market to help solve the global issue of scarce water resources in a sustainable way. As a market leader in residential water purification, collaborating with domestic manufacturers of water purifiers to create top-end brands, while improving water quality, is an important part of our strategy in the residential water purification market.”

There are three flow capacities for Dow FILMTEC RO home drinking water membrane elements, respectively at 50, 75, 100 gallons per day (GPD). The FILMTEC RO membranes help remove contaminants that can lead to health risks, and reduce impurities such as calcium, magnesium, and iron.

Dow is dedicated to continuous innovating FILMTEC RO technology. To date, FILMTEC has not only resulted in the increase in the total amount of water treated, but also largely reduced the total energy consumption of global seawater desalination and wastewater re-use projects. In 2012, Dow was crowned one of the “10 Companies That Are Saving the World” by Business Insider for the development of FILMTEC RO technology. In addition, FILMTEC ECO won the Aquatech China and dayuu.com 2013 “Market Choice” award.

About Dow Water & Process Solutions
The global leader in sustainable separation and purification technology, Dow Water & Process Solutions is making a clear impact in the world. We’re helping to make water safer and more accessible, food taste better, pharmaceuticals more effective and industries more efficient and spearheading the development of sustainable technologies that integrate water and energy requirements. Dow Water & Process Solutions offers a broad portfolio of ion exchange resins, reverse osmosis membranes, ultrafiltration membranes, fine particle filters and electrodeionization products, with strong positions in a number of major application areas, including industrial and municipal water, industrial processes, pharmaceuticals, power, residential water and waste and water reuse.

About Dow
Dow combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company is driving innovations that extract value from the intersection of chemical, physical and biological sciences to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, clean energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's integrated, market-driven, industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 180 countries and in high growth sectors such as packaging, electronics, water, coatings and agriculture. In 2013, Dow had annual sales of more than $57B and employed approximately 53,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 6,000 products are manufactured at 201 sites in 36 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted.