this article has multiple issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . april 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . march 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message w. l. gore & associates inc. type private founded 1958 founder 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 3.2 billion 2013 1 number of employees 10 197 1 website www.gore.com w. l. gore & associates inc. is an american multinational manufacturing company specializing in products derived from fluoropolymers . it is a privately held corporation headquartered in newark delaware . it is best known as the developer of waterproof breathable gore tex fabrics . contents 1 history 2 culture 3 product portfolio 4 references 5 external links history edit 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 . 2 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 . 3 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 . 4 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 5 for the invention of eptfe . 6 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 over 10 000 associates at more than 50 facilities throughout the world in east asia australia europe and the americas . culture edit since 1984 w. l. gore & associates inc. earned a position on fortune magazine s annual list of the u.s. 100 best companies to work for . 1 its european operations have also earned similar honors . 1 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 . 7 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 . 8 this corporate culture was highlighted in malcolm gladwell s 2000 book the tipping point . the company was also depicted as one of several organizations denoted teal organizations in frederic laloux s 2014 book reinventing organizations . today the lattice organization principle is known as open allocation . product portfolio edit 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 . references edit a b c d 2013 world s best multinational workplaces . great place to work . retrieved october 31 2013 . dupont s trade name for ptfe is teflon gore robert w. multiconductor wiring strip . u.s. patent 3 082 292 . march 19 1963 . 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 . inductees robert w. gore . national inventors hall of fame . retrieved june 3 2014 . gore robert w. porous products and process therefor . u.s. patent 4 187 390 february 5 1980 . gore 2008 129 . hamel gary and bill breen . the future of management . boston the harvard business school press 2007 83 100 . external links edit official website gore tex fabric elixir strings cleanstream filters gore medical division gore optifade concealment deutschman alan december 2004 . the fabric of creativity . fast company . an article describing the gore business culture v t e philadelphia area corporations including the delaware valley list of companies based in the philadelphia area philadelphia based fortune 500 corporations rank in the 2015 list comcast 43 aramark 207 crown holdings 318 delaware valley based fortune 500 corporations rank in the 2015 list amerisourcebergen 16 dupont 87 lincoln national 223 universal health services 324 campbell soup 342 ugi 349 burlington stores inc. 500 other notable philadelphia based businesses amoroso s beneficial bank chemtura day & zimmermann fmc corporation independence blue cross pennsylvania real estate investment trust pep boys philadelphia media network radian group urban outfitters notable philadelphia based professional partnerships ballard spahr blank rome cozen o connor dechert drinker biddle & reath duane morris morgan lewis & bockius pepper hamilton saul ewing white and williams other notable delaware valley based businesses actua corporation airgas alliedbarton ametek aqua america asplundh bentley systems brandywine realty trust boscov s carpenter technology cephalon chemours christiana care health system crozer keystone health system david s bridal epam systems enersys hamilton lane liberty property trust penn mutual penn national gaming rita s italian ice sei investments slm sungard susquehanna international group vanguard toll brothers triumph group unisys viropharma vishay intertechnology vwr wawa wilmington trust w. l. gore and associates wsfs bank notable delaware valley based us headquarters of foreign businesses aberdeen asset management ace agustawestland astrazeneca delaware investments glaxosmithkline ing group keystone foods sap america siemens medical shire pharmaceuticals subaru teva pharmacueticals td bank notable delaware valley based division headquarters of us corporations acme cerberus capital management centocor johnson & johnson colonial penn conseco delmarva power exelon gsi commerce ebay hercules ashland mab paints sherwin williams mcneil laboratories j & j neoware hewlett packard peco exelon qvc liberty media rohm and haas dow chemical sunoco energy transfer tasty baking flowers foods retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org