Businessmodel of Owens Corning

Customer Segments

Owens Corning manufactures and sells a broad range of products designed to fulfil functions for customers across multiple industries.  The Company’s Composites segment sells products directly to parts molders, shingle manufacturers, and fabricators, serving end-users across five primary markets:

• Construction, including building contractors, specialist construction firms, and housebuilders;
• Transportation, including manufacturers of boats, aviation companies, and automotive manufacturers;
• Consumer Goods, principally comprising electronics and electrical goods manufacturers;
• Industrial, including industrial container companies, and industrial goods manufacturers; and
• Energy, including renewable energy companies, and power generators. Owens Corning’s Insulation and Roofing segments both sell products to insulation installers, home centres, lumberyards, contractors, retailers and distributors.  The Roofing segment also sells products directly to manufacturers in a variety of other industries, including automotive, chemical, rubber and construction. In 2015 no one customer accounted for more than 10% of the Company’s net sales.

Owens and Corning principally serves customers across the US and Canada. The Company also serves customers in markets across Europe and Asia Pacific.

Value Propositions

Owens Corning provides value to its customers in the following ways:

• Its industry standing, with the Company established as a leading manufacturer of insulation and composites, having a reputation for providing high-quality products reliably and efficiently;
• Its broad portfolio of products, with the Company offering a broad catalogue of products to customers and end-users from a range of business sectors, including strip asphalt roofing shingles, loosefill insulation, foam sheathing, and glass fiber products;
• Its international sales reach, with the Company serving an extensive domestic customers base in the US, as well as customers across markets in Europe, and Asia Pacific;
• Its product innovation, with the Company committed to developing new and innovative products and production processes, in order to provide customers with high-quality and cutting-edge products;
• Its broad network of manufacturing facilities, with the Company operating manufacturing facilities for its three operating segments across the US, Canada, Mexico, China, Brazil, India, South Korea, France, and Russia, enabling it to serve international customers efficiently and effectively. ### Channels

Owens Corning operates a website at www.owenscorning.com, through which it provides information on its various products, target industries, and corporate activities. The Company does not operate an online sales channel for its core products, nor does it provide an online customer portal.

The Company does, however, offer an online product search facility, which allows customers to quickly browse the Company’s product portfolio. It also operates an online sales portal, through which it sells Owens Corning-branded merchandise, including apparel and homeware.

Owens and Corning sells its products through an in-house direct sales force, which is organised by operating segment and geographic region.  The Company’s sales personnel operate out of the Company’s international network of offices across the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific, including in Shanghai, Brussels, Hong Kong, and Mumbai.

Owens and Corning operates its own extensive network of manufacturing and distribution facilities across its various operating regions. This includes 28 composites production facilities, 29 roofing manufacturing plants, and 31 insulation manufacturing facilities, including in the Us, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, and South Korea.

Customer Relationships

Owens and Corning offers some products and services to customers on a self-service basis, this, however, does not include its core composites, roofing, and insulations products. The Company operates an online store at www.costore.com/ocsignature/welcome.asp, through which customers can purchase and arrange delivery of Owens and Corning-branded merchandise without interacting with sales personnel.

Owens and Corning consults directly with its customers before making its sales, ensuring that the individual needs of each client are met. The Company’s sales are agreed under tailored sales and distribution contracts, which can span multiple years. The Company works closely with its clients with a view to establishing longstanding relationships.

Owens and Corning provides a range of customer support services, with clients able to access personalised assistance by contacting the Company’s dedicated support personnel either over the phone or via an online contact form. The Company also provides important information to customers through its website, including warranty information and media.

Additionally, Owens and Corning provides information the various trade shows and events that it will be attending, allowing customers to attend and interact with company representatives in person. Customers can alternatively follow the Company’s operations, and interact with it directly, through its social media accounts with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

Key Activities

Owens Corning is a holding company. Through its various subsidiaries it is engaged in the manufacture and sale of composite and building materials systems. The Company’s products range from glass fiber used to reinforce composite materials for transportation, electronics, marine, infrastructure, wind-energy and other markets to insulation and roofing for residential, commercial and industrial applications.

The Company aligns its activities into three operating segments: Composites, which comprises the Company’s Reinforcements and Downstream divisions, including its production and sale of glass fiber products and glass reinforcements; Insulation, which manufactures and sells insulation products, such as thermal and acoustical batts, loosefill insulation, foam sheathing and accessories, marketed under brand names, such as Owens Corning PINK FIBERGLAS Insulation; and Roofing, which manufactures and sells laminate and strip asphalt roofing shingles. The Company sells products directly to home centers, lumberyards, retailers, distributors and contractors.

Key Partners

Owens Corning works closely with a number of partner companies and organisations. These partners include:

• Supplier and Vendor Partners, comprising suppliers of raw materials, tools, and equipment that are used across the Company’s network of manufacturing facilities, as well as providers of services and technologies that support the Company’s operations more broadly;
• Dealer and Channel Partners, including various distributors and dealers that sell products on the Company’s behalf, or assist in extending the Company’s sales and marketing reach;
• Joint Venture Partners, including various manufacturing and industrial companies with which the Company jointly produces and sells products through mutually owned entities;
• Strategic and Development Partners, including market leading companies across multiple industries with which the Company collaborates on various projects, including product innovation and marketing projects; and
• Community and Sustainability Partners, including non-profits and charitable organisations with which the Company works on community and sustainability projects around the world. Owens Corning has launched a number of key partnerships in recent years. This includes a tie-up with BASF and TenCate Advanced Composites to develop optimal solutions in thermoplastic composites for automotive mass production, a technology partnership with Tata Consultancy Services.

Key Resources

Owens Corning’s key resources are its products and intellectual properties, its materials and supply chain, its network of manufacturing facilities, its sales and distribution infrastructure, its partnerships, and its personnel.

Owens Corning relies on a combination of intellectual property laws, confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions, to protect its intellectual property, proprietary technology and brands. Searches of records published by the US Patent and Trademark Office identified a number of patent applications filed in the name of Owens and Corning, including applications entitled ‘Boxed netting insulation system for roof deck’, ‘Underlayment with slip-resistant surface’ and ‘Flexible laminated hip and ridge shingle’.

Owens Corning owns and or leases a number of physical properties that are key to its activities. This notably includes its broad network of manufacturing facilities, comprising 88 production plants across locations in the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

Cost Structure

Owens Corning incurs costs in relation to the development of its products and technologies, the procurement of supplies and services, the operation of its manufacturing facilities, the operation of its sales and distribution infrastructure, the implementation of marketing campaigns, the management of its partnerships, and the retention of its personnel.

In 2015 Owens Corning recorded total cost of sales for the year of $4.20 billion, and total operating costs of $605 million, including $525 in marketing and administrative expenses and $73 million in science and technology expenses.

Revenue Streams

Owens Corning generates revenue through the manufacture and sale of various composite, insulation, and roofing products, including glass fiber products, glass reinforcements, thermal and acoustical batts, loosefill insulation, and laminate and strip asphalt roofing shingles.

In 2015 Owens Corning generated net sales of $5.35 billion, up on the $5.26 billion recorded by the Company in 2014. Sales for the year were divided relatively evenly across the Company’s Composites, Insulation, and Roof segments, which respectively recorded net sales of $1.90 billion, $1.85 billion, and $1.77 billion