BUILDING ON THE PAST, READY FOR THE FUTURE: - MEMC

MeMC’S firST Ceo, roger MCDAniel
In 1996, Roger McDaniel retired following a thirty-four-year career that took him from entry-level
chemical engineer at a small plant in West Virginia to the chief executive officer of the secondlargest
silicon wafer manufacturer in the world. Mr. McDaniel joined Monsanto’s silicon business as
director of Facilities and Planning in 1980. In 1982, he became the first person with responsibility
for the silicon wafer business outside the United States. when interviewed for the Summer 1996
issue of MEMC Today, he recalled those years when the industry shifted to international status.
“In 1982, our sales were around $100 million, and only around $20 million of that was from
international sales. Today, our group sales for just one quarter are equal to the total sales for all
of the first four years I was with the silicon business. And, 60 percent of it now comes from sales
outside the United States.”
when Monsanto sold its electronics products business to Hüls in
1989, McDaniel was in charge of operations. with the formation
of MEMC Electronic Materials Company, Inc., he was named
president and CEO. Upon his retirement, he commented on the
satisfaction he felt watching the company grow. He said, “This
organization has a real sense of purpose today. we are good at
what we do, and are improving every day.”
view, they will have invested $1 billion in this effort, and they will
not want to be dependent on a foreign source for their silicon.”
To this day, many Koreans consider both Samsung and POSCO
symbols of national pride, and their affiliation with MEMC was
a boost to the company’s international standing. The goal was
to put MEMC in a position to compete in any market that developed
anywhere in the world with the exception of Soviet-block countries where
U.S. restrictions still applied to the sale of high technology products.
The manufacturing facility was built at Cheonan City in the
south Chungcheong province of South Korea. By 1993,
the plant was fully operational for the manufacture of
polished wafers.
In June of 1996, a conference was held in Tao Yuan,
Taiwan, to discuss MEMC’s plans for addressing
the growing Asian silicon wafer market, which
had more than tripled in the preceding five
years. At the time, it was forecast to account
for more than a third of the worldwide
300mm wafer.
A Global Company 51