Profile: Rogers Corp (ROG)

Rogers Corporation (Rogers) is a manufacturer of specialty materials and components for the portable communications, communications infrastructure, consumer electronics, mass transit, automotive, aerospace and defense, and alternative energy markets. The Company focuses on technology applications, such as cellular base stations and antennas, handheld wireless devices, satellite television receivers, and automotive electronics. The Company operates in four business segments: Printed Circuit Materials, High Performance Foams, Custom Electrical Components, and Other Polymer Products. Its products are based on the core technologies in polymers, fillers, and adhesion. On October 31, 2008, the Company sold its Induflex subsidiary to BV Capital Partners.

Printed Circuit Materials

The Company’s Printed Circuit Materials segment includes printed circuit board laminates for high frequency, high performance applications. Printed Circuit Materials are sold principally to independent and captive printed circuit board manufacturers, who convert its laminates to printed circuits. The polymer-based dielectric layers of the Company’s rigid circuit board laminates are materials that provide specialized electrical and mechanical properties. Trade names for its printed circuit board materials include RO3000, RO4000, DUROID, RT/duroid, ULTRALAM, RO2800, and TMM laminates. All of these laminates are used for making circuitry that receive, transmit, and process high-frequency communications signals. High frequency circuits are used in the equipment and devices that comprise wireless communications systems, including cellular communications, digital cellular communications, paging, direct broadcast television, global positioning, mobile radio communications, and radar.

The flexible circuit materials that Rogers manufactures are called R/flex materials. They are used to make interconnections for portable electronic devices, in cell phones, handheld and laptop computers, and hard disk drives. Two of the Company’s joint ventures extend and complemented printed circuit materials business. Polyimide Laminate Systems, LLC (PLS), the Company’s joint venture with Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. of Japan, was established to sell adhesiveless flexible circuit materials to Hutchinson Technology Incorporated (HTI). HTI uses these materials to make trace suspension assemblies in magneto resistive hard disk drives. Rogers Chang Chun Technology, Co., Ltd. (RCCT), Rogers Corporation’s joint venture with Chang Chun Plastics, Co., Ltd., was established to manufacture flexible circuit material for customers in Taiwan.

High Performance Foams

The Company’s High-Performance Foams segment includes urethane and silicone foams. High Performance Foams are sold to fabricators, distributors, and original equipment manufacturers for applications in consumer electronics, mass transit, aerospace, and defense and other markets. Trade names for Rogers Corporation High-Performance Foams include PORON urethane foams used for making high-performance gaskets and seals in vehicles, portable communications devices, computers and peripherals; PORON cushion insole materials for footwear and related products; PORON healthcare and medical materials for body cushioning and orthotic appliances; R/bak compressible printing plate backing and mounting products for cushioning flexographic plates for printing on packaging materials, and BISCO silicone foams used for making flame retardant gaskets and seals in communications infrastructure equipment, aircraft, trains, cars and trucks, and for shielding extreme temperature or flame. Two of Rogers Corporation’s joint ventures extend and complement the Company’s business in High-Performance Foams. Rogers Inoac Corporation (RIC), a joint venture with Japan-based Inoac Corporation, manufactures high-performance PORON urethane foam materials in Mie and Nagoya, Japan to service the Japanese market.

Custom Electrical Components

The Company’s Custom Electrical Components segment includes power distribution components, and electroluminescent lamps and inverters. Power distribution components are manufactured by Rogers Corporation in Ghent, Belgium, Suzhou, and China, under the MEKTRON trade name. Power distribution components are sold to manufacturers of high-voltage/high-voltage electrical inverter systems for use in mass transit, renewable energy generation, industrial applications, and to manufacturers of communication equipment. The Company manufactures DUREL electroluminescent lamps (EL lamps) and phosphor in Chandler, Arizona, Suzhou, and China. It also designs and sells inverters that power EL lamps. These EL lamps and inverters are sold to manufacturers of portable communications equipment throughout the world.

Other Polymer Products

Rogers Corporation’s Other Polymer Products segment includes components, nonwoven composite materials, thermal management products, and resale activity related to flexible circuit material products. Elastomer components are sold to original equipment manufacturers for applications in ground transportation, computer and office equipment, and consumer and other markets. Trade names for the Company’s elastomer components include NITROPHYL floats for fill level sensing in fuel tanks, motors and storage tanks, and ENDUR elastomer rollers and belts for document handling in copiers, computer printers, mail sorting machines, and automated teller machines.