General view of Willard Van Wingerden performing maintenance on a specialty instrument in the Dow Chemical Company's Plastics Production Laboratory. Established in 1953 as an outgrowth of Dow's Physical Research Laboratory, the Plastics Production Laboratory was devoted to improving plastic processes and products. The facility boasted laboratory areas dedicated to research in physical chemistry, catalytic and high temperature reactions, physical development, small scale polymers and co-polymers, high polymer studies, purification methods, and instrumentation, as well a semi-plant area.