Eastman resumes operations at Kingsport site

EASTMAN Chemical Company announced that operations at its Kingsport, Tenn., site have been substantially restored following an unplanned shutdown on June 4.

Eastman has made substantial progress in bringing the plant back online in a safe and orderly manner with no material financial impact. Based on current information, the company projects the shutdown will negatively impact earnings between $0.05 and $0.10 per share, and continues to expect full-year 2014 earnings per share to be between $6.70 and $7.00. Non-core and non-recurring items are excluded from the earnings per share projection.

Eastman's Tennessee Operations was founded in 1920 in Kingsport, Tennessee, at the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains. Today, the site employs approximately 7,000 of Eastman's 14,000 employees and is one of the largest chemical manufacturing sites in North America. The Kingsport site also serves as worldwide headquarters for Eastman Chemical Company.

Tennessee Operations has long been recognised by the outside world as a progressive, innovative facility. This has earned Eastman numerous recognitions, including the Tennessee Governors' Quality Award. Since 1997, Tennessee Operations has been an OSHA Volunteer STAR site, attesting that its safety and health programs are among the best in the nation.