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Trelleborg buys again in the USA September 28, 2006
Trelleborg of Sweden is to buy another niche rubber company in the USA. Through its Engineered Systems business it has signed an agreement to acquire Reeves Brothers, with about 1,000 employees and annual sales of approximately Eur 150 million.
Reeves is an international supplier of polymer-coated fabrics with four production units, two in the USA, one in Italy and one in China.
Santoprene to move agency September 28, 2006
UK representation for Santoprene thermoplastic elastomer is to move from Resin Express to Biesterfeld Petroplas at the end of the year. Biesterfeld Petroplas was set up as a joint venture between Biesterfeld of Germany and Petroplas earlier this year. Biesterfeld already sells Santoprene in other European markets.
O'Reilly to quit Sandretto September 28, 2006
Sandretto (UK) managing director Terry O'Reilly is to leave the company on November 17 after 'irreconcilable differences' with the administrators running the company in Italy. Sandretto went into administration earlier this year. Mr O'Reilly has been with Sandretto for 26 years.
Hella to cease making vehicle lights in Britain...
September 24, 2006
Automotive lighting manufacturer Hella of Germany is to close its remaining UK production plant at Banbury in Oxfordshire and move production to Eastern Europe. Last year it closed a neighbouring plant with the loss of 100 jobs. Of the remaining 500 employees, around 450 are expected to lose their jobs.
Hella's injection moulding operations were halved when the company amalgamated its operations last year, with much of the basic moulding work being sub-contracted. Hella kept in-house its particularly critical moulding, and components requiring surface treatment which would have been at risk from transport damage. Production at Banbury is expected to be phased out over the next 12 months, and sub-contractors are expected to keep the work until the point of transfer of production and then for a likely six months afterwards. The dozen or so moulding machines at the plant, ranging up to 1,000 tonnes and including a vertical three-colour machine, have mostly been built to Hella specification, and will be moved to other companies in the group.
The reason given for the closure is rapidly falling selling prices in the automotive market, combined with increases in the cost of both materials and energy. Hella says that there is insufficient business available in the UK at the prices which would be necessary to sustain a production operation of HML's complexity over the long term. The company rose to achieve break-even in its last financial year.
Customers for Hella lighting in the UK include Jaguar, Land Rover, Honda and Nissan. Honda CR-V05 production is due to end in October - itself responsible for the loss of 100 - 120 Hella jobs - and headlamps for the new CR-V07 will be made in Hungary for cost reasons, with the tail lights made in Germany for technical reasons. Production of the headlamp for the new Nissan P32L model - which was developed at Banbury - has been switched to Hella's Czech Republic plant because of lower wage costs there.
Hella's second company in Banbury, its UK aftermarket sales and distribution company and the Hella-Behr-Plastic Omnium joint venture HBPO UK, which assembles vehicle front end modules, are unaffected by the closure.
...part of the trend, says AMI September 24, 2006
Hella's decision to quit UK manufacturing coincides with the publication of AMI's latest report on injection moulding in Britain, which shows that since its last survey in 2003 there has been a 14 per cent drop in the number of companies carrying out injection moulding - a loss of more than 200 companies.
The report says that the trend for OEM and proprietary product manufacturers in the UK to relocate manufacturing to Eastern Europe or the Far East has continued strongly over this period. It cites as recent examples Hoover Candy, Gillette Group and Addis Group which have all discontinued moulding in the UK and transferred it to Europe or China. This has not only led to a reduction in in-house moulding but also a loss of trade moulding. Significant closures in the automotive industry, particularly the loss of Rover, also impacted on many trade moulders, says AMI. Combined with record high raw material and energy costs, many smaller companies have been forced out of business.
Companies for whom injection moulding was only a peripheral part of their business have sold off their machines and now sub-contract out, says the report, and larger groups have also been consolidating and reorganising their equipment, plants and assets which has led to plant closures. For example, Nypro, McKechnie and Carclo have all closed operations in the UK this year.
AMI says that the changing structure of the injection moulding sector is also reflected in the markets the industry serves. The largest end use market is the packaging industry, which accounts for 36 per cent of polymer usage in 2006 and 35 per cent of the moulders listed by the report. Traditionally the UK had a relatively large sector serving the telectronics and electrical goods industry but this is now down from 15 per cent in 1997 and 13 per cent in 2003 to 11 per cent of polymer demand and stands second to the automotive industry in terms of importance, reflecting the shift in moulding capacity for telectronic moulding to Central Europe and Asia over recent years.
AMI's guide to the UK injection moulding industry costs £175/Eur 255/$315.
Another toy maker has declared an interest in taking over Airfix, which went into receivership earlier this month. Model train manufacturer Hornby is understood to have expressed early interest, and now Revell, itself a major construction kit manufacturer, has also declared an interest in the business. Revell has just been restructured with a management buy-out of the European businesses from the American parent, and has confirmed that it has 'registered an interest in certain assets of Humbrol' (effectively Airfix's parent company, whose move into receivership put the shutters up at Airfix).
Simpsons expands in plastics colouring September 24, 2006
Industrial colours supplier Simpsons UK of Caldicote in Monmouthshire has expanded its position in plastics colouring by buying the textiles, plastics and coatings divisions of Intercolour of Leeds. Simpsons is now anticipating its 2006 sales figure of £2 million rising to £2·9 million next year as a result of the purchase.
Surgical instrument wins Horners Award September 24, 2006
Winner of this year's Horners Award for excellence in plastics design and processing is Sovrin Plastics. The award-winning design was for the Syclix series of surgical instruments for minimally invasive surgery which replaces the traditional but tiring and potentially awkward ring or scissor grip instruments with a series of gripping and cutting instruments which can be operated by rolling between the fingers. The concept for the design came from surgeon John Wickham and Sovrin Plastics produced the tooling and moulds and assembles the product.
Coming a very close second for the award was UPM's Infrared Granular Drying System which can reduce by up to 80 per cent the drying time required by some polymers prior to processing.
Ridat goes West September 24, 2006
Thermoforming machine manufacturer Ridat has moved from North London to South Wales as part of an expansion to meet growth in worldwide demand. The company is now at Unit E1, Neath Vale Supplier Park, Resolven, Neath, SA11 4SR.
Lanxess expands CR capacity September 24, 2006
Lanxess is considering further expansion of its chloroprene rubber capacity at Dormagen in Germany. The company has invested more than Eur 15 million in optimising processes and safety and expanding capacity, with the work due for completion by the end of the year. If all goes to plan further plant expansion will follow.
Rhodia expands upstream in Chinese polyamides September 24, 2006
Rhodia is building a hexamethylene diamine unit in China as part of its upstream integration in the polyamide chain. It will have an annual capacity of 60,000 tonnes and will be operational in early 2009. The company is also studying the feasibility of building an adiponitrile plant in Asia.
New MD at ER-WE-PA September 24, 2006
New managing director of Davis-Standard's ER-WE-PA business in Erkrath, Germany, is Frank-Uwe Schulz. He joins the company from ECH Will, a supplier of custom paper manufacturing and converting equipment, where he was managing director and director of sales, customer service and marketing.
Temperature sensing takeover September 24, 2006
Labfacility, which makes standard and custom thermocouples and temperature sensors, has taken over the Temperature Sensing Division of Thermodata with effect from October 1.
Antioxidant partners to separate September 24, 2006
Clariant International of Switzerland and Songwon Industrial Co of Korea are to dissolve their antioxidants partnership on January 31, 2008, and work independently in the antioxidants market. Until then Clariant will continue to distribute antioxidants (types 1010, 1076, and 168) and related blends produced by Songwon Industrial.
Lanxess says it's time to stop consolidating and to start expanding September 17, 2006
Lanxess has formally launched itself on the acquisition trail. After 18 months of consolidation since it was created from a group of businesses not fitting with the new Bayer life sciences image, Lanxess has declared itself not only seeking acquisitions, but able to spend a lot of money.
In a series of presentations to shareholders, analysts and the media in this past week the company rammed home its break from a volume-led business approach as part of Bayer to a greater focus on profitability - and thereby shareholder value.
Since its independence Lanxess has reorganised, closed and sold operations that were unlikely to meet its profit targets, and has declared a pre-tax profit of 5 per cent as a minimum level at which it will retain businesses by 2009.
Chairman Axel Heitmann described the Lanxess philosophy as 'a profit-driven portfolio approach'. 'Lanxess is in business to make money. We will give up production volume if it is not profitable.'
Since January 2005 Lanxess has initiated cost savings of Eur 260 million in four restructuring phases in which it has closed several sites, optimised its manufacturing and administration processes, and spun off its fine chemicals and styrenic polymers businesses into self-determining subsidiaries Saltigo and Lustran Polymers. The styrenics business, now cut down to concentrating on speciality grades of ABS and coloured compounds, opens its doors as Lustran on October 1. Lanxess has also sold its Fiber and Paper Chemicals business units and intends to sell its Textile Processing Chemicals business by the end of this year.
The result has been to push up its pre-tax (EBITDA) profit by 30 per cent in 2005 - although starting from the base level of the Bayer performance - and more significantly by a further 18 per cent in the first half of this year. Its margin is currently running at 11·3 per cent.
Now the 'tidying up' process is over or in train, Lanxess is planning to grow 'through targeted acquisition within the chemical industry'.
According to Dr Heitmann it is too early to say what these targets may be, but some pundits are tipping an EPDM acquisition, with DSM's business as a possible candidate, to bolster Lanxess's already strong position in butyl, butadiene and chloroprene rubber.
The war chest is quite considerable. The major surgery during the past 18 months has cut debt substantially. According to chief financial officer Matthias Zachert 'in 2004 we were burdened by so much debt that we could have got into difficulties in an economic down turn. But over the past 18 months debt has been brought down by more than Eur 500 million, and now we are a company with a healthy balance sheet.' The reduction of the debt burden has increased Lanxess's ability to borrow without hurting its prized investor-grade rating for its stock. Mr Zachert said: 'We can draw on additional funding of between Eur 0·5 billion and Eur 1 billion without losing our investor-grade rating.' He added: 'If we had the opportunity to make an acquisition we would consider accepting a temporary down grade in our rating' and he reckoned that in these circumstances, together with other financial measures, Lanxess could have 'well over Eur 1·5 billion' available for acquisition.
New UK plastics exhibition planned for next year September 17, 2006
A new exhibition concentrating on material science and production efficiency joins the plastics calendar next year. Plastic Innovations will run at the new Ricoh arena in Coventry from May 22 - 23.
The exhibition has been launched by easyFairs, a Europe-wide exhibitions company with its head office in Brussels. easyFairs runs more than 50 trade shows a year across Europe to a fixed price format which levels the playing field for exhibitors by standardising on a shell scheme layout in modular units.
Stands at Plastic Innovations will be offered as single or double units of 12 m² for a price of £2,800 per unit, including furniture, electrics, lighting, and other fittings.
The show will occupy 1,000 m² of floor space with 80+ exhibitors.
DSM invests in PA46, PA6 and UHMWPE September 17, 2006
The doubling of capacity for Stanyl nylon 46 planned by DSM is to go ahead at the Chemelot site at Geleen in the Netherlands and not in China as was originally a possibility. The company has, however, selected China as the site for a new nylon 6 polymerisation plant.
The Stanyl expansion - DSM doesn't give actually capacities - will come alongside a doubling of capacity for Stamylan ultra high molecular weight polyethylene - used among other things as a feedstock for DSM's Dyneema high strength fibres, for which DSM has just announced another capacity expansion. It is to invest tens of millions of US dollars at Greenville, North Carolina in the USA, bringing the number of lines there to five, and overall in the company to 10. The new Dyneema unit is expected to come on stream early in 2008, as will the new Stanyl and Stamylan plants at Geleen. The investment cost for the Stanyl and Stamylan expansion is around Eur 100 million.
To support the new Stanyl capacity DSM is also starting work on de-bottlenecking its diaminobutane production at Geleen: diaminobutane is a feedstock for nylon 46 and having its own production is key to DSM's position as the only manufacturer of nylon 46.
The new Chinese nylon 6 plant will be built at Jiangyin where DSM opened a new compounding plant in April. Start up is scheduled for the second quarter of 2008. It will produce high viscosity grades of Akulon for packaging film production in Asia-Pacific, drawing its caprolactam feedstock from the DSM Nanjing Chemical Company, a joint venture of DSM and Sinopec that produces caprolactam in Nanjing. DSM says it will be unique in producing the full PA6 chain - raw materials, polymer and compounded product - in China. The investment will amount to several tens of millions of US dollars.
Chinese nylon plan for Degussa September 17, 2006
Degussa is also to invest in Chinese nylon production, with a new plan by its High Performance Polymers business unit to build a polycondensation plant for specialty polyamides together with a compounding plant at its multi-user site in Shanghai, for January 2008 start-up.
Degussa says that while the global market for specialty polyamides is growing at an annual 5 per cent, growth rates in Asia are more than 10 per cent. The products of the new plant in China will go to serve existing markets and open up new niche applications.
The compounding plant adjoining the polymerisation plant will make it particularly easy for the company to adapt moulding compounds to local needs. Degussa is also planning to build a technical centre on the Shanghai site with construction slated to begin in 2007.
Sainsbury pushes compostable packaging September 17, 2006
Supermarket chain Sainsbury is replacing conventional plastic trays and bags with compostable packaging for its ready meals and organic foods in 'the biggest ever initiative to eliminate plastics from Britain's High Streets.' It reckons already to be the single largest user of compostable packaging in Europe - it started using compostable packaging in 2002 - and says that its new initiative 'will save 4,010 tonnes of fossil fuel (3,550 tonnes of plastic) from Sainsbury's output alone every year, as well as reducing rubbish collected for landfill.' Assuming, of course, that all its customers compost the packaging and don't continue to throw it away.
Around half of Sainsbury's organic fruit and vegetables are already available in compostable packaging, with the target of 65 per cent by January next year, all the company's Ready Meals by next September and organic sausages and whole birds by October 2007. There is also a January 2007 target for 15 per cent recyclable packaging for organic fruit and vegetables.
Silicones businesses go as GE sells Advanced Materials September 17, 2006
General Electric is to sell its GE Advanced Materials business with operations in silicones and quartz, and to do so is buying out its partners in GE Bayer Silicones and GE Toshiba Silicones. The sale of GE Advanced Materials is to private equity group Apollo Management of the USA and will bring GE around $2 billion in cash and securities which it will use to fund growth and restructure its industrial businesses. GE will retain a 10 per cent stake in the new company. The current head of GE Advanced Materials, Wayne Hewett, will go with it as president and chief executive.
Borealis invests in more capacity and expanded R & D September 17, 2006
The OMV/Borealis site in Schwechat, Austria, has become one of the largest plastics manufacturing sites in Europe with the inauguration of a Eur 400 million investment in a 350,000 tonnes Borstar polyethylene plant, the expansion to 300,000 tonnes of the 210,000 tonnes Borstar polypropylene plant and the expansion from 650,000 to 900,000 tonnes of OMV's nearby cracker - by 150,000 tonnes to 500,000 tonnes of ethylene and by 100,000 tonnes to 400,000 tonnes of propylene.
In the United Arab Emirates Borealis and its Borouge joint venture with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company are to open an innovation centre in Au Dhabi which will be fully operational in 2009. This will provide research capabilities to serve Borouge's customers in the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions. The innovation centre will complement Borouge 2, the planned multi-billion dollar expansion which will see annual production at Borouge's manufacturing site in Ruwais, UAE, triple to 2 million tonnes. The decision to build the new innovation centre was announced earlier this year as part of a series of R & D investments.
Basell raises polyolefin catalyst capacity September 17, 2006
Basell has expanded its Ferrara, Italy, plant capacity for Ziegler polyethylene and Ziegler-Natta polypropylene catalysts by 40 per cent. The plant can now supply catalysts for the production of 30 million tonnes of polyolefins. The expansion is to supply not only customers for Basell's PE and PP processes, but companies running non-Basell processes, especially gas phase polypropylene technologies. Basell says that the Ferrera plant is the largest polyolefin catalyst manufacturing facility in the world.
New agency for micro-perforating equipment September 17, 2006
Film conversion equipment specialist Edlon Machinery has become UK agent for a German micro-perforating equipment company. It now represents Micro Laser Technology, which makes equipment for perforating films at high speed with holes sized to control the rate at which oxygen is transferred through them. They are intended for modified atmosphere packaging film which needs to enable some oxygen to pass into the pack to allow its contents to metabolise naturally throughout its shelf life.
Conventional porous films admit O2 and CO2 at similar rates, so the ratios of gases that can result inside such packages are limited. Edlon says it is impossible to achieve low O2 (1 - 5 per cent) without accumulating high CO2 (15 - 20 per cent), so such films are usable only for products that tolerate high CO2 without experiencing premature decay. The Micro Laser Technology equipment can produce rows of holes between 50 and 120 microns, enabling the oxygen transfer rate to be tailored to suit the produce to be packaged.
Shin-Etsu PVC expansion completed ahead of time September 17, 2006
PVC capacity at Shin-Etsu's Dutch plant at Pernis near Rotterdam has increased from 350,000 to 450,000 tonnes in a Eur 50 million expansion completed ahead of its scheduled October date. The company expanded its vinyl chloride monomer capacity from 500,000 to 620,000 tonnes in November 2003. It is currently building an integrated PVC plant - from electrolysis to VCM to PVC - in the USA which will increase its US subsidiary Shintech's PVC capacity to 2·64 million tonnes.
Dow plans plant closures September 3, 2006
Dow Chemical is closing three plants to strengthen its competitiveness. It is to close the polyethylene and polystyrene plants at Sarnia in Canada and also the latex and polyols production there; the Porto Marghera TDI plant in Italy will not re-open from its planned maintenance shut down which took effect in August; and another Canadian plant at Fort Saskatchewan, which makes chlor-alkali and ethylene dichloride, will close by the end of October because necessary investment can not be justified.
The LDPE closure at Sarnia was triggered by BP's unexpected suspension in March of ethylene shipments through the Cochin Pipeline for safety reasons. Dow examined alternative supplies but with no economically sustainable alternative the decision to close the plant was 'unavoidable'. The plant will close later this month. Its capacity will be taken up as far as possible by the LDPE plant at Freeport, Texas, USA, but Dow warns it may not be able to maintain the current level of supply to all customers.
The closure of the polystyrene plant is a domino effect of the PE closure. Removing the PE facility at Sarnia would have put extra costs on to the polystyrene plant there, and the need for capital investment together with the difficult market conditions for polystyrene combined to make the closure inevitable. The closure will take place between now and the end of the year, with no polystyrene production expected in 2007. Output is being switched to Dow's six other North American polystyrene plants but, as with the polyethylene closure, Dow is covering itself by warning of potential shortfalls. Production of latex from the UES facility and polyols production will both cease by the end of 2008.
The cost of shutting the plants will be around $550 - $650 million, and thereafter Dow expects to save around $160 million a year.
Airfix comes unglued - Hornby to pick up the pieces? September 3, 2006
Plastics moulders come and go unnoticed, but when they are as deeply embedded in the genes of the nation as Airfix, their fortunes and failures make headline news. So when last week it was announced that Airfix was facing extinction the press was full of pictures of model Lancaster bombers and Spitfires, and recollections of a childhood spent covered in polystyrene cement and enamel paints.
Airfix, one of the pioneers of plastics assembly kits with its Ferguson tractor in 1949 - which reputedly was only sold in kit form because there was not enough budget to assemble the promotional toy for sale - has been in trouble before. In its heyday Airfix bought Meccano and the Dinky Toys brand, as well as other specialist toy companies. But in 1981 changes in toy trends forced it into bankruptcy and it was bought by the US company Palitoy.
A complex series of sales and divestments followed, culminating in Airfix becoming part of Borden Corporation subsidiary Hobby Products Group alongside paint manufacturer Humbrol and kit manufacturer Heller of France. Hobby Products Group was sold on again, Heller became independent but closely allied with Humbrol and Airfix, and in July this year, went into administration.
Heller holds the Airfix moulds so lack of supply bounced back at Airfix, and with Humbrol also making losses, Hobby Products Group called in administrator Grant Thornton on September 1.
Grant Thornton has high hopes of selling Airfix. First into the frame has been Hornby which has declared an interest, but as yet has not approached the administrators. Hornby is currently in an acquisitive mood, announcing last week that it is buying into the German market with the acquisition of Heico Modell, a privately owned German distributor of model train accessories. Coincidentally Hornby's chief executive Frank Martin at one time worked for Humbrol.
Irish bag tax to increase because shock value is wearing off September 3, 2006
Ireland is to increase the levy on plastic shopping bags because consumers have become complacent. The Irish Business Against Litter lobby group had called for the levy to be doubled to 30 cents, and Minister for the Environment Dick Roche has announced plans to increase the levy to 22 cents per bag - the maximum amount possible without having to introduce new legislation - in the next couple of months.
IBAL says the 15 c plastic bag levy that was introduced four years ago has lost its shock value and its deterrence is beginning to wear off. It is predicting that 130 million bags will be used this year, compared to 80 million in the 12 months following the introduction of the levy.
Finnemore to head Battenfeld's European film equipment sales September 3, 2006
David Finnemore has been appointed director of European sales and service by Battenfeld Gloucester Engineering and is based at the company's European division, Battenfeld Gloucester Europe in Vienna, Austria. He joined Battenfeld Gloucester Europe when it was known as SMS Folientechnik in 1997 from Polypipe Civils.
Solvay invests in South American PVC September 3, 2006
To meet anticipated growth in South America Solvay's Brazilian PVC affiliate Solvay Indupa - Solvay holds 62·7 per cent - is to invest $150 million to expand and modernise its Santo Andre plant. The investment program includes upgrading the plant's electrolysis unit through the implementation of modern membrane technology with a capacity of 150,000 tonnes of chlorine and the expansion of the downstream vinyl chloride monomer and PVC manufacturing facility. By the end of 2008 the plant will have a total annual VCM and PVC production capacity of 300,000 tonnes, and will be further expandable.
Tantec buys back US EST business September 3, 2006
The Danish Tantec Group, which builds equipment for surface treatment, has bought back its US operation. Its American surface treatment subsidiary was bought by MKS/ION Systems last year when it bought Tantec Inc. Now under new ownership, the Tantec Group has set up Tantec EST in the USA to sell corona and plasma surface treatment equipment - discontinuing the previous operation of static control equipment - and has bought back MKS/ION's electrical surface treatment subsidiary.
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