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Dow, Solvay and BASF link upstream of Thai polyurethanes July 30, 2007
A three-cornered investment in South East Asia is set to boost polyurethanes production in the region. Dow Chemical and Solvay are to build a hydrogen peroxide plant in Thailand and Dow and BASF are planning a plant to convert this hydrogen peroxide to propylene oxide using their innovative HPPO process. Propylene oxide is a feedstock for polyether polyols.
The HP plant will be the biggest in the world at 330,000 tonnes and will start production in 2010. It will use Solvay's proprietary, high-yield hydrogen peroxide technology.
The 390,000 tonnes PO plant planned by Dow and BASF for Map Ta Phut in Thailand will be the second to adopt the process developed by the two companies five years ago. The partners are currently building a 300,000 tonnes plant in Antwerp, Belgium, scheduled for start-up in early 2008. This is also to be fed by Solvay's high yield HP process.
The HPPO process creates no by-products other than water and plants using it are smaller, need less infrastructure and require a significantly lower investment compared with conventional PO production processes.
Propylene for the HPPO plant in Thailand would be supplied from the liquids cracker that Dow is building jointly with The Siam Cement Group and expected be fully operational in 2010.
Harcostar in management buy out July 28, 2007
The Bulk Packaging Group, comprising blow moulder Harcostar Drums and its sister company fibre drum producer Fibrestar Drums, has been bought by its management. Majority shareholder AlpInvest has agreed to sell its stake to the senior management team of chairman Tony Starsiak, general manager Colin Pardoe and chief financial officer Steve Hornby. Technical director is Phillip Wallis, operations director Mathew Look and European sales manager Mark Blythe.
As well as producing large blow moulded drums, Harcostar also makes water butts, composters and technical mouldings.
The two businesses, with combined annual sales of £25 million, operate alongside each other on a 5 hectare site at Disley in Cheshire, where they employ a total of 220 people.
The Bulk Packaging Group was formed in March 2000 as a management buy-in vehicle to acquire Rexam's Bulk Packaging division with finance from AlpInvest Holding. AlpInvest decided to sell following the consolidation of the two drum businesses on the Disley site after Harcostar was relocated from Huntingdon.
Lucite sells US/Mexico acrylic sheet plants July 28, 2007
Lucite International is selling its continuously processed acrylic sheet division with two plants in the USA and Mexico to Plaskolite. The plants are in Olive Branch, Mississippi, and Monterrey, Mexico and the sale is anticipated to be complete in the early part of the third quarter. Plaskolite was one of the founders of the extruded acrylic sheet industry in the United States nearly 60 years ago and remains the only privately-held, family-owned business in the industry.
Ashland plans Chinese polyester expansion July 28, 2007
Ashland is planning to build another unsaturated polyester resin plant in China at a cost of $35 million. It will be Ashland's fifth plant in China, and its second resin production facility. The original UP plant built in 2005 in Changzhou is currently being tripled in capacity. The new plant, in northern China, is expected on stream in 2009.
Alongside the new UP investment Ashland is also planning to spend $43 million on a technology and commercial centre in Shanghai.
The industry newspaper Plastics & Rubber Weekly and its sister magazine European Plastics News have been sold to Crain Communications of the USA, which publishes the Plastics News weekly newspaper. The deal also includes the Plastics Design and Moulding exhibition, associated conferences and the Plastics Industry Awards event. Crain already has polymer-related publishing interests in London with European Rubber Journal - also bought many years back from the then publisher of Plastics & Rubber Weekly - and Urethanes Technology.
Plastics Innovations goes to Dublin July 28, 2007
easyFairs is going ahead with its plan for a plastics exhibition in Ireland next year. Plastics Innovations 2008 will be held at the RDS - Royal Dublin Society - conference centre on February 6 and 7. The hall has the capacity for 97 12 m² stands in easyFairs' shell scheme only format.
Wittmann has added gravimetric blenders to its materials handling equipment products through the purchase of a Canadian-built range. Wittmann Canada has bought the M-Tek blending and materials handling product line from Mould-Tek. The purchase is seen as adding a missing piece to the materials handling systems offering from Wittmann, which has not previously supplied its own blenders. The aim is now to develop the equipment further using Wittmann's proprietary controls technology.
SolVin to expand PVC production in Europe as demand climbs July 28, 2007
The PVC joint venture between Solvay and BASF, SolVin, is to expand its plant in Jemeppe, Belgium, by 75,000 tonnes to 475,000 tonnes by 2009.
SolVin says the global market for vinyls has grown by more than 6 per cent annually in recent years and is expanding by nearly 15 per cent per annum in Eastern Europe and China. In the European Union the market has expanded significantly, with 600,000 tonnes of additional PVC consumption since 2005.
In China, says SolVin, there are increasing restrictions on expanding PVC production because of environmental concerns over the acetylene-based process used there. 'By contrast, the ethylene-based technology implemented by SolVin consumes 50 per cent less energy, with a considerably reduced environmental impact.'
SolVin has operations in France, Germany, Spain and the Benelux countries and a total annual production capacity of 1·3 million tonnes of PVC, with nearly 2,000 employees. Solvay owns 75 per cent and BASF 25 per cent.
A million more tonnes of PET planned for the USA by M&G July 28, 2007
Family-owned PET giant M&G Group is to build a single line 800,000 tonnes plant in the USA. It will use the same technology as the 450,000 tonnes Suape, Brazil plant which came on-stream in Q1 2007 and has been running at full nominal capacity. The new American plant will be built to produce 650,000 tonnes and the rest of the capacity will be added as needed. The site has yet to be announced.
As well building a new plant, M&G is streamlining operations at its plants in Apple Grove, West Virginia and Altamira, Mexico, to produce an additional 200,000 tonnes capacity which should be available in 2007 - 08.
M&G says it has already secured PTA feedstock supply to support its North American investment programme.
With these investments M&G lays claim to being the world's biggest PET producer. Chief executive Marco Ghisolo said: 'We expect that continued strong PET demand growth, partial execution and delays in our competitors' previously announced investment programmes, and increasingly constrained and costly imports, will contribute to a significant PET capacity shortage in the US by the year 2009. Although we believe that PET industry margins are still depressed when compared to other industries...we feel it is our responsibility to bridge the expected capacity gap to support our contract customers and the sustainability of the North American PET industry's growth.'
Dow joins in sugar-to-PE development in Brazil July 28, 2007
A plant to make polyethylene from ethanol derived from sugar cane is to be built in Brazil by Dow Chemical and Crystalserv, a sugar cane specialist and one of Brazil's largest ethanol producers. The 350,000 tonnes plant is expected to be on line in 2011.
The plant will use Dow's proprietary solution technology to make Dowlex LLDPE, which Dow says will be identical at the molecular level to Dowlex made with petrochemical feedstocks. This means that Dowlex users can switch to a renewable resource-based plastic with no changes needed to their processes, and the sugar cane-based polyethylene would be fully recyclable using existing infrastructure.
The two companies have begun a feasibility study to assess various aspects of the project. The study, which is expected to take one year, will also look at the possibility of receiving approval for the project and the process as a Clean Development Mechanism, developed by the United Nations to help companies manage their carbon credits from emerging market projects.
Dow says the areas being considered as potential sites for the new facility are currently being used for low-density cattle grazing and are not near any rain forests. Both companies have underscored their commitment to ensuring that the plant is located in a sustainable environment. Last month another Brazilian company, Braskem, announced that it is soon to start customer acceptance trials of a high density polyethylene made entirely from sugar cane-derived ethanol, with manufacture in industrial quantities expected in 2009.
Ticona's new European home is confirmed July 28, 2007
Celanese Corporation has confirmed that it is to move its Ticona subsidiary in Germany to the Frankfurt-Hoechst Industrial Park. Ticona is having to leave its Kelsterbach plant in Germany to make way for an extension to Frankfurt Airport.
BASF mulls styrenics sell-off July 17, 2007
BASF is likely to sell parts of its styrenics business. In a statement today the company says that it is 'evaluating strategic options for selected parts of its styrenics activities' and that in parallel with this, it has received an offer for some parts of the business and 'plans to start discussions with the interested party'.
Styrenics is the biggest of BASF's three plastics segments, with 39 per cent of sales in 2006 at Eur 4,994 million. This was 10·5 per cent up on 2005, yielding profits 'significantly higher' than in 2005 thanks to improvements in efficiency including the closing of the Tarragona, Spain, polystyrene plant towards the end of last year. BASF also expanded the division with the acquisition of styrene copolymer business (but no assets) from Lanxess in Europe and South America and Repsol in Europe.
The activities for which BASF has received the unidentified offer include its styrene monomer, polystyrene, styrene butadiene copolymer and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene businesses with plants in Antwerp, Belgium; Altamira, Mexico; São José dos Campos, Brazil; Ulsan, South Korea; and Dahej, India. These activities posted sales of about Eur 3·2 billion in 2006 - around 64 per cent of BASF's styrenics turnover - and have approximately 1,000 employees.
BASF intends to keep its styrenic foams and speciality products for the construction, automobile, packaging, sport and leisure industries, and following its Verbund principle of integration, will at least retain its styrene monomer and polystyrene plants at Ludwigshafen in Germany.
Announcing the evaluation and possible sale, BASF director responsible for plastics, Dr John Feldmann, said: 'Earnings in our styrenics activities have improved considerably thanks to efficiency optimization measures and fine-tuning of business models. However, further repositioning steps are necessary to meet appropriate levels of profitability.'
Now Basell agrees to buy Lyondell July 17, 2007
Fresh from its failure to buy Huntsman Corporation Basell has signed an agreement to buy America's third largest publicly traded chemical company, Lyondell. The price agreed is $48/share, valuing Lyondell at $19 billion including the assumption of debt.
Lyondell has three business segments - ethylene, co-products and derivatives; propylene oxide and related products; and refining - which Basell says will complement and significantly strengthen its own polyolefins business. Basell and Lyondell together would have had combined 2006 revenues of approximately $34 billion and 15,000 employees around the world.
The boards of both companies have unanimously approved the deal. Len Blavatnik, chairman of Basell's parent company Access Industries, said: 'The combination of Basell and Lyondell creates one of the top chemical companies in the world. This combination further strengthens Access' long-term strategic position in the global petrochemical industry.'
Victrex has opened a £1·5 million applied technology centre at its Thornton Cleveleys site. The 900 m² centre is an expansion of the company's product development facilities that will provide customer support in product development for key targeted industry sectors, and will also provide material specification and testing services.
The new centre houses extrusion, compounding and injection moulding equipment for new product development and a suite of tooling for moulding experimental samples and test pieces. The centre has 20 product and application development staff producing compounds of Victrex PEEK to meet specific customer requirements.
The new centre is complementary to the Asia Innovation & Technology Center that the company opened in Shanghai last summer.
This is the second major UK investment for Victrex this year. In May, the company opened a £5·3 million film extrusion plant at Thornton Cleveleys to make Victrex PEEK film.
Plastic bag tax planned for London July 16, 2007
Local councillors in London are planning a 10 p per bag tax on supermarket shopping bags similar to that introduced in Ireland and elsewhere over the past five years. A coalition of 33 Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat Councils in the London Councils Association are proposing the levy, and aim to put forward a bill to Parliament in November. The aim initially is to impose the tax on bags given away by major supermarkets, but it is hoped to extend it to all shops and market traders in London.
The money raised by the tax would fund other environmental schemes.
The Irish experience is quoted by both proponents and opponents of the scheme. In 2002 supermarket bag consumption in the Irish Republic was 1·2 billion or 328 per person in the country. Last year it was 90 per cent less at 21 bags per person. Before the levy, plastic bags accounted for 5 per cent of the litter in Dublin. Now they account for 0·2 per cent. Irish retailers have switched to heavier paper bags which release greenhouse gases when they break down in landfill and there has been a substantial rise in sales of bin liners - both items use more energy in manufacture and transport than thin plastic bags.
Alcan to sell its packaging business July 13, 2007
Alcan's $6 billion packaging division is to be sold as part of the takeover of Alcan by Rio Tinto, to become Rio Tinto Alcan. Tom Albanese, Rio Tinto chief executive, said in the announcement of the takeover bid: 'Rio Tinto intends to retain its focus on mining and metals activities by the divestment of Alcan's Packaging division, as jointly agreed with Alcan. Alcan Packaging will have better opportunities for development and success following its divestiture and we will ensure a smooth transition for all involved.' A Rio Tinto spokesman said that it was too early to consider how the sale would take place, as the takeover was yet to be approved and finalised.
Alcan Packaging reckons to be the world's leading manufacturer of flexible food packaging with more than 17,800 employees in 72 plants worldwide making packaging from plastics, paper, card, glass and metals. As well as food the company operates in the medical/pharmaceutical, personal care and tobacco markets. The food and beverage packaging market represents approximately 63 per cent of total sales, followed by pharmaceutical and medical at 16 per cent, beauty and personal care at 13 per cent and tobacco at 8 per cent. Overall Alcan Packaging has 31,000 employees at 129 sites in 31 countries on five continents.
The company's web site describes the packaging business as 'a core business group of Alcan representing 25 per cent of the revenues and generating a turnover of $6 billion.'
Rolf to leave Borealis July 13, 2007
Head of Borealis' Polyolefins Business Group, David Rolf, is leaving the company at the end of the month. From August until further notice the Polyolefins Business Group will report to the chief executive designate, Mark Garrett.
Arburg moves into Vietnam July 13, 2007
Arburg has added Vietnam to its worldwide injection moulding machinery outlets. It has appointed the North and South Vietnamese subsidiaries of the Malaysian Edstachem company to represent it in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Arburg has been selling machines in Vietnam for 10 years, but says its formalised agreement now makes it 'the first reputable injection moulding machine manufacturer with a presence via representations in Vietnam.'
Huntsman Corporation has accepted Hexion's takeover bid, while Basell is standing by its original offer. Basell made a takeover move for the American chemicals giant at the end of June only to be outbid a week later by Hexion, which then raised its offer further after another few days.
While at face value this is a contest between Basell and Hexion, it is really a tussle between two American venture capital groups, Access Industries which owns Basell and Apollo Management which owns Hexion. Buying Huntsman would significantly expand existing chemicals interests in both portfolios.
Basell's original offer was accepted by Huntsman, but the higher bid from Hexion triggered an option in the agreement that if a 'superior' offer was made for the company Huntsman could pull out of the agreement on payment of a break-up penalty of $200 million. Hexion was not only deemed to have made a 'superior' offer, but also offered to pay half the break-up penalty, and offered Huntsman a further compensation payment of $325 million if its takeover failed for regulatory or financing reasons.
Despite the higher offer, Huntsman stuck with its acceptance of the Basell bid while it examined what Hexion had to offer. Today it issued a statement that it had terminated the merger agreement with Basell and entered a definitive merger agreement with Hexion, under which Hexion would acquire Huntsman for $10·6 billion including the assumption of debt. The decision was approved unanimously by the Huntsman board. The Huntsman family, a Huntsman charitable trust and MatlinPatterson, which between them own 57 per cent of Huntsman, have agreed to vote in favour of the deal.
Huntsman's acceptance was published on its web site today and coincidentally today Basell also published on its web site a statement, dated yesterday, that it would stand by its original offer. In its statement Basell says that it 'understands that the Hexion offer faces a lengthy and complex regulatory approval process and that closing the Hexion transaction will require many months and is subject to uncertainty. Basell will monitor the situation.' The Huntsman statement today says: 'The transaction is not subject to a financing condition and commitments have been obtained by Hexion for all necessary debt financing from affiliates of Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank AG. Hexion will have up to 12 months, subject to a 90 day extension by the Huntsman Board of Directors under certain circumstances, to close the transaction.'
Adding Huntsman will make Hexion one of the world's largest specialty chemical companies with annual sales of more than $14 billion and more than 21,000 employees and 180 facilities around the world.
Airline cutlery and crockery manufacturer deSter Holding of the Netherlands is being bought by US-based Gate Gourmet. DeSter reckons to be the world's leading supplier of airline passenger contact and comfort items, such as cutlery, chinaware and amenity kits. It has been owned by private equity fund group EQT since 1999 and had sales of Eur 235 million in 2006 from operations on three continents and with more than 350 airlines as customers. Gate Gourmet is the world's largest independent airline catering and logistics company and produces an average of 200 million meals annually in 26 countries on five continents.
DuBay invests in German PBT plant July 12, 2007
Lanxess and DuPont are investing Eur 10 million in their joint venture DuBay Polymer PBT plant in Hamm-Uentrop in Germany. The investment is described as an 'expansion', although no actual increase in production capacity has been disclosed. Eleven new jobs have been created bringing the plant manning up to around 70. When the plant was opened in 2003 it was described as the biggest of its kind in the world, and its 80,000 tonnes capacity was around half of total European demand for PBT.
Irish packaging producer expands in North America July 12, 2007
Flexible packaging producer Clondalkin Group of Dublin, Ireland, has bought Direct Plastics Group of Ontario, Canada. Direct Plastics supplies flexible packaging to the frozen food, confectionery, horticulture and animal care markets.
For Clondalkin this is further expansion in North America: the company already has 14 plants in the US and Puerto Rico.
DuPont and NASA seek to reinforce PU with Kevlar July 12, 2007
DuPont has signed a Space Act Agreement with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to jointly develop urethane foam insulation reinforced with its Kevlar aramid fibre for use in a variety of future spacecraft, including the new launch vehicle being designed to replace the space shuttle.
They will seek a method of incorporating Kevlar into the cell walls of the foam to enhance the performance of the thermal protection systems used in the Ares 1 crew launch vehicle. There may be other uses for the material in future science and exploration applications ranging from vehicle TPS to inflatable structures.
Degussa starts up Taiwanese acrylic joint venture July 12, 2007
The joint venture acrylic moulding compounds plant planned by Degussa and Forhouse Corporation in 2005 has started up in Taichung, Taiwan with an initial capacity of 40,000 tonnes feeding 'over the fence' production of flat panel electronic displays. According to Degussa the market for flat panel displays is expanding at more than 10 per cent annually. Forhouse, which owns 49 per cent of Degussa Forhouse Optical Polymers Corporation, is treating the venture as backward integration for its flat panel business, securing a PMMA supply for future growth. It also gives Forhouse a more competitive cost structure.
Rhein-Chemie plans expansion and redundancies July 12, 2007
Lanxess rubber chemicals subsidiary Rhein-Chemie is to invest around Eur 7 million in modernising and expanding its Mannheim site in Germany. At the same time the company is reducing the workforce by around 70, and expects ultimately to save around Eur 5 million a year.
Hexion increases its offer for Huntsman July 10, 2007
While it is still waiting for Huntsman to assess its counterbid to the Basell (aka Access Industries Holdings) takeover proposal, Hexion (aka Apollo Management) has raised the stakes further. It has increased its offer from $27.25/share to $28, adding $200 million to its original $10·4 billion offer. The new bid is seen as a move by Hexion to forestall a further offer from Basell. Huntsman is still recommending the Basell bid, but Basell would now have to make a significant increase to its original $25.25/share ($9.64 billion) offer to impress Huntsman's shareholders.
Huntsman's shares have been pushed up by the bidding to a level in excess of that currently offered by Hexion.
Univar to be sold July 9, 2007
Chemicals distributor Univar of Holland, which owns Distrupol in this country, is to be bought by CVC Capital Partners. The bid, which values Univar at Eur 1·5 billion, is through a subsidiary of Ulysses, a Luxembourg company controlled by CVC. CVC intends to keep Univar as an independently-operating subsidiary under its present name, and provide funds for it to grow organically and through acquisition. The present chief executive Gary Pruitt will remain on the board, which will be recomposed largely of Ulysses nominees.
The major shareholder in Univar, HAL Holding of the Netherlands which holds some 26 per cent of Univar's shares, had already agreed to sell to CVC before the offer was made to Univar.
New president for Ticona July 9, 2007
The next president of Ticona will be Sandra Beach Lin, who joins the company from Avery Dennison Corporation where she was group vice president, Specialty Materials and Converting. She has also worked in global management positions at Closure Systems International, a division of Alcoa, and Honeywell International, including serving as president of Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems and vice president and general manager of Specialty Wax and Additives.
She takes over from Lyndon Cole, who is to retire but will stay with the company through a transition period. Ms Lin also becomes an executive vice president of Ticona's parent, Celanese Corporation.
Top marketing change at DuPont EP July 9, 2007
Global marketing director of DuPont Engineering Polymers, Timothy McCann, is moving to DuPont Electronic Technologies where he will be vice president and general manager. He will be succeeded by Björn Hedlund, who is adding the job to his position as regional director Europe, Middle East, Africa.
Nampak's Reid is promoted July 9, 2007
Managing director of Nampak Plastics Europe, Tom Reid, has been promoted to managing director of Nampak Europe.
Ineos to close down inefficient PP lines July 8, 2007
The expansion of Ineos' polypropylene production at its Geel plant in Belgium and Grangemouth in Scotland is to be followed by the closure of two less efficient lines at Sarralbe in France totalling 215,000 tonnes in capacity. The company says the two slurry lines have become unsustainable due to feedstock issues and their exposure to grades/markets unable to provide sufficient returns. The 165,000 tonnes line will close at the end of 2008 and the 50,000 tonnes line a year later.
Ineos says the third, 65,000 tonnes, PP line and the 200,000 tonnes of HDPE capacity at Sarralbe 'remain strategic to the business, with unique technology enabling a strong portfolio of differentiated products.'
University of Bradford opens micro/nano-moulding lab July 8, 2007
A laboratory for micro- and nano-moulding has been opened at the University of Bradford as part of the university's Polymer Interdisciplinary Research Centre. The £2·2 million laboratory has been funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England and other funding has come from the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, the Department for Trade and Industry and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
Professor Phil Coates, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Bradford, and Director of the Polymer IRC, described the new facility as 'a key bridge between industry and academics, who need to link together more readily.' He said that in recent years, the strength of UK polymer engineering academics has been maintained but the industry side has suffered some decline.
The new centre, managed by research lecturer Dr Ben Whiteside, currently has six staff covering ultra-small scale precision moulding and compounding of polymers, nanocomposites and biomedical materials, complementing the larger scale processing facilities in the IRC laboratory. Typical products include medical components, telecommunications and optical products.
PolyOne tidies up vinyl joint ventures July 8, 2007
PolyOne and Occidental Chemical Corporation (OxyChem) have realigned their PVC joint ventures. PolyOne has sold to OxyChem its 24 per cent in OxyVinyls, formed on May 1, 1999 with the combination of the PVC and VCM businesses of OxyChem and PolyOne, and has bought OxyChem's 10 per cent interest in the compounder PVC Powder Blends, bringing PolyOne's ownership to 100 per cent. The value to PolyOne of the OxyVinyls sale is $261 million, and it is paying $11 million for the balance of PVC Powder Blends.
PolyOne will retain the existing PVC polymer and vinyl chloride monomer supply agreements that it entered into when OxyVinyls was formed.
Top management reshuffle at Adcuram/Battenfeld July 8, 2007
Chief executive of Battenfeld Kunstoffmaschinen, Dr Michael Judis, has left the company to take up another position within Adcuram - the company that bought Battenfeld last year. He has become chief executive designate of Adcuram Maschinenbauholding, a subsidiary of Adcuram where he will advise on acquisitions in the technical sector.
Dr Judis' responsibilities at Battenfeld for sales, service, finance and human resources have been taken on by Alexander Müller, who has been head of the Adcuram management team running Battenfeld since the takeover on October 13 last year.
Albermarle increases its stake in Chinese additives production July 8, 2007
US-based additives manufacturer Albermarle has taken control of its two Chinese joint ventures. It has increased its interest from 25 per cent to 75 per cent in Ningbo Jinhai Albemarle Chemical & Industry Co and Shanghai Jinhai Albemarle Fine Chemicals Co. Both companies make antioxidants and their intermediates.
As well as serving the growing Chinese market, Albermarle expects to sell products from both companies worldwide.
The acquisition of a majority stake in Jinhai Albemarle is the latest step in Albemarle's Chinese growth plan. In March the company opened a technical centre and broke ground on a phosphorus flame retardant manufacturing plant, both at the Nanjing Chemical Industry Park.
Demag concentrates machines and manufacturing to boost business July 5, 2007
Major changes are in train at injection machine manufacturer Demag following its separation from the rest of the Mannesmann Plastics Machinery Group earlier this year. At a meeting in Germany today chief executive Dr Klaus Erkes outlined what was wrong with the company over the past couple of years, and what was being done to put it right over the next couple.
He described a company that had lost focus, attempting to be a full-line supplier across all markets with a diverse customer base and having to sell to some extent on price. The American van Dorn subsidiary he described as being an unfocused R & D centre, while Asia, where Demag has a subsidiary and a joint venture operation, was still looked at from a European viewpoint. And while it has five manufacturing locations on three continents, these were non-integrated and decentralised, with too much duplication of resources.
Now the company is making radical revisions to its machine ranges and restructuring the way it builds them. The 12 basic machine designs are being reduced to three by 2009, and manufacturing in the USA is being stopped while in China it is being expanded. Demag has also consciously focused on primary application areas - mainly packaging, medical, automotive and electronics - and set up product groups to meet their particular needs.
The aim in machine design is to be 'toggle king in Lego style' - its three machine platforms will be the Systec all-hydraulic, El-Exis hybrid and IntElect all-electric machines, all with toggle clamp and all, particularly the Systec, built in modular form for customisation to the final application. The Extra, Concept and System series machines are all being replaced by equivalents from the Systec range. Into these three core ranges Demag has already inserted new low tonnage models, and over the next two years it plans to add further larger machines to build a comprehensive series from 25 to 2,000 tonnes.
The cessation of manufacturing in the USA follows the substantial reduction in the market there. In the past five years annual sales have dropped from 7,500 to 3,400 machines with a change from all-hydraulic to around half the new machines now being all-electric. As Demag only builds hydraulic machines at its former van Dorn plant at Cleveland in Ohio, its sales potential was reduced to a quarter. Alongside the falling call-off the plant had become outdated, so Demag has decided to cease manufacturing in the next couple of months and to concentrate the site on sales and after-sales support.
Worldwide machine sales were broadly divided into three by
Dr Erkes. The biggest market is Asia, with 57 per cent of global demand by value. This is the fastest growing sector, and is worth around Eur 3 billion. Demag reckons to be in the top 10 suppliers in China.
The second largest market is in Europe with Eur 1·2 billion annual sales of injection moulding machines, equating to about 23 per cent of the world market. Demag says it is number three here.
The North American market, where Demag says it is in the top 10, is currently worth around Eur 654 million, or 12 per cent of the world market.
Behind these basic figures are very different machine buying patterns. In Asia, said Dr Erkes, the greatest demand is in the lowest sophistication machines with the least demand in higher technology machines, and the market driven by Chinese moulders seeking more efficiency and higher quality. The opposite is true in Europe, with the highest demand for the highest technology machines and lowest demand for basic machines. North America has both these trends, with high demand for high performance machines mainly supplied by Germany, but also a high demand level for basic electric machines coming from China. Part of Demag's strategy is to be able to meet US demand for high performance machines with its El-Exis and Systec ranges from Germany, and the demand being met by Chinese electric machines with the Chinese-built version of its IntElect series, which will cost some 20 per cent less than their German-built equivalents.
Sitting outside the simplistic review of its machine types is Demag's Titan big machine series combining an American-designed two-platen clamp up to 4,000 tonnes, with a German-designed injection unit. This machine is only built in the USA and with the cessation of US production Dr Erkes says it will in future be built in Asia - there are no plans for German production. But whether it is to be built in China or at Demag's Indian joint venture he would not say, and would only confirm that there are 'some' machines in the order book.
As well as stopping production in the USA, Demag also sold its Ergocast foundry at Jünkerath in Germany to a Dutch company in February this year. It now sources components from Chinese foundries where Dr Erkes said 'we also meet our competitors'. The new Chinese factory, opened last month, is near the previous factory at Ningbo and increases the manufacturing space to 11,000 m². Demag will be building Dragon hydraulic machines there in a size range extended from the current options and based in the future on the Systec platform, and will also build the Chinese version of the IntElect which is essentially the same as the German-built machine, but with Chinese-sourced components. The new plant has been designed to handle all sizes from Demag's range and has been readied to assemble them on a flow line track, similar to that in operation at Demag's German factories, when production volumes call for it.
From one British extruder manufacturer to another July 5, 2007
Bev Graham, who for many years has been sales manager of British extruder manufacturer Plastic Extruders, has joined competitor Boston Matthews as extrusion sales manager for the UK and Ireland.
COIM sales move to Milan - but with British phone numbers July 5, 2007
Italian polyurethanes producer COIM has restructured its British sales operation. While the company retains its Northampton and Measham warehouses and UK sales contacts, the actual sales administration has been moved to a new European customer service centre in Milan. Two British freephone numbers - telephone 0808 234 1796 and fax 0808 234 1799 - connect customers to the centre.
Dow combines cellulosics operations July 5, 2007
Following its acquisition of Bayer's Wolff Walsrode business Dow Chemical has combined it with its own water soluble polymers operation to form Dow Wolff Cellulosics. The new company sells cellulosics (methylcellulose, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, hydroxyethyl methylcellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose, ethylcellulose, hydroxyethyl cellulose and nitrocellulose), as well as companion chemistries (polyethylene oxide, redispersible latex powders and cationic polymers) used in formulations across a broad variety of target applications. It will also own and operate the Industrial Park Walsrode in Bomlitz, Germany.
The newly (July 1) merged businesses had combined revenues of more than $1 billion in 2006 and employed 2,200 people worldwide.
Hexion outbids Basell for Huntsman July 4, 2007
Basell has been outbid in its takeover of Huntsman. Hexion Specialty Chemicals has put in a bid of $27.25 per share, outbidding Basell by $2. Its proposal carries the conditions that Huntsman should terminate its agreement with Basell and instead agree definitive merger terms with Hexion.
The Basell agreement included a $200 million penalty clause for termination in the event of a better offer, and Hexion is offering to cover $100 million of this penalty. Its own bid includes $325 million compensation to Huntsman if its takeover is blocked by regulatory or financing circumstances.
The Huntsman board has accepted that the Hexion bid does qualify as a superior offer to that from Basell and is now considering its merits.
BASF adds high heat automotive materials and a biobased foamed packaging sheet July 3, 2007
BASF is anticipating annual growth in its engineering plastics sales of 9 per cent until 2010 - above the market average - and to help it on its way today introduced two high temperature materials specifically for automotive use.
The first, Ultramid TOP3000, is a 10 per cent mineral-filled partly aromatic polyamide which is intended for body components able to withstand on-line painting and drying at just above 200 degC. BASF says that the material has achieved Class A quality in various coating lines under different conditions and coating concepts. It can be powder-coated without a primer but is apparently not conductive - and as the technology is the subject of a patent application BASF is saying no more.
The nature of the mineral filler is undisclosed, as is the nature of the nanoparticles which form part of the compound's make-up and aid flow.
Ultramid TOP 3000 has been developed to improve on 'the often employed polymer blends based on PPE/PA66' with a lower coefficient of thermal expansion and dimensional stability at elevated service temperatures, but is not a drop-in replacement for Noryl.
The new nylon also has improved hydrolytic stability. BASF says it absorbs and releases water 'considerably more slowly' than other nylons and retain stiffness even when moist.
BASF's use of nano-additives to improve flow - a technology being adopted by most major polymer manufacturers today - is echoed in 15 new High Speed grades of Ultradur PBT, with the whole Ultradur series now having high flow options which at least double flow length. BASF is again keeping the exact nature of the nano additives secret but says it is a patented in-house development, and that research is under way to apply the same principles across its other engineering materials, notably its nylons. To enable moulders to assess the potential cost savings from switching to high flow PBT grades BASF has put a cost calculator on line at www.basf.de/ultradur/costcalculator.
The other new high heat material introduced today for automotive use is a specially pigmented polyether sulphone that prevents overheating in close proximity to the headlight bulb. Headlamp housings are usually coloured black which can be achieved with just a small amount of colorant which BASF says gives a better surface finish. But the black pigments do not easily allow heat transmission. This is a particular problem above the bulb. The options are to either raise the thermal conductivity with fillers - risking the surface finish - or to reduce the wall thickness, which can lead to filling and stiffness problems. The BASF answer is a new pigment system which absorbs visible light - so it looks black - but allows heat radiation to pass through. BASF says test results show that in a situation where a conventionally-pigmented PESU is heated with a halogen light bulb and reaches 190 degC, under the same conditions a PESU with the new HM (heat management) pigment only reaches 130 - 150 degC.
The HM grade of Ultrason has been introduced alongside an even more radically-modified PESU. This has been formulated to improve flow by blending the PESU with another, unspecified, thermoplastic rather than lowering the molecular weight which can improve processing but at the expense of impact strength and stress crack performance. Flow is improved 10 - 20 per cent compared with pure PESU while maintaining temperature resistance and impact strength. BASF is still fine tuning this HP (high productivity) grade but says initial quantities are available for sampling. On a totally different tack BASF has also introduced a new packaging material which should enhance its presence in biodegradable plastics. In 2005 it introduced the Ecovio blend its Ecoflex copolyester with NatureWorks' polylactic acid. Ecoflex, while derived from petrochemicals, is biodegradable and BASF has blended it with other starch-based products to make mulching and packaging film, such as in BIOP Biopolymer Technologies' Biopar.
Now BASF has pushed its bio credentials further by upping the PLA content in a new 'burger box' product containing more than 75 per cent PLA. Ecovio L Foam is aimed at the XPS (extruded polystyrene foam) market and can be processed on standard XPS equipment without modification to make sheet for thermoforming into packaging. BASF says that according to the ASTM standard D6866 the 'biobased content' of Ecovio L Foam - the amount of biobased carbon atoms in the compound - is better than 75 per cent. Ecovio is currently only at laboratory sampling level and should be available in production scale amounts by early 2008.
Independent nylon producers merge July 3, 2007
Family-owned speciality nylon compounder Frisetta of Germany, which set up an office in Britain in 2001, has been taken over by Nilit. Frisetta makes materials for niche applications, such as high performance flame retardant materials and materials for radiation cross-linking. It also has a subsidiary, Recom, which is part of the deal.
Nilit makes the Euronil brand speciality plastics in Italy and operates a fully integrated polymerisation facility in Israel where it produces a broad range of specialty nylons for extrusion, injection moulding and compounding under the Polynil trademark. It also makes Sensil speciality fibres and Nilamid engineering compounds.
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