Hanna invests in cable compounds

October 31, 1999 - M A Hanna has invested more than $10 million to double capacity for flame retardant, halogen-free compounds at its Wire & Cable Polymer Systems site at Melle in Germany. As well as increasing capacity the investment brings facilities for new products including cross linkable FR products, oil resistant products and highly fire retardant compounds. A further addition is a technical development centre for customer compound trials.
     A driving force behind the investment is Hanna's expectation for low smoke and fume, zero halogen (LSF0H) compounds as replacements for PVC. The company sees the current market value of these compounds as $100 million, with a continuing annual growth rate of 10 per cent.

Expansion plan for North-East moulder

October 31, 1999 - French-owned injection moulder Groupe Neyr of Peterlee, Co Durham, is planning a £1 million investment in expanded capacity which will see its workforce increase from 35 to 50. The company was set up in 1996 to make components for locally-based companies in the automotive and power tool business, and has since expanded its automotive business countrywide. It exports around 15 per cent of its production. Group Neyr also manufactures in France, the USA, Spain and the Czech Republic.

Norsk Hydro looking to quit polymers

October 31, 1999 - Norsk Hydro is lining itself up to pull out of polymers. The Norwegian energy and chemicals group has published a 'focus for the future' strategy in which it will concentrate on three core business areas - oil and energy, light metals and agricultural chemicals. Its non-core activities, in which it includes petrochemicals, are to be developed 'as long as they remain company-owned'. If their performance is satisfactory 'then considerable assets can be derived from these activities through divestments or alliances'.
     Hydro's third quarter results showed an operating loss in petrochemicals of NOK 93 million for the first nine months despite an improvement in PVC prices which brought in NOK 72 million. During the period Hydro sold pipe producer Mabo and also Hydro Coatings.

Ex-Hanna duo buy Colorant-Chromatics

October 31, 1999 - Two executives from M A Hanna's Wire & Cable Polymer Systems division have left to head an investment team to buy a major producer of fluoropolymer colour and additive concentrates for wire and cable production. Philippe François and Haakon Karlsen have been joined by Paul Palmer, president of Chromatics Inc of the USA, to win backing from a Swiss investment firm to buy Colorant-Chromatics Group. Messrs François and Karlsen will be joint managing directors responsible for (respectively) sales, marketing and administration, and technology, manufacturing and procurement. Paul Palmer continues as president of the US operation.
     The Colorant-Chromatics Group was formed in Sweden in 1978 and today has manufacturing facilities and sales organisations in the USA, Europe and Japan.
¤ Philippe Hardy, Europe, Middle East and Africa sales and marketing director for M A Hanna's Wire & Cable Polymer Systems, has been appointed general manager Europe, succeeding Philippe François.

Ems Chemie to make PPA in Europe

October 31, 1999 - A production plant for polyphthalamide is to be built in Switzerland by Ems-Chemie, which says it will be the first PPA plant in Europe. The 6,000 tonnes plant at Domat/Ems will cost Sfr 30 million, and follows a Sfr 20 million pilot plant investment. Ems says the design will enable output to be doubled at low cost.
     The plant will use a polymerisation technology based on readily available materials commonly used in polyamide and polyester production, and Ems is to shut down polyester fibre production to make way for PPA production.
     Ems has been selling PPA - a partially aromatic co-polyamide - for some years as Grivory HT. The material offers high heat deflection stability - up to 300 degC for short periods - as well as dimensional stability, and has low water absorption and good chemical resistance. Unlike other polyamides, properties change little with moisture absorption.

Grilamid to cost more

October 31, 1999 - Ems Chemie is planning to increase the price of its Grilamid high performance nylons by 5 per cent on January 1.

Composite resins up again

October 31, 1999 - The third increase this year in the price of its composites resins has been imposed by Ashland Specialty Chemicals' Composite Polymers Division. Prices of specialty, general purpose and isophthalic resins have gone up 3 cents/lb to pass on price increases from suppliers of the chemicals used in the manufacture of polyester and vinyl ester resins.

Dow increases volumes for interpolymers

October 31, 1999 - Dow Plastics has moved to the next stage of commercialisation of its Index 'interpolymer' ethylene/styrene copolymers with the construction of a 22,700 tonnes development plant at Sarnia in Canada. A world scale production plant is scheduled to start up in the next couple of years at a site not yet selected.
     The plant at Sarnia will provide sufficient quantities of materials for evaluation of the growing numbers of potential applications. So far applications are foreseen in packaging, durable goods, wire and cable, toys, footwear, flooring, automotive, general elastomers and profiles.
     Index interpolymers fall broadly into two material groups - elastomers and semi-rigids - which Dow says 'pave the way for new applications and potentially could replace ethylene vinyl acetate, flexible polyvinyl chloride, block copolymers and other thermoplastic materials, in some applications'. There are also foam applications, and Dow Performance Foams has commercialised three products - Synergy soft touch foams, Quash sound management foams and Envision custom foam laminates for packaging and case inserts.

Rohm and Haas to increase additive prices

October 31, 1999 - Rohm and Haas is increasing the European prices of all its plastics additives - primarily for PVC - by 6 - 7 per cent, with effect from November 15. This increase also covers the stabilisers and lubricants acquired recently from Morton International.

Celanese shares now trading publicly

October 31, 1999 - Shares in Celanese AG have now started trading in Frankfurt and New York as part of the Celanese/Ticona demerger from Hoechst, and the company has outlined its plans to enhance its position as a global industrial chemicals company. These include, in the polymers sector, construction of the 30,000 tonnes Topas COC plant in Oberhausen, Germany, and sale of its stake in the fluoropolymers company Dyneon to its joint venture partner 3M, and of its US ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol plant to Old World Industries.

New top man for GE Plastics Europe

October 31, 1999 - Matthew Espe is the new president and senior managing director of GE Plastics Europe. He succeeds Uwe Wascher who recently left the company.
     Mr Espe has been with GE Plastics since 1980, most recently as president of GE Plastics Pacific. He has had positions in Europe: in 1994 he became director of Polymerland Europe and in 1996 he was appointed director of GE Plastics' European commercial operation.

Plysu to be sold to South African company

October 25, 1999 - Blow moulder Plysu is to be bought by South African packaging giant Nampak, which also owns BlowMocan.
     The cash offer, which values Plysu at around £94·6 million, has been made through Nampak Holdings (UK) and has been accepted by a majority of Plysu shareholders, with the backing of Plysu's board.
     Nampak is the biggest packaging manufacturer in Africa, with interests in packaging companies in nine southern African countries outside South Africa. Its European activity is through BlowMocan, and the purchase of Plysu - which has 10 plants in Europe in addition to its 13 in the UK - is seen as a platform for further European packaging expansion.
     Plysu chairman David O'Shaughnessy commented on 'the poor investor sentiment towards smaller companies in the UK, especially in the packaging sector' and said: 'We believe the strengths of the Plysu business can be better realised by becoming part of a larger international packaging group.'
     Plysu itself has been acquisitive over recent years, buying AMK Plastics in 1995, BlowMocan's industrial division in 1996, Iplast of Spain in 1997, Body Shop International's moulding division also in 1997 and BP Chemicals' bottles and closures business in 1998. In June this year it announced plans to spend up to £30 million on international acquisitions in the field of plastics containers.

Multibase to make new TPEs using DuPont technology

October 25, 1999 - A new generation of thermoplastic elastomers is heralded by an agreement between DuPont and plastics compounder Multibase. DuPont has licensed Multibase to formulate, manufacture and distribute new non-halogenated TPEs using its Elvaloy NH4 and NH2 technologies.
     The technologies use multi-polymer reactive chemistry to create new combinations of materials, typically producing materials with high flexibility, very soft touch and elastic recovery.
     Multibase already makes TPE and TPO materials, and the new agreement will give it a further range of elastomers to sell worldwide in markets such as automotive, appliance, furniture and building products manufacture. The new materials will broaden Multibase's range towards thermoplastic vulcanisates which have a silky, soft touch and are compatible with many polymers.
     Properties of the new materials are likely to include high UV, temperature and chemical resistance, good elastic memory, easy coloration, and recyclability.

Composites growth forecast in pick-up trucks

October 25, 1999 - An annual demand for more than 30,000 tonnes of composites materials is forecast by Owens Corning to grow from nothing over the next five years as American pick-up truck manufacturers start to incorporate composites boxes - the load carrying part - in their new vehicles. The pick-up box is subject to dents, scratches and rust, and the benefit of composites as an alternative to steel has already been proven in box liners.
     Ford has a composites box designed into its 2001 Explorer Sport Trac which goes on sale next year.

CAMPUS to be redrawn for TPEs and film materials

October 25, 1999 - The CAMPUS materials specification standardisation system is to be extended to incorporate thermoplastic elastomers.
     Some participants in CAMPUS have been using it to describe their TPEs for several years, but a few key properties have had to be omitted because the database structure did not allow for them. Now, under pressure from those companies, the CAMPUS committee has devised testing protocols for adding properties such as Shore hardness, tear strength and compression set, and defining tensile strength in a way more appropriate to elastomers - including the display of tensile stress-strain curves up to 300 per cent elongation.
     These features will be incorporated in the next release of CAMPUS, planned for the second quarter of 2000. The new version will also incorporate upgrades for better definition of film grade polymers.

Hasco and Mold-Masters get together

October 25, 1999 - German mould components manufacturer Hasco is to join with hot runner specialist Mold-Masters of Canada in a marketing co-operation. Initially both companies will sell the Temp-Master hot runner controller introduced by Hasco at Fakuma. Early next year they will introduce hot runner systems into the North American market.

Ivel adds MIRs for automotive order

October 25, 1999 - Ivel Polymer Products of Stotfold in Hertfordshire is to spend £250,000 on two MIR injection moulding machines to provide the additional capacity necessary to meet a large automotive contract.
     One machine is a 400 tonne vertical MVTP 400 BS with a double shuttle table to enable two large moulds to be operated consecutively using a single clamp and injection unit.
     The second machine is the 450 tonne HMPC 450/1290 Compact Ecologica which was shown on MIR's stand at Interplas. This is a new model in the MIR range and is a two-platen design with electric screw drive and inverters on both screw and pump motors to give power savings of around 50 per cent.

PE/PP growth in Japan

October 25, 1999 - Japan Polychem Corp - the joint venture between Mitsubishi Chemical Corp and Tonen Chemical Corp - is planning a new plant to produce 300,000 tonnes of polypropylene and 200,000 tonnes of polyethylene. The plant, which will cost ¥20 - 30 billion, is due on stream in 2004. Before then the company plans to shut down outdated capacity for around 150,000 tonnes of PP and 75,000 tonnes of PE, with the help of the Japanese government's incentives in support of industrial renovation. Japan Polychem has the country's largest capacity for PP and PE, at 750,000 tonnes of each.

T & D goes into administration

October 20, 1999 - T & D Industries has gone into administration.
     In a surprise announcement which it described as 'a shock' accountant Pricewaterhouse Coopers said that a petition had been presented to the High Court in London on October 15 which had the support of the company's directors. No details of the petition have yet been given. The group continues to trade under the direction of the administrators while the managements of the subsidiary businesses assess their future.
     T & D employs 1,100 at its headquarters in Bradford and at sites in Rotherham, Luton, Bridgend and Liverpool where it makes containers, drums and other products for the industrial packaging, construction and waste management industries, and components for the automotive industry. Group turnover is around £100 million.

Engineering material prices continue to climb

October 20, 1999 - More engineering plastic price rises are being brought in by DuPont and Ticona.
     DuPont, which earlier this month increased its nylon prices, is to put up Delrin acetal by an average of DM 0·30/kg on November 8.
     Ticona announced imminent increases in the price of its Hostaform acetal last month and is now increasing prices of a further range of materials from November 15. Materials affected (price per kg) are:
• Celanex PBT (up DM 0·35 [Eur 0·18])
• Impet PET (up DM 0·35 [Eur 0·18])
• Vandar PBT-HI (up DM 0·60 [Eur 0·31])
• Riteflex TPE-E (up DM 0·35 [Eur 0·18])
• Vectra LCP (up DM 2·50 [Eur 1·28])
• Forton PPS (up DM 0·80 [Eur 0·41])
• Celstran LFT (up DM 0·30 [Eur 0·15])
• Compel LFT (up DM 0·30 [Eur 0·15])
• Fiberod LFT (up DM 0·30 [Eur 0·15]).

Further investment plans for Moss

October 20, 1999 - Alongside the order for 100 Boy injection moulding machines announced at Interplas, Moss Plastic Parts is to expand its dip moulding facilities, and build a new finished parts warehouse and technical centre.
     The new warehouse is in the final stages of construction and will give 24 hour delivery of parts across Europe. It will have 21,000 cubic metres of storage space.
     The new technical centre will enable Moss to give customer support from project inception to full scale production, with faster turn round for custom-moulded products. Allied to it will be a new prototyping facility.

Ticona to increase long fibre thermoplastics capacity

October 18, 1999 - Ticona is to double European capacity for its long fibre reinforced thermoplastics in line with demand. Demand doubled in Europe over the period 1997 - 1998, and the company is now to add 6,000 tonnes of capacity at its Kelsterbach/Frankfurt site in Germany. Global capacity - including output from Winona, Minnesota, USA - will rise to 16,000 tonnes.
     The new pultrusion line to go into Kelsterbach will have significantly reduced retooling times, enabling Ticona to react more quickly to customer requirements.
     Ticona has three brands of long fibre thermoplastics, Celstran, Compel and Fiberod. Up to 80 per cent of output goes into automotive applications.

Hans Albers of BASF dies

October 14, 1999 - Dr Hans Albers, chairman of the supervisory board of BASF, died today at the age of 74. He had worked for BASF since 1953 and joined the board of executive directors in 1974, serving as its chairman from 1983 to 1990. He then served as chairman of the supervisory board.
     A new chairman will be chosen at the next supervisory board meeting on October 27.

Interplas - same time, same place, 2002

October 14, 1999 - Audited visitors to last week's Interplas exhibition in Birmingham totalled 26,564, compared with 32,181 at Interplas '96, a fall which the exhibition's organisers say seems to be consistent with Euromap's assertion that plastics shows across the globe are experiencing a reduction in visitor numbers.
     Some criticisms of the show's timing - opening on a Sunday to help small companies visit the show and with a scarcely attended later night on Tuesday - are to be evaluated before the next exhibition.
     Dates for Interplas 2002 have been set provisionally as September 29 - October 3, and the organisers say 40 per cent of the space was re-booked before last week's show closed.
     Comments on this year's show and registration for information on the next are being taken by e-mail.

Atochem to increase Lactame 12 production

October 14, 1999 - Elf Atochem is to increase production of nylon 12 by making its monomer production more efficient. It is planning to debottleneck its Lactame 12 plant at Mont in south western France (Lactame 12 is the monomer for Rilsan 12). Output is planned to rise from 15,300 tonnes/year to 22,000 tonnes/year by 2000. Lactame 12 is also used in Pebax PEBA, hot melt adhesives and Orgalloy nylon alloys.

CIL takes Fascol on board

October 13, 1999 - Compounding Ingredients is to sell West & Senior's Fascol polyurethane dispersions to the PU industry worldwide. CIL already sells one and two component PU systems (Monothane and Duothane) and in-mould coatings (Cilcoat) for RIM PU, semi-rigid PU and flexible foams.

New name for Norwich Injection Moulders

October 13, 1999 - Norwich Injection Moulders is to change its name to Berry Plastics UK. The company, which makes aerosol overcaps and injection moulded closures, was bought by Berry Plastics Corporation of the USA in July 1998. Berry Plastics Corp reckons to be the world's largest manufacturer of aerosol overcaps.

ColourTone expands masterbatch capacity

October 13, 1999 - Masterbatch producer ColourTone is installing a new Leistritz ZSE 60 twin screw compounding extruder as part of a further £200,000 investment which it expects will push its turnover up to £2 million. The new line will run alongside another ZSE 60 which was installed last year, and two of the company's original twin screw machines.
     ColourTone was set up in July 1996 by Steve Morris, managing director of AVP Recycling, and Tony Gaukroger, general manager of Masterplast (UK). Since then it has doubled its turnover annually.
     Other recent investments include a 500 litre high speed mixer, upgraded materials handling equipment, and a new 4,000 sq ft finished goods warehouse.

Realignment and growth in PVC processing aids

October 12, 1999 - Production of PVC modifiers has moved from PolymerLatex to Röhm following the creation of the Degussa-Hüls conglomerate. PolymerLatex is a joint venture between Bayer and Hüls making emulsions and dispersions. It also made spray-dried PVC processing aids on a PMMA base, although this was not part of its core business.
     The business has now passed to the Degussa-Hüls acrylics specialist Röhm. Sales, marketing and technical service are to be handled by Baerlocher, which has a 15 year relationship with Degussa-Hüls.
     Röhm is planning a 16,000 tonnes increase in capacity for PVC processing aids with the start up of a new emulsion polymerisation line at its Wesseling, Germany site.

Transform borrows to be ready for recycling boom

October 12, 1999 - Plastics recycler Transform Plastics of Skelmersdale has taken a £1·2 million loan from GE Capital Commercial Finance to fund plant investment, working capital and European expansion. The aim is to capitalise on the UK's recycling legislation which is predicted to bring a 300 per cent growth in the market over the next three years.
     Transform Plastics moulds a range of products from recycled materials, including garden furniture, fence panels, posts, sheeting and underground inspection chambers.

New sales boss for Plastic Engineering

October 12, 1999 - Automotive mouldings supplier Plastic Engineering (Leamington) has appointed Andy Russell as sales director. He moves from Rieter Automotive Systems.

A million pallets a year from waste plastics

October 12, 1999 - A plant to make transport pallets from mixed consumer waste plastics to be built in Berkshire is described as the biggest single plastics recycling facility in the UK.
     The plant, to be built by Quarrtik of Bideford in Devon at Beenham in West Berkshire, will mould up to a million pallets a year using 25,000 tonnes of post consumer plastics waste. Similar plants in Europe and the Far East are producing pallets approved for use in the food industry, combined with a guaranteed life.
     The company says its pallets will sell at similar prices to those of wooden pallets, and will be recyclable at the end of their lives. They will be able to include a built-in infra red identification data tracking system which will enable each pallet and its goods to be identified from point of sale to final destination.
     Quarrtik has been supported by the Valpak compliance scheme in securing a site and supplies of waste plastics. Investment in the plant amounts to £18 million, and the plant will employ 70 people.

MMA price hike from Röhm

October 12, 1999 - Rises in the price of acrylics are signalled by Röhm's decision to increase the price of methyl methacrylate by DM 0·20 - DM 0·25/kg. The new price of DM 1·85 - DM 1·90/kg is still short of the DM 2·10/kg which Röhm says would be necessary to prevent further erosion of profit margins, and further rises can be anticipated.
     Röhm blames the Asian crisis of 1998 for an oversupply of MMA and dramatic drop in profit margins. This was followed by a sharp reduction in phenol production - a source of acetone, one of the base materials for MMA. Increased demand in the Far East has now caused a potential shortage of acetone, and its price has increased 50 per cent since the beginning of the year and looks like closing the year around 80 per cent higher.

Eurotherm puts three into one

October 12, 1999 - Invensys controls group Eurotherm is to amalgamate its three instrumentation companies Eurotherm Controls, Eurotherm Recorders and Eurotherm Process Automation. The new grouping will be known simply as Eurotherm and will be run under a single management structure, although it will retain sales and support teams for each of its application and market sectors.
     Peter Tompkins, currently managing director of Eurotherm Controls, will be managing director of the new operation.

Expansion plans for Neste polyesters

October 12, 1999 - Neste Polyester, part of Neste Chemicals which was last week sold to a Nordic venture capital group, has announced plans to increase capacity for unsaturated polyester resins.
     The expansion is at the company's Porvoo, Finland, plant where capacity will increase by 20,000 tonnes. Work has started and is expected to be finished in the summer of next year. Earlier this year Neste renovated its other Finnish production unit at Lahti, bringing capacity for gel coats up to 3,000 tonnes.
     Neste also makes gel coats and UP resins in France, Austria, the USA, China and Poland.

Dublin distributor for Bayer films

October 10, 1999 - Bayer has appointed Tocana of Dublin as distributor for Makrofol polycarbonate and Bayfol polycarbonate blend films in the UK and Ireland.

Basell SM/PO plant officially on line

October 10, 1999 - The Basell joint venture styrene/propylene oxide plant between Shell and BASF has been officially inaugurated at Moerdijk in the Netherlands.
     It uses a process developed by Shell and has a capacity of 565,000 tonnes of styrene and 250,000 tonnes of propylene oxide. The plant, owned 50 per cent by each partner, is close to existing Shell facilities which also produce SM/PO.

New MD for Linpac Plastics

October 10, 1999 - The new managing director of Linpac Plastics, succeeding Michael Anderson who is retiring, is Andrew Creese, who moves from the Dalgety Group where he was responsible for food ingredient and grocery activities.

Nova buys out Shell polystyrene

October 10, 1999 - Nova Chemicals Corporation, the Canadian company which last year bought the bulk of the Huntsman polystyrene business, is to buy Shell's European PS and EPS businesses for $185 million plus working capital, estimated at $30 million.
     The purchase adds the 120,000 tonnes of PS at Breda in the Netherlands and 225,000 tonnes of EPS at Carrington (England), Berre (France) and Breda to Nova's existing European capacity of 180,000 tonnes of PS at Carrington and 90,000 tonnes of EPS at Ribécourt in France.
     In addition Nova is buying the R & D facilities at Breda and at Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium, Shell's polystyrene technology and Shell's European polystyrene sales and marketing operations. Further to this deal, Nova has agreed to buy Shell's 3,000 tonne polystyrene plant and moulding facilities near Santiago in Chile. The price for this is not disclosed.
     The Shell takeover is expected to be complete by the first quarter of next year, and rationalisation from cost savings and an improved product mix are expected to yield Nova more than $30 million a year pre-tax by the end of 2002.
     This transaction will make Nova the second largest producer of PS and EPS in Europe. The company is already the largest EPS/PS producer in North America and the third largest in the world.

Solvay targets Asian automotive markets

October 10, 1999 - Solvay has set up an automotive components plant for South East Asian vehicle manufacturers.
     Solvay Automotive (Thailand) follows other recent localised investments for the global automotive market, through the establishment of plants in Argentina, Poland and Japan and joint ventures with Plastic Omnium in Brazil and Subansemble in Romania.
     The new company will make fuel systems and blow moulded parts, and early contracts are for the fuel tank and filler pipe of the the General Motors Zafira and the Isuzu I-190.
     Solvay says around 32 per cent of worldwide car production takes place in South East Asia, and there is significant potential for further development, particularly in East Asia, South East Asia and China.
     Sales of Solvay's automotive business in 1998 amounted to some Euro 560 million.

Neste Chemicals sold

October 8, 1999 - Hard on the heels of recent high profile sales of plastics machinery manufacturers Battenfeld Injection Molding Technology and Cumberland Engineering to venture capital companies in the USA, comes news of the sale of Neste Chemicals. Neste is being sold by its parent company, the Fortum Oil and Gas subsidiary of Fortum Corporation, to Swedish-based investment group Industri Kapital.
     Neste, which makes a variety of industrial chemicals including unsaturated polyesters and gel coats and adhesive resins, is not linked to Fortum's core business of energy, and the disposal is to enable Fortum to focus on energy and enable Neste to be developed further. Neste will continue to operate under its present name.
     In a deal in which Neste's managers take an ownership stake, Industri Kapital is paying FIM 3 billion (Euro 505 million). Neste's 1998 sales were FIM 5·4 billion and operating profit FIM 111 million. The company has 40 production sites in 18 countries in Europe, North America and Asia and employs 2,500.
     Industri Kapital includes as investors mainly well-known Nordic and European insititutions. It has assets under management of Euro 1 billion and since 1989 has made 31 investments in companies with aggregated sales of approximately Euro 7 billion.

Price rises for GE engineering plastics

October 8, 1999 - GE Plastics Europe is increasing the prices of some of its engineering plastics with effect from October 22. Lexan polycarbonate goes up by Euro 0·25/kg, Cycoloy PC/ABS alloy by Euro 0·20/kg, Noryl modified PPO by Euro 0·20/kg, Cycolac ABS by Euro 0·15/kg and Gelon PA by Euro 0·15/kg.

Battenfeld injection machine business is sold

October 6, 1999 - Battenfeld has sold its injection moulding business.
     The sale, which includes the manufacturing plants in Germany and Austria as well as the sales companies around the world, is to Madison Capital Partners of the USA, the company which at the end of last year bought a parcel of plastics machinery businesses from John Brown Plastics Machinery and at the end of last month sold the Cumberland granulator business on to Harbour Group.
     No purchase price has been disclosed for the sale, and Madison says that management will be taking 'a significant ownership stake' in the company.
     Battenfeld Injection Molding Technology will operate as an independent company within the Madison Group, and retain the Battenfeld name. Links are not being completely severed with the SMS group - the German industrial conglomerate which has actually conducted the sale - as Helmut Eschway, the managing board member of SMS responsible for the Battenfeld activities, is to serve as a member of the new Battenfeld IMT board of directors.
     The Battenfeld operations retained by SMS are in pipe and profile and film and sheet extrusion, and Battenfeld has declared an intention to buy more businesses in these sectors, and to expand into related operations.
     Battenfeld IMT had sales of DM 376 million in 1998/99, when it made a profit after several years in the red.

Moss to buy 100 Boy machines

October 6, 1999 - In what is vaunted as the biggest ever single order for injection moulding machines in the UK, Bunzl Group company Moss Plastic Parts is to buy 100 Boy machines.
     Moss is well known for running its caps and end plugs business on machines of its own design, but in fact already has 100 Boy machines and other makes in a size range from 15 to 800 tonnes. The 100 new Boys will be 22D models and will be customised to replace Moss's 179 home-brewed machines. Customisation is designed to enable the machines to accept the 15,000 tools in production and will include reducing the mould height to 60 mm and lowering the clamp force to 15 tonnes. There will also be a new guard system sliding over the injection unit to improve access to the clamp for frequent mould changing, and modifications to the hopper for the same reason. Screws and barrels are being supplied to handle a wide range of polymers from nylon through polypropylene to PVC.
     The machine order, valued at £1·5 million, is part of a three-year £11 million investment programme during which the company's Banbury plant will be closed and production will be focussed on Kidlington.

Boddington buys Sepro's 6,000th

October 6, 1999 - The 6,000th beam robot to be built by Sepro of France has been bought by a British company. The machine will be the sixth Sepro robot to be installed by W H Boddington - which has now ordered a seventh - and will work on a 160 tonnes Negri Bossi injection moulder with three-plate tooling for which the robot is equipped with a second arm.
     Sepro reckons to be Europe's biggest robot manufacturer with a current production rate of 1,300 machines a year. Sepro UK has sold around 550 robots since 1991.

Carroll orders six Arburgs

October 6, 1999 - Cosmetic manufacturer Constance Carroll has ordered six Arburg 520C 160 tonne injection moulding machines, augmenting the two Arburg Allrounders already in use at the St Helens, Lancashire plant.

ICI names buyer for its acrylics business

October 5, 1999 - ICI has taken the next step in its withdrawal from industrial chemicals with an agreement to sell its acrylics business to Ineos Acrylics Ltd for £505 million. Completion of the transaction is anticipated this month.
     The business employs some 2,000 people worldwide, has its headquarters in Everberg, Belgium and has production sites in Europe, USA and Asia. In 1998, ICI Acrylics had a turnover of £525 million, profits of £31 million and net operating assets of some £430 million.
     Earlier this year ICI sold its German extruded acrylic sheet business to Barlo Plastics.

Milacron rationalises European blow moulding machine manufacture

October 5, 1999 - A year after buying the Uniloy blow moulding business from Johnson Controls Milacron is to rationalise European manufacture by combining four manufacturing plants into two. It is building a new plant in Italy, at its Abbiategrasso site near Milan, to which it will transfer the manufacturing operations from Florence (the former Comec factory), Berlin (formerly B & W) and the former Moretti plant at Abbiategrasso. The Policka assembly plant in the Czech Republic is to be expanded.
     Production in Florence and Berlin is to be phased out over the next three months and transferred to Milan and Policka. Production of machines intended for US sale is to be transferred to the US.
     The Berlin plant will remain open for sales and service and as an engineering centre, where the company plans to develop, among other technologies, machines for moulding PET containers. The new 70,000 sq ft Milan plant should be completed by September next year.

250 tonne Arburg the next to be seen

October 5, 1999 - Arburg is continuing its move up the injection machine size range with the introduction of a 250 tonne machine. A 200 tonne machine - the Allrounder 570 C 2200-1300 - is currently on show at Interplas, and the 250 tonne Allrounder 630 S will be introduced at Fakuma in a couple of weeks time.
     Arburg, traditionally a maker of sub-100 tonne moulding machines, has a declared aim of building up to 400 tonnes, which it expects to achieve by the next K fair in 2001.
     This machine would be the biggest that could be built using the company's current flowline manufacturing processes. Any larger would require the machine frame to be split into two, calling for a static assembly process.

Toolmakers rename to stress combined capabilities

October 5, 1999 - Four toolmaking companies in the Delta Engineering Group have been rebranded as a single company. Investment Engineering of Kirkby in Ashfield, Plastools of Manchester, Altus Engineering of Corsham and Delta Werkzeugbau of Giessen in Germany have been integrated to form Investment Tooling International.
     The companies have operated in an integrated way for some years, but the decision to rename them has been taken to emphasise the pooled resources available, which include a workforce of 150, the capacity for multi-tool projects up to 10 tonnes individual tool size, and experience in injection moulding, thermoforming, structural foam moulding and blow moulding in plastics and rubber. The company has a 10 seat design centre at Kirkby in Ashfield, with 25 seats across the four sites.

Wellington pulls out of compounding

October 4, 1999 - Wellington Holdings has retrenched further and sold its rubber compounding business to concentrate on seal manufacture. In 1998 the group bought CDI Seals in the USA, sold its L & H Polymers conversion business and integrated its compounding operations on two sites.
     Last year sales and profits fell in the compounding business, and now the group has sold this sector to Watts Industrial Group for £5·5 million. Net assets of the compounding division are quoted at £10·4 million and in the half year to end June 1999 the division's sales were £8·332 million, losing £590,000 pre-tax.

British Vita buys French colour company

October 4, 1999 - British Vita has bought a French manufacturer of colour concentrates. Elian makes concentrates for use in the compounding of materials for use in markets such as packaging, cosmetics, automotive and toys. It employs 100 people and in 1998 achieved sales of £13 m. Vita is paying £16·9 m in cash.

Cumberland sold again and now a sister to AEC Sterling

October 1, 1999 - The Cumberland Engineering granulator and pelletiser manufacturing company has changed hands for the second time in less than a year. In December it was one of a parcel of companies sold by John Brown Plastics Machinery to Madison Capital Partners of Chicago. Now Madison has sold it to Harbour Group, a US industrial company which also owns AEC Sterling, one of America's largest manufacturers of ancillary equipment.

Zytel/Minlon price rise

October 1, 1999 - DuPont Engineering Polymers has put up the price of Zytel and Minlon nylon. The Zytel nylon 66 and Minlon nylon 66 compounds go up by DM0·30/kg, and nylon 6 compounds by DM0·60/kg.

US joint venture to make TPVs

October 1, 1999 - Uniroyal Chemical and Teknor Apex are to form a joint venture to develop and sell thermoplastic vulcanisates for the automotive, construction and consumer goods markets. Uniroyal will put in its EPDM technology and Teknor Apex will add its existing TPV technology. Teknor Apex will then make TPVs at its Pawtucket, Rhode Island, USA site under the Uniprene tradename.
     TPVs are two-phase systems in which a thermoset rubber - most often EPDM - is dispersed in a thermoplastic matrix - typically polypropylene - and vulcanised during melt compounding. Teknor Apex says that compared with many other thermoplastic elastomers TPVs exhibit superior elastic recovery and thermal stability, while providing greater productivity than vulcanised rubber because of their melt processability and recyclability.

DSM plans American EPDM expansion

October 1, 1999 - DSM has combined its North and South American EPDM subsidiaries and is planning a multi-million dollar investment there.
     The EPDM and petroleum additives businesses known as DSM Copolymer and DSM Elastômeros Brasil have become DSM Elastomers Americas. The SBR manufacturing facility in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, continues to operate as DSM Copolymer.
     The plant modernisation, at the Addis, Louisiana, EPDM plant, has a four year schedule. Initially there will be a modernisation of the three existing production lines, and a study is underway for a major capacity expansion.
     Work has also started on a $10 million investment to support speciality processes for petroleum additives.

Boxmore grows

October 1, 1999 - Packaging group Boxmore International saw a 10 per cent increase in operating profit on sales 16 per cent higher in its six months to June 30. Turnover was £60,392,000 and operating profit £8,819,000. Within this group performance, pharmaceutical and healthcare packaging increased turnover 24 per cent, food and drink by 19 per cent, while chemical and industrial packaging turnover fell 7·4 per cent following difficult trading conditions for its major customers.

Italian temperature control manufacturer sets up in Britain

October 1, 1999 - Italian temperature controller manufacturer ERO Electronic has set up a British subsidiary. ERO is a member of the Invensys Group, which also includes Eurotherm Controls, and ERO UK has become a near neighbour of Eurotherm at Unit 1, Cygnet Trading Estate, Faraday Close, Durrington, Worthing, West Sussex, BN13 3RQ (telephone 01903 693322, fax 01903 693377). ERO and Eurotherm stress that their products are aimed at different market sectors.
     Managing ERO UK is Anthony Johns, former sales manager of Arcom Control Systems.
     Hawco and ThermoSpeed continue as ERO distributors.

PE/PP start-up in Brazil

October 1, 1999 - Two plants using Montell polyethylene and polypropylene technology have started up in Brazil. The plants, owned by Ipiranga Petroquimica (IPQ), can make 120,000 tonnes of Spheripol polypropylene and 130,000 tonnes of Spherilene polyethylene.

CRP Group makes North American buy

October 1, 1999 - CRP Group has bought its American agent. Wood Corporation of New Orleans has been established for more than 20 years, primarily representing Dunlop Oil & Marine which makes large bore rubber hoses for loading and unloading oil tankers. For the past 10 years it has also represented CRP Marine, and other companies.

APME to sponsor British design award

October 1, 1999 - The design awards sponsored by the Institute of Materials and the Worshipful Company of Horners are take on a European dimension, with the addition of the Association of Plastics Manufacturers in Europe as a sponsor. The winner of the 1999/2000 IoM-Horners national design competition will go on to represent Britain in a European final at EXPO2000 in Hannover. Other finalists will come from Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
     The European competition will have the theme 'Plasti-city - mobile and urban life' and the UK brief is 'the mobile work centre' - to design and create an item from plastics which will improve either personal or mental mobility in an urban environment. For more information e-mail.

Sosa to join DSM board

October 1, 1999 - DSM intends to appoint Enrique Sosa as a member of its supervisory board of directors from next April. Mr Sosa worked for Dow Chemical for 31 years, becoming president of Dow North America, and since then has spent 3½ years as head of Amoco's chemical operations and was until recently president of BP Amoco Chemicals.
     Recent internal appointments to the DSM board are Henk van Dalen, currently director of DSM Polyethylenes, and Feike Sijbesma, currently director of DSM Food Specialities. These appointments follow the departure of Herman Scheffer and the retirement of Louis Ligthart.
     Mr van Dalen is succeeded at DSM Polyethylenes by Fransen van de Putte, director of corporate personnel and organisation, who in turn will be succeeded by Ben van Dijk, who is currently director of human resources, TQM and communications at Philips Business Electronics.

Ring pull PET bottle for beer in Britain

October 1, 1999 - A PET beer bottle with a ring pull closure has been developed by Schmalbach-Lumeca for Carlsberg-Tetley, and is to be used for Carlsberg lager in Britain. The 0·5 litre bottle has a three-layer PET/nylon barrier construction which can be recovered through Schmalbach-Lubeca's proprietary Supercycling process. The company says that use of a ring pull closure has also improved barrier properties, increasing shelf life to a minimum of 6 months.
     Schmalbach has been trialling other multi-layer PET beer bottles in Europe. The German Karlsberg brewery has started using PET bottles in France and before the end of the year will introduce two new products in PET, one beer and one mixed beer drink in 0·33 l bottles. A number of other breweries have also trialled PET bottles from Schmalbach.
     The European beer market comprises a volume of roughly 50 billion litres, of which 30 per cent is packaged in aluminium and the rest in glass. Schmalbach says there are predictions for PET to take 5 per cent of the market over the next few years, and anticipates achieving a volume of 1 billion bottles over the next five years.

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