This page is an archive of news and news background stories. Stories are placed here when they expire from the news pages and are filed in date order, most recent on the top. Go to the most recent or browse through the headline links.
We quote monetary figures - company results, materials prices etc - in the currency in which they were originally reported. You can convert them to your own currency at today's exchange rates.
May 31, 2000 -
The US parent company of Norfolk moulder Berry Plastics has expanded its position in plastic closures by buying major American closure manufacturer Poly-Seal Corporation of Baltimore in Maryland. Berry Plastics Corporation makes injection moulded aerosol overcaps, closures, drinks cups, rigid thinwall open-top containers and housewares. The injection and compression moulded closures made by Poly-Seal take Berry into new end use markets and the Baltimore plant will become the primary manufacturing point for Berry's US closure business. European closure manufacture is focused on Berry Plastics UK.
US diaphragm manufacturer targets Europe
May 31, 2000 -
US diaphragm manufacturer Rubber & Plastics Products Corporation is moving into Europe with the setting up of a sales and distribution facility in Germany. It has previously sold into the process control and gas distribution markets through sales agents in England and Germany. RPP makes diaphragms in a range of performance elastomers with specially woven fabrics. RPP Europe will have a finished goods warehouse and starts up on July 1.
Know-how is everything for new masterbatch company
May 31, 2000 -
Recently formed additive masterbatch producer AddMaster (UK) is moving into new offices at the Business Innovation Centre, Staffordshire Technology Park, Beaconside, Stafford, ST18 0AR. The emphasis here is on offices, not factory. The company, set up by Paul Morris who was formerly with Clariant and more recently commercial director at Wells Plastics, doesn't actually make anything itself - 'our working capital is available exclusively for research and we have none of the crippling overheads associated with other manufacturing based companies.'
AddMaster operates as a technology company - hence its new address near the Stafford University Campus - using other major masterbatch and compounding companies to produce the material. Paul Morris takes the view that the top ten compound/masterbatch producers have their own special expertise with other operations to add weight to the business. AddMaster aims to use different companies' specialities as appropriate, and currently has confidential compounding agreements with five companies.
Initial products from AddMaster include antimicrobial, UV resistance, flame retardant and process aid additives, as well as new polymer blends.
Buy hot runners on-line
May 31, 2000 -
Mold-Masters is setting up an internet ordering system for its hot runner products. It has linked with SDRC for software support, which will incorporate SDRC's I-DEAS design automation software. More detail is to be revealed at the NPE 2000 exhibition in Chicago in mid-June.
Flame retardant price increase
May 31, 2000 -
The price of Great Lakes non-halogen phosphorus-based flame retardants is going up on June 1. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa the price of Reofos and Kronitex products is being increased by $0·15/kg.
DIY moulding saves Black & Decker £ millions
May 31, 2000 -
Over the past four years Black & Decker has invested £5 million at its Spennymoor, Co Durham, plant to bring its injection moulding requirements in-house. It now produces 40 per cent of its moulded components internally and this is expected to grow with further expansion. Annual savings over previously bought-in parts are expected to run at around £6·2 million. In addition the factory is supplying 500,000 Blowvac bodies to US assembly plants - 65 per cent of the production requirement.
The third phase of the investment has brought seven more Krauss-Maffei injection moulding machines, taking the company's compliment of KM presses to 20. The injection moulding plant now has 90 people working in four shifts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, producing 20 million power tool mouldings a year. Press sizes range from 80 to 1,000 tonnes. The 1,000 tonne machine was installed in the latest phase, and is being used to mould the new 4×4 lawnmower body.
PU reformulated for new RIM techniques
May 31, 2000 -
A new polyurethane formulation has been developed by Huntsman Polyurethanes (+32(0)2 758 9582) for use with the new RIM processes developed by, notably, Cannon and Krauss-Maffei. These inject chopped fibres with the PU stream, instead of adding the reactive mix to a glass mat preform as is the norm in reaction injection moulding.
Formulating the composite in this way removes the need for manual placement of the preform, and also enables the glass/PU ratio to be varied around the part to give optimum strength where it's needed. The result is generally lower weight, lower cost and shorter cycle times.
The downside of the process is that the PU reaction has to take place in a different way, which is why Huntsman has developed its new Fiberim material. Cream time has been extended to allow the robot head to deposit the PU/glass mixture over the surface of the mould and get clear before the mould is closed. And as the cream time has been extended, Huntsman has compensated by increasing the cure rate.
The new system is on trial in Europe and North America, and the first commercial application is expected in around six months.
New chairman for PIFA
May 31, 2000 -
The new chairman of the Packaging and Industrial Films Association is David Kay, who succeeds Keith Stenning. Mr Kay is European sales administration manager at Sealed Air Corporation, and has been in the chair at PIFA's Oriented Polypropylene Films Product Group.
Dearer PC sheet
May 31, 2000 -
GE Plastics Structured Products is implementing staged price increases for its polycarbonate film and sheet. Lexan Film, Lexan Margard, Lexan Opaque and Lexan LCS went up 5 per cent in April and their prices increase a further 5 per cent on June 1. The prices of Lexan Solid Sheet and Lexan Thermoclear went up 6 per cent at the beginning of May.
New address for Plascolour
May 31, 2000 -
Plascolour is moving on June 5 to: Unit 1, Sherrington Way, Lister Road Industrial Estate, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG22 4DQ. Telephone and fax numbers are unchanged.
Montell's Vogtländer to retire
May 31, 2000 -
President and chief executive officer of Montell Polyolefins Peter Vogtländer is retiring in mid-June. Kees Linse, at present the chief operating officer of Montell, will succeed him temporarily until the merger of Montell, Elenac and Targor is complete. Volker Trautz of BASF has been nominated as future president of the new company.
PP compounds face difficult times
May 28, 2000 -
European consumption of polypropylene compounds passed the million tonne mark for the first time in 1999, according to the latest report from Applied Market Information. However, the 6 per cent annual growth rate is forecast to slow over the next five years.
The current EC requirement for Basell to sell 140,000 tonnes of PP compound capacity is likely to trigger changes in the European compounds business, with opportunities for PP producers with only limited compounds capacity, and the large American compounders, says AMI. Of the European PP manufacturers with compounding operations, AMI comments that Montell's business is profitable through its focus on higher value applications, while Targor is believed to make little money out of compounds because of its focus on lower price applications.
AMI says that profitability has also been influenced by shifts in the structure of demand, mainly from the automotive industry, which accounts for more than half the market volume. The delegation of responsibility by the car makers to their tier one suppliers has moved the emphasis from performance, as demanded by the automotive suppliers, to price. This greater emphasis on price has been further confounded by the increasing use of reactor resins and masterbatch instead of compounded product, to a situation where AMI says compounders are putting less effort into performance enhancements.
The second market for PP compounds is the domestic appliance sector, mainly through the use of PP in washing machine drums, although AMI comments that application development has been slower than in automotive, and that improved reactor resins have started to take market share from compounds, especially in small appliances.
The fastest growth sector for PP compounds is in the building industry where PP pipe and sheet are replacing PVC, PE and traditional materials.
Bayer doubles its SR business and plans for more
May 28, 2000 -
Bayer has completed its five-year Euro 250 million investment in synthetic rubbers during which it has more than doubled its capacity for polybutadiene and styrene-butadiene to 550,000 tonnes.
Particular emphasis was placed on the American market, where Bayer spent $92 million on its Orange, Texas, plant which it says is now the largest of its kind in the world. Capacity for BR and SBR at the site rose 40 per cent.
The Port-Jérôme plant in France has become the largest of its kind in Europe with a capacity of 120,000 tonnes.
Bayer plans to continue expanding the business at greater than the current market growth rate of 3 per cent a year, and plans further investment at Dormagen and Marl in Germany.
Chemicals majors start another B2B venture
May 28, 2000 -
A business to business electronic marketplace for chemicals is being set up by a group of major world suppliers including AtoFina, BASF, Bayer, BP, Amoco, Dow, DuPont, Mitsui Chemicals, Mitsubishi Chemicals, Rhodia, Rohm & Haas and Sumitomo Chemical. Other companies will be offered participation.
The new company, which will be set up in July and plans to start operating by the end of the year, aims to lower the costs of buying chemicals globally by streamlining existing supply chain activities. It will link suppliers with each other, with customers and with distributors, and will also involve formulators, converters, processors and fabricators.
DuPont Dow to increase Kalrez capacity
May 28, 2000 -
DuPont Dow Elastomers is planning a major investment in its Kalrez perfluoroelastomer business, one effect of which will be a 30 per cent increase in capacity within the next few months. The multi-million dollar investment will be spread over the next two years and will include a switch to round-the-clock manufacture, setting up a new applications laboratory, and expansion of capacity for ultrapure parts for semiconductor manufacture.
Bayer to quit Erdölchemie joint venture
May 28, 2000 -
Bayer is to pull out of the Erdölchemie petrochemicals business it shares with Deutsche BP. Deutsche BP wants to expand the site in Cologne, Germany, to become BP/Amoco's main petrochemicals production location in continental Europe. But for Bayer, petrochemicals are not a core business, and it has no interest in investing in the expansion. So, subject to main board and European Commission approval, Bayer's 50 per cent stake in Erdölchemie will be transferred to Deutsche BP early next year. Bayer will continue to buy raw materials from Erdölchemie - it currently takes around a third of the output - and to supply services to the company.
Next step in BASF Chinese JV
May 28, 2000 -
The planned petrochemicals joint venture between BASF and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (SINOPEC), which is one of the biggest Sino-foreign joint venture projects in China, has now been submitted for approval to the relevant Chinese authorities. Approval is expected this year and plant commissioning is scheduled for 2004/5.
The Integrated Petrochemicals Site (IPS) will be based on a 600,000 tonnes steam cracker, with a projected production of:
ethylene - 600,000 tonnes
aromatics - 300,000 tonnes
low density polyethylene - 400,000 tonnes
ethylene glycols - 300,000 tonnes
acrylic acid - 160,000 tonnes
acrylic esters - 215,000 tonnes
oxo-alcohols - 250,000 tonnes
formic acid - 50,000 tonnes
propionic acid - 30,000 tonnes
methyl amines - 30,000 tonnes
dimethylformamide - 30,000 tonnes
Glowing compounds now extruded into tapes
May 28, 2000 -
BakerGlow light emitting compounds introduced last year by Douglas Baker Plastics are now being sold in tape form. This enables users to add light-emitting characteristics without using complex moulds. The tapes can be cut with scissors, and can be glued, welded, stapled, nailed or stitched to a product. Potential applications are in safety clothing, on signs, and as emergency exit indicators in buildings and mass transit. The tapes are to be produced in reel and individual strip form.
Horne adds Cox stockholding
May 28, 2000 -
Paper and board conglomerate Robert Horne Group, which owns sheet distributor Quantum Plastics, has now bought Williaam Cox Plastics Stockholding from Yule Catto. With the addition RHG is claiming the no 1 position in UK plastics sheet distribution.
Hubron buy helps Hanna strengthen UK position
May 28, 2000 -
M A Hanna Color & Additives Europe has bought Hubron's colour concentrate business, leaving Hubron with its main business of making black and white masterbatches. Hanna is also a small lot distributor for Hubron black masterbatch. The addition of the Hubron business gives Hanna increased penetration of the UK films market.
Hanna is also increasing its UK penetration in additive concentrates. It has set up a sales team at its Victor International Plastics subsidiary in Manchester to sell both standard formulations, and specials.
'Biggest yet' gas order
May 28, 2000 -
Gas Injection is claiming the biggest ever single order for gas moulding controllers with a contract from a Hong Kong company. It is to supply 23 Phased Pressure Controllers - one per moulding machine - and four nitrogen gas compression systems to Sichuan Changhong Electric Co, which reckons to be China's biggest manufacturer of televisions. Sichuan Changhong has two plants making a planned 8·5 million televisions this year, and with a target of growth to 11 million sets.
The PPC equipment is GIL's new design incorporating a new electro-magnetic solenoid valve for closed loop control of stepless pressure rises and reductions resulting from its
recent co-operation with Factor of Germany.
Dow expands its presence in PU
May 24, 2000 -
Dow Chemical has further increased its polyurethane systems capacity in North America with its second purchase in three months of a major materials supplier. In February it bought Flexible Products Company, one of the largest polyurethane systems suppliers in North America and a prominent company in custom polyurethane foam formulations and dispersing technology. Now Dow is buying General Latex and Chemical Corporation which is one of the largest rigid polyurethane foam system suppliers in North America. The company also makes custom compounds in natural and synthetic latex.
As well as buying systems developers, Dow is investing in polyurethane recycling. It has formed a technology cooperation with Mobius Technologies which makes polyurethane recycling systems based on a process which pulverises scrap foam to a microscopic powder for re-introduction as an additive in new foam products. According to Mobius, process scrap rates in polyurethane foam production can be as high as 15 per cent. A further incentive to recycling is the impending European requirement for a higher percentage of motor vehicles to be recycled, and the 7 - 10 kg of flexible PU foam in a typical car's seats which could make a valuable contribution to achieving the higher figure.
New plant for injection moulder
May 24, 2000 -
Plastic Engineering has moved into new purpose-built premises in Leamington Spa - just a quarter of a mile from the small building where the company started with a single injection moulding machine in 1960. Now Plastic Engineering is a £9 million turnover company with a staff of 140, specialising mainly in automotive components. More than 60 per cent of its production is exported to European motor manufacturers.
As well as building a new factory, the company has recently spent £500,000 on new moulding machines.
The new address is Juno Drive, Spa Business Park, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV31 3TA.
Investment in crosslinked foams
May 24, 2000 -
A license to produce physically crosslinked foams has been obtained by HT Troplast of Germany from Korean manufacturer Youngbo, and is being followed by what HT describes as the largest single investment ever made in this sector. A Euro 15·3 million plant being installed at HT's Trocellen division in Troisdorf will produce continuous PE and PP foam in thicknesses from 0·5 to 4 mm. Start-up is due at the end of 2001, and Trocellen will be opening the market before then with supplies from Korea.
Because of their particularly smooth surface and fine cell structure, Trocellen sees potential in these materials in automotive interiors, and as the basis for high grade bonding and sealing systems, particularly self-adhesive tapes.
Trocellen reckons to Europe's market leader in chemically crosslinked foam on reels for the automotive industry, sports and leisure and construction/insulation. With the new facility it says it will become the only European manufacture to offer all three technologies of physically and chemically crosslinked materials on reels and chemically crosslinked foam slabs.
Business boost at DSM
May 24, 2000 -
Despite selling off some of its engineering plastics and composites businesses in the past 12 months DSM's Performance Materials division recorded higher sales in the first quarter of this year than in Q1 1999. The higher turnover was due to increased volumes, especially in engineering plastics, and the high exchange rate with the dollar. But while turnover was up - from Euro 456 million to Euro 523 million - the operating profit only edged up from Euro 33 million to Euro 35 million because of higher raw material prices.
There was a different story at DSM's Polymers & Industrial Chemicals division. Here turnover increased from Euro 665 million to Euro 1,002 million, but the operating profit nearly tripled from Euro 27 million to Euro 97 million as volumes and margins went up against lower fixed costs.
Hanna merges with Geon and sells Cadillac
May 14, 2000 -
M A Hanna has increased its emphasis on compounding and distribution by merging with Geon and selling off a large slice of its Cadillac Plastics semi-finished materials business to GE Plastics.
Hanna has wide ranging plastics and rubber compounding interests, while Geon is active mainly in PVC. Together they will become North America's biggest compounding company with annual revenues of $3·5 billion and a market worth of more than $1 billion. They will have more than 80 manufacturing sites and employ more than 10,000 people - although some job cuts are expected.
By combining their businesses and cutting costs, Hanna and Geon - a new name will be decided for the new company over the next few weeks - expect to increase earnings by at least $50 million a year by 2002. Part of the business plan is 'aggressive pursuit' of e-commerce to add value to Hannah's existing distribution business.
Cadillac Plastics has been sold because it is outside Hanna's core business as an intermediary materials supplier serving plastic and rubber moulders and extruders, although it brought in $378 million of sales last year, representing approximately 16 per cent of total company revenues. Hanna expects to see an increase in profit margin and a reduction in administrative expenses as a result of selling.
The agreement includes substantially all of Cadillac's operations in North America, Asia, the UK and the Netherlands. It does not include the Richmond Aircraft unit, headquartered in the United States, and three joint ventures located in Germany, France, and Spain. Hanna says that 'strategic alternatives' for these businesses are being considered separately.
GE plans to manage the business separately from its existing resins and sheet extrusion businesses.
The sale is subject to government approvals, and is targeted to close in the summer of 2000.
American moulder buys L & P
May 14, 2000 -
L & P Plastics of Margate has been bought by Flambeau Corporation of the USA, which earlier this year bought Ramsgate blow moulder Blowspeed and renamed it Flambeau Europlast.
L & P was part of TransTec, which is in receivership. It has equipment in the 75 to 800 tonne range.
Ultrasonic welding takeover
May 14, 2000 -
After several months of background boardroom battling ultrasonics specialist Forward Technology Industries has been bought by Crest Ultrasonics, based in the USA. FTI makes ultrasonic welders in France, Germany and the USA, and ultrasonic cleaning equipment in Germany.
In the UK FTI's design and marketing operation has been combined with Crest Rinco, under Crest's managing director Malcolm Hayward. The welding equipment division moves from the premises it shared with CC Hydrosonic to FTI's premises at Luton. The ultrasonic cleaning division of FTI goes to CC Hydrosonic.
Pay as you use plan for Moldflow software
May 10, 2000 -
One of the problems facing Moldflow, and for that matter its recent acquisition C-Mold, has been the law of diminishing returns. They invested more and more money developing more and more advanced software, but their potential user base was not expanding at anything like the same rate. So they were faced with the dilemma that one day they might have sold all the systems they were likely to sell, their software could do everything you could want it to do. And what happens tomorrow?
Moldflow seems to have found an answer in a new web site, www.plasticszone.com. There has always been a huge pool of plastics moulders and designers who could benefit from the occasional use of flow analysis and solid modelling software, but could not justify the investment in outright purchase. Moldflow's new web site gives these companies and individuals the chance to rent its software on a per-project basis.
The company has revamped its Moldflow Part Adviser software into a downloadable internet version which can be run on the user's own computer. The user downloads a file, opens the CAD model that is to be analysed, chooses a material and gate location, and then goes back to the Moldflow site to pay and receive authorisation to begin the analysis. The authorisation is a license for unlimited use of the software to analyse the specified model, and costs $350 - $50 at the moment as an introductory offer.
The key to this structure is that it does not require weighty data files to be sent across the internet - the data stays on the user's computer.
Moldflow has rounded out Plasticszone with three other reference areas. The Materials Zone provides a materials calculator that allows the user to specify a polymer for a part, and to order testing services on new materials; the Consulting Zone provides troubleshooting and other analytical services; and the Events Zone is a diary of seminars and training courses for injection moulders.
DSM and Ticona to join forces in PBT
May 10, 2000 -
DSM Engineering Plastics and Ticona are considering joining forces in the production of polybutylene terephthalate (PBT). They have agreed to investigate the building of a world scale plant in Europe which would start production in 2003. Sharing a plant would give the two companies economy of scale to grow their existing product lines Arnite (DSM) and Celanex (Ticona).
Price increases for TPEs and TiO2
May 10, 2000 -
Advanced Elastomer Systems is increasing its prices for the first time in five years. From June 1 worldwide prices for Santoprene, Vyram, Dytron, Trefsin and Vistaflex will rise 5 per cent.
Also on June 1 Millennium Inorganic Chemicals is increasing the price of its Tiona titanium dioxide by Euro 150/tonne, adding to the Euro 160/tonne increase that was applied in April. On top of the price increase, Millennium is adding a premium for LTL shipment, reflecting higher costs for distribution and handling.
Krupp blow moulding machinery business is sold
May 8, 2000 -
ThyssenKrupp has sold its blow moulding machinery businesses. The buyer is the Swiss SIG group, which has paid DM 390 million for the Krupp Kunststofftechnik division incorporating Corpoplast Maschinenbau in Hamburg, which makes PET stretch blow systems, Krupp Kautex Maschinenbau and Fischer-W Müller Blasformtechnik of Troisdorf, who make extrusion blow moulding machines and Krupp Packungstechnik of Essen, which makes canmaking machines. The description of the businesses makes no mention of the technical blow moulding developments for which the companies are known, such as 3D blow moulding and automotive fuel tanks.
The Werner & Pfleiderer compounding extruder company is not part of the package and has been retained by Thyssen Krupp. It is understood that interest has been shown by several other companies in buying both W & P and the Krupp Elastomertechnik rubber machinery businesses.
SIG is an international industrial group with its main focus in the field of packaging technology. Its parent company is SIG Swiss Industrial Company Holding. Sales in 1999, were around two billion Swiss francs. SIG has four main operating divisions, of which two are involved in packaging. Positec makes cartons and filling machines for fresh and long-life drinks, and SIG Pack makes packaging machinery for a range of applications.
SIG has a declared aim to become a major player in beverage packaging made from PET and other plastics. The acquisition of KKT gives it access to the extrusion and stretch blow moulding machine market mainly for beverage, but also for consumer-goods and industrial packaging. KKT will become a separate fifth division within the SIG Group, which SIG says will be further expanded. Werner Fillmann, currently managing director of KKT, will move to SIG to head up the new division.
The acquisition is still to be officially approved by the supervisory boards of Thyssen Krupp Industries and Thyssen Krupp and by the competition commission.
Materials databases merge - nearly
May 6, 2000 -
Two major materials databases are being brought together, but because of their sourcing, the two sets of data will not be directly comparable.
The two databases are Prospector from IDES, and Campus/MCBase from M-Base. They will be combined in a new version of Prospector due out later this year which will aim to contain all plastic grades available worldwide.
However, when the Campus data is added, it will be in a separate module which will not be comparable with the original Prospector data. This is because the Prospector data has been derived from ASTM standards, while Campus is based on ISO prototocols.
UV equipment company moves
May 6, 2000 -
Hönle UV (UK)is moving on May 29 to: Middlemore Lane, Aldridge, West Midlands, WS9 8AN. Telephone +44(0)1922 457397, fax +44(0)1922 457398.
Bonding agent demand forces another plant expansion
May 6, 2000 -
Compounding Ingredients is expanding its Preston plant for the fifth time in five years. The company says demand for its Cilbond rubber and PU to metal bonding agents has increased 83 per cent in the past two years. The expansion is costing nearly £1 million, and will bring Cilbond capacity up to 1,200 tonnes/year. This is the last expansion that the plant can accommodate, and plans have been laid to redevelop the site next year.
PE price rise boosts Borealis turnover - but feedstocks take away the gloss
May 6, 2000 -
Strengthening polyethylene prices were reflected in the first quarter results from Borealis, where turnover increased 43 per cent over the 1999 Q1 to Euro 878 million, and pre-tax profit soared 258 per cent to Euro 43 million. Polyolefin prices were 55 per cent higher than in the previous first quarter, but higher feedstock prices chopped the increase in margin to 16 per cent.
Dow/Union Carbide have to cut LLDPE production and liberalise metallocenes
May 4, 2000 -
The European Commission has once more forced a shake-up in the European polyolefins market as the price for its approval of a company merger. Following the conditions it laid down for the Elenac/Montell/Targor merger, it has imposed some stiff requirements for Dow's takeover of Union Carbide.
In order to get EU approval the merged companies will have to reduce their polyethylene capacity and get rid of a slice of their ethyleneamine business. In addition they will have to open up some of their polyethylene technology for use by their competitors.
Adding Union Carbide's share of Polimeri Europa to Dow's already significant share of the C8 LLDPE business would would have given the merged companies a market share in excess of 80 per cent, said the EU. This would be five times that of their nearest competitor. To prevent this, the two companies have agreed to either cause Polimeri to sell its LLDPE plant, or to sell Union Carbide's 50 per cent share in Polimeri.
The PE technology conflict surrounds metallocene catalysts and gas phase low pressure production. Union Carbide owns the leading gas phase process, Unipol, which it licenses through its Univation joint venture with Exxon. Also in the Univation portfolio is Exxon's Exxpol catalyst technology. Dow's Insite is the other leading metallocene catalyst technology. The Commission decided that the addition of Dow's process to Univation would give Univation too dominant a position, at the expense of BP Amoco whose joint development agreement to use Dow's Insite process has been terminated.
To redress the balance Dow has agreed to offer open licenses to its background metallocene patents covering gas phase and slurry production and to sell its gas phase metallocene PE technology to BP. It has also undertaken not to license or transfer its background metallocene patents to Univation, ensuring that the Insite technology cannot be used with the Unipol process.
The new licensing arrangement mirror those imposed by the EU in the Elenac/Montell/Targor approval, in that they enable third parties to develop metallocene catalysed processes without fear of patent litigation, in this case from Dow. The Commission says that this relaxation of the patent position will enable BP to build a valid metallocene research operation and enable it to offer effective competition to the merged entity in the market for gas phase technology packages, including the possibility to supply metallocene catalysts.
The third part of the EU's conditions package surrounds the market for ethyleneamines, used as intermediates for a range of chemical products. Specific types of ethyleneamines form separate worldwide product markets. The materials made by the two companies would have resulted in significant overlaps in individual markets, giving combined world market shares of more than 60 per cent. Dow has therefore agreed to sell off its entire worldwide ethyleneamine business, together with half the capacity of its plant at Terneuzen in the Netherlands.
Discussions are still taking place with US and Canadian anti-trust authorities for approval of the merger in North America.
BIP buys Plastex
May 4, 2000 -
BIP has taken over Plastex International of Cinderford in Gloucestershire, a privately owned engineering plastics compounder, and renamed it BIP Plastex. Plastex is of a similar size and has a similar product range to BIP's two other thermoplastics operations, the ETP division in Oldbury and Chem Polymer in the USA. The addition of Plastex now promotes thermoplastic compounds to the major part of BIP's business over the thermosetting materials with which it started life around 70 years ago.
Brian Bennett, the former owner of Plastex, remains as managing director.
Husky signs up for MuCell license
May 4, 2000 -
Trexell's MuCell microcellular process technology is gathering pace. In the third deal in a month Husky has signed up for a license to build machines to operate the process. Earlier we reported on license deals with JSW and Battenfeld.
Husky plans to modify its machines beyond the basics needed to inject the pressurised gas into the melt. Because MuCell enables moulding to be made at lower clamp pressures Husky is increasing the tiebar spacing on machines up to 1,100 US tons to enable moulds to be fitted to lower-than-normal tonnage machines.
The prototype MuCell-equipped Husky is a 175 ton model from the new S range which will be operated for the next six months at the company's Advanced Manufacturing Center in Bolton, Ontario, Canada, and will then be transferred to the Technical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, for customer trials.
E-commerce sites queue up for polymer business
May 4, 2000 -
E-commerce operators continue to outdo each other to provide the all-embracing one-stop web site. Polymer Marketplace has crept quietly into existance from a British-based company as a materials/machinery/services/recruitment advertising site acting 'just like an introduction agency'. It offers a no-frills simple service. You pay a fee for your ad, and you are put in touch with anybody who expresses interest in it.
Making rather more noise with trade press advertising and a forthcoming high profile launch in Dublin is Allplastx.com which aims to establish 'a single point of contact for the plastics business community, providing it with industry news and information, as well as a platform for buyers and sellers to interact on-line.' The company says that users of its on-line auction and catalogue sales services can expect savings of between 5 and 30 per cent, depending on the sector and the product.
As well as buying and selling, the site aims to carry technical information, an events diary, environmental information, recruitment, a discussion forum and other features.
Initially Allplastx.com is operating from Ireland, but plans to open offices in Britain and Germany. A localised site for the German market is being worked on, and more European versions are planned for later this year.
Allplastx.com aims to achieve 5 per cent of the market for small to medium volumes of polymers, and other products such as additives, processing machinery and ancillaries, within five years, and to be handling $1 billion worth of transactions a year.
New in the USA is PlasticLink.com which says it 'offers solutions for plastics users that other e-marketplace sites tend to exclude. Our perceived competitors focus only on the plastics industry, driving resin processors - moulders, extruders and blow moulders - to the resin manufacturers.' In contrast PlasticLink aims also to support companies that are not primary processors, but add value further down the manufacturing chain. In practice the emphasis seems to be on converters of plastics sheet.
The site offers materials and machinery for sale and there is a recruitment centre. Like other similar sites the emphasis is on the USA, and while you can sign up from anywhere in the world, the recruitment section, for example, gives a geographical pick list of jobs with areas limited to the USA. A new site for chemicals trading, which refreshingly admits that it's not yet operational, is Efodia which opens up in the autumn. This is being set up by chemicals distributors Chemcentral of Chicago, USA, and Holland Chemical International of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, who say 'the difference between Efodia and other chemical e-business ventures is that it offers an existing broad product selection, existing logistic capabilities, and respects existing relationships among strategic customers and suppliers.' Although the industries served range widely, Efodia does identify plastics and rubber compounding as one of the sectors on which it will focus initially.
At first Efodia will operate in the USA and Canada, and will eventually expand into Europe, Latin America, Asia and South Africa. Its prime intention is to be a chemicals marketplace, taking a commission on sales, but it also plans management services such as demand forecasting, order tracking and market intelligence. It will also be a middleman between users and suppliers by linking its ERP systems into both ends of the chain. For used machinery buyers and sellers GoIndustry.com has been extended to cover plastics and rubber machinery. This is a broadly-based used equipment sales site based in England and Germany.
Pipelife buys American pipe producer
May 3, 2000 -
The Pipelife International joint venture between Solvay of Belgium and Wienerberger of Austria has bought an American pipe extruder, Jet Stream Plastic Pipe of Arkansas.
Pipelife is one of Europe's three biggest plastic pipe and fittings producers, with 32 plants in 23 countries. Jet Stream has only one plant, but this is one of the largest pipe plants in the USA. Annual output is around 50,000 tonnes. Its main product range is in PVC pipes for water supplies (wells and reservoirs), drains and sewers, but it also makes pipes for water transportation, as well as sheaths for electricity, gas, heating and telecommunications systems.
Kraton takes the next step to independence
May 3, 2000 -
Shell has taken the next step in divesting itself of its Kraton Polymers business by incorporating it as Kraton Polymers GmbH. The new company has also become the official owner of the SBS plant at Wesseling in Germany, which has been transferred from Elenac, the Shell/BASF polyethylene joint venture. Kraton makes a series of styrene block copolymers at plants in Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and the USA, of which the Wesseling plant is the largest in Europe.
ON-LINE
ON-LINE Home
A new site for chemicals trading, which refreshingly admits that it's not yet operational, is