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BASF plastics sales hiked by joint ventures, but profit unsatisfactory May 29, 1998
A 17 per cent increase in sales by BASF's plastics and fibers business in the first quarter of this year was attributable partly to the setting up of the Targor and Elenac joint ventures, which BASF calculates contributed about 9 per cent of the sales rise. The 8 per cent comparable increase over the 1997 first quarter improved the segment's contribution to group earnings, but the result was deemed unsatisfactory due to the continuing fall in the margin for styrenic plastics.
Group sales for the first quarter were up 7·4 per cent at DM 14,437 million, with pre-tax profits up 13·3 per cent at DM 1,318 million.
New catalysts offer another dimension to PE properties May 29, 1998
New catalyst technology from DuPont promises polyethylenes with enhanced properties, and properties not achieved before. The catalysts, discovered at the University of North Carolina with which DuPont is now collaborating, enable ethylene to be polymerised with polar comonomers, which is not possible with metallocene or Ziegler-Natta catalysts.
The result, says DuPont, is a new branching structure which can include branches on branches, and which places the polar function of the comonomers on the ends of the branches, rather than just on the polymer backbone.
A broad range of polyethylenes can be produced with these Versapol catalysts, ranging from low density elastomers to very high density materials, and materials ranging in molecular weight from low to macromolecule.
DuPont says its catalysts will make materials functionally equivalent to those which have required the use of high pressure autoclaves. Controlled branching would allow the use of less expensive modifying comonomers to achieve specific properties, and the addition of polar comonomers will enable property tailoring to achieve, for example, coextrusion without tie layers, or built-in barriers to grease or oxygen.
Materials price increases May 29, 1998
Targor is putting up the price of polypropylene. An increase of 0·15 DM/kg applies to standard grades from June 1.
Wider availability of polypropylene compounds for automotive use May 29 1998
DSM Performance Polymers has extended the range of polypropylene compounds it can sell in Europe with two technology licensing agreements. The arrangements are targetted at the automotive industry, and enable DSM and its licensing partners to sell identical compounds to global vehicle manufacturers.
One agreement is with Mytex Polymers of the USA, and the other with Japan Polychem Corporation. All three companies make compounds using a Mitsubishi Chemicals process. The agreements enable DSM to make and sell compounds to Mytex and Japan Polychem's formulations in Europe, while Mytex can make and sell DSM compounds in the USA and Mexico.
Injection unit redesign 'could double throughput' May 29, 1998
Increases up to 100 per cent in injection moulding output are claimed for an injection unit modification developed by DuPont. But for the time being that is about all the company is saying.
DuPont has applied for worldwide patents on the technique, which involves a modification to the screw, and promises to reveal all at K'98. Trials have shown a reduction in cycle time of some seconds, which can in some circumstances represent a doubling of output.
Nylon for automotive heat exchangers May 29, 1998
Blow moulding research has also yielded new developments at DuPont. The company's extension of its work in 3D and hard-soft blow moulding for automotive air ducts into cooling water applications is still at the development stage, but it has added a further facet in heat exchangers. The idea of using an intrinsically insulating material for a device relying on heat transfer seems odd at first sight, but an analysis by the company of the relevance to efficiency of the different stages in the heat exchange cycle show that by far the most influential is the loss of heat to the air, while the transfer of heat across the channel wall is relatively insignificant. Nylon can be formed using thinner walls than with metals and a greater surface area can be achieved, enhancing the heat loss to air and thereby improving efficiency.
DuPont has also been working on transmission bellows for high temperature applications, and has filed a patent on a new design.
Schmalbach-Lubeca chases growth in PET containers May 29, 1998
German packaging specialist Schmalbach-Lubeca is anticipating around DM 2 billion sales in PET containers this year, and its first quarter results are in-line with expectations showing a jump in this sector's sales from DM 242 million last year to DM 440 million. The company has three operating divisions - PET containers, beverage cans and white cap closures. It sold its metal packaging division last year. This year the PET container division is expected, for the first time, to be the major contributor to sales.
Expansion is planned for the PET division during this year both in product sectors and geographically. The company says it is making significant headway in custom packaging, such as in the USA where there is a fast-growing market for wide mouth hot-fill food applications.
Schmalbach quotes market research predictions of increases in PET packaging in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America of 60 - 80 per cent by 2001. It increased its share of the South American market from 7 to 20 per cent at the beginning of this year by buying Braspet of Brazil, and in March it opened a plant in Colombia to make PET containers for isotonic drinks. A new Venezuelan plant is scheduled to come on line in the summer.
Also during this year Schmalbach plans expansion in Turkey.
DuPont focuses on biotechnology for polymer production: addition of PTT to its polyesters could be an early result May 29, 1998
Big changes are planned at DuPont as the company swings towards a concentration on 'life sciences' - and in particular the use of biotechnology to augment or replace current technologies in the production of chemicals and polymers. On May 11 DuPont announced its plans to sell off its Conoco energy/petroleum business, which accounts for around half of its revenues, and has made clear that the cash generated will fund expansion in its other businesses. The strategy compares notably with that of Hoechst, which recently announced specific plans to pull out of industrial chemicals including plastics to concentrate on life sciences.
DuPont has restructured its remaining businesses into three groups, dubbed Life Sciences, Differentiated businesses and Foundation business. The Foundation group contains its traditional businesses such as nylon, polyester and engineering polymers whose value is 'their ability to provide the cash flow and growth necessary to fund overall corporate objectives' while Life Sciences is the 'centrepiece of DuPont in the future...our long term growth engine in which we must aggressively invest and nurture.'
In line with this focus on life sciences DuPont has in recent months acquired a number of agricultural businesses - Hybrinova, a hybrid wheat company in France; Pioneer Hi-Bred International, the world's largest seed company; Protein Technologies International, a leading supplier of soy proteins for food and paper processing; and the Cereal Innovation Centre in the UK, with wheat-based food ingredient businesses. The Life Sciences business group is described as covering agricultural and pharmaceutical products and biotechnology, although it is biotechnology which is the key to the other two. Genetic engineering has so far achieved the most in pharmaceuticals - DuPont puts the market for biotech pharmaceutical products at $11 billion - and its effects are just starting to be felt in food and agriculture, where DuPont estimates the market at 'hundreds of billions'.
What is yet to come, and what DuPont expects to lead in when it does arrive, is the use of biotech-derived products to produce polymer materials. Currently materials feedstocks are overwhelmingly petroleum based, requiring conventional polymer chemistry and engineering which, in turn, need a lot of capital equipment and in some cases disposal of unwanted by-products. Biotechnology is seen as replacing some parts of the materials chain with cheaper, less capital intensive and environmentally clean processes. Achieving this is some years away, but DuPont has already got down to specifics. For instance, it has developed a biotech process for making 1,3 propanediol, otherwise known as PDO or 3G.
This is the monomer used to produce poly(trimethylene terephthalate), or PTT, a polyester offering an interesting combination of the best of the properties of PET and PBT. PTT has been known for a long time, but has not been commercialised because of the high cost of making PDO. This changed in the early 1990s when Shell developed a cost-effective PDO process and introduced its Corterra material, which has so far been used mainly for carpet fibre but which is under further development as an engineering polymer.
DuPont has had no particular reason to involve itself in PTT production, given that it already has its Rynite PET (2GT) and Crastin PBT (4GT) polyesters. But the ability to make PDO in a more cost-effective way opens the door to an even better portfolio in polyesters - a market in which DuPont last year bought itself an even stronger position with the takeover of ICI's polyester film business. As a further indication of the seriousness with which it regards an entry into PTT, DuPont has bought PDO technology from Degussa, which is building a 9,000 tonnes PDO plant in Germany which it will operate for DuPont from the third quarter of this year. The Degussa plant has been described by DuPont as 'a bridge to market for our bio-PDO technology'.
So what is bio-PDO? There is already a natural enzymatically driven process which can convert corn-derived glucose to glycerol. DuPont's aim has been to improve this natural process, and take it on to convert the glycerol into 3G. In partnership with Genencor International DuPont has generically engineered and patented organisms which can catalyse the entire process, and is now working on increasing the scale to an industrial level.
The production of nylon 6 12 could also benefit from a bio process developed by DuPont. The diacid in PA 6 12 is dodecanedioic acid (DDDA) which conventionally is made in four steps - butadiene is converted to cyclododecatriene, then to cyclododocane, then to cyclodecyl alcohol or ketone, and finally to DDDA. DuPont has engineered a biocatalyst which makes DDDA from dodecane in one step. Applied industrially it is estimated that is could halve the capital investment in the process and reduce manufacturing costs by two thirds.
Other biotechnology research at DuPont has been focussed on spiders' webs, or more specifically the dragline threads which have substantial strength and elasticity. The morphology of dragline silk has been determined and the main compositional elements identified. This has enabled DuPont to create models of hard and soft segment polymers that will duplicate the properties of the draglines and to translate them into a genetic code for the corresponding protein structure. This has been expressed in bacteria and yeast, purified and spun into yarn, creating a fibre that is close to natural silk in tensile properties.
The chemical engineering seems to work, but the production engineering lags behind. The spider's spinnaret is the perfect design for producing its silk dragline without inducing shear and thus crystallising the polymer and plugging the spinnaret. The spider can react to changes in spinning conditions and re-tune the shape of its spinnaret. A mechanical spinnaret is not so flexible and more work is needed to get biotech spider silk to market.
Borealis unveils tailored-PP process May 27, 1998
Borealis has extended its bimodal Borstar process to polypropylene. Borstar PP will be used in a new 200,000 tonnes plant to be built in Schwechat in Austria currently owned by PCD.
Like the Borstar PE process, Borstar PP uses a loop reactor and a gas phase reactor operating in cascade with a specialised catalyst - in this case a Ziegler-Natta type catalyst called BC1, which is already in use at two of Borealis' existing PP plants. The loop reactor operates under supercritical conditions providing high catalyst activity, and the gas phase reactor is operated independently from the loop reactor, providing the potential for tailoring molecular weight distribution and comonomer distribution in the polymer. A modular design enables the production of heterophasic copolymers with varying degrees of tailoring. The plant at Schwechat will consist of three reactors and will be capable of producing homopolymers, random copolymers and heterophasic copolymers.
The main features of Borstar PP products are:
peroxide-free reactor-made high melt flow rate grades.
very stiff homo- and copolymers with high isotacticity.
high clarity random copolymers with good comonomer distribution.
very soft and heat sealable products with high comonomer content.
heterophasic polymers for durable goods with low creep properties.
high throughput grades with improved processability.
Applications are seen in film, fibre, mouldings, pipe, and wire and cable. Borstar PP is also said to have potential for new applications such as in replacing PVC and styrenics.
Aoki claims victory in PET preform patent case May 27, 1998
A US federal court has backed Aoki Technical Laboratory in its patent fight with FMT Corporation and denied an injunction motion requested by FMT. FMT had claimed patent infringement by Aoki on a preform design. It had previously won similar litigation against Nissei ASB and Constar. FMT's patents were deemed invalid on the basis of a demonstration by Aoki of an injection stretch blow moulding machine at the 1976 National Plastics Exposition, one year before FMT's patents were filed.
$200,000 annual savings claimed for new film metalliser May 22, 1998
A new design of metalliser for flexible packaging has just completed trials at General Vacuum Equipment. The Delta metalliser is said to offer faster set-up times, faster line speeds and substantial savings on operating costs.
It has a new design of evaporation source which is said to minimise aluminium waste with additional savings in the consumption of aluminium wire, evaporator boats and electricity. The Delta is a drumless design, which itself is said to be 10 per cent more efficient in aluminium collection than a drum type and of which the company has built five since 1988. This design has a metallising aperture that is not limited by drum size and offers increased source-to-substrate distance, allowing better uniformity and reduced radiant heat load on the web. Most drumless metallisers have been used on non-heat sensitive substrates and papers, but GVE says the Delta can run heat-sensitive packaging films at high speeds.
GVE says that compared with a drum metalliser coating an annual 7,000 tonnes of 20 micron BOPP, the Delta offers savings of up to $50,000 in aluminium consumption, $40,000 from longer evaporator life, $25,000 in power consumption from reduced tensions, AC web drives and increased chiller efficiency, and yields a 20 per cent production increase from faster line speeds (840 mpm) and increased efficiency. The barrier properties of the film are also said to be better than those of drum-metallised film. Overall, GVE says a company could save up to $200,000 per year by using a Delta instead of a drum metalliser.
With the new metalliser comes new control software running under Windows NT, which enables the whole machine to be controlled from one position with automatic sequencing.
£750,000 has been invested by the Excelsior Group of Bury in its rotational moulding companies Excelsior Rotational Moulding and Smith Rotational Moulding. Excelsior Rotational Moulding has sold its old site at Ferngrove, and moved to a 41,500 sq ft factory nearby. Smith Rotational Moulding has bought the factory next door and so doubled its factory space.
Both companies have also bought new Gemini Engineering carousel moulding machines. The one installed at Excelsior has four arms and is reckoned to be one of the largest of its kind ever built. It increases the company's capacity by 50 per cent. Smith has bought a three-arm Gemini machine.
Promotion for Ampacet's European chief May 22, 1998
US colour masterbatch producer Ampacet has promoted its European managing director Robert DeFalco to the new position of executive vice president.
DSM technology, too, at Venezuelan PE plant May 22, 1998
The Mobil/Petroquimica de Venezuela PE project billed as the biggest PE plant in the Americas (See story May 10) will incorporate a 300,000 tonnes LDPE plant using DSM's clean tubular reactor technology licensed through Stamicarbon, which DSM is describing as the largest single line LDPE plant in the world.
Moulding Technology '98 May 22, 1998
Injection moulding machine supplier Demag Hamilton and materials distributor Distrupol are getting together from June 16 - 18 for their annual Moulding Technology seminar series at Demag's premises in Aylesbury. Seven technical papers will include information on PC, LCP and metallocene PP, and there will be a mini-exhibition, with five machines from 50 to 250 tonnes, including an Ergotech running an injection blow moulding.
For an invitation: Chris Docherty on 01296 318200 or Maureen Arundel on 01932 566033.
Magna adds KM moulding cell May 21, 1998
Automotive systems manufacturer Magna Kansei of Sunderland has installed a second manufacturing cell based on a Krauss-Maffei injection moulding machine. The installation, using a 500 tonne C1 machine, follows a cell moulding two halves of a component which are welded by robot and packed for dispatch. This uses two 350 tonne C1 machines and was installed early this year. The plant also has a Krauss-Maffei Rimstar B2 polyurethane metering unit feeding a 10-station carousel carrying Kansei's self-clamping moulds. This was installed in 1995 to foam-back instrument panels for the Ford Scorpio.
Magna Kansei is a joint venture between Magna International of Canada and Kansei Corporation of Japan.
PE expansion in Saudi Arabia May 21, 1998
The Saudi Arabian Al-Jubail Petrochemical Company (KEMYA) - a 50/50 joint venture between Exxon Chemical Arabia and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation - is to build a new olefins cracker, and with it a new LDPE plant. The company is also to de-bottleneck its two LLDPE lines to increase output by nearly 40 per cent to 850,000 tonnes. The cracker is due for completion late in 2000 and will produce up to 700,000 tonnes of ethylene and up to 200,000 tonnes of propylene. The LDPE plant using Exxon's high pressure tubular technology is scheduled to start up in the second quarter of 2000.
More world scale backing for light-emitting polymer company May 21, 1998
Cambridge Display Technology has added another world-scale backer for its light-emitting polymer technology, with which it plans to revolutionise displays of electronic information. It has entered a two year joint development project with DuPont, and the two companies expect to deliver LEP displays to electronics manufacturers in large volumes within three years.
CDT holds a number of patents covering the coating of plastics substrates with polymers which respond optically to electric charge. DuPont brings to the alliance its coating and encapsulation expertise. The target of the two companies is in the next 18 months to produce flexible displays of low data levels in large volumes such as for video recorders, clocks and signs, and then to take this on to producing displays in large volumes capable of handling high densities of information, such as a flexible electronic newspaper.
CDT already has development agreements with Seiko-Epson, Philips Electronics, Hoechst and UNIAX.
Elf Atochem to go ahead with Chinese copolyamide powders venture May 12, 1998
The Chinese joint venture in copolyamide powders for which Elf Atochem signed a letter of intent last March is to go ahead. Elf Atochem is linking with Gaoyuan Organic Powders Plant to build two plants in a venture in which it will hold 80 per cent. GOPP will incorporate its existing Shanghai-based textile industry powders plant, and Elf Atochem will add its copolyamide 12 technology, giving it greater penetration of Asian markets. The deal will also give Elf Atochem a bigger presence in the Changshu industrial complex where it is building a CFC substitute plant.
Sales growth at Cincinnati May 12, 1998
Overall sales of plastics processing equipment, industrial products and machine tools by Cincinnati Milacron increased 10 per cent last year over 1996 at $1·9 billion.
The extrusion subsidiary Cincinnati Milacron Austria just about matched that growth, with a 9 per cent increase in turnover to ATS960·5 million.
The company has built its position on conical twin screw extruders, but around a third of sales today are in single screw machines.
PBE joins forces with foil supplier May 12, 1998
Marking machinery manufacturer PBE Marking Systems has merged with Opengold, which supplies consumables for hot stamping. The Opengold operation has moved to PBE's Slough site.
Venezuelan PE plant to use Unipol May 10, 1998
What is described as the largest single line PE unit in the Americas is being built in Venezuela by a joint venture of Mobil Chemical Company and Petroquimicas de Venezuela. The plant will combine the Univation Unipol PE process with Super Condensed Mode Technology to produce 450,000 tonnes a year. It is due on line in 2001. The Latin American region is predicted to have an annual growth in PE demand of 7 - 10 per cent for the next 10 years.
DSM will contribute its clean tubular reactor technology for a 300,000 tonnes LDPE line at the site (See story May 22).
Borealis improves profits May 10, 1998
Improved market conditions and sharply lower feedstock prices helped Borealis to an improved first quarter pre-tax profit of DKK541 million, against DKK419 million in the first quarter 1997 on sales of DKK4,399 million, up from DKK4,240 million. The quarter's sales were behind those of last year's fourth quarter (DKK4,712 million) but pre-tax profit was a substantial improvement on the DKK314 million recorded then.
Top appointment at Velsicol May 10, 1998
Velsicol Chemical Corporation has appointed David Frederick as executive managing director of Velsicol Chemical Limited in Basingstoke. He has been with Velsicol since 1982 and was part of the five-person management buy-out team that bought Velsicol in 1986.
Velsicol is to start making its Benzolex plasticisers (see archived story) in the UK later this year.
Scottish rubber processor plans expansion May 8, 1998
Day International (UK) is planning to move to a larger site in the Dundee area. The company is the European headquarters of Day International of the USA and makes printing blankets and similar products for textile machinery. The company also operates as a trade compounder to the extent of its surplus mixing capacity. Its speciality is in coloured compounds, and no carbon black or other high contaminant risk materials are used in the plant.
Ormecon extends in conductive polymers May 8, 1998
Zipperling Kessler's Ormecon Chemie subsidiary has extended its conductive polymer business by buying Monsanto's polyaniline activities.
Do your directors give value for money? May 8, 1998
How much of your company's profits go to its directors? Financial analyst Plimsoll Publishing has produced two reports on how companies perform relative to the fees they pay their directors. The reports cover what Plimsoll describes as 'the polythene industry' and 'rubber and rubber products'.
It finds that the average directors' fee in the polythene industry is £39,900, while in the top quarter fees average £100,000. In rubber directors are less well paid with an average of £31,000 but directors in the top quarter are better off at an average of £103,600.
Of the companies in both sectors paying the highest directors' fees, 49 per cent were rated strong or good in terms of their financial strength while 34 per cent were rated as needing changes in their financial structure to ensure future viability.
Plimsoll also examined sales and profits of the companies paying their directors the most and found that in 'polythene' 27·4 per cent of companies exceeded average sales growth of 14·4 per cent but 71·4 per cent performed worse than the industry in general. Profitability was better with 56·2 per cent of companies exceeding the industry average of 4·5 per cent while 15·1 per cent recorded a loss. In rubber and rubber products 34·1 per cent of top-paying companies exceeded the industry average sales growth of 10·0 per cent and 64·7 per cent were below average. 52·9 per cent exceed the industry average of 3·3 per cent profit margin and 11·8 per cent recorded a loss.
Companies benefitting most from the efforts of their directors are named as Telcon Packaging which achieved sales growth of 25·9 per cent, pre-tax profit margin of 18·5 per cent and only paid its directors an average £21,100, and in rubber, PTM (UK) which achieved a 68·7 per cent sales growth and 11·4 per cent profit margin for an average directors' fee of £30,400.
The reports analyse the past four years' accounts of 942 companies in the polyethylene sector and 1,265 in rubber and rubber products and cost £305 each
Baxenden Chemicals has made three senior management changes. Following the retirement of Alan Taylor after 26 years, Norman Gee becomes group managing director. He was formerly general manager of the Polyurethane Systems Division, and is succeeded by Anne Marie Stannard who has joined the company from EVC. Tim Hughes joins Baxenden from Courtaulds to head the Speciality Chemicals Division.
Borealis/OMV/PCD deal: the date is in sight May 7, 1998
Final agreement has been reached between Borealis and OMV for the sale of PCD Polymere to Borealis. A related deal is for OMV and its 19·6 per cent shareholder International Petroleum Investment Company of Abu Dhabi to buy Neste's 50 per cent stake in Borealis. Borealis has other Abu Dhabi links: on April 26 Borealis and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company signed the joint venture agreement under which they will build a petrochemicals and plastics plant in Abu Dhabi, to include a 600,000 tonnes ethane-based cracker and two 225,000 tonnes polyethylene plants.
The agreement with Borealis gives OMV a long-term olefin feedstock supply contract to supply the PCD sites, while Borealis rises to become Europe's biggest and the world's fourth largest polyolefins producer with more than 3 million tonnes of capacity. The deal is currently under scrutiny by the EU authorities and is expected to become effective on July 1.
'New generation' Spheripol plant to be built in China May 7, 1998
A polypropylene plant using Montell's 'new generation' Spheripol process is to be built in China by the China National Petroleum Corporation. The 50,000 tonnes plant will be the first plant in China to use this technology - there are currently nine PP plants there using existing Spheripol technology, with a total capacity of around 700,000 tonnes, and making 60 per cent of the PRC's polypropylene.
Gosewehr buys CLS May 6, 1998
Robot manufacturer Gosewehr has restructured its UK representation by buying CLS of Salisbury, moving into the CLS premises, and appointing CLS managing director Chris Litherland as managing director of Gosewehr UK. Chris Litherland formerly represented Gosewehr for about 12 years, until Gosewehr set up its own company some 10 years ago.
The former managers of Gosewehr UK are believed to have set up their own company selling Sytrama robots, which have moved representation from Summit Systems.
One of the effects of the CLS takeover is that the larger models of the CLS Countmaster product counting machine will be built by Gosewehr in Germany. CLS had found difficulty getting the big machines built in the UK.
An early confidence-booster after the change was a £1 million order for 13 robots from Linpac Automotive of Southend. The machines are currently being installed and will bring to around 30 the number of Gosewehrs at the plant.
The existing Gosewehr engineers have stayed with the new set up, and have been augmented by Rex Milner who has moved from MIR UK to become northern representative.
Hoechst plans massive plastics clearance sale May 6, 1998
Hoechst is to pull further out of plastics as it refocusses on the life sciences - essentially pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and food ingredients.
At its annual general meeting on May 5 chairman Jürgen Dormann announced plans to sell part of Hoechst's holding in the cellulose acetate and technical polymers businesses Celanese and Ticona in a public flotation, the details of which will be finalised later this year.
Polyethylene activities will be disposed of 'in the coming months' and Hoechst is to sell its non-European textile polyester, technical fibers, PET resins, and intermediates business to Koch/Saba, a US-Mexican consortium. Letters of intent were signed last month and the sale should be concluded during this year. As part of the deal Hoechst gets Saba's shareholding in the Mexican company Celmex and so will have full control of the chemicals business of Celanese in Mexico, tidying up its position ahead of flotation. Just prior to the AGM Hoechst announced that it had sold a majority stake in its European polyester textile business Trevira to Multikarsa group company European Fiber Industries BV. The business will be integrated into a new company, Trevira GmbH, with headquarters in Frankfurt. Hoechst holds a minority equity interest in the company.
The Hoechst polyester business also consists of the polyester film joint ventures Hoechst Diafoil in Wiesbaden and the US and Diafoil Hoechst in Japan, formed with Mitsubishi in 1991. Mitsubishi has signed a letter of intent under which it will acquire Hoechst's interests in the joint venture.
The group is also to sell off its Herberts automotive paints and industrial coatings division - which saw a growth in operating profit of 44 per cent in 1997 - and is 'in negotiations with suitable partners'.
The reasons given for this strategy are the growing pressure in the industrial businesses as a result of new competitors as well as falling prices and profit margins. 'On the other hand, biotechnology and genetic engineering are leading to new approaches for developing innovative products and possibilities of capitalising on the similarities and links between the individual life science fields', said Mr Dormann.
Earlier this year Hoechst agreed a 50:50 joint venture deal with Mobil Corporation for the two companies to combine their oriented polypropylene flexible films businesses. The agreement is expected to be completed by July 1. The combined company will have revenues of about $1·0 billion and total manufacturing capacity of about 400,000 tonnes. Hoechst also sold its 50 per cent stake in Kalle Pentaplast to its partner Klöckner-Werke.
Röhm turns the corner May 4, 1998
Restructuring at the Hüls Group acrylics subsidiary Röhm has put the company back in profit. Results for 1997 showed a pre-tax profit increase of DM75 million to DM48 million. Further improvements are expected this year, partly from the merger of Hüls with Degussa and the anticipated integration of Röhm with Degussa's acrylics subsidiary Agomer.
BP to build new LLDPE plant at Grangemouth May 4, 1998
BP is to join with Appryl (see story April 24) in expanding polyolefin output at Grangemouth. It is to build a 300,000 tonnes LLDPE plant alongside the Appryl PP plant, using the same construction consortium - although the BP plant will be completed later, in 2000. The two plants will also share the resources of Katoen Natie of Antwerp for packaging, warehousing and distribution.
The new BP facility will use the company's Innovene technology and Enhanced High Productivity process, running both conventional and metallocene catalysts to produce a broad range of products. BP is also to reconfigure its existing Innovene plant at Grangemouth to enable it produce HDPE as well as LLDPE.
These investments are part of a £500 million development of BP's petrochemicals facilities at Grangemouth. The company has already started a project to expand ethylene capacity from 700,000 tonnes to more than 1 million tonnes.
BASF Chinese JV goes commercial May 4, 1998
BASF's biggest joint venture in China has started commercial operations. Yangzi-BASF Styrenics in Nanjing has capacity for 130,000 tonnes of ethylbenzene, 120,000 tonnes of styrene and 100,000 tonnes of polystyrene. It was set up in 1994 between BASF and Yangzi Petrochemical Co, with BASF holding 60 per cent of the shares. The plants were completed in July 1997 and have been running pilot production since. In October this year a 40,000 tonnes EPS plant is due to come on line.
New moulding company for medical and electronics May 4, 1998
A new injection moulding company specialising in medical and electronic moulding has opened near Newport in South Wales.
Synergy Plastics has a range of machines from 60 to 360 tonnes and employs 10 people at its 10,000 sq ft site at 8 Pen-y-Fan Industrial Estate, Willow Road, Crumlin, Newport, NP1 4EG.
Best increase yet for Bayer, but polymer profits disappoint May 4, 1998
Plastics and rubbers contributed to the buoyant background to Bayer's business in 1997, but pressure on prices and higher raw materials costs gave a less impressive performance than some of the other sectors which helped the group achieve its biggest ever year-on-year increase, up DM6·4 billion to DM55 billion.
The plastics business group increased sales by 15 per cent to DM4·6 billion, but declining prices, particularly for ABS, and higher raw material costs turned this into a lower-than-previous operating profit. The rubber business group also saw a 15 per cent sales increase, to DM4·3 billion, but here restructuring costs in the US and Brazil chipped away profit to below the previous year. And polyurethanes also saw pressure on prices and higher raw materials costs push its 11 per cent sales increase (to DM4 billion) into a profits decline.
Despite these lower returns, Bayer is planning expansion of its facilities during this year, and the polymers segment will 43 per cent (2·1 billion) of Bayer 's capital expenditure. Plans include increasing capacity in Europe, North America and Asia, a melt polycarbonate facility in Germany, and an experimental bisphenol A plant in Belgium.
Growth for uPVC profiles company May 4, 1998
A uPVC profiles company that only started manufacturing four years ago has installed its fourth Krauss-Maffei extrusion line. Everwhite Plastics of Aberdare was set up in 1993 selling bought-in stock, and began manufacturing in the following year. It is expecting sales of £5 million this year and is building a 30,000 sq ft factory extension.
The new KM line is for foamed products, and incorporates a KMD-90-26 main extruder with a KMD2-40KK co-extruder, both controlled by a C4 microprocessor.
Continued compounding expansion for Laporte May 4, 1998
The Laporte Worldwide Compounding Group, which earlier this year announced plans for a new compounding plant for Laporte-AlphaGary in Melton Mowbray, is in the process of expanding its Canadian compounding company, AW Compounders. An additional 25,000 sq ft is being added to the factory, and a new twin screw line with an annual throughput of around 4,500 tonnes is being installed.
First quarter improvements for DSM May 4, 1998
Dutch chemicals and materials group DSM saw profits rise 24 per cent in the first quarter of 1998 compared with the first quarter 1997, reaching NLG277 million from NLG223 million. Sales were up 12 per cent and operating profit 20 per cent.
Contributing to this improvement were continuing economic growth in Europe and the USA, while DSM was virtually unaffected by the weakened economies in Asia.
The Polymers and Performance Materials division increased its net sales 25 per cent between the periods, while operating profit nearly doubled (up from NLG93 million to NLG184 million). The higher sales were mainly due to the acquisition of Vestolen in Germany in November 1997, while operating profit was boosted by higher sales volumes and lower raw material costs.
Bigger site for CMC May 4, 1998
Web tension control specialist CMC (Europe) has moved to a bigger site near Sevenoaks. The new address is: Unit 6, Chaucer Business Park, Kemsing, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN15 6PL. Telephone: 01732 763278, fax: 01732 763279. The company is also in the process of appointing an agent for Ireland.
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