Emphasis on recycling heavy waste could leave plastics exposed in the dustbin

April 30, 2001 - The British government's emphasis on weight rather than volume as a recycling criterion is causing a slow down in plastics bottle recycling, says Recoup (RECycling Of Used Plastics Containers). And plastics packaging could be left exposed in the dustbin.
     Recoup says that half of local authorities now operate collection schemes; nine out of ten recycling managers recognise the environmental benefits from plastics bottle recycling; and plastics bottle collections grew in 2000 by 12 per cent. But according to this year's annual survey findings, fewer councils are planning new collections for the next three years which Recoup attributes to an inflated perception of the cost of recycling.
     Because of the government's new weight-based recycling measures some councils are being discouraged from collecting light weight plastics, focussing more on glass, paper and compostables. This will ultimately mean that plastics containers will become an even more noticeable component in the remainder of household refuse.
     The survey for last year showed that British local authorities collected and recycled just over 250 million plastic bottles from 4,115 banks on 2,851 sites.

Rubber moulder restructures

April 30, 2001 - Roulunds Codan is closing its Redditch plant where it makes friction and industrial rubber rubber products.
     Manufacture of brake pads and linings will be relocated to Europe, while industrial rubber hose and belts manufacture will be amalgamated with the company's Corby operation, which until now has been dedicated to automotive OEM production.
     The company says that merging its rubber activities will enable it to deliver a better and more streamlined distribution service while also allowing it to expand sales of industrial belts, hoses and drives from a purpose-built distribution centre at the Corby plant.
     The changes take effect in June.

New board appointments at EVC

April 30, 2001 - The new management board heading European Vinyls Corporation is now taking shape. Subject to shareholder approval at the AGM on May 18, Jeff Seed, David Thompson and John Hudson will join as operations and commercial directors and chief financial officer respectively.
     Jeff Seed joins from principal shareholder INEOS Acrylics, David Thompson from James Robinson, and John Hudson is currently group finance manager at EVC.
     Existing management board directors David Rolph and Marino Uberti will leave EVC in due course. Transitional director Ghislain Decadt will step down and return to other INEOS Group activities.

BASF warns of PS shortages

April 30, 2001 - BASF is warning of polystyrene shortages caused by plant optimisation work in the coming weeks which will temporarily reduce its polystyrene capacity by up to 20 per cent.

Further price increase for Basell PE

April 30, 2001 - Recent price increases for Basell's European polyethylene products have failed to achieve the margins needed by the company and prices are being increased again, by Eur 50/tonne from May 1.

'No break up for Bayer'

April 27, 2001 - Suggestions that Germany's Bayer group should be split up were firmly resisted by its chairman Dr Manfred Schneider at the company's annual stockholders meeting. Bayer was reporting its first quarter results which showed a 'more modest' start to the year than the record breaking Q1 2000. The company was looking towards further growth in all four business segments, said Dr Schneider, and 'is open to acquisitions and alliances, especially in the life sciences' - although it will also 'continue to streamline its portfolio to systematically eliminate remaining weaknesses'.
     'We do not believe that dividing Bayer into a number of separate entities is the right way forward', he added.
     Overall Bayer increased sales by 10 per cent (excluding the Fibers Business Group and EC Erdölchemie which are no longer continuing operations) to Eur 7·7 billion while income declined by 7 per cent to Eur 936 million. Group net income decreased by 21 per cent to Eur 442 million as a result of higher charges for restructuring.
     The Polymers segment was hampered by higher raw material costs and adverse business trends in the United States. Although sales were up by 17 per cent to Eur 2·8 billion, operating profit fell by 28 per cent to Eur 230 million.

PET collection maintains impetus

April 27, 2001 - The amount of PET collected for recycling in Europe last year increased 23 per cent on the 1999 total to 270,000 tonnes, itself a 25 per cent increase on 1998. PET Container Recycling Europe (PETCORE), which monitors PET recycling, forecasts that this year the figure will pass 300,000 tonnes, and that the average annual increase over the next five years will be 20 per cent. Last year's total, it says, is a long way from the forecast six years ago that 100,000 tonnes of R-PET would be collected and used in 2000 - a forecast that was dismissed by many as too high.
     The increase last year was boosted by an expansion of collection in France, where the total collected rose from 39,500 tonnes to more than 60,000 tonnes. In the near future PETCORE expects to see further boosts in collection from Britain and Spain where, it says, collection programmes are still in their infancy.

Research into polymer waste for pallet production

April 27, 2001 - A £250,000 R & D programme to analyse the polymer composition of the waste stream is being set up by plastics recycler Quarrtik and environmental organisation Pishiobury Trust, in association with Cardiff University. The target will be to produce plastics pallets, a plant for which Quarrtek has already gained planning permission to build in Berkshire. Eventually Quarrtek hopes to reprocess 25,000 tonnes of mixed plastics waste to make 1 million pallets a year.
     Pishiobury Trust has received funds for this projectthrough landfill tax credits from Viridor Waste Management.

Slow down forecast in UK plastics consumption

April 26, 2001 - UK plastics consumption last year is estimated at 4·12 million tonnes with a value of nearly £5·3 billion, according to the latest analysis by Market & Business Development. This represents a small, steady increase on the figures for 1998, when consumption declined to 3·92 million tonnes/£4·99 billion, and 1999 (4·00 million tonnes/£5·16 million.)
     The year on year increase is in the face of high interest rates and a strengthening pound which forced consumption down in 1998, and a more buoyant, but still difficult, market in 1999 - although increased artificially by end of year stock building in fear of year 2000 computer problems.
     Looking ahead, MBD sees an overall increase in demand from 2001 to 2005 of 7 per cent. This low figure is attributed to continued down gauging of plastics products, and a slow down in the materials substitution in favour of plastics seen in the 1990s.
     MBD's analysis of the plastics products market shows a 3 per cent growth in 2000 to £14·2 billion, continuing the 1999 growth rate. In the future growth is likely to decelerate, says MBD. This year should see growth of around 4 per cent, but continued strength of the pound acting against exports and competition holding down prices are likely to slow down growth to 1 - 2 per cent towards the end of the forecast period.
     Of the specific markets for plastics products identified in the report, MBD forecasts a 2 per cent increase in plastics packaging in real terms this year, followed by a 3 per cent increase next year. But after this, growth will slow to an annual 1 per cent by 2005. MBD says that initially there will be further product substitution, partly sustained by low prices caused by competition and over-supply, but continued reduction in non-essential packaging, together with light weighting, will hold down further demand.
     One of the significant growth areas in recent years has been in building products, fuelled by materials substitution. However, MBD says that opportunities here are declining, and that there has been a trend back towards traditional materials in products such as window frames. For this reason, the growth in the plastics building products sector is more likely to follow that in the overall construction market, and is most likely to settle at 1 - 3 per cent year on year.
     The report costs £395, and an annual subscription with four reports costs £495. More information.

Milacron buys German mould components manufacturers

April 26, 2001 - Milacron is buying two German mould component companies and a Canadian manufacturer of barrels and screws. It expects to complete the purchase in the next couple of weeks of EOC Normalien and Reform Flachstahl. The purchase of Progress Precision, based in Ontario, Canada, has already been completed.
     EOC Normalien and Reform Flachstahl will be added to Milacron's existing tooling components subsidiary D-M-E Company and bring Milacron into the Euro-Standard mould base market.
     EOC Normalien of Lüdenscheid produces mould bases, components and die sets, and has been a subsidiary of Anchor Lamina of Canada since 1994. Specific product lines include standard and custom mould bases, hot runner systems, temperature controllers, leader pins and bushings, ejector pins and sleeves, blades, die sets and cams. Its die set and steel processing operations in Chemintz, Germany, are not included in the sale.
     Reform Flachstahl is a private company in Fulda making Euro-Standard mould bases as well as components,cooling products and tools for moulds and mould making.
     The third company, Progress Precision, was the first plastics machinery screw manufacturer in Canada and makes single screws, parallel and conical twin screws and segmented screws in sizes up to around 8 m long and 38 cm in diameter. It becomes part of Milacron's ExtrusionTek division.

Bayer may sell the rest of its fibre businesses

April 26, 2001 - Following its withdrawal from the acrylic fibres business Bayer is now exploring options for distancing itself from its other fibre operations - Dorlastan spandex and Perlon monofil. It is looking for partners to continue development, or may sell the businesses. Dorlastan and Perlon represent around Eur 250 million a year of sales, and employ around 1,000 people in Germany and the USA.

Top money man at Omnexus

April 26, 2001 - On-line plastics marketplace Omnexus has appointed Michael J Walsh as chief financial officer. He has been vice president of global finance since August last year.

Asian plan for PVC production increase

April 26, 2001 - As the ecologically-minded clamour for its replacement and Western producers struggle to force prices up to an economic level, South Korea's LG Chem is planning to increase its output of PVC by a third.
     LG Chem is planning to increase its PVC capacity from 90,000 tonnes to 1·2 million tonnes by 2005 to meet strong demand from Asia - especially from China.
     LG Chem is the petrochemicals, electronic materials and industrial materials arm of LG Chemical Co, which was split into three parts on April 1 - the other parts being LG Chem Investment and LG Household & Healthcare.
     The company is also planning an expansion of its Chinese joint venture Ningbo LG Yongxing Co, which is to double ABS output to 300,000 tonnes/year by 2003.

Brighter Borealis

April 26, 2001 - Slight increases in polyolefins prices and higher demand helped Borealis to turn the corner back into profit in the first quarter of this year, but results were still below the Q1 2000 figures. The operating loss in Q4 of Eur 49 million turned to a profit of Eur 20 million and pre-tax profits turned from a Eur 41 million loss to Eur 8 million in the black.
     This was on sales of Eur 1,002 million (Q4 Eur 1,006 million) but was still well behind the Q1 2000 operating profit of Eur 55 million and pre-tax profit of Eur 43 million on sales of Eur 878 million.
     Borealis commented that while polyolefin prices rose, margins fell due to the higher feedstock prices following strong crude oil markets.

BP adds Eastman PE technology

April 26, 2001 - BP is to offer Eastman's Energx gas-phase polyethylene technology alongside its Innovene process through a new sub-licensing agreement. Energx can be used to produce high performance LLDPE and HDPE and is the basis for Eastman's own Hifor, Hifor Clear and Hifor Xtreme polyethylenes.

Saudi antiox plant starts up

April 26, 2001 - Great Lakes Chemical has started production of dust-free antioxidants in Saudi Arabia. The Great Lakes/Hamed A Alzamil and Bros joint venture Gulf Stabilizers Industries has started to make the Great Lakes Anox NDB No Dust Blend range of antioxidants for sale primarily to Middle East customers.

Top UK appointments at PolyOne

April 23, 2001 - PolyOne Corporation has made a number of senior managerial appointments in the UK. Stephen Duckworth, European marketing and technology director for the engineered materials business, has been appointed business development director, international for the Plastic Compounds and Colors group. Part of his role will be to help identify targets for acquisition, while retaining overall responsibility for marketing.
     In the UK Compounds and Colors operation Russell Livesey has been appointed managing director to replace John Cavanagh who has left the company. He was previously European director of quality and before that, site manager at the Victor International Plastics plant in Coventry. Russell Livesey reports to Roland Blackburn who has recently joined PolyOne Compounds and Colors UK as European director of manufacturing.
     Also new to the UK company is Andre Toczek who joins as UK sales leader from Performance Masterbatches where he was sales manager.

Thermofil buy gives Asahi Kasei stronger European foothold

April 23, 2001 - The Thermofil compounding business operating in the USA and Europe has been bought by Asahi Kasei and renamed Asahi Thermofil. The acquisition gives Asahi Kasei an additional 110,000 tonnes of engineering plastics capacity, and follows recent expansions in the company's own Leona nylon 66 and Xyron modified PPE production in Japan and Singapore. Leona, Xyron and Tenac acetal compounds will be produced by Asahi Thermofil at sites in Michigan (USA), Hampshire (UK) and Provence (France).
     Asahi Kasei has also strengthened its European presence by setting up Asahi Thermofil (Europe) in Brussels, Belgium to provide marketing and technical service support throughout Europe for Leona, Xyron and Tenac and is planning a European technical centre to support the British and French operations.

Dow and Mobius come closer on PU foam recycling

April 23, 2001 - The technical co-operation in polyurethane foam recycling between Dow Chemical and Mobius Technologies has been extended to a joint marketing agreement with both partners marketing Dow's materials and Mobius' equipment. One target of the co-operation is to enable the automotive industry to recycle polyurethane seat foam, and so meet European Union recycling directives. The Mobius technology works by pulverising production or after life foam scrap to a powder of less than 50 microns, which can then be used at up to 10 - 12 per cent as filler in polyol for new foam.

Higher profile for CD material

April 23, 2001 - Bayer has entered a co-branding arrangement with a Dutch manufacturer of optical discs. MMore International is to use only Bayer's Makrolon polycarbonate for its recordable and rewritable CDs and DVDs and the discs will carry the label 'Made of Makrolon'.

Promotion at Blackfriars

April 23, 2001 - Granulator manufacturer Blackfriars has promoted Paul Bissell to sales director. He has been with Blackfriars for more than 20 years, having held the position of sales manager since 1991.

Wider range of bright finishes

April 23, 2001 - Quality Plated Plastics has installed new equipment at its Great Barr site in Birmingham to increase its range of metallic finishes. The new plant brings the ability to produce satin chrome, gold and nickel components for the sanitary ware, domestic appliance, display and automotive markets in which the company specialises.

Hexcel adds US thermoplastic composites manufacturer

April 23, 2001 - Hexcel Composites has added to its fibre-reinforced composites business by buying an American manufacturer of continuous thermoplastic composites. It has bought the TP composites operations of Applied Fiber Systems of Clearwater, Florida. AFS makes TowFlex thermoplastic coated tow which is supplied either as tow, or woven into fabric, consolidated into unidirectional tape or processed into laminates. Options include the use of conductive and non-conductive fibres, in matrices of commodity or engineering thermoplastics up to high temperature materials such as PPS, PEI or PAEK.

Rubber companies merge

April 23, 2001 - Norm Sinclairs and Nicholson, which have co-operated in rubber moulding on the same site in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire for the past 15 years, have now officially tied the knot. They have merged to offer a custom rubber moulding and gasket/washer cutting service.

Clean room expansion for Lexan films

April 23, 2001 - GE Structured Products Europe has increased its capacity for Lexan polycarbonate film at Bergen op Zoom in Holland. The new extrusion capacity is housed in a clean room and will make polished graphic films, textured films and in-mould decoration films.

PVC - the rocky road in packaging

April 16, 2001 - To fill the vacuum in Marks & Spencer's wrapping departments following the retailer's decision to phase out PVC, film supplier Soretrac is planning to import a range of polyolefin films made in Japan by Okura Industrial Co. They are the Super HIFAS food wrap films, and the Eco-wrap range, also with food use approval, which includes EVOH barrier multi-layer films.
     Soretrac itself continues to sell PVC films alongside the new polyolefin alternatives, but stocks of Eco-wrap have been increased 'pending a higher level of demand'.
      Marks & Spencer's apparent climb down over its decision to phase out PVC was not so grovelling as the British Plastics Federation may have thought. In a letter to Packaging magazine, Marks & Spencer's environmental affairs manager Rowland Hill says that the decision to phase out the use of PVC packaging by the end of 2002 has not been 're-thought' and remains in place. 'We will also phase out PVC in products and other applications as and when we can. This decision is based on growing concerns about perceived hazardous chemicals with consumers.
     'I invited the BPF to a meeting where we explained our position and agreed to disagree on decision-making processes. As we're not evangelical about "banning" PVC per se, we agreed to continue a dialogue to assess the view held by the BPF that the image of PVC was about to turn the corner.'
     But he added: 'Frankly, we don't share this view' and far from agreeing to a review 'we agreed to meet again in six months, not to review our policy in six months'.
      Not long after the apparent change of heart by Marks & Spencer (as reported by the BPF) PVC took another thumping from the European Parliament. Members debated a European Commission green paper on PVC and voted to call for substitution of PVC, to ban lead additives, and to enforce separate waste collection with 'polluter pays' penalties because of the extra costs associated with waste containing PVC. Underlying the debate was the suggestion that voluntary controls on the environmental impact of PVC were not enough, and that legislation was needed.

Film prices must rise to protect the future

April 16, 2001 - Calls for help last year by Britain's packaging film makers appear to have fallen on deaf ears. In October the Flexible Packaging Association called on MPs and MEPs to ease the growing number of restraints being placed on the industry. Now, in the month that the Climate Change Levy begins to hike packaging production energy costs by 8 - 10 per cent, the FPA has released figures showing that its members are reaping substantially less than they need to stay in business.
     During 2000 total sales of flexible packaging dropped 1 per cent, while gross profit fell 4 per cent. On sales of £730 million, film producers only made £17 million before tax - a return on investment of less than 5 per cent.
     Despite reductions in fixed costs of 12 per cent during the year, film producers are clearly earning insufficient for future investment, says the FPA. Since the year-end there have been increases in raw materials costs - PE and PP prices rose 10 per cent in March and printing inks have also risen 10 per cent - and now the Climate Change Levy is adding to energy costs.
     The inevitable consequence, says the FPA, is that packaging prices must increase.

Walsrode sells Covexx

April 16, 2001 - Bayer Group company Wolff Walsrode is to sell one of the four industry-specific film-making companies it set up under the new Probis holding company in a restructuring operation earlier this year.
     Covexx Films Walsrode, which makes coextruded, laminated, printed and flexible multilayer films, is being bought by Wipak, a subsidiary of the Finnish Wihuri group. The sale should go through in May/June assuming regulatory approval. All 531 employees of Covexx will be transferred to Wipak.
     Covexx had a turnover of Eur 108 million in 2000, and the Wihuri group's packaging businesses had sales of Eur 448. Wihuri has manufacturing facilities in Finland, France and North America - and with the Covexx takeover, in Bomlitz, northern Germany.

Exxon explores metallocene EPDM manufacture

April 16, 2001 - ExxonMobil is planning to expand its production facilities for Exxpol metallocene-catalysed ethylene elastomers at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA. It is currently in discussions with engineering and construction firms and anticipates having the plants operational by mid-2003.
     At present the products under consideration are plastomers and EPDM.

New MD to boost Hesta Graham

April 16, 2001 - US blow moulding machine manufacturer Graham Machinery Group has appointed Dr Andreas Ecker as its European and Asian managing director, based in Stuttgart, Germany. His initial task will be to shape the Hesta Graham division for future growth.

BASF sets five year capital investment plan

April 16, 2001 - BASF is planning to invest Euro 500,000 a year over the next five years in expanding its plastics production facilities. Much of the investment will be at Ludwigshafen in Germany where the company will revamp its nylon plants and which may also be home to a new ABS plant. Also in Germany there are plans to debottleneck the Schwarzeheide PBT plant BASF shares with GE Plastics.
     A Euro 700 million slice of the investment programme will be spent at BASF's site at Tarragona in Spain where a five year programme is already under way.
     Other investment plans so far slated are in polyurethanes, with expansion of US TDI and European MDI capacities, continuation of the Chinese MDI plant it is building with Huntsman, and an expansion of Korean isocyanate output.
     Alongside its capital investment, BASF will continue its Euro 130 million annual spend on research and development.

Owens Corning hardens automotive composites pitch

April 16, 2001 - Owens Corning is tieing up with two specialist suppliers to the automotive industry to further sales of composites materials into this sector. In the UK it is setting up SPRINT Automotive Solutions in association with SP Systems to develop high performance parts for speciality sports vehicles, while in the USA it is forming an alliance with Roush Industries to produce composites components for a wider range of vehicles.
     Alongside these alliances, OC Automotive Solutions, part of Owens Corning's billion dollar composites business, is planning to set up business centres at Detroit in the USA and at an as yet undecided site in Europe.

Roto moulding for technical parts

April 16, 2001 - A custom manufacturing service for technical rotational mouldings has been set up by Standel Dawman in Lancashire. The company is offering design, tooling and moulding for products from 75 mm high to a 1·5 m sphere.
     A recent typical moulding has been a vacuum transport cap for intermediate bulk containers for Matcon. The cap measures 490 × 100 mm with a 10 mm wall thickness. Matcon's usual rotational moulder said the part could not be moulded accurately enough, but Standel Dawman was able to do it, and provide caps cost effectively at the rate of 100 a year. Contact 01282 613175.

Bayer kills one niche product and invests in another

April 6, 2001 - Bayer has ceased production of its biodegradable polyester amide BAK, and has put the product together with all associated technology and patents up for sale. The company says BAK, which it introduced in 1998, no longer fits in with its long term development strategy, particularly as in Germany biodegradable plastic must be made of renewable raw materials, and not synthetic polymers.
     At the same time, Bayer is investing in the development of another emerging polymer technology. It has taken a licence from Zipperling Kessler through its subsidiary Ormecon Chemie to produce dispersions and polymer blends with conductive polymers.
     These are grouped under the name Baytron, with the chemical acronym of PEDT. These materials exhibit high conductivity, transparency, stability and easy processing. A version which can be processed as an aqueous dispersion is available under the trademark Baytron P. PEDT is chemically totally different from the PANI polyaniline 'metal polymer' which is the thrust of Zipperling Kessler's conductive polymer development through Ormecon Chemie, and expanded in 1998 with the purchase of Monsanto's technology in this field.
     The new licence deal clears Bayer's way of any Zipperling Kessler patents that might have hindered the development of PEDT.
     Ormecon Chemie has other licence agreements with DuPont, Covion Semiconductors and Panipol.

Solvay to enter Russian PVC compounds joint venture

April 6, 2001 - Solvay is to set up a joint venture PVC compound plant with Vladimir Chemical Plant in Russia, making it the first Western PVC producer to set up shop in Russia. The joint venture, which will be owned 51 per cent by Solvay, will produce around 15,000 tonnes a year of rigid compound for the window frame/wall cladding markets.
     In a further stage the two companies envisage producing soft PVC compounds for the Russian automotive industry.

Italtech puts MuCell on big machines

April 6, 2001 - Italian injection moulding machinery manufacturer Italtech, which builds high tonnage machines for the automotive industry, has taken a licence to use MuCell microcellular moulding technology. The company has already accepted orders for two 3,000 tonne MuCell-capable machines, and is in discussions with another tier 1 automotive supplier. In the near future Italtech will be installing a large tonnage McCell machine in its laboratory in Brescia.

CTG takes over AEA filament winding

April 6, 2001 - Crompton Technology Group, until recently Crompton Plastics, has acquired the filament winding business of AEA Technology. The deal involves the transfer of technology and plant from the AEA Technology composites manufacturing facility at Harwell.
     It also brings CTG into the motor sport world with the transfer of existing customers in Formula 1, GT, Touring Cars and World Rally Championship teams.

Chinese PE expansion with BP technology

April 6, 2001 - BP's Innovene technology is to be used in an expansion of the Dushanzi Petrochemical Company's polyethylene plant in Northwest China. The new project, expected to be complete in 2002, will increase plant capacity by 40,000 tonnes to 190,000 tonnes a year. The plant started in 1995 with a capacity of 120,000 tonnes, and a current programme to increase capacity to 150,000 tonnes should also be completed next year.

Wavin in Polish pipe takeover and British marketing merger

April 6, 2001 - Wavin has increased its position in the European hot and cold water systems market by buying 51 per cent of Multilayer Pipe Company in Poland, and joining an underfloor heating sales consortium in the UK.
     MPC specialises in the manufacture of PEX pipe and composite plastic pipe for hot and cold water applications. Wavin will enlarge the company's production by adding its own PEX and composite pipe equipment. The pipes will me marketed across Europe in combination with Wavin's own-designed Tigris fittings.
     The UK sales consortium consists of underfloor heating specialist ThermoBoard and insulation manufacturer Owens Corning Alcopor UK. With Wavin's addition it will offer heating systems under the Osma Underfloor heating brand.

EVC inches up turnover but exceptional costs torpedo profits

April 6, 2001 - Higher selling prices and a small incrase in volume pushed up EVC's turnover in 2000, but higher feedstock costs kept the gross margin, at Eur 52·2 million, similar to that of 1999.
     Average selling prices for suspension PVC were 41 per cent higher than than in 1999, and volume was up by 4 per cent. Higher prices for compounds and rigid films were offset by reduced volumes and turnover increased only 3 per cent.
     Overall EVC's turnover rose 28 per cent to Eur 1,180·3 million. Operating loss inched down from Eur 37·1 million in 1999 to Eur 27·8 million, but the group's turbulent financial problems and restructuring moves last year forced up the net loss (from Eur 46·9 million to Eur 84·6 million).

Graham buys in five gallon water bottle technology

April 4, 2001 - Graham Corporation has bought US-based reciprocating screw blow moulding machine manufacturer Improved Blow Molding Systems. With it comes the WTR Systems International brand which is turnkey technology for producing five gallon polycarbonate water bottles and which Graham reckons to be the market leader in this field.
     A year and a half ago Graham bought the German Hesta company.

Engel is first machine maker into Omnexus

April 4, 2001 - Engel of Austria has become the first equipment supplier to join the Omnexus e-marketplace. It has taken an equity stake alongside the other stakeholders AtoFina, BASF, Bayer, Biesterfeld, Clariant, Dow, DSM, DuPont, Ellis & Everard, PolyOne, Resinex & Ravago, Solvay and Ticona.

Brian Ward adds presses and microwave curing agencies

April 4, 2001 - Two more rubber equipment suppliers have joined the portfolio of Brian Ward (Manchester).
     Terenzio of Italy has given BW sole agency rights in the UK and Ireland for its range of compression and injection presses for rubber, composites and thermosets. Rubber compression presses are available in frame or column form, with or without vacuum, and with sliding and tilting platens, shuttle, middle frame, ejectors and magnetic platens. Alongside these the company builds its Polyedra range of four column compression and vertical injection presses which can be supplied in basic form and then made more sophisticated with add-on modules.
     The vertical injection machine series for rubber runs from 80 to 600 tonnes with mechanical and hydraulic closing. Additional equipment includes a silicone feeder, middle frame, sliding platen, cold runner block and ejectors. The horizontal machines are from 100 to 300 tonnes hydraulic or hydromechanical clamp.
     For thermosets Terenzio builds the Robomatic Twin 400 machine which is a fully automatic system for moulding urea toilet seats. The Polymatic is a fully automatic press system for all thermosets.
     The composite presses are the Kompo series in both column and frame design for SMC, GMT and RMT.
     The other new agency at Brian Ward is for the microwave curing and booster equipment from Cober Electronics of the US. Cober has reached an agreement with Italian extruder manufacturer Colmec to represent it throughout Europe, and Brian Ward, being the UK agent for Colmec, will handle sales in the UK.
 Brian Ward is moving on April 6. The new address will be: Bell Farm, Bluebell Lane, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10 2JL. Telephone and fax numbers are unchanged.

New bag maker raises output by half

April 4, 2001 - The first model of the new Arvor Alpha 1499 bottom weld bag maker has been delivered to Ultimate Packaging near Grimsby. The company says that initial figures showed a production increase of up to 50 per cent compared with its previous servo-driven bottom weld bag machine. This is due to a new design of the bag clamping and stacking system, film conveying and tension control which enable the machine to achieve a line speed of 120 m/min and production speed of 160 cycles/min for the 1,400 mm model and 180 cycles/min for the 1,100 mm model. UK agent Keely Machinery says these figures are probably the best in the world for a clamp stacking system.
     Supplied with the machine was a PEC computer controlled hole punch unit and a new Arvor DRH unwind stand incorporating an automatic reel brake tensioning and lifting device.

New name for PC compound specialist

April 4, 2001 - Polycarbonate colour compounder Cotswold Compounds has changed its name to Sytek Polymers to more closely identify with its Sylex brand name for PC compounds.

DuPont and PolyOne to close plants

April 3, 2001 - Two international polymer companies have announced plans to shut down plants to cut costs. DuPont is shedding around 5,000 jobs worldwide - three quarters of them in the USA - and PolyOne is to centralise its compound and colouring operations by shutting 10 or more factories.
     The DuPont rationalisation in which some 4,000 employees (around 4 per cent of the workforce) will lose their jobs alongside about 1,300 contract workers will mainly hit DuPont's fibres businesses. Some 2,000 jobs will go in the polyester and nylon businesses because of weak demand in the US clothing and textile markets. Older, less efficient plants will be closed and production focused on newer, more flexible facilities. The Lycra business will lose jobs in the USA and Europe as production is moved to new plants in Asia and South America.
     Other jobs will be cut in the Pioneer, Crop Protection and Nutrition & Health businesses, and in internal staff support services.
     DuPont expects to save around $400 million a year through job losses and reduced contractor costs.
     The PolyOne restructure is a continuation of that started in January when plans were announced to shut four compounding plants in the USA. The plan is to focus production on centres of excellence, in which PolyOne will invest around $45 million. As a result 'at least one third' of the current 34 manufacturing sites will be closed over the next two years. PolyOne says that details of which sites will close and the employment and financial consequences will be published as plans are finalised. The restructuring plan is expected to save $35 - $50 million a year.
     PolyOne will be discussing the plans in public tomorrow (April 4) starting at around 7.45 am US Eastern Time in a live webcast at www.polyone.com.

Substantial growth at SMS

April 3, 2001 - The Plastics Technology division of SMS - which incorporates the Battenfeld, American Maplan and Cincinnati Extrusion brands - saw a substantial increase in business during last year, with most of the growth coming from the extrusion sector.
     Overall, sales totalled Euro 622 million in 2000 compared with Euro 414 million in 1999. Sales of pipe and profile equipment doubled. Battenfeld Extrusion Technology, American Maplan, Cincinnati Extrusion and Battenfeld Chen Extrusion Systems increased sales from Euro 98 million to Euro 196 million - although this upswing could only be expected as the substantial Cincinnati operation didn't join the group until the beginning of 2000. Cincinnati itself achieved 'record growth rates'.
     In film and sheet Battenfeld Gloucester Engineering US and SMS Folientechnik, Austria (formerly the British Battenfeld Gloucester operation) increased turnover 69 per cent to Eur 213 million.
     The injection moulding division did not achieve such dramatic results, but still increased sales 12 per cent to Eur 213 million.
     SMS Plastic Technology turnover is now split 34 per cent in injection moulding and 66 per cent extrusion.

Blow moulder for prototype work

April 3, 2001 - MCP Equipment, which makes vacuum casting machines for prototyping, is now building blow moulding machines for prototypes and short series production. The MCP 50/E blow moulder is intended to be installed in the design department, alongside vacuum casting and other rapid prototyping equipment, thus saving the disruption of using production equipment for prototyping, and the investment of expensive tooling which may only ever make 100 or so prototypes.
     Prototype blow mouldings can be made by bonding together vacuum cast halves, but MCP says this rules out trialling with the intended production material. The MCP 50/E can be teamed up with the MCP EP250 rapid prototype tooling system, which can make a blow moulding tool in three days. Such a tool would be capable of up to 5,000 mouldings.
     The new blow moulder is pneumatically operated - drawing on the company's experience in building pneumatic injection moulding machines - and is suitable for clean room use. It has a screw plasticiser for use with masterbatch and can make containers up to 1 litre with a maximum parison weight of 115 g. The vertical mandrel over which the parison drops tilts forwards for ejection.
     Control is by PLC through a touch screen.