Pechiney to buy Soplaril

May 29, 2001 - TotalFinaElf and Pechiney are in the final stages of negotiation for Pechiney to buy TotalFinaElf's flexible packaging subsidiary Soplaril. The deal would meet strategic targets for both companies - Pechiney's desire to increase its flexible packaging operations in Europe, and TotalFinaElf's to focus on its core chemicals activities.
     Soplaril is one of the top ten multilayer films companies in Europe, with an emphasis on food packaging. It has three production sites in France, two in Italy, one in Spain and one in Portugal. Its turnover of Eur 200 million is roughly equal to that of Pechiney's existing European plants in France, Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic. Pechiney also has 15 plants in the USA, accounting for 78 per cent of its flexible packaging sales.

Borealis technology spawns new duPont materials

May 28, 2001 - DuPont has put the ethylene acrylate copolymers derived from its joint venture with Borealis on sale as Elvaloy AC. These are ethylene methyl acrylate, ethylene ethyl acrylate, and ethylene butyl acrylate, lining up alongside duPont's existing ethylene vinyl acetate, ethylene methacrylic acid and ethylene glycidyl acrylate products.
     Targeted applications include blown and cast film, extrusions, extrusion coatings, laminations and film modification. They are also said to be suitable for use as carrier resins for fillers and pigments in moulding compounds, PP modifiers, and as toughening agents for PA, PET, ABS and PBT/ABS blends.

PS and PP price increases

May 28, 2001 - Further increases in the price of PS and PP come in on June 1. Dow is raising the price of all grades of its Styron polystyrene by DM 0·2/kg, with a further increase of DM 0·2/kg on July 1.
     Basell is increasing prices for its Moplen and Novolen polypropylene by up to Eur 50/tonne effective June 1. The amount of the increase will vary depending on specific circumstances 'because we were not able to achieve target prices in all sectors of our business during May' says the company.
     Basell restarted its Carrington, UK plant earlier this month to maintain supply during maintenance shut downs planned for other plants in the next few months. The Carrington plant was shut down temporarily at the end of 2000 because of over capacity in the PP market. The company says it is 'continuing our review' of its PP assets to assess their viability, although its assets have been substantially reduced by disposals ordered by the European Union.

Italian investment in Swindon film company

May 28, 2001 - The Italian Neophane Group has taken a half share in its sister company printed packaging supplier Romney Packaging of Swindon to finance three years of expansion intended to grow the Romney business by 50 per cent. Romney's managing director Mark Ormrod is selling half his shareholding to Neophane while taking an increased interest in one of its sister businesses.
     These latest moves follow a £6 million investment programme and are intended to increase Romney's output of printed polypropylene, polyester, nylon, cellulose, paper, polyethylene, metallised films and laminates. Romney's plant is currently around 55,000 sq ft and has flexo and gravure printing presses capable of printing in up to nine colours. It also has solventless lamination as well as solvent and water based systems, and in-line PVDC and cold seal coating capacity.
     Romney Packaging was set up in 1983 following a management buy out of the Mars in-house printing operations. A second production site was opened in 1988. In 1997 Neophane acquired a shareholding and in 1999 the company moved to its existing purpose-built site where it employs around 100 people.

Mobile phone moulders rekindle merger

May 28, 2001 - The merger between mobile phone component moulders Eimo of Finland and Triple S of the USA looks to be on again, creating the only supplier in this market with plants on four continents. It was started nearly a year ago, but abandoned in March after a downturn in Triple S's business forced Eimo to cut its offer price from $161 million to $71·5 million.
     Now, with forecasts of only moderate growth by Eimo and a decline in sales by Triple S through this year compared with last, the two companies have revised their merger through a share swap. Eimo is paying 4·5 shares for each share of the bigger US company.
     Eimo supplies plastic parts and related services to telecom equipment makers, including Nokia and Ericsson. The merger will combine Eimo's plants in Europe and Asia with Triple S's in the USA, Mexico and Brazil. According to Eimo executive vice-chairman Elmar Paananen the new company would have a market share of about 10 per cent in this sector, making it probably the world's second biggest supplier after Perlos.

DB buys Jaye-Dee

May 28, 2001 - Masterbatch manufacturer Douglas Baker Plastics has bought thermoplastics materials supplier Jay-Dee (North West). The Jay-Dee name will remain and it will become a trading division of Douglas Baker Plastics.

Work starts on Ticona GUR expansion

May 28, 2001 - Ticona has started work on its 30,000 tonnes GUR ultra high molecular weight polyethylene plant in Bishop, Texas, USA. The new plant, which is scheduled to begin operation in the third quarter of 2002, will double the company's GUR capacity in North America and replace its existing UHMWPE plant in Bayport, Texas. When the new plant is complete Ticona's GUR capacity will be about 60,000 tonnes.

Naphtha cracking expansion

May 28, 2001 - Fina Antwerp Olefins is to expand and upgrade its naphtha steam cracking capacity at its Antwerp site in Belgium. FAO is a joint venture between Atofina (65 per cent) and ExxonMobil (35 per cent). The project should be completed by the end of 2002 and will increase ethylene capacity to around 1·4 million tonnes, with an associated increase in other products like propylene and higher olefins.

Bohlin makes more room for rheometer production

May 28, 2001 - Following its acquisition of the Rosand product lines Bohlin Instruments has expanded its Cirencester facilities by around 25 per cent to just under 20,000 sq ft. This provides expanded production capacity for the company's Rosand capillary lines and Bohlin rotational rheometers. The applications testing laboratory has also been expanded to cover the company's current rheology test equipment range.

Focus on flexo

May 28, 2001 - Film and paper converting equipment specialist CFM of Newbury has set up a division to specialise in flexo printing. The company represents three printing equipment suppliers - Vigitek, which makes equipment for 100 per cent colour inspection of webs; Harper Corporation, which makes anilox rolls; and doctor blade specialist Swedev. A technical seminar is planned for September at which the three principals will be speaking. Information.

Milacron wins patent dispute with SIG

May 28, 2001 - SIG Plastics has given up its attempt to cross-sue Milacron over the use of personal computers to control plastics machinery, and has agreed to take a licence. SIG is the latest company to be sued by Milacron for infringing its 1991 US Patent 5,062,052. Predecessors were Husky and Ube.
     SIG initially rebutted Milacron's claim with its own prior art claim and filed a law suit accordingly. Now the two companies have come to undisclosed licence terms.

Composites suppliers combine vacuum consumables

May 28, 2001 - SP Systems, the Isle of Wight-based supplier of composites materials, has sold its vacuum consumables business to the Airtech Advanced Materials Group, and signed a deal switching supply of vacuum consumables to its large customers to Airtech. In addition, SP is now stocking Airtech consumables instead of its own for supply to other customers. The Airtech Group consists of Airtech International (USA), Tygavac Advanced Materials (UK) and Airtech Europe.

Pay more for PS, says Atofina

May 16, 2001 - Atofina is to increase its polystyrene price by Eur 200/tonne in two stages, with the first on June 1 and the second Eur 100 increase on July 1. The company says that several months of price erosion have left margins at a level that is no longer economically sustainable.
     Coupled with the increase the company is also reducing production at its Gonfreville and Carling sites in France, and is postponing to the fourth quarter the start up of a new 60,000 tonnes line at Carling.
     At the end of last month BASF cut back production by around 20 per cent for plant optimisation work.

Schmalbach profits up for the fifth time in succession

May 16, 2001 - Higher prices for PET made more lustrous an overall turnover increase for Schmalbach-Lubeca last year of 23 per cent. The company's PET product group increased its share of group sales to 48 per cent from 43 per cent in 1999 as all the company's operations increased their sales volumes. But as chairman Hanno Fiedler commented: 'The strong growth in turnover is attributable in no small measure to higher PET resin prices and the increased value of the US dollar and British pound against the Euro.' That said, Schmalbach increased earnings 10 per cent to Eur 376 million, the fifth increase in a row.

Univation/Borealis remove polyolefin patent hurdles

May 11, 2001 - Univation Technologies (an ExxonMobil/Dow Chemical polyolefin technology licensing joint venture) and Borealis have cleared some of the legal clutter away from polyolefin development.
     They have signed agreements granting each other some patent rights related to single site catalysts as they apply to their respective PE manufacturing process technologies. There is no exchange of know how or technology.

GE puts a name to the shape

May 11, 2001 - General Electric has named the business unit formed last year through its acquisitions of Cadillac Plastics and Commercial Plastics & Supply Corp. It becomes GE Polymershapes with headquarters at Huntersville in North Carolina, USA.
     The company has branches across the US, Canada and Mexico with other locations in Europe, Latin America and the Pacific Rim. All its sites are listed on www.gepolymershapes.com including speciality shops for fabrication and film conversion.

Basell slims PP down to EC requirements

May 9, 2001 - Basell has now met its obligation to the European Commission to cut its polypropylene capacity with the third sale of plant this year. It is to sell Basell Polypropylene in the Netherlands to PVC and nylon fibres producer DOMO of Belgium. Last week it sold its plant at Lillebonne in France to ExxonMobil Chemical.
     The EC required Basell to divest polypropylene polymer plants with a capacity of at least 600,000 tonnes and PP compound plants with a capacity to produce at least 130,000 tonnes as a condition of the merger between the polyolefin operations of BASF and Shell which brought it into being.
     DOMO will acquire the 180,000 tonnes plant at Rozenburg, commissioned in 1979, for an undisclosed sum and expects to take over the site's activities on June 1. The company's main activities are in the floor covering industry, making vinyl structured fibres, tufted and woven wall-to-wall carpets, rugs, mats, tiles, synthetic grass and automotive carpeting. It also produces caprolactam, polymers, organic chemicals, fertilizers, fibres and yarns.

BASF adds new Mexican plant to its SBS expansion programme

May 9, 2001 - BASF is to increase the rate at which it is expanding its Styrolux SBS copolymer business by building a plant at Altamira in Mexico. The plant, which will have an annual capacity of 45,000 tonnes, is scheduled to start producing at the start of 2003 and will supply customers mainly in the NAFTA countries and South America.
     Styrolux has a combination of transparency and impact strength making it suitable for food packaging such as film wrap and drinking cups. BASF says there is above average growth in demand for the material. A few days ago it completed work on expanding its Antwerp plant, increasing capacity from 20,000 to 35,000 tonnes and will add another 30,000 tonnes there next year. This year capacity at Ludwigshafen in Germany is due to be boosted from 15,000 to about 20,000 tonnes.
     The entire investment programme is costing around Eur 75 million.

Sherman Treaters is sold

May 7, 2001 - Corona treatment specialist Sherman Treaters has been bought by Illinois Tool Works (ITW) of the USA.
     Sherman makes adhesion promotion equipment including corona, gas flame and ozone generators and can build equipment for ultra wide webs, cast/blown film, extrusion coating/laminating, printing/converting and the narrow web market. It becomes part of the ITW Static Control and Air Products group which consists of the SIMCO worldwide group of companies, Herbert Static Control, Pillar Technologies, ITW Vortec, Electro Static Technology, Chapman Static Control and Eltex Elektrostatik.

Solvay expands Ixef

May 7, 2001 - Solvay Advanced Polymers Deutschland has started up continuous operation of a new line for polyarylamide at its Rheinberg plant. This increases total polymerisation capacity to 6,000 tonnes.
     Polyarylamide is the base polymer of the Ixef product line, which is mainly produced at Solvay's facilities in Oudenaarde, Belgium.
     A further increase in compounding capacity will be completed mid-year.

Italian hot runner maker targets the UK

May 7, 2001 - A new company has been set up to sell Italian-made Thermoplay hot runner systems in the UK.
     The range consists of 400 types of nozzle, 80 standard manifold systems, temperature controllers with 1 - 128 zones, flow analysis, special custom-designed projects, bi-injection, multi-materials, sequential injection using pneumatic or hydraulic valves, and systems for gas-filled products.
     Delivery of standard manifolds and nozzles is within two weeks from order date. Four weeks is required for special systems.
     Thermoplay (UK) is at 24 Hemmels, Laindon North, Basildon, Essex, SS15 6ED. Telephone 01268 415805, fax 01268 417324, www.thermoplay.co.uk, thermoplay@thermoplay.co.uk.

Single source for web accessories

May 7, 2001 - A company specialising in reel-related equipment for the web processing industries has opened in Northwich, Cheshire. Webtek offers a full design and manufacturing service across a range of products from web inspection to core restorers. Design, manufacturing, spares and service will be co-ordinated from Automatic Handling Europe's facility in Northwich.
     Included in Webtek's range is the SR100 series of torque-activated chucks; air shafts in either steel or aluminium in either lug or continuous strip configuration for narrow width slitting; and shaft extractors and inserters. The company is also offering a core restoration service.
     Webtek's web inspection system has been available for some time, and can be used to detect many kinds of common defects in webs of film, paper, steel and other products.
     Contact 01594 560040, webtek102@aol.com.

Daicel MD buys the business

May 3, 2001 - The US and European plastics operations of Japan's Daicel Chemical Industries have been bought by a company headed by Daicel's British managing director. They have been taken over by Clayfield Management whose managing director, Keith Carrington, is also managing director of Daicel Polymers in England and president of Daicel Polymer Compounds in the USA. Daicel is Ticona's partner in Polyplastics in the Far East, and has substantial chemicals interests outside plastics. It is currently undergoing a rationalisation to concentrate on its core businesses.
     The operations bought by Clayfield have been renamed PlastxWorld and will form the basis of an engineering plastics compounding business as well as continuing to make and sell the Daicell Cevian (ABS and SAN) and Novalloy (engineering alloys) ranges in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Over the coming months PlastxWorld will introduce its own range of polymers and compounds.
     Immediate plans include the installation of two twin-screw lines at Milton Keynes, and an expansion of the sales force in the USA.
     Clayfield also owns the PolymerMarketPlace.com internet portal and will add a website for PlastxWorld offering on-line data sheets, quotations, colour match requests and order placement.

Basell sheds more PP

May 3, 2001 - Basell has taken a further step in meeting European Union requirements to dispose of 600,000 tonnes of polypropylene capacity and 130,000 tonnes of PP compounding by selling its Lillebonne, France, plant to ExxonMobil Chemical.
     The deal includes a 250,000 tonnes PP polymerisation facility that produces homopolymers and impact copolymers, and a 130,000 tonnes compounding plant. In March Basell sold its Unipol unit at Cologne in Germany to Dow Chemical, cutting its PP capacity by 195,000 tonnes.
     The EU requirement for Basell to slim down its PP assets is part of the approvals procedure for the merger of Shell and BASF's polyolefins businesses in October last year. The Lillebonne plants, together with other investments, will increase ExxonMobil Chemical's global PP capacity to 2·2 million tonnes/year.

Trade bodies band together to 'fight for survival'

May 3, 2001 - The British Plastics Federation has fired a broadside at the government in an attempt to prevent further damage to UK polymer-based industries. It has led six other trade organisations in a seven-point appeal to Industry Minister Stephen Byers to give the British polymer industries 'a fair chance of survival'.
     The six trade organisations joining the BPF in the action are: the Packaging and Industrial Films Association, British Rubber Manufacturers' Association, Flexible Packaging Association, Gauge & Toolmakers Association, Polymer Machinery Manufacturers and Distributors Association, and Northern Ireland Plastics Association. These seven organisations represent 6,000 businesses with annual sales of £20 billion and 300,000 employees.
     They are calling for:

DSM profits - short term rise, long term fall

May 3, 2001 - First quarter sales and profits (up 21 per cent) continued to grow from 2000 Q4 at DSM, but like other companies currently reporting, its profits fell (20 per cent) below the Q1 figure for last year.
     The company's polymers activities provided mixed results. In the Performance Materials Division higher selling prices and volumes pushed up sales (after allowing for Engineering Plastics Products and the compounds business of Composite Resins which were sold during last year, and which otherwise pulled the sales figure down) but operating profit was only marginally ahead of Q1 2000 because of pressure from raw material prices.
     Polymers and Industrial Chemicals (which included polyethylene and polypropylene) saw a 5 per cent sales increase from a mix of higher volumes and prices, but profits were halved because of lower margins, principally from fibre intermediates and petrochemicals.

Management musical chairs at Clariant

May 3, 2001 - Changes are being made in the management structure of Clariant International from June 1. In the Pigments & Additives division Fritz Brenzikofer, head of the Pigments business unit, takes over the Additives business unit. The Pigments business unit will be taken over by Heiner Mehrtens, European head of the Masterbatches division, and his responsibility will be taken by Rudolf Staab, head of the Additives business unit.

Growth in Italian machinery and polymer processing

May 3, 2001 - Italian sales of plastics and rubber machinery were 9 per cent higher in 2000 than in 1999 at Eur 3·7 billion according to figures from Assocomaplast. This growth included both increased home sales and higher exports. Assocomaplast points to a substantial (17 per cent) improvement in the domestic market, as imports also rose - by 20 per cent.

Thermoplastic composite is used in Airbus wings

May 3, 2001 - What is being claimed as the first substitution of large plastic parts for aluminium in the wings of commercial aircraft is under way at Fokker Special Products in the Netherlands, which is building wings for the new Airbus A340-500 and -600 series. Fokker is using a glass fabric composite based on Ticona's Fortron polyphenylene sulphide for the inboard leading edge nose.
     The composite, called Cetex, is a continuous fibre-reinforced thermoplastic using Fortron 0214C1, and made by the Ticona/Kureha joint venture Fortron Industries. Its use reduces the weight of the wing leading edge nose parts by 20 per cent and makes fabrication faster and easier. The material is said to improve impact resistance, and is also resistant to extremes of temperature and chemically aggressive fluids such as hydraulic fluids, fuel and de-icing agents. A further benefit is that the thermoplastic composite can be welded, saving the effort and expense of rivetting.
     Cetex is also in use for other flying components on the Airbus - the flaps and ailerons - and in the keel beam, which is made in France by Aerospatiale.

Biopolymer polyesters come closer at DuPont

May 3, 2001 - DuPont is moving into the next phase of manufacturing polymer materials from biochemical feedstocks. In association with sugar giant Tate & Lyle - which is also a major corn products company - it has built a pilot plant in the USA to produce PDO (1,3 propanediol) through the fermentation of corn sugar. PDO is a key ingredient in the manufacture of DuPont's new '3GT' polyester material Sorona.
     Sorona, like its Shell counterpart Corterra, has been developed for fibre spinning. Like Corterra it has so far been produced with PDO derived from petrochemicals. Shell has a proprietary process for making PDO which undercuts the high cost previously attached to PDO, while DuPont has been sourcing its PDO from a plant operated on its behalf by Degussa in Germany.
     Now DuPont has started up a continuous polymerisation plant for Sorona at Kinston in North Carolina, USA, which has the capability to be switched to corn-based PDO once this becomes a cost-effective source.

Rapid prototyping company sold

May 1, 2001 - Rapid prototyping specialist RIM-Cast of Kettering has changed hands. It has been bought by Midlands businessman Robert Howell from retiring owners Patti and Tony Sands who are remaining as consultants during the transfer.
     RIM-Cast uses cast polyurethanes to make prototype and pre-production tooling, and has latterly developed Immediate Production Tooling as a means of starting production without producing any intermediate tooling.

Losses now but profits soon, says PolyOne

May 1, 2001 - PolyOne lost $21·4 million on revenue of $709·7 million in the first quarter of this year, but expects to be back in profit in Q3. The company, formed by the merger of Geon and M A Hanna, has a continuing cost cutting programme of plant closures, and expects by the end of 2003 to have cut its cost base by $150 million.

Leasing deals for Boy and Biraghi

May 1, 2001 - Spaceminster Group has set up a finance division to offer leasing and lease-purchase deals on Boy and Biraghi injection moulding machines. The package, called First Option, currently includes any fitted ancillary equipment and may be extended to include stand-alone ancillary equipment orders.
     Customers can have a new moulding machine for a down payment equivalent to three months rental. All First Option deals assume an annual usage of 4,000 hours and, based on this figure, the company quotes the example of a Boy 30M which can be obtained for an hourly figure of £1·87.
     Companies signing up to the three-year package also receive three years' full warranty and planned maintenance, and three years' insurance including protection against fire, flood, theft, accidental damage and operator error. After the three-year term the customer can either return the machine, have it replaced, or buy the original machine at a favourable price.