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Rohm and Haas is planning a 55,000 tonnes increase in capacity for acrylic and MBS impact modifiers and acrylic processing aids. Projects have been started at Louisville, USA, Grangemouth in Scotland (which it owns jointly with Kureha Chemicals) and Lauterborg in France.
Wider range of machined components June 29, 1998
PTFE machining specialist Fibracon has extended its range to include machined components from materials such as PEEK and Vespel polyamide. The company has also installed a fully-automated milling machine.
An additional 25,000 sq ft of storage space has been opened at Kestrel Injection Moulders in Plymouth. The former Whitbread brewery next to the factory has been refurbished in a £750,000 programme, and while it is initially to be used as storage, its increased ceiling height may see it housing large injection moulding machines. A further option is the introduction of ancillary processes such as sub-assembly, paint spraying and toolmaking.
Kestrel has 25 moulding machines from 25 - 550 tonnes, 18 of which have been installed in the past three years.
Ampacet shines in the dark and projects masterbatch business June 29, 1998
New photoluminescent masterbatches that are said to overcome most of the limitations that have prevented the widespread use of systems using radioactive elements have been introduced by Ampacet. In addition to being non-radioactive they are non-toxic, and Ampacet is investigating food approvals.
There are four types in the new LUMI range, intended for specific use with PE, PP, PS and PA and other engineering materials. They can be used in any processing application. Ampacet is working to increase global market share of the masterbatch business, and is planning strategic acquisitions, alliances and capacity expansion. It is planning to buy Baron Colour Concentrates in Canada which will give it a significant share of the Canadian market and open doors through Canada's trade agreements with other countries. In South America it is planning a joint venture with an Argentinian company. In Europe it is to expand its Messancy factory in Belgium by the end of this year. And it has filed an application in Thailand to set up a wholly owned manufacturing facility
Ampacet currently has around 180,000 tonnes of capacity and its expansion plans will add another 80,000 tonnes bringing its global share of the masterbatch market to around 17·5 per cent by 2001. The company estimates world masterbatch consumption to be around 1·5 million tonnes with an average growth of 6 per cent per annum. Major sales areas are:
Share
Growth
North America
32 per cent
5·0 per cent
Europe
37 per cent
4·3 per cent
Asia
20 per cent
8·1 per cent
Others
11 per cent
5·5 per cent
By 2001, Ampacet says, the world masterbatch market will be approaching 2 million tonnes. The higher growth rates in Southeast Asia and Latin America will push the level of consumption in the mature markets - North America, Europe and Japan - down from the 76 per cent of 1997 volume to around 73 per cent in 2001.
Using XLPE rotomoulding scrap in injection moulding June 29, 1998
A report from the Association of Rotational Molders in the USA shows how reground cross-linked polyethylene scrap - which it says is available in plenty at low cost from rotational moulders - can be used as a filler in injection moulding.
The study (which used clean scrap from moulders, not post consumer waste) covered the addition of combinations of flake and powder in HDPE and LMDPE injection moulding grades at levels from 15 - 75 per cent. It comments that although crosslinked regrind does not flow easily, the materials were surprisingly easy to process.
Conclusions from the study, which costs $25, included:
Shrinkage
This depended on the base polyethylene and decreased as recycle content increased.
Modulus
In HDPE there was a decrease in tensile modulus but an increase in flexural modulus of almost one-third. In LMDPE there was a significant increase in both tensile and flexural moduli.
Notched Izod
50 per cent regrind flake in HDPE resulted in Izod improvement by 10 - 30 times. In LMDPE there were no breaks.
Elongation
Elongation at yield did not change significantly with regrind in HDPE, but decreased sharply with at least 15 per cent regrind in LMDPE. Ultimate elongation did not change in HDPE, and in LMDPE it decreased slowly with increasing amounts of regrind
French PET blow moulding specialist Sidel has opened an office in Moscow, its first in the Commonwealth of Independent States. Sidel reckons to be the market leader in its field in Russia, with around 40 machines installed making bottles for carbonated beverages, water, oil, vodka and shampoo. The group has also delivered about 15 turnkey packaging lines.
Worldwide Sidel says that its machines make more than one out of every two PET bottles.
Lyondell to buy ARCO June 22, 1998
ARCO Chemical Company, the propylene oxide company owned by Atlantic Richfield in the USA, is to be bought by Lyondell Petrochemical Company. ARCO Chemical has approved a $57·75 per share cash offer from Lyondell, and the sale is expected to go through in the third quarter.
Atlantic Richfield was planning to reduce its stake in ARCO Chemical (it currently holds 82·2 per cent) to 50 per cent with a secondary offering and share buy back deal. This plan has now been abandoned.
Ashland to distribute Dow Corning processing aid masterbatches June 22, 1998
The silicone-based MB Series of injection moulding processing aid masterbatches from Dow Corning is now available in Europe from Ashland Plastics. Benefits claimed for the masterbatches include reduced cycle times, reduced process temperatures, improved surface lubricity, enhanced gloss, and scratch or mar resistance. Ashland will begin distributing them in the UK and Italy, with ultimate distribution across Europe.
The management of Perstorp Plastic Systems, the packaging division of the Swedish Perstorp chemicals group, has bought the company with assistance from investment group Industri Kapital. Perstorp retains 30 per cent.
PPS is focussed on returnable transit packaging and has recently disposed of its wheeled bin business while taking over the Otto group's transit packaging business.
The company has a head office in Perstorp, Sweden, has annual sales of just over £120 million, and employs 1,000 people in 10 countries.
Bigger but leaner ABS production for Bayer June 22, 1998
Bayer is rationalising its ABS production following the purchase of the Monsanto ABS business, and is to add 100,000 tonnes capacity, bringing it up to 850,000 tonnes a year. The company is investing DM 250 million at sites in Germany, Spain, Italy, the USA, Brazil, Thailand and India. Production at Antwerp in Belgium and Muscatine in the USA will be transferred to other locations by 2002.
BASF invests in new technology for PBT and PU precursor June 22, 1998
BASF has bought new process technology for the production of butanediol, which is used mainly in PBT and polyurethane production. It currently has three production plants for butanediol - one of them jointly owned with Idemitsu Petrochemicals - producing 280,000 tonnes a year and has plans to add another 70,000 tonnes in the next two years.
These three plants - in Germany, the USA and Japan - all use acetylene as a feedstock. The new technology uses maleic anhydride (MAH) as a feedstock and is a development of a process developed by Kvaerner in which the MAH is esterified and then hydrogenated to butanediol. BASF will integrate this technology with a gas phase oxidation process to give a fully integrated butane to butanediol process - the intermediate MAH will be converted without any isolation and purification, by esterification and hydrogenation to butanediol.
The MAH esterification process remains under Kvaerner ownership, while BASF will own the integrated process technology.
BASF will open a demonstration plant at Ludwigshafen later this year.
JBL invests in twin screw manufacture June 22, 1998
Screw and barrel specialist JBL FeedScrews has invested £0·5 million at its Verwood, Dorset, plant on a Haas four-axis CNC machining centre and Alpha CNC turning centre, which now enable the company to manufacture twin screws as well as refurbishing them.
Automotive sales chief for Forsheda polymers June 22, 1998
Forsheda Polymer Engineering Group has appointed Jeremy Sykes as sales director for its automotive business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He moves from Chicago where he was vice president in charge of sales for the group's polymer engineering interests. Forsheda's automotive products are primarily elastomeric seals, gaskets, O-rings and diaphragms.
Double blow from Sterling June 22, 1998
A space-saving blow moulding machine which houses two independent machines in a single machine frame has been built by Davis-Standard Blow Molding Systems. The Sterling Double/Double has two extruders, two accumulator heads and two clamp units sharing a common hydraulic system, a single control microprocessor, and one large air system.
Extruder sizes range from 90 - 150 mm, accumulator heads go up to 165 kg, and clamping units are available in various sizes and tonnages.
As well as space-saving, the Double/Double can produce dissimilar parts, or parts in different colours or using different materials with a single operator.
New sales director for Stadium Plastics June 22, 1998
Stadium Group has appointed Peter Good as sales and marketing director for its Plastics Division. He joins from McKechnie Plastics Components where he was also involved in sales and marketing.
Reichhold buys BIP's unsaturated polyester business June 13, 1998
BIP's unsaturated polyester resin business has been bought by Reichhold of the US, already the world's biggest producer of UP resins. Eight months ago it bought Jotun Polymer.
Reichhold has bought BIP's product range and customer portfolio. It has not bought the production facilities. BIP will continue to make Beetle materials for Reichhold until production can be moved to Reichhold's plant in Mitcham, where it plans to invest £2 million and increase staffing.
Part of the deal is that BIP takes over Reichhold's amino coating business in the USA, Mexico and Brazil.
Krupp in Croatian rubber machinery joint venture June 13, 1998
Krupp Elastomertechnik has set up a joint operation with a company in Croatia with which it has had links for many years. It has set up Krupp Belisce Elastomertechnik with the Belisce company, which makes paper processing machinery. The new company, held 60 per cent by Krupp, will build and service machinery for making car tyres and industrial rubber goods. Building in Croatia cuts costs, and the machinery will be sold worldwide.
Boe-Therm is bought as Boe retires June 13, 1998
Danish materials handling company Boe-Therm has been bought by Thermal Care of the USA on the retirement of its founder Jorgen Boe. Thermal Care, which is owned by a publicly-held company MFRI, makes heat transfer equipment, mainly for the home market.
The takeover has meant that Boe-Therm has become a registered company, and Carsten Nielsen, previously sales manager, has been appointed managing director. The company continues to trade with the same staff at the same location in Denmark. UK representation remains with Hi-Class Machinery.
Porvair adds chief executive June 13, 1998
Porvair plc has split the functions of chairman and chief executive. John Morgan remains chairman, and Ben Stocks joins the company as chief executive from Carnaud Metal Box, where he was managing director of its Speciality Packaging Division.
Plastics use in building to keep on growing June 13, 1998
A 60 per cent rise in the use of plastics in building and construction to the year 2010 is predicted by the Association of Plastics Manufacturers in Europe. It has published a report which says that Western European consumption of plastics by this sector will be almost 8 million tonnes in 2010.
Figures for 1995 show that building and construction used 4·89 million tonnes of plastics, representing 20 per cent of all uses and second only to packaging. 60 per cent of this material was used in Germany, France and the UK, distributed as Germany 27 per cent (1·29 million tonnes), France 18 per cent (891,000 tonnes) and the UK 14 per cent (710,000 tonnes).
The report shows that use of plastics for gas, sewerage and water piping has trebled since 1970, to 1,922,000 tonnes, while the growth in insulation leapt from 77,000 tonnes in 1970 to 1,044,000 tonnes in 1995. PVC for windows went up from 12,000 tonnes in 1970 to 600,000 tonnes in 1995.
The report is available free of charge from the APME.
French automotive plastics supplier to build UK plant June 11, 1998
A French automotive moulder is building a plant in Birmingham. MGI Coutier has started construction of a 5,500 sq m factory for its new subsidiary MGI Coutier UK Ltd at the Midpoint Park in Birmingham. It is due to begin operations in January 1999, and will have potential for expansion up to 7,525 sq m.
Total investment in the project is £8·5 million, and the plant will employ 200 people.
MGI Coutier was formed in 1988 from the merger of several automotive plastics suppliers, and has 11 plants in France and 10 more worldwide. The UK factory will complete the company's European organisation and initially will supply engine components, mainly for the continental market and for Ford, BMW and Rover in the UK. The company's engine component range includes air intake manifolds, throttle bodies, filters and pipes.
UBE links with Hanna in nylon joint venture June 8 1998
Japanese nylon producer UBE Industries is expanding its worldwide outlets through a series of 50:50 joint ventures with US compounder and colour specialist M A Hanna. The two companies have already set up UBE-Hanna Compounding Company in the USA and plan to set up similar companies in Europe and China.
Their intention is to sell nylon 6 and 6/6 compounds to Japanese companies in North America and Europe, and nylon 12 to a wider range of markets including automotive, consumer and industrial products. The Chinese operation will sell nylon compounds across a range of industries.
Higher performance claimed for new PE 100 pipe grade HDPE June 5, 1998
A new series of PE 100 grade HDPE for pressure pipes introduced by Fina Chemicals is described as 'the first polyethylene resins to successfully combine bimodal polymerisation technology with hexene comonomer on an industrial scale'. The first product in this Xsene family, Finathene XS10, is said to have 'remarkable resistance to slow crack propagation' allowing the use of higher gas pressures than conventional PE 100 products. The material also exhibits low notch sensitivity, which Fina says makes it suitable for pipe relining, where it can be fed through existing concrete, clay or metal piping without consequential damage. Melt strength is said to be higher than for other PE 100 products, making it less prone to sag during extrusion.
Its viscoelestic behaviour also makes it suitable for injection moulding.
DSM revamps overseas sales June 5, 1998
DSM is restructuring its export sales offices. It has set up a company called DSM Sales International to handle sales of thermoplastic polymers and synthetic resins in countries where it has no sales office of its own. This organisation will also handle sales of synthetic resins (structural resins and coating resins) in the Benelux countries.
Rotomoulding chairman June 5, 1998
The new chairman of the British Plastics Federation's Rotational Moulding Group is Shaun Champion, a senior manager with Linpac Rotational Mouldings.
Davis-Standard buys Betol June 2, 1998
The latest extrusion machinery manufacturer to be taken over by America's Davis-Standard is Betol Machinery. D-S has bought the trade 'and certain assets' of Betol from the EIS Group for £3·65 million. The assets include Betol's Luton factory. Also included in the deal are Betol's associated businesses of Kabel Teknik, Floataire and Manumold.
A statement from Davis-Standard said: 'Betol enhances Davis-Standard's European plastic pipe, profile and tubing extrusion market with sales, customer service, and a manufacturing facility in the United Kingdom.' Just how Betol will relate to Davis-Standard's existing small extrusion line manufacturer Killion has yet to be established. According to Alan Rutherford, who remains managing director under the new ownership, the two companies will work side-by-side. The acquisition of the Luton plant gives Davis-Standard additional European production capacity, with special knowledge of building small extrusion lines, which could enable a more global manufacturing strategy.
The inclusion of the Manumold injection moulding machinery range in the package would appear to put a cuckoo in Davis-Standard's strongly extrusion-centred nest, but the company is understood to have recognised the special purpose nature of the machines and their role in, for instance, connector moulding in medical tube packages so disposal seems unlikely.
The Betol sale slims down even further the polymer machinery interests of the EIS Group - itself in takeover talks following the friendly bid of £317 million by the TI Group on May 19. Last year it restructured the Francis Shaw extruder business and sold the rubber product line, the largest slice, to Farrel. The plastics extruder sector was incorporated into Betol, and so has now been acquired by Davis-Standard. The third business sector, cable machinery, became Northampton Cable Equipment and remains part of EIS alongside Barwell Machinery and Prism.
Central adds new Negri Bossi June 2, 1998
Central Mouldings has bought a 250 tonne Negri Bossi injection moulding machine, bringing to seven the new machines installed over the past 12 months by Central Mouldings and its sister company Yorkshire Precision Mouldings.
CAMPUS participants pass 50 June 2, 1998
The number of plastics producers using the CAMPUS database standard has now passed the 50 mark. The latest participants include GE Plastics, Amoco Chemical and Radici Novacips - none of whom yet have data available on disc. Several more companies are planning to join in time for K'98.
Magna buys from K-M June 2, 1998
Tri/Mark Europe subsidiary Magna Mouldings has bought two Krauss-Maffei C-Range injection moulding machines to make low volume components for off-road vehicles.
Wipac expands Carclo's CTP Division June 2, 1998
Carclo Engineering Group has bought the Wipac automotive communications and lighting equipment business from Wolseley plc for £2·3 million. It will fit into Carclo's CTP Division automotive component sector, which also includes CTP Davall and CTP Gills Cables, and will be renamed CTP Wipac.
Wipac had sales of £15·8 million in the year to July 1997, and brings annual CTP divisional sales up to £90 million.
During last year Carclo sold, or considered selling, businesses in steel and wire to concentrate on technical plastics and specialist wire products. In March last year it bought the EIS Group's Technical Moulding Division - Silleck and Davall. The CTP Division was created within Carclo in November last year, combining Silleck and Davall with White Knight Products, Plasro and Gills Cables.
Montell goes solo in Seoul June 2, 1998
Montell is buying out its partner in its Korean joint venture. It is to take over the 50 per cent in Yukong Montell held by SK Corporation, formerly Yukong Ltd, and the company will become Montell Korea. The company supplies polyolefins for engineering applications, particularly in the automotive market for components such as bumpers, doors and instrument panels.
Nokia now Nextrom June 2, 1998
Swiss extrusion specialist Nokia-Maillefer has been reorganised into three global business groups and renamed Nextrom Technologies. The three groups are Telecom, Energy and Plastics, and all produce turnkey plants for wire and cable (Telecom and Energy) and pipe, profile and sheet (Plastics) as well as single components for extrusion lines.
Australian polyethylene producer Orica - formerly ICI Australia - is to link up with the Exxon/Mobil joint venture in Australia, Kemcor. The aim is to create an Australian polyolefins group to compete with world scale imports in the Asia Pacific region.
LIG sees double digit growth rates June 2, 1998
Core product sales, profits and investment were all up in double digit figures at London International Group for the year ended March 31. Condom sales rose 10·1 per cent, surgical gloves 17·5 per cent and industrial gloves 16·3 per cent. Overall sales were up 6·2 per cent at £344·8 million, after eliminating the effects of acquisitions, brand disposals and harmonising currency exchange rates.
The group's operating profit rose 12·3 per cent to £46·7 million, while the pre-tax profit went up 14·6 per cent to £40·8 million.
LIG spent 22·1 per cent more on research and development, 16·9 per cent more on marketing and 35·3 per cent more on capital expenditure.
Against all this upward movement was the examination gloves business in which LIG has been making major product changes. In January it stopped making powder-coated products and is converting its machinery to make premium, coated powder-free gloves, with a new dipping line for Biogel coated examination gloves and surgical gloves being completed in March. The new gloves are to go on sale at the end of this year in the USA and Europe. Cessation of own-label manufacture also reduced sales, which fell 27·9 per cent to £16·5 million.
LIG has also announced the closure of one of its condom factories to improve the utilisation of its global capacity. Production from the Casalecchio site in Italy, which is the group's oldest, smallest and most expensive plant, is to be transferred to other sites in Spain, the USA and Asia.
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Ampacet is working to increase global market share of the masterbatch business, and is planning strategic acquisitions, alliances and capacity expansion. It is planning to buy Baron Colour Concentrates in Canada which will give it a significant share of the Canadian market and open doors through Canada's trade agreements with other countries. In South America it is planning a joint venture with an Argentinian company. In Europe it is to expand its Messancy factory in Belgium by the end of this year. And it has filed an application in Thailand to set up a wholly owned manufacturing facility