Milacron plays hard ball over computer control

July 31, 2001 - Milacron has stepped up a gear with the protection of its patent on using personal computers to control plastics processing machinery. After well-publicised actions against Husky, Ube and SIG - all of which it won - it has now taken on all importers of plastics machinery to the USA through the International Trade Commission.
     The company has filed a complaint with the ITC requesting exclusion orders barring US imports of plastics moulding equipment and components that infringe its patent. Specifically it is seeking redress against Boy, Sandretto, Sidel and SIPA and is also asking for a general exclusion order to halt importation of infringing products by all manufacturers. Milacron says the request for ITC action follows unsuccessful good-faith attempts to negotiate settlements directly with the companies cited.

More investment and major web-enabled contract for Metflex

July 31, 2001 - Rubber moulder Metflex has invested in another Maplan injection moulding machine - this time a vertical - in an investment which, including machinery and environmental changes to the factory, is around £100,000.
     Metflex has recently spent more than £550,000 in upgrading facilities at its Great Harwood, Blackburn, plant.
     The company has also recently secured a contract worth up to £1 million over the next three years to supply components for use in power transmission. The deal, with Renold Hi-Tec Couplings of Halifax, was through Metflex's web site and is believed to be one of the largest contracts sourced via the web in the UK.

Clextral bought by investment group

July 31, 2001 - French compounding extruder manufacturer Clextral has been sold by Framatome Group in a leveraged management buy out. Framatome is focusing on its core businesses of nuclear technology and connectors. The takeover group backing the management team includes Union d'Investissement (UI), the capital investment bank of Credit Agricole; ATRIA Capital Partenaires; and GIMECA, the capital investment bank of the French federation of the mechanical industry.

Wellington invests $1 million in US seals plant

July 31, 2001 - Wellington Holdings has completed a $1 million investment at its CDI Seals plant in Texas, USA to meet rising demand from the oil, gas and chemical industries in the USA. The factory expansion includes an integrated production cell for the manufacture of composite seals incorporating elastomeric, plastic and metal elements. Wellington bought CDI in 1998 as part of its restructuring from a general rubber processor and compounder into a seals specialist.

DuPont plans second Kevlar expansion...

July 31, 2001 - Technology developed and patented in Europe is to be adopted by DuPont in an expansion of its aramid fibre production in the USA. DuPont has recently completed a 15 per cent expansion of worldwide Kevlar output, and is now planning a second phase expansion costing $50 million to bring a new line on stream by the end of 2002. The company says that demand for its high strength para-aramid fibres has exceeded global manufacturing capability.
     Kevlar is made in Northern Ireland, Japan and the United States, and technology that has been in use in Europe for the past three years is to be applied at the Richmond plant in the USA.

...while BP sells out of carbon fibre

July 31, 2001 - BP is planning to sell its carbon fibre business to Cytec Industries, which will operate it as part of Cytec Fiberite. BP acquired the CF operations in southern USA as part of its merger with Amoco in 1998, and put them up for sale as part of its strategy to focus on its core oil, gas and petrochemicals business.

Profits swing at Solvay

July 31, 2001 - The asset swap and joint venture between BP and Solvay will be signed soon, and this could not be soon enough for Solvay's plastics operations, whose fortunes swung violently in the first half of this year. Against a group performance of an 18 per cent profits drop year on year, and a 17 per cent profits increase from the second half of 2000, Solvay's plastics sector (excluding polypropylene) dropped profits by 74 per cent on the first half last year and increased them 50 per cent over the second half.
     The polypropylene figures have been excluded because PP is being exchanged for BP's specialty polymer business, and the addition of products such as Udel and Radel sulphone polymers, Amodel polyphthalamide, Xydar liquid crystal polymer, Torlon polyamide-imide and Kadel polyketone to Solvay's specialty business is expected to increase Solvay's sales in this sector by 50 per cent and at Eur 900 million, represent some 30 per cent of the company's plastics sales this year.
     In commodities Solvay saw its margins on PVC fall substantially because of the overall market slowdown, and profits on HDPE were severely affected by lower selling prices in the USA.
     The weak American market also hit Solvay's processing sector, especially the automotive fuel systems business, although this was also diluted by the formation of Inergy Automotive Systems last year.

Healthy growth in German plastics machinery

July 31, 2001 - Germany's plastics machinery makers enjoyed record business last year, and while a downturn is expected for this year, orders received in 2000 will cushion the blow. Figures from their trade association the VDMA show that output of primary processing machinery increased 14·8 per cent over 1999 to Eur 3,925 million (4th quarter estimated). 1999 actually saw a decline on the previous year, but the 2000 turnover is put at 7 per cent above 1998's record figures.
     Injection moulding machine output reached a new record at Eur 999 million, up 11·6 per cent, while extruder production, which had been depressed in previous years due to a slow down in the building industry, increased 13 per cent to Eur 721 million. Blow moulding machine production has been more or less static at around Eur 227 million for the past three years.

Innovation call for plastics recycling

July 31, 2001 - Million of pounds of new funding for plastics recycling are being made available this year from the British government, the EU and other sources, and plastics recycling body Recoup is urging plastics recyclers to develop plans for using it. Recoup chief executive Andrew Simmons told the association's annual meeting that greater volumes of plastics packaging will be recycled, but that they will come from increasingly challenging sources. 'Over two thirds of plastic packaging waste is in the domestic waste stream. We must prove to local government that plastics should form a key part of their investments in recycling programmes. More plastics streams will be competing for reprocessing capacity as producer responsibility regulations are extended to other waste streams. We must develop robust relationships between suppliers and recyclers of used plastics, and the markets for recyclate.'
     In this coming year Recoup is planning to set up a nationwide plastics recycling promotion and training project; launch at least one new grant-financed and innovative collection scheme; and launch at least two non-bottle plastics packaging projects.

PVC compounder targets Britain

July 31, 2001 - Independent PVC compounder Begra Granulate of Germany has set up a British subsidiary. Begra says it is Europe's largest non-integrated PVC compounder with sales of 120,000 tonnes/year of rigid and flexible compounds and dry blends. UK sales were previously handled by Longfield Chemicals, but now Begra has appointed Nick Carroll, previously with Longfield, as sales manager to sell direct into the window profile and hose businesses. Contact: 01477 549461 (e-mail).

Far East polyester film growth

July 31, 2001 - DuPont Teijin Films has increased polyester film capacity in the Far East through its Chinese joint venture. DuPont-Hongji Films Foshan Co has opened a 10,000 tonnes production plant at Ningbo, bringing its capacity to 32,000 tonnes and confirming its position as the largest supplier of polyester films in China. There are plans to increase capacity further to 50,000 tonnes.

Netstal sold again

July 10, 2001 - Only two days after its sale by Siemens as part of the Mannesmann Plastics Machinery Group, Netstal has been sold on. It has been bought by EMESTA-Holding, a company owned by Swiss entrepreneur and politician Christoph Blocher, who also owns plastics manufacturer Ems Chemie.
     Christoph Blocher has, for some months, been expressing interest in buying Netstal, and this interest has been fortuitous for Netstal's previous two-day owner, who saw Netstal as problematic in its newly acquired basket of plastics machinery companies.
     The Mannesmann Plastics Machinery Group was bought on July 6 by MPM Holding of Munich, a company set up for the purpose by investment group Apax Partners. Apax expressed an intention 'to expand the market position of the MPM Group in the international injection moulding and extrusion business', but saw Netstal as different from its other new companies. Firstly, it was Swiss and secondly, it was in effect a public company. Apax has a target of floating MPM Holding in three to five years, and the existence of an already public company in the group would have caused problems.
     The fact that Netstal is a Swiss-based company brings its own set of problems - as, indeed, Krauss-Maffei found when it bought the company. Dr Renate Kruemmer in Apax's Munich office was hesitant to use the word 'pressure' but could not find an alternative to describe the Swiss public and governmental interest in making Netstal Swiss owned again - and paying taxes in the small canton of Glarus. She said that 'it would not be easy for Apax to own Netstal'.
     There has been speculation that the MPM Group would be broken up by whoever bought it, but Apax is planning the reverse. It plans to buy more plastics machinery companies to expand the group prior to flotation. Disposing of Netstal is seen as easing expansion. There has also been conjecture about the future of French-based Billion, a rather small fish in the pond and in some ways like Netstal, a company in a strongly nationalistic market place. But, according to Dr Kruemmer, Billion is the door to the French market and 'it would be a strategic mistake to sell Billion'.

Growth in Irish injection moulding

July 10, 2001 - The latest regional injection moulding report from Applied Market Information highlights the industry in the Republic of Ireland. According to the fourth edition of AMI's Guide to the Injection Moulding Industry in Ireland injection moulding absorbs about 25 per cent of Ireland's polymer consumption, accounting for more than 62,000 tonnes in 2000.
     Over the past five years injection moulding has averaged a 2·4 per cent growth, and a similar growth rate is predicted for the next five years, taking the market up to 70,000 tonnes by 2005.
     The guide costs £125 in paperback and £250 on CD. Contact.
      AMI has set up a venture in the USA by taking over the business of its long term American partner PenResearch. Initial services will be based on the compounding and concentrates studies developed between AMI and PenResearch, but eventually AMI plans to replicate its full European operation in North America.

Automotive automation investment

July 10, 2001 - Stroud-based Tier 1 automotive supplier Automold UK is to spend £1·2 million on seven moulding automation cells, four for installation in Germany and three in the UK. The new cells, to be supplied by Wittmann (UK) will make parts for the new Jaguar and Ford Fiesta models, including front-end modules, partition walls, cowlings and other components. The cells will be based on Wittmann model 670, 660 and 650 robots and will incorporate vision systems, hand-over stations, degating systems, cooling conveyors and other peripheral equipment.

Die making merger

July 10, 2001 - Extrusion die makers Battenfeld Schwarz Extrusionswerkzeuge of Germany and Greiner Extrusionstechnik of Austria are to merge their profile die making interests as Schwarz Extrusionswerkzege. Greiner holds 51 per cent of the new company, Battenfeld's parent SMS holds the balance.

Mannesmann Plastics Machinery buyer named

July 9, 2001 - The two-horse race to buy Mannesmann Plastics Machinery Group has been won by the private equity group advised by London-based Apax Partners. Another private equity group Investcorp was also in contention.
     MPM was put up for sale in November last year as an eventual consequence of the Vodafone takeover of Mannesmann and the disposal of Mannesmann's non-telecommunications businesses. The engineering businesses were initially packaged in a holding company, Atecs, for resale, and were bought as a group by a joint venture between Siemens and Bosch early in 2000.
     The takeover partners divided the businesses between those that would be kept by the individual partners, and those that would be divested. A group of businesses was combined in a further holding subsidiary, Mannesmann Demag Krauss-Maffei, initially owned jointly by Siemens and Bosch but subsequently owned solely by Siemens. Included in MDKM were the six plastics machinery businesses which were quickly designated as a divestment package by Siemens.
     One of the conditions set by Siemens was that MPM should be sold as a group, and not sold off piecemeal. This immediately flavoured the nature of any takeover, in that it was unlikely that an existing company in plastics machinery would have either the resources, or the desire to buy such an indigestible lump. SMS - which owns Battenfeld - was at one time interested, but dropped out, leaving the field open to the more likely contenders among international investment companies. The price paid by Apax is not being revealed, but is being estimated at around Eur 800 million, which would put the sale among the top 10 buy outs in Germany since the beginning of 2000.
     Apax, MPM's third owner in 18 months, currently has Eur 12  billion under management or advice around the world with 330 companies in its portfolio and has expressed an intention 'to expand the market position of the MPM Group in the international injection moulding and extrusion business'.
     MPM is primarily an injection moulding grouping, incorporating Demag Ergotech and Krauss-Maffei in Germany, Netstal in Switzerland, Billion in France and Van Dorn Demag in the USA. Other machinery interests are the extrusion and polyurethane machinery operations in Krauss-Maffei, and the compounding equipment business of Berstorff, also in Germany. Between them these companies employ 7,000 people worldwide, and last year turned over Eur 1·4 billion, with pre-tax profits of more than Eur 100 million, according to German press reports.
     The takeover must yet be approved by the regulatory authorities.

Now EC to probe Tetra Pak/Sidel takeover

July 9, 2001 - A full depth investigation into the proposed takeover of Sidel by Tetra Laval is to be conducted by the European Commission. The bid was announced in March, and is intended to boost Tetra Laval's packaging equipment operations, one of the three legs on which the Dutch-based group is being restructured.
     The Commission's initial review has shown that the merger may lead to the creation or strengthening of a dominant position in the market for liquid food packaging equipment. Tetra Laval is the world leader in carton packaging, but has a more limited role in plastics. It is the effect of the addition of Sidel's market leading PET bottle equipment businesses on the liquid food packaging sector and, in particular, the extent to which plastic packaging may compete with cartons, that concerns the Commission.
     Moving to a phase II investigation adds four months to the Commission's assessment. Both Tetra Laval and Sidel expressed disappointment that the takeover had not been cleared in phase I, and Tetra Laval chairman Goran Grosskopf commented 'despite Sidel's many strengths, the time scale of a phase II enquiry might create unnecessary uncertainty within the company'.

Epiq buys Scottish computer component moulder

July 9, 2001 - Computer sub-assembly manufacturer Turnkey Plastics of Dumbarton has been bought by Epiq International. Epiq is a systems supplier to the automotive, household, personal communication and industrial sectors, and has plants in Belgium, France, Germany, the UK, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Mexico and China. Turnkey Plastics has injection moulding, painting and assembly facilities, and under its new ownership expects to acquire other manufacturing operations. The company is to be renamed Epiq UK.

Plastics machinery under the hammer on the internet

July 9, 2001 - What is claimed as the largest on-line auction of used plastics machinery in Europe is under way at GoIndustry. More than £2·5 million worth of machinery from 20 European companies is for sale, with a closing date of July 25. Equipment on offer includes injection moulding and blow moulding machines, extrusion lines, compression presses and printing machines built between 1985 and 2001. The auction catalogue can be downloaded from the Premier Sales page.

New Vita lab puts employees on-line

July 9, 2001 - Vita Thermoplastic Polymers has opened a quality management laboratory at its Middleton, Manchester, plant. As well as its role in quality assurance, the laboratory will play a part in employee training, and to that end Vita has installed computer equipment with internet access for use by all staff in their free time.

Ciba links with Microban

July 9, 2001 - Ciba Specialty Chemicals has borrowed the Microban built-in antimicrobial products brand name to enhance its global marketing in this area. The company has linked with Microban International to offer a range of antimicrobial products for use in plastics using the Microban name.

GE/Honeywell - the last word?

July 4, 2001 - What more is there to say about the GE/Honeywell merger debacle? It is now being recognised by all parties as dead - GE and Honeywell failed to agree at the 11th hour how to appease the EC, and the EC killed it.
     If anything, it will go down in history as a monument to inflexibility. The EC was unable to accept a formula 'that would have removed all competitive concern' (note the word 'all') while GE was not prepared to consider Honeywell's shareholder sacrifice to accept a fomula approved by the Commission. Honeywell was prepared to move the most for compromise, and coincidental (?) with the deal's demise chief executive Michael Bonsignore has announced his immediate retirement. Hardly a planned move, many may think, given that he is being succeeded by Lawrence Bossidy, chairman and CEO of AlliedSignal, then chairman of Honeywell, but at the age of 66, enjoying his retirement.
     As we have said before, this has been all about aeroplanes. But underneath have been many other potentially beneficial synergies between the two companies, of which the addition of Honeywell's substantial nylon business to the notably nylon-deficient (in manufacturing) GE Plastics portfolio is but one that affects the polymer business.

New format for BASF

July 4, 2001 - Following its forecast of reduced profits and plans to close a number of operations, BASF has implemented a reorganisation expected to save Eur 400 million/year.
     The new structure comprises 10 Global Business Units (seven based on product lines and three on industry sectors); 38 Regional Business Units (18 in Europe, nine in Asia and 11 in the NAFTA region); and eight Centres of Competence.
     In addition the operating divisions have been redrawn as: Chemicals (inorganics, petrochemicals, intermediates); Plastics and Fibres (styrenics, performance polymers, polyurethanes); Performance Products (performance chemicals, coatings, functional polymers); Agricultural Products & Nutrition (fine chemicals, agricultural products); and Oil & Gas.
     And geographically BASF has reorganised itself in Europe and Asia as: Europe I (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom); Europe II (Algeria, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Lichtenstein, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia); South East Asia (Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Phillipines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand) and East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan).

Cold nitrogen cuts gas injection cycle times

July 4, 2001 - The University of Warwick's Manufacturing Group has found a compromise between the lightweighting of plastic mouldings by gas injection and the faster cycling through water injection. It has developed a super-cooling gas process said to cut moulding time by 40 per cent.
     The 'Kool Gas' process uses a cryogenic heat exchanger to cool the high pressure nitrogen to temperatures as low as -150 degC before it is injected into the part. Kool Gas allows parts to cool and form 40 per cent faster than by normal methods.
     No detrimental effect has been seen in the moulded product - researchers say that, in fact, hollow components produced by this process achieved a more controllable wall thickness.
     E-mail contact.

Magnets attract

July 4, 2001 - Eriez Magnetics Europe has bought the Boxmag-Rapid brand of industrial magnetic separation equipment. Boxmag-Rapid has changed its name to Antar Equipment and will continue to manufacture Boxmag-Rapid brands for Eriez for the remainder of this year.

Swanton retires from Billion

July 4, 2001 - Colin Swanton has retired from Billion UK and has been succeeded as managing director by technical director Peter Kirkham.

Far East jewel in ExxonMobil's crown

July 4, 2001 - ExxonMobil Chemical has officially switched on its Singapore Chemical Plant on Jurong Island. Chemicals production is integrated with ExxonMobil's refinery in Singapore and has four plants designed to deliver a wide range of petrochemical products. At its heart is an 800,000 tonnes steam cracker which produces ethylene, propylene and other products for several downstream chemical plants in and around Singapore. The facility also has a 480,000 tonnes polyethylene plant, the largest single reactor plant of its type in the world, a 315,000 tonnes polypropylene plant, a 150,000 tonnes oxo alcohol plant and a 155 MW cogeneration unit that provides power to both the refinery and the chemical plant.

GE combines function with appearance

July 4, 2001 - GE Plastics has introduced a family of aliphatic polyester/polycarbonate alloys for special effects applications. The new Xylex series is intended to combine ductility and chemical resistance with transparency or the incorporation of special effects additives. Additional performance characteristics are weatherability and high flow.
     Xylex is basically transparent and is available in GE Plastics' Visualfx Light Diffusion special effect. Other Visualfx products for Xylex are in development and will be available soon.
     There are currently five commercial grades and other grades will soon be available for sampling, including the Xylex W3 grades which are being designed to offer weathering performance combined with gloss and colour retention in opaque applications.