Chinese JV gives DuPont acetal copolymer

March 27, 2002 - DuPont is to take a 50 per cent stake in a joint venture acetal plant in China. DuPont China Holding Co and Asahi Kasei Corporation are to set up a production and marketing operation with an initial production capacity of 20,000 tonnes with successive increases up to 60,000 tonnes. The facility will be located in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province and is scheduled to start up by spring 2004. In the same year Ticona, Polyplastics and Mitsubishi Gas Chemical will also have a 60,000 tonnes acetal plant starting up in Jiangsu.
     Current demand for acetal in China is estimated at more than 100,000 tonnes and it is anticipated that this will continue to grow and that China will be the world's fastest-growing POM market.
     The new plant will produce acetal copolymer which both partners will also sell outside China. This will give DuPont a complementary material to its Delrin homopolymer.
     DuPont

SMS feels the pinch from both ends

March 27, 2002 - A double decline its principal markets pushed down SMS Plastics Technology machine sales last year. Managing director Helmut Eschwey commented: 'In previous economic cycles the combined portfolio of injection moulding and extrusion businesses has usually proven a reliable concept for compensating risk. This is the first time that both divisions have been equally affected by the economic downturn.'
     In 2001 machine sales were split 65 per cent extrusion and 35 per cent injection moulding. New orders dropped from Eur 553 million in 2000 to Eur 454 million in 2001, and sales declined from Eur 622 million to Eur 505 million.
     The decline in the US market hit the company in 2001, leaving China as the only market showing significant growth. Cincinnati Extrusion delivered 49 extrusion lines to China out of its total production of more than 300, pushing up turnover by 12 per cent over the previous year.
     SMS Plastics Technology

Wellington hangs on to profitability

March 27, 2002 - Born-again seals producer Wellington Holdings, which in recent years has cast off the less profitable trappngs of rubber compounding and processing, pushed its operating profit up 10 per cent last year, hanging on to a 14 per cent margin.
     Turnover was up 8 per cent on 2000 at £33·13 million yielding a 10 per cent higher record operating profit of £4·70 million and 13 per cent higher pre-tax profit of £3·74 million.
     Wellington Holdings

China plans growth in PET exports

March 27, 2002 - China is building a PET industry way beyond its needs and next year will have a surplus of 1 million tonnes, according to a new report from PCI (PET Packaging, Resin and Recycling).
     The report says that China will soon have an industry with a capacity of 1·7 million tonnes - as much as that of Western Europe. PCI says the Chinese industry is focusing on export markets in the rest of Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East [is there anywhere else?]. Many of the new plants are built in the coastal regions so are well positioned for export. The new producers should be able to offer competitive prices for product delivered to overseas markets, in many of which China enjoys preferential duty status.
     PCI

Top changes at Valpak

March 27, 2002 - Chief executive John Turner is leaving the Valpak packaging recycling compliance scheme. He became CEO in 1997 for two years, and has stayed for nearly five.
     Jonson Cox joins Valpak as chief executive on April 2. He has a background in the environmental and utility sectors and was chief operating officer of Railtrack for a year from September 2000.
     Steve Gough has been appointed Valpak's director of operations. He replaces Graeme Carus and was previously Valpak's IT director.
     Valpak

Test equipment maker Wallace is bought

March 27, 2002 - Hartest Holdings - which owns Sheen Instruments - has bought test quipment manufacturer H W Wallace & Co for £113,000.
     In the year to October 31, 2001 Wallace had a turnover of £1·1 million and finished the year with assets of around £63,000.

Liquid colour takeover

March 27, 2002 - Liquid colorant specialist ColorMatrix has bought the liquid colour business of Metacol and is merging it into ColorMatrix Europe.

IoM in merger

March 27, 2002 - The Institute of Materials and Institution of Mining and Metallurgy are merging to form a new Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. The new institute will have a membership of 24,000, of which 6,000 reside outside the UK.

New specialist GRP moulding company

March 27, 2002 - EPS Logistics Technology of Sittingbourne in Kent has started up a division specialising in the production of GRP and other plastics structures and components.
     The company has experience of moulding components and products for customers in the marine, aerospace, defence, motor vehicle, building and other industries. It is now offering a manufacturing service for products ranging from fibre-reinforced washers to small watercraft and containers for gas turbines, from 100 g to 200 kg or more in weight. The company can also mould polyurethane foam to any density.
     EPS Logistics

Stadium Plastics sold

March 27, 2002 - The plastics interests of the Stadium Group, put up for sale in order for the group to concentrate on electronics, have been bought by two Birmingham entrepreneurs in association with Invex Capital Partners.
     Stadium Plastics, which has a turnover of £25 million and around 500 employees at sites in Hinckley, Hartlepool and Newton Abbot, was sold for £10 million.
     The company specialises in moulding for the automotive sector, and is a key supplier to BMW for the new Mini, supplying parts for the seats, dashboard and other fittings. It also supplies a number of pan-European multi-national tier one automotive parts companies.
     The buyers are Jeremy Stoke and Brendan Geary. Jeremy Stoke has spent 20 years in plastic moulding management. He was previously chief executive of Caradon Plastics. John Pearson remains at Stadium as managing director.

Gas injection companies change relationships

March 14, 2002 - Relationships have changed in the European gas-assisted moulding equipment business. Cinpres Gas Injection, which when Cinpres merged with Gas Injection found itself with two German distributors, is deepening its relationship with Stieler Kunststoff Services. Factor Maschinen & Anlagentechnik, the former Gas Injection agent, has switched to representing GAIN Technologies, the company with which Cinpres spent so much litigation time over gas injection patents.
     The move gives GAIN a stronger presence in Europe, where its patents are used by Schmidt Kranz for its Maximator equipment and Battenfeld for its Airmold process. What is perhaps more important is that it now has access to the water-injection technology developed by Factor and formerly available through Gas Injection.
     CGI and Stieler have already got together on their own water injection technology which is under development, but they have also taken a different tack with a cooled gas system developed during last year which is now in production in 15 installations worldwide. In addition to cutting cycle times, this process is said to produce mouldings that are more dimensionally stable and have been brought within specified tolerances. One example is PP automotive interior trim mouldings for which moulding time cycles are being reduced by up to 25 per cent.
     Cinpres Gas Injection
     GAIN

Materials handling agencies for Ireland

March 14, 2002 - Two materials handling equipment companies have set up outlets in the Republic of Ireland. Colortronic has appointed Bray Engineering - based in Bray, to the south of Dublin - to handle sales and service for its complete range.
     Bray Engineering e-mail
     Eriez Magnetics Europe has appointed Plastics Equipment, a company started in January this year by David Bradley, formerly industrial divisional manager at The Technical Equipment Company in Dublin, to sell a full range of metal detection and separation equipment to the plastics industry throughout Ireland. Plastics Equipment incorporates the former Plastics Division of TEC, and its products include material feed/drying/dosing equipment, granulators, belt conveyors, robotics, automation and injection moulding machines.

Trade bodies amplify their case for government assessment of its industrial restrictions

March 14, 2002 - The nine trade organisations with links in and around the polymer industries which are trying to persuade the government to see the reality of the effects of its industrial policies have once more been to Whitehall.
     They were represented by Peter Davis, Director General of the British Plastics Federation and Mike Legg of the Engineering and Machinery Alliance who were at a Trade & Industry Select Committee elaborating on their evidence from the earlier meeting.
     Peter Davis referred to the BPF's recent Business Trends Survey which showed that plastic plant utilisation has fallen steadily over the last three years with only 3 per cent of firms expecting to operate at more than 90 per cent in 2002.
     Mr Davis urged the govenment to extend capital allowances and reduce or withdraw the Climate Change Levy. As an example of the damage being done by the CCL he cited bottle maker Schmalbach-Lubeca which this year faced a £0·5 million charge while the National Insurance Contribution rebate intended to offset the charge only equated to £25,000. He said there was a serious risk the company may move production to France where plans for an industry energy tax have been abandoned. This would result in more than 250 job losses in the UK.
     Replacing skilled workers is another problem faced by the British polymer industries which have an ageing workforce and a decline in the average level of qualifications. And because of the difficult economic climate, bookings at the Polymer National Training Organisation Centre dropped last year by a further 20 - 30 per cent. 'At the end of March all NTO's will be scrapped and replaced by Sector Skills Councils,' he said. 'The timetable for this is too fast and the risk is that good trainers will be lost.'
     Grant aid is available to the polymer industries, but Mr Davis quoted a survey of plastics companies which showed that 71 per cent have never received a Government grant, primarily because of a lack of awareness and the complicated application procedures.
     He estimated that dealing with government regulations was taking up 10 - 12 per cent of senior management time in large companies and much more in smaller companies. This was about to increase with the 'tidal wave' of regulation about to hit the plastics, rubber and coatings sectors including the European End of Life Vehicle and Waste from Electrical and Electronic Directives.
     The consortium of trade associations has called for the setting up of a panel chaired by a cabinet minister to examine regulations and new legislation and have an annual target to reduce the regulatory burden.

Trends to smaller sources in European PVC compounding

March 14, 2002 - Despite four out of the five biggest PVC compounders in Europe also being polymer producers, there is a trend towards compounding by smaller independent companies with lower cost structures, says a new report from Applied Market Information. But set against this is another trend for compounding to be lost to the specialist compounders as processors amalgamate and bring their compounding in-house.
     Corporate Performance and Ownership Among PVC Compounders - A Review of Europe's 50 Largest Players details the 50 largest PVC compounders in Europe, which together account for more than 1·5 million tonnes of material a year.
     The structure of the PVC compounding market in Central Europe is similar to that of Western Europe, with the largest players being integrated into polymer production. The Central European independents included in AMI's report have largely emerged because of existing operations in other downstream PVC processing activities, particularly cable manufacture, which is an important market in Poland.
     The top 10 of the companies listed by AMI are:

1	AtoFina	France
2	EVC International	Netherlands
3	Solvay Benvic	Belgium
4	Norsk Hydro	Norway
5	Saplast	France
6	Polymer-Chemie	Germany
7	British Vita	UK
8	LVM	Belgium
9	Anwil	Poland
10	Begra Granulate	Germany

     Corporate Performance and Ownership Among PVC Compounders - A Review of Europe's 50 Leading Players costs £350/Eur 560.
     AMI e-mail

Dow and Solutia end nylon co-operation

March 8, 2002 - Dow and Solutia are giving up their joint operation in nylon 66 which was started in 1999. Under the agreement Dow took over the compounding and marketing of the Vydyne brand while Solutia concentrated on product development and manufacture. The intention was that there would be marketing synergies with Dow's existing engineering materials, but this has not been the case. The switch back of the marketing and product support to Solutia has started and is intended to be complete by May 1.
     Dow
     Solutia

US TPVs to be compounded in Europe

March 8, 2002 - American thermoplastic elastomer specialist Teknor Apex is to make its Uniprene thermoplastic vulcanisates available in Europe through an agreement with German compounder Plastic Technologie Service. PTS will make the materials using Teknor Apex technology, and sell them under the Uniprene brand name.
     TPVs consist of a vulcanised thermoset rubber in a thermoplastic matrix such as polypropylene, and are reckoned to be more rubber-like than other widely used thermoplastic elastomers, exhibiting greater elasticity, chemical resistance, and property retention at temperature extremes. They are widely used in automotive and appliance components, consumer products, medical devices, and building products.
     Teknor Apex
     Plastic Technologie

Grove puts up cash for United Polymers expansion

March 8, 2002 - Grove Industries, which recently spearheaded the purchase of VIP-Heinke from Etex, is now backing an acquisition plan by United Polymers Group. Grove Industries is a private investment company headed by David Grove, with substantial experience in the polymer industries. In 1995 David Grove joined with Paul Webb to set up Webgrove Holdings as a buy-out vehicle for Link Plastics, and to go on to buy Silkjet, Digitool and Showpla.
     Grove Industries joined with Close Brothers Private Equity (also its partner in the VIP-Heinke takeover) to buy United Polymers from Fenner two years ago. Now the shareholders are putting up £2 million for acquisitions, discussions over which have already started.
     United Polymers has plants in South Wales, Wiltshire and the Czech Republic supplying mainly rubber mouldings to the automotive sector. VIP-Heinke, whose board now includes both David Grove and United Polymers chief executive Rod Lister, is predominantly a plastics and rubber seals manufacturer.

Continued PET growth boosts Schmalbach - again

March 8, 2002 - The continuing conversion of other packaging materuials to PET helped Schmalbach-Lubeca to its sixth successive annual increase in profits last year. Turnover of the PET product group rose 22 per cent - although this substantial increase was partly because of higher PET prices and currency exchange. However, there are pitfalls in the market and Schmalbach warned that excess capacity and aggressive pricing are having a marked effect in some regions.
     Also contributing to improved profit from PET was the company's greater emphasis on applications tailored specifically to customer requirements, which command a higher margin.
     Alongside growth in PET containers there was greater demand for plastic closures.
     Overall group sales rose from Eur 2,534 m to Eur 2,928 m, yielding a profit up 14 per cent from Eur 44 m to Eur 50 m.
     Schmalbach-Lubeca

Distrupol's Bradbury to retire

March 5, 2002 - Distrupol's European chief executive, Steve Bradbury, is retiring at the end of March. He joined Distrupol when its previous incarnation Ellis and Everard bought his KD Thermoplastics company in 1992, and merged its polymer distribution interests into Distrupol in 1997.
     There are no immediate plans to replace Mr Bradbury at Distrupol. As of April 1, John Phillpotts will assume responsibility as CEO, Distrupol Europe in addition to his current role. No other management changes are anticipated, although the company's European Commercial Director, Gerry Moore, will take on the additional responsibility of Distrupol's Nordic business.

Borealis figures mask signs of improvement

March 5, 2002 - Behind the switch in fortunes from a net profit of Eur 42 million in 2000 to a net loss of Eur 41 million in 2001 at Borealis was a sign of stability in its polyolefin operations. Sales value was virtually unchanged year on year (Eur 3,711 m down to Eur 3,708 m) as was operating profit (Eur 52 m up to Eur 53 m) and the fall came from the results of associated companies. Borealis commented that while the Western European market for polyolefins grew only 2 per cent (against average prices 6 per cent lower than the previous year), Borealis increased its volumes by 6 per cent, improving its market position.
     Borealis

More machine makers settle with Milacron over computer control

March 5, 2002 - Milacron has now won its action against Boy and SIPA over the use of personal computers to control plastics machines in contravention of its US patent 5,062,052. As with previous defendants, Boy and SIPA have agreed to buy a licence to continue selling machines using the technology in the USA, the fee for which is not being disclosed. Of the latest group of manufacturers to be targetted by Milacron (Boy, Sandretto, SIPA and Sidel) only the complaint against Sidel remains to be settled.
     Milacron

Sytek takes PC to Ireland

March 5, 2002 - Polycarbonate specialist Sytek Polymers, formerly Cotswold Compounds, has moved into Ireland with a distributorship agreement with Tedcastles Chemicals. TCL of Dublin is now the sole distributor of Sytek's Sylex brand prime and recycled PC compounds. It also represents Ems Chemie, PolyOne, Chevron Phillips, Ampacet, Solvay,Solvin, Kafrit, L-G Chem and Microfine.
     Tedcastles

Netstal spends at Stone

March 5, 2002 - Netstal is expanding its UK base at Stone in Staffordshire by 20 per cent. The new space will house new customer training and lecture facilities, a technical applications office, meeting rooms, and improvements to the spares and sales departments.