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Kautex invests in its plants and welcomes back Weiland August 19, 2005
Extrusion blow moulding machinery builder Kautex is expanding its Chinese operation and its German technology centre, and has taken on a former head of technology as general manager.
Kautex was bought by German investment capital company Adcuram from SIG of Switzerland in 2004 with subsequent discontent over part of the deal. While it was owned by Krupp at the end of the 'nineties Kautex started building blow moulding machines in China, in part to counter the high cost of German manufacture. These have been CE-marked in recent years and put on sale as a low cost way of obtaining German technology at Chinese build prices.
To maintain the build quality of the Chinese machines Kautex is to invest further in the Shunde plant with a greater degree of vertical integration of manufacturing, and it is to expand the Chinese service and sales structure to increase its Asian market.
The planned expansion of the German technology center in Bonn is described as 'significant' and will take place in the first half of next year.
Returning to the fold is Dr Olaf Weiland who was head of technology at Krupp Kautex before moving to Krupp Corpoplast in 1999 to take responsibility for sales, aftersales service and financial control. He has been general manager at, latterly, SIG Corpolast in Hamburg since then, but has now rejoined Kautex as general manager. He has not been replaced at SIG.
D-S buys American extruder builder August 19, 2005
American-based extrusion equipment manufacturer Davis-Standard has expanded by buying Merritt Extruder Corporation of Connecticut, USA. Merritt's employees are remaining with the business which will move to Davis-Standard's Pawcatuck headquarters, also in Connecticut. The Merritt brand will continue. Earlier this year Davis-Standard itself went through a merger with Black Clawson in a deal between its owner, Crompton Corporation, and Black Clawson's parent Hamilton Robinson.
Management structure changes at Ciba August 19, 2005
Brendan Cummins, head of Ciba Specialty Chemicals' plastic additives business, has been appointed to the new position of chief operating officer of Ciba Specialty Chemicals in a new management structure based on an executive committee. Ciba says that by splitting management into two teams - one focusing on strategic development, and the other on the operation of the business - management of the company becomes more flexible.
The new COO, Brendan Cummins, has been with Ciba for more than 30 years, of which he spent around 20 years in Asia. He is succeeded as global head of the plastic additives business by Giordano Righini who is head of the coatings business.
Zeppelin buys mht August 19, 2005
mht material handling technologies of Ludwigsburg in Germany, which specialises in the engineering and supply of materials handling plant for plastic processing - particularly in PVC - has been bought by Zeppelin Silos & Systems of Friedrichshafen. It has become a subsidiary of Zeppelin Materials Handling which works mainly for the plastics processing industry. Zeppelin Materials Handling is itself a recent acquisition by the group. It is the former Motan Materials Handling which was bought by Zeppelin last year.
Management changes at expanding European specialty chemicals distribution group Azelis have had a knock-on effect on its British subsidiary, Chance & Hunt. Managing director Peter Fields, who is also chief operating officer of the Azelis group, has handed over his Chance & Hunt responsibilities to former sales and marketing director Joan Traynor to concentrate on completing the expansion of the group.
The Azelis group has 19 companies distributing chemicals across a range of industries. As well as Chance & Hunt in the UK, it also owns plastics distributor Pan Polymers.
Quality Plated Plastics of Great Barr in Birmingham is the latest company to join DuPont's growing network of licensees for a special process to treat and then plate or paint Delrin acetal. The DuPont Delrin Decorating Solutions package comprises specially developed Delrin grades for plating and painting as well as water- and solvent-based coatings supplied by DuPont Performance Coatings. Applications range across decorative cosmetics packaging, sporting goods, household appliances and sanitary products. Among target markets and applications, QPP has already identified a market for metal-plated Delrin door hinges.
New European chief for Dow Corning August 19, 2005
Dow Corning Corporation has appointed Bruno Sulmon as its president in Europe based at the company's Seneffe site near Brussels in Belgium. He will continue to serve as vice president of geographic development, working with the company's business units to expand Dow Corning operations in emerging countries.
Berstorff absorbs sheet calender subsidiary August 19, 2005
KMB Seide Technology, set up in 2003 by Krauss Maffei and Berstorff when Berstorff took over sheet extrusion equipment specialist Adolf Seide Engineering, has now been merged completely into Berstorff's film and sheet division and ceases to exist as a separate subsidiary. The Seide manufacturing facilities as Buchholz in Germany are being retained, but the technical centre is being transferred to Berstorff's new film and sheet technical centre in Hannover. This enables Berstorff to carry out trials on complete installations of single or twin screw extruders and sheet calenders.
Weima appoints sales agent August 19, 2005
German granulator and shredder manufacturer Weima has moved its British sales operation to Fercell Engineering in Aylesford, Kent. Service will remain at Weima UK's base in Wellingborough. Fercell has set up as test facility to enable customers to evaluate Weima equipment with their own waste.
Hot runner manufacturer Synventive Molding Solutions, formerly Dynisco Hot Runners, has been sold for the second time in two years.
It has been bought by Advent International, a Boston, USA-based private equity firm. Synventive was owned by an affiliate of Chicago-based Madison Capital Partners, which bought the rest of the Dynisco businesses from Berwind Industries in 2000 and added the hot runners business in 2003.
Advent International has had other forays into the polymer business in recent years, including the abortive takeover of Rhein Chemie Rheinau, an involvement in the break up of BIP, and the takeover of HT Troplast and Vinolit in Germany.
Demag moves heavyweights into Chinese machine sales August 5, 2005
Injection machine builder Demag Plastics Group is combining its Chinese sales activities with those of its 60 per cent owned subsidiary Demag Haitian Plastics Machinery. To do this it has moved in as CEO of Demag Haitian Gerhard Maßfelder, lately managing director of Demag's subsidiary in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Before heading Demag Plast Asia and Demag (Malaysia) Mr Maßfelder was managing director of the company's subsidiary in Barcelona, Spain and before that spent more than 10 years as corporate sales manager in Demag's headquarters in Schwaig, Germany.
Stephan Greif, managing director of the Shanghai-based sales company Demag Ergotech China, adds the sales activities of Demag Haitian. In the past he has been managing director of Demag subsidiaries in Brazil and Italy.
Demag Haitian Plastics Machinery, founded in August 1998 by Demag and Ningbo Haitian Corporation, has delivered more than 1,000 injection moulding machines. It builds the Dragon series with clamping forces between 50 and 200 tonnes which are sold only in China.
Huhtamaki to expand in Asia August 5, 2005
Finnish packaging group Huhtamaki, which is shutting a second British plant to cut costs in its rigid packaging business, is to expand flexible packaging capacity in Asia. It is to build a new production facility in North India and add a new production line to the recently opened plant in Vietnam. The combined value of these investments is Eur 20 million.
The company reckons about 15 per cent of its net sales comes from emerging markets. In India it has four facilities with 1,300 people producing mainly flexible packaging for food and non-food sectors. Construction of the new plant will start in the last quarter of this year with commercial production planned to begin in mid 2006. It will supply premium flexible packaging and labelling systems to major customers in North India.
Huhtamaki opened its Vietnamese plant near to Ho Chi Minh City last year where it employs more than 160 people making flexible packaging for the food and non-food sectors. The new line is expected to be in commercial production in the second quarter of 2006.
Huhtamaki Group has 70 manufacturing and sales units in 36 countries with 15,500 employees. 2004 net sales amounted to Eur 2·1 billion.
Further weight has been given to the IMG Group's plan to form a major European PET producer with the group's purchase of 3 per cent of the capital of La Seda de Barcelona from Inversiones Hemisferio (Grupo Planeta). This acquisition reinforces IMG's position as the main shareholder of La Seda, which has a target of 180,000 tonnes of PET production capacity this year.
IMG is studying ways to integrate La Seda with its other PET assets in the Selenis Group.
Meanwhile it is planning a Eur 10 million investment to expand its two Selenis companies in Portugal and Italy (formerly Radici's Aussapol subsidiary). It will spend Eur 7 million at Selenis Italia on two new SSP (solid state polimerisation) units, adding capacity of more than 35,000 tonnes, and reducing energy costs around 35 per cent.
In Selenis Portugal, the Eur 3 million investment plan includes the optimisation of the SSP unit and infrastructure and process improvements to reduce operational costs. The top reactor will be extended to expand capacity by more 12,000 tonnes.
Capacity of both plants will total around 300,000 tonnes by the end of June 2006.
Fortron and Chevron Phillips to double PPS capacity August 5, 2005
The Fortron Industries joint venture between Ticona Technical Polymers and Kureha Chemical Industries is to double the capacity of its linear polyphenylene sulphide plant in Wilmington, NC, USA, to 15,000 tonnes. When completed in the first half of 2007, the $65 million expansion will create the world's largest PPS plant. This project is the sixth and largest expansion at the plant since Fortron Industries set it up in 1993.
Fortron says that annual global PPS production is now around 40,000 tonnes. Annual consumption is growing by more than 10 per cent and is expected to top 50,000 tonnes by 2008.
Chevron Phillips Chemical Company is to add an 11,000 tonnes extension to its Ryton PPS plant in Borger, Texas, USA, doubling the capacity of the site. Start-up is anticipated in mid-2007.
Basell to license more PE production in Iran August 5, 2005
Iran's National Petrochemical Company - recently squeezed out from buying Basell - is buying another licence to use a Basell process. Its affiliate Kurdestan Petrochemical Company is to use Basell's Lupotech T technology for a new LDPE plant in Sanandaj in Kurdestan province, Iran. The plant will have an annual capacity of 300,000 tonnes and start-up is planned for 2008.
The new plant will be part of NPC's 11th Olefin project. Ethylene feedstock will be supplied from an ethane gas cracker located at Al Assaluyeh. A 1,500 kilometre pipeline will connect the cracker with five petrochemical sites located in the western provinces of Iran. In addition to the new Lupotech T plant, the 11th Olefin project includes a 300,000 tonnes HDPE plant using Basell's Hostalen process and two 300,000 tonnes LLDPE/HDPE plants.
This latest Lupotech T license is the 13th license granted by Basell for projects in Iran with a combined annual capacity of more than 3·1 million tonnes. Other technologies licensed by Basell in Iran include Spherilene, Lupotech G and Hostalen polyethylene technologies and Spheripol polypropylene. Two plants using Basell technology are to be expanded by Polibrasil and Titan Petchem of Malaysia. Both use the Spheripol polypropylene process. Polibrasil plans to increase the capacity of its plant in Mauá, state of Sâo Paulo, Brazil, in two stages. The first phase, scheduled for completion in early 2007, will increase the plant's capacity from 240,000 to 360,000 tonnes; the second phase, scheduled for completion by 2008, will increase capacity to 450,000 tonnes.
Titan Petchem plans to increase the capacity of its plant at Pasir Gudang, Malaysia from 100,00 to 200,00 by the end of 2007.
Dow's Unipol technology will be used in a new polypropylene plant to be built at Budennovsk in Russia by Stavrolen. Construction of the 120,000 tonnes plant is scheduled for completion in 2006. It will produce impact-resistant and low-temperature polypropylene, as well as grades for use in medicine and agriculture. The polypropylene produced will be supplied to Russian producers of fibres, threads, tubes and other consumer goods.
Unipol is currently in use on more than 35 production lines worldwide, accounting for more than 6 million tonnes of polypropylene.
Eur 3 m investment in packaged rubber chemicals August 5, 2005
Lanxess-owned rubber chemicals producer Rhein Chemie Rheinau is investing Eur 3 million in a new production facility at its headquarters in Mannheim-Rheinau, Germany to make its custom-formulated Batch-Ready product line and specialty products. The facility is scheduled for completion in January 2006 and it will expand production capacity from 2,000 to 5,000 tonnes.
Batch-Ready is a range of chemical blends tailored to individual customer needs which are weighed out into low-melting bags and then added directly to a rubber blend.
Chemicals and minerals distributor Omya UK has moved its head office to the Wyvern Business Park, Chaddesden, near Derby. The address is: Omya House, Stephensons Way, Wyvern Business Park, Chaddesden, Derby DE21 6LY. Tel: 01332 674000, Fax: 01332 544700.
Top changes at Total August 5, 2005
David Gresham will be retiring as managing director of Total Petrochemicals UK at the end of the year and will be replaced by Andrew Ritchie, who is currently commercial vice president of Total Petrochemicals China.
David Gresham joined the company in 1980 soon after the acquisition of Sterling Moulding Materials by Ato Chemical Products UK, a precursor of Total Petrochemicals UK.
Andrew Ritchie is also a long-term Total man having joined CdF Chimie (later renamed Orkem) in 1981. He has been managing director of Orkem Far East and headed Elf Atochem Korea before becoming vice president of the Chinese company.
Starch-based plastic ramps up to 10,000 tonnes capacity August 5, 2005
Production of Biopar starch-based plastic by BIOP Biopolymer Technologies of Dresden (not to be confused with Biop GmbH which also operated in Dresden until 2001) is to be switched from the Netherlands to Germany. The company is setting up a plant at BASF's Schwarzheide site with a target of 10,000 tonnes capacity. Investment cost is around Eur 7 million.
A factor in BIOP's decision to move production was that BASF has expanded production of its Ecoflex biodegradable copolyester at Schwarzheide, and Ecoflex is is one of the components of Biopar.
Euro consortium aims to improve electrical conductivity August 5, 2005
Rapra Technology, Whitaker Technical Plastics, TBA Electro Conductive Products and Rondol Technology are part of a 20-strong European consortium set up to improve the electrical conductivity of a range of polymer materials and demonstrate their application in medical, electrical and automotive end use sectors.
The main goals of the PolyCond project are to develop: melt processable inherently conducting polymers with increased electrical conductivity; new cost effective processes for the surface modification of carbon nanotubes; a cost effective plastic processing method for temperature sensitive conductive composites; and new cost effective plastic products with embedded EMI shielding and ESD protection.
The four-year project, part-funded by the European Union, will cost Eur 9·06, and the consortium reckons it will yield a return on funding of some Eur 17·8 million within five years, with the project costs being recovered within about two years.
Indian automotive moulder finds Borough's British brightwork best August 5, 2005
Chrome plater Borough of Southend is picking up automotive business from India. Exotech Plastics of Pune was unable to match Borough's quality elsewhere, so is now shipping all its moulded parts to Southend for plating before the finished components complete their 9,000 mile journey back to India for installation in new cars.
Dow Corning takes another step to expand silicone rubber production August 5, 2005
The latest step in Dow Corning's expansion of silicone rubber production is a capacity increase of up to 50 per cent for certain liquid types at Wiesbaden in Germany with the addition of new equipment.
In recent years the company has expanded silicone rubber manufacturing in China by forming Ling Dao Silicone Co with Dow Corning Toray Silicone Co; set up new storage and distribution facilities in Ulsan, South Korea, with Odfjell, the Norwegian-based global chemical transportation specialist; added capacity in polymers and sealants in Korea; created a joint venture with Wacker-Chemie to build a new basic plant in China before the end of the decade to manufacture silicone intermediates and fumed silica; and boosted capacity at its Barry, Wales, site by 15 per cent in 2004 with an additional expansion planned for 2006.
New UK/Ireland sales structure for Syscon PlantStar August 5, 2005
Michael Timm, who once sold real-time plant MES services in Britain for Syscon-PlantStar, has now set up MTec Services and is representing Syscon-PlantStar in the UK and Ireland. PlantStar systems are in use at Durapipe, Tyco Electronics, Gillette, Wright Plastics, and Yorkshire Precision Mouldings.
Rexam appoints director for plastics packaging August 5, 2005
Graham Chipchase, Rexam's group finance director, is taking on the newly created position of group director plastic packaging. He will be responsible for Rexam's global plastic packaging business which includes the beauty and pharmaceutical packaging operations and plastic containers for food and beverages. In 2004, these businesses had combined sales of more than £500 m.
This move follows the decision of Yves Dominioni, executive director responsible for the Beauty and Pharma packaging business, to retire from the board, although he will stay on with the company in an advisory capacity until his retirement at the end of 2006.
Buy-out at Peerless August 5, 2005
Peerless Plastics and Coatings, which specialises in coating plastics and reckons to be Europe's leader in UV-cured, clear and anti-reflective abrasion and chemical resistant coatings on most plastic substrates, has been bought by its sales and operations manager James Grint.
ERMAFA to be part of Barmag August 5, 2005
German extrusion systems manufacturer ERMAFA Kunststofftechnik has been bought by Saurer and will be integrated into its Barmag business unit.
New chief for Coperion August 5, 2005
Coperion Group has appointed Manfred Eiden as chief executive officer from September 1, taking over from interim CEO Wolfgang-Dietrich Hein. He joins from Kone Corporation, the elevators, escalators and cargo handling provider, where he was president.
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Two plants using Basell technology are to be expanded by Polibrasil and Titan Petchem of Malaysia. Both use the Spheripol polypropylene process. Polibrasil plans to increase the capacity of its plant in Mauá, state of Sâo Paulo, Brazil, in two stages. The first phase, scheduled for completion in early 2007, will increase the plant's capacity from 240,000 to 360,000 tonnes; the second phase, scheduled for completion by 2008, will increase capacity to 450,000 tonnes.