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European bag makers fined for operating a cartel November 30, 2005
The European Commission has fined 16 companies Eur 290·71 million for operating a cartel in the plastic industrial bags market.
The investigation began after surprise inspections of producers in June 2002, and revealed that the companies had secretly agreed amongt themselves - some for more than 20 years - on sales prices in Germany, the Benelux countries, France and Spain. It was triggered by British Polythene Industries which blew the whistle and admitted its part in the cartel, for which it was given full immunity under the Commission's antitrust leniency arrangements which give the first company to provide insider information on a cartel total immunity. Fines for some of the other cartel members were reduced because of their eventual co-operation.
According to the Commission the offending companies' sales directors and even their managing directors colluded, often at meetings of their professional association Valveplast. Documents seized in the investigation included internal memos containing statements such as: 'It was subsequently decided to appoint a leader for each customer in order to coordinate the rise in prices' and 'In view of the risk taken in this type of meeting and the documentation passed on, this document and all those relating to Valveplast which indicate figures for allocating markets and prices must be destroyed'. The Commission says that these documents showed 'not only that the agreements existed but that the producers were aware that their behaviour was illegal'.
Together, the companies concerned controlled most of the market in industrial bags in the countries covered by the cartel, which in 2001 was estimated at some Eur 265 million.
The Commission fine is not necessarily the end of the matter. The published decision is sufficient evidence for anyone affected by the operation of the cartel to take action in the civil courts, and the Commission says that 'damages may be awarded without being reduced on account of the Commission fine'. The cartel members themselves can take the Commission's decision to the Court of First Instance and then to the Court of Justice of the European Communities in Luxembourg which are empowered to reduce or increase fines.
The guilty companies and the amount they were fined are: Bernay Film Plastique (Eur 0·94 m); Bischof+Klein GmbH & Co KG and Bischof+Klein France SA (Eur 29·15 m and Eur 3·96 m); Bonar Technical Fabrics NV and Low & Bonar PLC (Eur 12·24 m); British Polythene Industries PLC and Combipac BV (no fine); Cofira-Sac SA (Eur 0·35 m); Fardem Packaging BV and Kendrion NV (Eur 34 m); Koninklijke Verpakkingsindustrie Stempher CV and Stempher BV (Eur 2·37 m); Nordenia International AG and Nordfolien GmbH (Eur 39·10 m); Plásticos Españoles SA and Armando Álvarez SA (Eur 42 m); RKW AG Rheinische Kunststoffwerke and JM Gesellschaft für industrielle Beteiligungen mbH & Co KGaA (Eur 39 m); Sachsa Verpackung GmbH and Groupe Gascogne (Eur 13·2 m); Trioplast Wittenheim SA, Trioplast Industrier AB, FL Smidth & Co A/S and FLS Plast (Eur 17·85 ); and UPM-Kymmene Oyj (Eur 56·55 m). As well as BPI's fines reduction for assisting in the enquiry, Bischof+Klein, Bonar, Cofira-Sac, Nordfolien and Trioplast also had their fines reduced to the figures quoted.
Under Article 81 of the Treaty establishing the European Community the Commission is able to impose fines up to 10 per cent of their worldwide turnover on companies found guilty of operating in a cartel.
Quality Additives splits November 30, 2005
Plastics reprocessor and masterbatch producer Quality Additives of County Down has been split on the retirement through ill health of its principal Dr Arthur Davis. The reprocessing and compounding operations have been bought by technical director Ken Wootton and are continuing at the Newtownards site as KLA Plastics.
The masterbatch business has been bought by a new company formed by Kevin Sheridan, who owns Dell Polymers in County Longford in the Republic of Ireland, and Nigel Tyrrell. The two extruders run by Quality Additives have been moved to a 10,000 ft² facility at Dell's site and augmented by a new twin screw and a twin screw laboratory extruder. Quality Additives now provides a masterbatch production and speciality compounding service alongside Dell Polymers' engineering plastics distribution business.
Survey to assess the state of Britain's injection moulders November 30, 2005
The British Plastics Federation has started a confidential, nationwide benchmarking survey for injection moulding companies said to be the most comprehensive of its kind. It will allow companies to benchmark their own performance against the industry as a whole and will give an insight into current growth levels, the size and make up of the industry, level of investment and current production capabilities.
The deadline for completion of the survey is December 16 and the results are expected to be released in January 2006 only to those who have filled out the questionnaire. The survey can be found at www.bpf.co.uk/bpf/BenchMarking.cfm.
BASF funding for British electronic paper firm November 30, 2005
BASF is taking an interest in a British plastic electronics company through its venture capital business. BASF Venture Capital is investing £1 million in Plastic Logic of Cambridge which works in printable electronics for applications such as 'e-paper' flexible displays printed on plastics film. It is one of several companies contributing to Plastic Logic's latest round of funding to extend its research capabilities. BASF Venture Capital focuses on innovative companies using chemistry-based technologies, and is able to draw on BASF's expertise.
New chief executive for 3DM November 30, 2005
Niall MacKay, who joined 3DM Group as chief operating officer from the Royal Mail at the end of October, has now been appointed chief executive officer of 3DM Group and of its parent 3DM Worldwide. Chairman Ken Brooks becomes non-executive chairman.
3DM is an intellectual property company which in 2001 bought rights to two plastics moulding processes, Powder Impression Moulding (PIM) and 3-Dimensional Blow Moulding (3DM), which gives the company its name.
The 3DM process makes complex components or sub-assemblies of multiple components using differing materials in a single mould, and allows the addition of non-plastic materials to the structure. It has been developed largely for automotive applications, and is said to have potential for medical products as well.
But it is the PIM process that has made most of the commercial running. This is an open mould process in which typically large moulds pass along a flowline and are filled at different stations with skin material, core material and inserts, and are eventually brought together with the powdered polymer being fused and then eventually cooled by immersing in a fluid bath. A one-piece pick-up truck bed has been demonstrated at exhibitions, and as well as automotive the company is pitching the process at the building products, marine, aviation and white goods sectors. Mouldings are said to be of high strength and rigidity and to compete with glass-reinforced composites as weight saving alternatives to metals, wood and, concrete. PIM also has potential for absorbing large amounts of recycled plastics.
Ben van Kooten, business group director of DSM Elastomers, is to become director of the new DSM Resins business group from March 1 when DSM Coating Resins and DSM Composite Resins combine. Bob Hartmayer, at present Chief Operating Officer of DSM Nutritional Products, will take over as director of DSM Elastomers from February 1.
BASF and DuPont to commercialise biopolymers November 28, 2005
BASF and DuPont have both made moves in biosourced polymers. BASF is entering the business by alloying NatureWorks' polylactic acid with its own petrochemically-sourced Ecoflex biodegradable copolyester while DuPont is planning to bring the bio-sourced version of its Sorona polytrimethylene terephthalate up to commercial speed during next year.
The new BASF material, Ecovio, will initially be an alloy of 45 per cent PLA with Ecoflex using a process which chemically binds the two polymers. The brand is intended to grow to a family of materials combining Ecoflex with renewable raw materials. The first material is a film grade which will be sold directly to film extruders, but BASF will be selling the basic Ecovio grade for custom blending with Ecoflex or PLA for converters to make softer or harder grades: BASF mentions mobile phone housings and yoghourt cups as possible applications with injection moulding and deep-drawn thermoforming grades made by custom blending.
BASF is expecting a 20 per cent annual growth worldwide in the demand for biodegradable plastics over the next five years. Ecovio will become available in Europe in December with commercial quantities available next March and introduction to North America and Asia later in the year.
Ecoflex is already being used in combination with a starch-based plastic by BIOP Biopolymer Technologies. The company is building a 10,000 tonnes capacity plant for its Biopar material at BASF's Schwarzheide plant in Germany where BASF has a further Ecoflex plant under construction to bring capacity up from 8,000 to 14,000 tonnes next year.
DuPont's introduction of a bio-sourced PTT will come with the bringing on stream of the Bio-PDO facility in Loudon, Tennessee, USA which it has been building with the sugar company Tate & Lyle. PDO (1,3 propanediol) is an important building block for PTT, a thermoplastic polyester said to combine the best of the properties of PET and PBT, but hard to make because of the high cost of making PDO. A cost-effective petrochemical process from Shell led to the introduction of that company's Corterra material, while DuPont developed a biotech process. While the biotechnology route was being readied for commercial use DuPont bought in technology from Degussa to provide supplies of PDO to make Sorona. In 2004 DuPont and Tate & Lyle formalised an agreement to build a biotech plant to make PDO next to Tate & Lyle's factory in Loudon. Now the plant is ready and DuPont expects to bring the bio-based version of Sorona into production in an expansion of its plant at Kinston in North Carolina.
Both Shell and DuPont have investigated using PTT as an engineering plastic, but both Corterra and Sorona are primarily used for carpet fibres. By using a renewable resource to produce PDO, DuPont estimates that it is reducing its need for petroleum by 10 million gallons per year.
Bespak adds elastomer unit to inhaler valve development November 28, 2005
Medical device manufacturer Bespak has commissioned a specialised elastomer manufacturing facility at its King's Lynn site to make pressurised metered dose inhaler (pMDI) valves. The company is running development programmes to make pMDI valves using hydrofluoroalkane elastomer (HFA) formulations and the new facility will support and accelerate this work.
This pilot plant has been built to meet demanding requirements for process control, access, cleanliness and scale-up for manufacture and its clean room moulding design keeps the 'dirty' aspects of the machine away from the component finishing areas, while still allowing full access for servicing. Equivalence testing work has started and the first material is due to be produced in the second quarter next year.
In 2003 Bespak opened a purpose-built pMDI manufacturing hall.
AAC Cyroma spends to save November 28, 2005
AAC Cyroma of Banbury in Oxfordshire has invested more than £750,000 in new vacuum forming and injection moulding equipment and is planning to spend another £250,000 next year to counter rising electricity costs.
The company has installed a Toshiba 650 tonne and a Sandretto 300 tonne injection moulding machine and two Geiss T8 thermoformers with flash heating and adjustable window plate tooling. The investment next year will bring another Geiss T8 and will also fund energy-saving improvements of the company's compressed air and vacuum facilities. In particular, vacuum is to be centralised with on-demand vacuum pumps and central receiver.
World's biggest extruder - again November 28, 2005
In 2001 Berstorff claimed a record for building the biggest single screw extruder in the world. Now it is to do it again with an order for an 800 mm machine for Huntsman's LDPE plant being built on Teesside. The KE800×12D melt-fed extruder will incorporate basic additives into the LDPE and will drive a pelletiser. Alongside it Berstorff will deliver a masterbatch single screw extruder and an underwater pelletiser. The line is designed for a throughput of 73 tonnes/hour.
Quinn to build MMA plant November 28, 2005
The Quinn Group, a major European producer of extruded acrylic sheeting, is to build a 100,000 tonnes methyl methacrylate monomer plant at Leuna, near Leipzig in Germany. The investment will be around Eur 150 million and production is expected to start in the first quarter of 2008.
The plant will use a continuous direct oxidation and etherification process which Quinn says uses no highly toxic or hazardous materials.
Plastics processors slow to seize free finance November 24, 2005
Small and medium sized companies in polymer processing in Britain are missing out on possibly tens of thousands of pounds of government aid to modernise their equipment. The aid is in the form of unsecured interest-free loans from the Carbon Trust, a not-for-profit company funded by the government to cut carbon dioxide emissions. The loan scheme has been running for several years now but the rate of take-up by polymer processors is still 'slower than we were hoping for' according to support manager Chris Burgess. He was describing the scheme to a meeting of the Engel Moulders Group this week, following a similar presentation at Boy and, longer ago, at Arburg.
The Energy Efficiency Loans scheme is intended to support industry in using more energy efficient equipment, and thereby reducing their carbon footprint. It enables companies to borrow interest-free and unsecured a sum equivalent to the cost of the energy they expect to save over four years by installing more efficient machinery. The maximum loan is £100,000 (£200,000 under special provisions in Northern Ireland). Taking a generously notional commercial interest rate for an unsecured loan of 5 per cent, the saving on even the average loan of £30,000 would be a useful addition to the bottom line.
To ease the application burden the Carbon Trust is liaising with machinery suppliers who, with the incentive to make a sale, do much of the paperwork on the technical aspects of the project. The company making the application then has to satisfy the Carbon Trust on its eligibility - mainly that it is an SME - and its creditworthiness. Failing the creditworthiness test is the most common reason for the few applications that have been rejected, but according to Chris Burgess the reticence to apply is companies' perception that there is a catch somewhere or that the process would be over-bureaucratic.
The scheme overall has quadrupled in the money it is lending, from £250,000/month last year to £1 million/month at present. But plastics companies appear to be less keen to take advantage, and in this tax year to date the Carbon Trust has received only around 25 applications - although this an encouraging increase on the previous year's figures. Assuming that injection moulding machines are selling at an even worse rate than they did last year there have probably been sales of around 200 in this tax year to date, and given that expansion is less likely than the replacement of outdated equipment, either machines are only being bought by big companies, or the companies buying them are not taking advantage of the free finance.
The Carbon Trust has so far concentrated on the injection moulding sector - although several applications have been made through a link with chiller manufacturer Aqua Cooling. But the trust is keen to extend its scope into other processes, principally into extrusion and into rubber processing.
Replacing any 10 year old machine with a modern equivalent would be highly unlikely not to result in a saving of energy. Engel - which says it has not had any loan application it has brokered rejected - claims a particular advantage through its tiebarless injection machine design which enables a tool specified on a machine because of the platen size to be installed on a lower tonnage tiebarless machine with its improved platen access, bringing an immediate reduction in power consumption regardless of the relative efficiency of the two machines.
Dow Chemical has invested in faster innovation in thermoplastic polyurethanes. It has upgraded its TPU development facilities with a new mini-line in Freeport, Texas, USA and a new programme for production scale development at its LaPorte, Texas site.
The mini-line has increased productivity and flexibility when compared to previous systems and will also be used to develop and confirm the fundamentals of new technology. Sample size from the mini-line is sufficient for customer testing and final scale up and large customer samples will be produced on Dow's production lines. The new facilities will be completed by the first quarter of 2006.
Outbound Arburg MD champions Interplas - but with changes November 24, 2005
Frank Davis officially retired as UK managing director of Arburg this week, and on his way out called for more cohesion in British manufacturing to resist competition from the Far East which has 'made a huge dent in our industry'. As an example of the way the injection moulding sector has suffered in the past 10 years he cited deliveries of machines up to 500 tonnes. Fifteen importers sold around 1,200 machines a year between 1995 and 1999. Last year the same 15 companies sold 596. And between 2003 and 2004 700 machines came on to the secondhand market.
'It's difficult to predict whether the industry will recover, and if it does, will we have any manufacturing industry left in this country?'
In the current climate he said that the plastics industry needs all the support it can get, and he backed the Interplas exhibition as one of the tools to encourage this support. But not necessarily in its familiar form. Mr Davis stood by his decision for Arburg to exhibit at Interplas this year while many of its competitors chose not to. 'The industry needs an exhibition and we're happy we made the right decision to support Interplas.' But he said the organisers had had to adapt to changing conditions and themselves faced some serious competition. He urged the exhibition organisers to ally with other exhibitions in parallel sectors - 'we have one thing in common - manufacturing'.
The new MD at Arburg is former sales director Colin Tirel. The 'serious competition' to Interplas referred to by Frank Davis notched up more support this week. PIFA, the Packaging and Industrial Films Association, has lent its name to the Extrusion, Compounding & Additives 2006 exhibition being run by EMAP alongside Plastics Forming and Cutting in Telford next May. The publishing group is also staging Plastics Design and Moulding at the same venue in September.
BASF plans new way to take orders electronically November 24, 2005
BASF is introducing a new e-commerce tool to increase the sales transactions in its styrenics and engineering plastics divisions which are carried out on the internet. The company's plastics divisions are the two business areas which handle the most on-line transactions for the company: overall BASF now handles 26 per cent of sales (excluding oil and gas) on-line, 55 per cent more than in 2004. 74 per cent of styrenics and 65 per cent of engineering plastics orders were placed last year through e-commerce.
The new Intelligent Order Processing tool will automatically transfer orders received by fax to BASF's IT systems.
Revamp for planetary extruder November 24, 2005
Major changes have been made to Battenfeld's series of planetary compounding extruders with the aim of greater flexibility, higher output and lower cost.
A multi-function ring added between two barrel segments enables a pressure and/or temperature transducer to be inserted into the barrel, which was not possible before, and serves as an addition point for liquid additives or extraction point for volatiles.
A new control system broadens the application range. Faster heat up and cool down has been achieved by switching to an electric ceramic heater and using water for cooling instead of oil. The planetary spindles are now made symmetrical so that they can be reversed before being replaced, and the barrel segments are interchangeable.
Capacity to build high speed PET dryers is increased November 24, 2005
UPM has expanded its infrared dryer production facilities at Langley near Slough. Five units with capacities of 300 - 2,000 kg/hr are currently under construction for companies in the UK, USA, South Africa, Japan and Ireland for applications in PET sheet extrusion/thermoforming and injection moulding. The IRD gives crystallising and drying times for regrind and virgin PET of 12 - 30 minutes instead of the 4 - 6 hours that would be taken by desiccant dryers, and reduces investment by removing the need for a separate crystalliser for regrind because a mix of virgin and regrind can be crystallised and dried together in one pass.
PolyOne to close Manchester masterbatch plant November 22, 2005
PolyOne is to close the former Victor International Plastics site in Manchester which makes colour masterbatches mainly for the packaging market. The closure, scheduled for the end of the first quarter next year, is part of the company's drive to reduce costs and align its capacity to the market demand and has been brought about by the failing market in the UK.
The Manchester site took over the operations of the Victor Coventry site when PolyOne closed that in 2000. Around 40 people work at the Manchester plant and until it closes a limited work force will continue operations while business with key customers is transferred to other PolyOne plants or customers find other sources for products.
The closure does not affect PolyOne's customers for wire and cable products, engineering compounds and some concentrate ranges that already were supplied from other facilities throughout Europe. It also does not affect PolyOne's Polymer Coatings Systems business unit making vinyl plastisols, inks and additive dispersions in Widnes.
A statement from PolyOne said that despite the efforts of the Manchester operation, 'the region's tough economic environment and a trend toward declining industrial and manufacturing activity in the UK made a turnaround unlikely. Accordingly, we need to redeploy the assets invested in this business to capitalise on more promising opportunities in other geographic markets.'
ABS grades tightened and fibres sale planned as Lanxess continues its rationalisation November 21, 2005
Lanxess, which is currently restructuring its operations to cut costs, is to cease manufacture of ABS for self-colouring as it moves ABS production from Dormagen in Germany to Tarragona in Spain. Three grades - M202AS, M301AS and M304 - will no longer be available from the end of January and from then Lanxess will sell only specialty products and compounded colours. Specialty intermediate grades of ABS - such as used in Bayer's Bayblend PC/ABS - will continue in production at Dormagen.
As part of its long term strategy Lanxess has a policy to dispose of businesses that would be a better fit in a separate operation. The first business to be divested for this reason is Dorlastan fibres - also based at Dormagen in Germany - as well as in South Carolina, USA, which Lanxess plans to sell to Asahi Kasei Fibres Corporation of Japan.
The business has suffered from the migration of textile markets to Asia and has been unprofitable for years. Lanxess says that selling it to AKF - and the consequent staff reductions - will avoid closure of the site, and will enable AKF to strengthen its position as a major manufacturer of synthetic elastic fibres and to expand its geographical presence. To make the Dormagen site competitive it is intended to gradually reduce staffing from 280 to 170, while staff levels at the Bushy Park site in the USA will be reduced from around 190 to 160.
Lanxess started restructuring its fibres business in April this year when the polyamide and polyester monofilaments business was taken out of the former Dorlastan Fibers & Monofil and transferred to a separate company, Perlon Monofil, leaving the Dorlastan fibres business ready for sale. The plan to restructure Lanxess - itself the result of the restructuring of Bayer two years ago - is 'bearing fruit more quickly than expected' according to chairman Axel Heitman announcing the company's third quarter results. The company's performance has continued to improve and Lanxess is anticipating pre-tax profits for this year of Eur 560 - 580 million.
The restructuring of the company's main loss makers, the styrenics and fine chemicals businesses, earlier this year is on track to save Eur 100 million annually from 2008, through shedding 960 jobs. The Fine Chemicals business is to separated and will start trading as Saltigo in the second quarter of next year. Other measures including the shut down of a rubber chemicals plant in the USA and consolidation at a French nitrile rubber plant will realise savings of Eur 40 million a year also from 2008. Further restructuring moves are possible, as Mr Heitmann commented 'The improvements we have achieved so far are not yet sufficient if we are to hold our own against the competition. That's why all of our businesses remain under review'.
Buy-in, buy-out at Burnley moulder November 21, 2005
Trade moulder and housewares manufacturer MRX of Burnley has undergone a management buy-in, buy-out and has been renamed Apax Plastic Moulders. Manchester-based investment company Venture Catalysts has taken a 76 per cent stake.
The company anticipates buying new high specification machinery in the next couple of years to expand capacity, and to pursue potential it has identified with an American company for new products in the UK retail sector.
Clariant plans further investment at Wigan November 21, 2005
Clariant's British masterbatch business, which has been consolidated at its Wigan plant since the closure of the old Watford Mercury Plastics masterbatch site, is to acquire a new independence when it begins trading on January 1 as Clariant Masterbatches UK. At the same time it will be upgrading the Wigan site with an investment programme, due to start in December, which will bring additional extrusion and mixing equipment and may be followed by an increase in staffing.
Focus on recycled plastics in construction November 21, 2005
Recycling organisation WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme) is tightening its focus on the use of recycled plastics in the building industry. It has started a web site devoted to the subject and is looking for more manufacturers to profer information to help expand its database of products. www.wrap.org.uk/plastics/construction, provides information for those looking to specify and use products with recycled plastic content, from standard products - drainage pipes, ducting, and damp proof membranes, for example - to more innovative products such as lightweight composite kerbstones, durable scaffold boards and low maintenance fencing.
As well as a product database, the site includes case studies on projects where recycled plastic products are already being used. A new brochure, Using recycled plastic products in construction, is also being published to provide further information on the cost, performance and environmental benefits of recycled plastic products. A downloadable version is available on the new website.
Bye bye Barlo November 21, 2005
The Barlo name has been laid to rest at Quinn Plastics. Barlo Plastics was officially renamed Quinn Plastics at the beginning of this year. Now the Barlo name is being dropped from the product range.
Hexcel to make carbon fibre in Europe November 21, 2005
Hexcel is to start manufacture of carbon fibre in Europe as part of a $100 million, 50 per cent expansion of its capacity, which includes increased output from its US plants in Salt Lake City and Decatur.
Around half the capacity expansion will come from the new European plant, near Madrid in Spain, where Hexcel will build one carbon fibre line initially, but with space to add further lines. A new line at Salt Lake City will be aerospace qualified by the end of 2007 and the Spanish line in 2008.
PLA pitch for phone and store cards November 21, 2005
After making increasing headway in packaging products, biodegradable polylactic acid is to be used to make prepaid phone cards. NatureWorks PLA is being incorporated as the base sheet material which makes up 95 per cent of a phone card by UV Color of the USA. The earthsource branded cards are also wrapped in PLA film for multi-pack distribution. As well as phone cards, UV Color is promoting the earthsource cards as store transaction cards. When finished with they can be composted, or burned with no harmful emissions.
Biggest tyre recycler gets bigger November 21, 2005
A recycling plant with the capacity to handle 10 per cent of Germany's scrap tyres is to be built near Dorsten/Marl by the Danish Genan group. The Eur 42 million plant will be the third opened by the group, and will be able to reclaim 65,000 tonnes of tyres a year. It will bring Genan's annual capacity up to 165,000 tonnes.
The rubber powder and granules reclaimed from the tyres are used for a range of purposes, from playground safety surfaces to cattle bedding and incorporation in asphalt.
Genan is the biggest tyre recycler in Denmark, reckons to be the biggest producer of rubber powder and granules from used tyres in the world, and in 2003 opened what it says is the biggest tyre recycling facility in the world, at Oranienburg near Berlin, in Germany.
Battenfeld to shut its Meinerzhagen plant November 15, 2005
Battenfeld's injection moulding machine plant at Meinerzhagen in Germany is to be closed and production moved to the Kottingbrunn plant near Vienna in Austria.
The Meinerzhagen factory was Battenfeld's original home, building injection moulding machines for more than 50 years, and has remained the centre of injection moulding machine development while the company expanded into other areas of plastics processing. But according to Heinrich Weiss, chairman of Battenfeld's parent group SMS, the plant has 'caused high losses for many years in a row'. 'All our attempts to make the Meinerzhagen plant competitive have proved to be unsuccessful. We must consider the future of the group as a whole and therefore cannot continue to subsidise this facility.'
Kottingbrunn has for many years been Battenfeld's production site for small machines - it was where the company's electric machines and its micro moulder were developed. Initially it will not be able to build the very big machines in Battenfeld's range and the company is now, temporarily, no longer taking orders for machines bigger than 1,000 tonnes. Ultimately it is intended that the full range will be restored.
The move to Kottingbrunn is expected to have been completed by the end of June next year. The transition has already started, with the combination last year of the sales and administration functions for Battenfeld's injection machine business and their transfer to Kottingbrunn, leaving Meinerzhagen as a production and technology base. About 470 employees will be affected by the closure.
Rexam buys another US packaging moulder November 15, 2005
Rexam is to buy American injection moulded packaging company Precise Technology, which has 1,700 employees at 15 plants in the USA, one in the Netherlands and one about to open in Poland. The company makes packaging for the healthcare, personal care and food and beverage sectors, and has a line of dispensing closures which Rexam says is complementary to its own closures business.
This acquisition continues Rexam's strategy to expand in rigid plastics packaging. Two years ago it sold its healthcare flexible packaging business to Amcor as a conscious move to quit flexibles, and early last year sold its thinwall packaging plants to RPC. Soon after it bought Plastic Omnium's medical packaging business. In August this year Rexam emphasised its growing interest in plastics packaging - it makes a quarter of the metal beverage cans used worldwide and it also makes glass bottles - by appointing a director for plastic packaging. And in September bought American injection moulded jars and closures producer Delta Plastics.
The purchase of Precise Technology from private equity group Code Hennessy & Simmons is quoted at $257·5 million including debt to be repaid. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Last year the company had sales of $294 million and made EBITA profits of $21·7 million.
Wire coating additive speeds extrusion 'by 55 per cent' November 15, 2005
Dow is claiming a potential 55 per cent increase in extrusion speed for wire coating lines using a new polymer enhancement technology. The FR EVA 100 NT EXP1 material is added to the compound at 4 - 8 per cent. Dow says it:
Cures peroxide crosslinkable polymer compounds at faster rates, running up to a 55 per cent faster line rate without scorch.
Enables processing of peroxide crosslinkable polymer compounds at higher melt temperatures of up to 20 degC without scorch.
Works with a variety of commercially available peroxide crosslinkable polymer compounds which comply with the SAE J1128 specification.
Can be used intermittently based on demand, allowing more flexible manufacturing capacity in wire extrusion.
Enables in-line feeding through existing colour additive systems.
Has no effect on colour-matching with existing colour concentrates.
The initial focus is on automotive wiring and tests have shown that wiring made with the additive can achieve heat resistance of 125 degC under the bonnet. The additive has been run in production, achieving higher line speeds for some of Dow's automotive wiring customers, and Dow plans soon to commercialise the technology as InStep Polymer Enhancer and move its application on to other wiring industry sectors.
To enable automotive cable manufacturers to asses the performance gains from using FR EVA 100 NT EXP1, Dow Wire & Cable has developed a model to predict line rate improvements, estimating how it will perform in actual operating conditions.
New process for carbon nanotubes widens their commercial potential November 15, 2005
The cost of making carbon nanotubes on an industrial scale has been reduced by a process developed by Bayer MaterialScience, which is planning to market the material as Baytubes. The process is said to overcome problems of high price - up to Eur 1,000/kg - and fluctuating quality which Bayer says has prevented more widespread use of nanotubes.
Baytubes are multi-walled tubes comprising up to 15 graphite layers. They have a maximum mean diameter of 50 nanometers - more than 10,000 times thinner than a human hair. Custom-made nanotubes with different diameters, lengths and wall thicknesses can be produced by selecting the corresponding catalyst.
Bayer anticipates a wide range of uses. The addition of small quantities can make a plastic moulding so electrically conductive that it can be painted without any further pre-treatment, using waterborne or powder coatings. Carbon nanotubes can be incorporated in films for anti-static packaging materials, such as those used for electronic components. Another possibility is the electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding of computer and mobile telephone housings.
The black powder withstands mechanical loads 60 times better than steel at only one-sixth the weight. It conducts heat better than diamond. It is insensitive to heat and, depending on the molecular structure, behaves like an electric conductor or semi-conductor. The key to these properties is the molecular structure of the nanotubes: the carbon atoms in the tube wall form a uniform, hexagonal lattice, comparable to a honeycomb. This arrangement imparts very high mechanical strength. If the hexagon edges are aligned parallel to the cylinder axis - like in single-walled nanotubes - the material conducts electricity better than copper. If they are aligned vertically, the material acts like a semiconductor.
Ticona takes squeaky clean approach for medical grade acetal November 15, 2005
An acetal production line for critical medical grades has been started up at Kelsterbach in Germany by Ticona. The line, for Hostaform MT, runs separately from the production of industrial grades and Ticona says that its improved production conditions 'ensure purity and traceability of the individual formulation components right back to source'.
The plant has been designed for efficient clean down of walls and floors, and has a quality management system based on a Guidance for Industry published by the US Food and Drug Administration in which samples are taken from each batch and tested by the analytical methods used in the pharmaceutical industry.
Access man to run Basell's finances November 15, 2005
Access Industries, which bought Basell on August 1, has put its own man in charge of the money. Alan Bigman, a senior vice president at Access, will succeed Wolfgang Mende as chief financial officer of Basell Holdings on January 1. He will also join the company's management board. Wolfgang Mende, CFO and member of the management board since the formation of Basell in October 2000, will return to Shell as executive vice president finance, Shell Trading.
New CFO at Berstorff November 15, 2005
MPM Group company Berstorff also has a new chief financial officer. As of January 15, Uwe Helmerking will succeed Dr Bruno Niemeyer who is leaving the company. Uwe Helmerking, moves from accountants KPMG where he has been a senior manager.
Borealis has a new wire chief November 15, 2005
Hans Christian Ambjerg has become vice president wire & cable at Borealis from November 1. He has moved from being group vice president, business development at Chr Hansen, Denmark.
Bottle bagging companies combine November 8, 2005
The two principal players in the automation of bottle handling for dairies have become one, with the take over by Dassett Process Engineering of BottleTech Solutions.
Both companies make bagging and automation equipment, but Dassett has other interests which tide it over when the market is quiet, whereas BottleTech didn't. The lack of steady business led BottleTech's principal Andrew Steward to sell to Dassett.
There is no change in BottleTech's Toddington operation.
Coke and Boots put RPET bottles on the shelves November 4, 2005
Packaging containing recycled PET is now being used by Boots and Coca-Cola Enterprises as part of a project to evaluate the technical feasibility and customer acceptance of recycled PET in retail packaging.
The project is funded by WRAP, the Waste & Resources Action Programme, and has already seen Marks & Spencer working in conjunction with Closed Loop London to introduce post-use recycled plastic in the packaging for its Food to Go range.
Coca-Cola is using RPET in 500 ml Diet Coke bottles and other products. It is the first time that the company has used mechanically recycled plastic in its bottles in Great Britain and it is testing different types of RPET including flake and pellet at 25 per cent inclusion rate. Around 1,000 tonnes of RPET will be used during the trial in more than 150 million 500 ml bottles.
Boots is using 30 per cent RPET in bottles for its high profile Ingredients toiletries range, providing the opportunity to research the use of RPET in a non-food sector. It will be assessing the viability of using RPET in terms of efficient manufacture, product quality and consumer acceptance.
Dow to shut Barry PS plant November 3, 2005
Dow is to close its Barry polystyrene plant by the end of the year.
The 'extremely difficult decisions' it has had to take reflect 'the competitive business climate that Dow faces in this industry', says the company. 'We must take action to maximize the efficiency of Dow's asset utilisation in order to restore the long-term sustainability and profitability of Dow's polystyrene business'.
Dow has a global polystyrene capacity of 2·3 million tonnes and in Europe makes Styron and Styron A-Tech at six sites: Tessenderlo, Belgium; Schkopau, Germany; Lavrion, Greece; Terneuzen, The Netherlands; Bilbao, Spain; and at Barry in South Wales. The Barry plant has a capacity of 75,000 tonnes but has operated historically below capacity.
Twenty four people are employed at the site, but the actual number of job losses has yet to be determined.
Exhibition organisers start counting support November 3, 2005
The war to win the hearts and minds of Britain's plastics exhibition goers has hotted up. After the success of Interplas last month the organiser, Reed Exhibitions, started on a campaign to woo trade organisations into supporting Interplas as the British plastics exhibition. Now Emap, which is organising its Plastics Design and Moulding exhibition next September, has announced Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining support for the two exhibitions it is planning earlier in the year, Extrusion, Compounding & Additives and Plastics Forming & Cutting.
Lanxess plans US closure November 3, 2005
Lanxess rubber chemicals subsidiary Rhein Chemie is to close one of its sites in the USA - at Trenton in New Jersey - and consolidate all its activities at its other site at Chardon in Ohio. The move, scheduled to be completed by the end of next year, is part of a global restructuring plan intended to save Lanxess Eur 60 million a year. Last month Lanxess announced the closure of a French nitrile rubber plant as part of this programme.
Distrupol adds the Baltics to DuPont representation November 3, 2005
Distrupol is to extend its distribution of DuPont engineering polymers to the Baltic states. The agreement, which is effective from November 1, covers Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The company already represents DuPont in the Nordic countries, the UK and Ireland.
Board changes at Clariant November 3, 2005
Clariant has a new chairman and a new chief executive. Roland Loesser, the current chief executive, becomes chairman in April, and Jan Secher joins the company from SICPA Group of Lausanne to become chief executive on January 1. Professor Dieter Seebach is to retire as member of the board and Dr Peter Chen, chemistry professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, is to be nominated to replace him.
Mineral fillers acquisition November 1, 2005
Minerals group Imerys, whose Specialty Minerals Business Group makes mineral fillers for plastics and rubbers, has bought the Denain-Anzin Minéraux subsidiary of the French Nord Est Group. DAM produces kaolins, feldspars, micas and quartz from industrial facilities located mostly in France, as well as in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Germany.
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The 'serious competition' to Interplas referred to by Frank Davis notched up more support this week. PIFA, the Packaging and Industrial Films Association, has lent its name to the Extrusion, Compounding & Additives 2006 exhibition being run by EMAP alongside Plastics Forming and Cutting in Telford next May. The publishing group is also staging Plastics Design and Moulding at the same venue in September.