This page is an archive of news and news background stories. Stories are placed here when they expire from the news pages and are filed in date order, most recent on the top. Go to the most recent or browse through the headline links.
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Delphi plans to slash jobs worldwide March 31, 2006
US-based automotive supplies giant Delphi is planning to shut or sell around a third of its global manufacturing sites by 2008 as it restructures itself, which would leave it with only eight of its 29 US plants. No details have been published of which plants outside the USA would go. It is planning to cut 8,500 jobs worldwide - 25 per cent of its salaried work force. Around 40 per cent of corporate management jobs will also be cut.
Product lines deemed 'non-core' for disposal include brake and chassis systems, catalysts, cockpits and instrument panels, door modules and latches, ride dynamics, steering and wheel bearings.
Delphi, which has been in Chapter 11 protection from its creditors since October last year, was spun off from General Motors in 1999, and remains GM's largest supplier. The company is attempting to restructure employment wage and pension contracts - complicated because of GM's commitment to its former workers - to reduce its labour costs and renegotiate unprofitable supply contracts with GM: supply contracts which caused chief executive Robert Miller to comment 'We simply cannot continue to sell products at a loss'.
Unions are resisting the moves and there have been threats of industrial action. Such action could cripple General Motors. The cost to GM of the effects of Delphi's bankruptcy is estimated to be around $5·5 billion, which, if it had to contribute to a settlement between Delphi and the unions, could escalate and push the struggling car giant itself into bankruptcy, according to some commentators.
The expected revelation of who is buying the research and consultancy company Rapra Technology has been delayed again. Staff were told two days ago that a sale had gone through and the name of the buyer would be revealed today. But it wasn't.
Some reports, based on the Shawbury rumour mill, put Smithers Scientific Services in the chair having beaten Bodycote. CERAM is also rumoured to have been a late bidder.
But until the administrators make their statement the buyer, and the rumoured price of around £2 million, remain conjecture.
Meanwhile the protest web site at www.rapadmin.com continues to attract visitors - if the hit counter is to be believed, more than 3,100 in 10 days - some of whom are leaving interesting viewpoints which for the sake of fair play (and the laws of libel) we cannot repeat.
Basell to buy into Kazakhstan chemical complex March 31, 2006
Basell is to take a stake in a petrochemical complex to be built in Western Kazakhstan. It has signed a memorandum of understanding with KazMunayGaz Exploration & Production and SAT & Company to develop the project which will include an ethane extraction unit in Kulsary and an integrated petrochemical complex in Atyrau. Basell intends to participate directly as a shareholder in the project and will also provide sales and marketing support.
The complex will have a world-scale ethane cracker and polyethylene facilities, as well as a propane dehydrogenation unit and polypropylene facility. Start up is planned for 2010. Basell says that by using its latest process technologies, manufacturing costs will be among the lowest in the industry.
Management changes at K-M March 31, 2006
Krauss-Maffei has rejigged some of its top management. Dr Franz Grajewski, Extrusion Division general manager, is moving to the company's Injection Moulding Technology Division as director of development for both injection moulding and extrusion. New general manager of the Extrusion Division is Alois Schmid, previously production manager for injection moulding machinery at the Munich plant. Franz Füreder joins the Extrusion Division as general sales manager, replacing Marc Glabisch who now heads international sales. Ulrich Bär joins Krauss-Maffei as head of supply management.
Trelleborg buys and sells March 31, 2006
Trelleborg is to sell a subsidiary in North America and to buy a business in Australia.
The US sale is of the Goodall Rubber Company which sells and distributes hoses and hose connectors in the US and Canada. Trelleborg bought it in 1986 and is now selling it to Lewis-Goetz & Co of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as part of its move out of non-core operations.
The Australian buy is Harbour & Marine Engineering of Melbourne which makes systems for docking and mooring. Harbour & Marine Engineering will be integrated into Trelleborg's Marine Systems business unit.
Petroplas opens the door to Biesterfeld March 31, 2006
Materials distributor Petroplas of Reading has linked with German-based trans-European distributor Biesterfeld Plastic in a 50:50 joint company. Biesterfeld Petroplas gives Biesterfeld the UK foothold that it has been seeking for several years. Managing director is Guy Paine of Petroplas, and general manager is Biesterfeld's Rainer Huneke.
Induction-heated tooling tested for long fibre PU injection March 31, 2006
The Cage System tool surface heating technology is being evaluated by Krauss-Maffei as a cost-effective method of manufacturing light-weight, glass-fibre reinforced polyurethane parts with a good surface appearance using its LFI long fibre injection process. The Cage System, developed by RocTool in France, heats only the mould surface using an induction current generated from a 'cage' around the tool. Temperatures up to 400 degC can be achieved very rapidly, and as there is no mass heating of the tool, it can be cooled quickly using water circulation.
The two companies aim to show the results of their collaboration sometime in the summer with a full scale demonstration.
New structure for Eastman March 31, 2006
Eastman Chemical is being restructured. As of April 1 it will be split into two business groups based on related technologies and assets. The chemicals and fibres business group will consist of the company's performance chemicals and intermediates; fibres; and coatings, adhesives, specialty polymers and inks segments. The polymers business group will include the company's polymers and specialty plastics segments. Components of the Voridian division - originally intended to become a separate company concentrating on PET - will be folded into the appropriate business unit. The restructure is intended 'to tap synergies across technologies and markets'.
Sidel to expand Malaysian output March 31, 2006
Manufacture of Sidel blow moulding machines in Malaysia is to be increased with the opening of an 11,000 m² building, two thirds of which will be used for assembly and testing, to replace the existing two plants located 20 km apart. Sidel Malaysia assembles low and medium-output rate PET machines that are identical to those made in France. Nearly 480 machines have been built and sold around the world since Sidel Malaysia opened in 1996.
Last year the Malaysian facility was responsible for the design, development and production of a new range of linear blow moulding machines, the SBO Compact, for production rates below 7,000 bottles per hour.
K-M beefs up its automation business March 31, 2006
The Neureder automation company, which Krauss-Maffei bought in 2002 has been renamed Krauss-Maffei Automation and the company plans to expand it to built it into a major business activity. The aim is to increase the number of injection moulding machines for standard applications that it fits with linear robots during assembly.
The company's headquarters remain at Oberding-Schwaig near Erding in Germany and the production area at the Munich-Allach base will continue to be extended with a production area of 900 m² being started-up in the next few weeks.
Dow switches off idle TDI line March 31, 2006
Dow Chemical has permanently shut down the toluene diisocyanate line at its Freeport, Texas, USA plant that it turned off in 2001. Dow says the line was idled in 2001 due to weak demand and abundant market supply for TDI at the time, although in 2001 it said that maintenance at the plant had prevented it meeting increased demand for TDI. To return the line to production would require more investment than current market prices could justify. Dow has a second TDI line continuing in production at Freeport.
Friday target for Rapra sale announcement March 29, 2006
A buyer has, apparently, been found for Rapra Technology. A staff meeting today was told that a formal announcement will be made on Friday. The announcement expected early this week was reputedly delayed because a late bidder entered the ring on Friday.
Labelling technology set to breathe new life into EPS containers March 29, 2006
IML puts top to bottom photo quality decoration on EPS cup
The IMage EPS cup decorating technology which Nova Chemicals bought from Autonation of the Netherlands last October is set to go commercial in Europe within the next couple of weeks. An Eastern European converter is likely to be the first user, with a Western European company not far behind.
IMage is a standard plastics packaging technology - in-mould labelling - but what Nova says is very different is its application to EPS cups. In fact it says there are four specific aspects of IML on EPS packaging on which it has been able to build patents.
At the moment Nova is offering IMage as a package with supply of its own EPS bead, but doesn't rule out the possibility of an IMage-only license. The package gives the company growth potential in two directions. From a technology point of view it is in line with the value-added trail which the company embarked on last year to earn more from downstream business. And it also provides a lever to enhance EPS bead sales.
The IMage-decorated cup bridges the divide between performance and appearance. Paper cups can be printed with a good surface appearance, but are less satisfactory when used for hot beverages. Solid injection moulded cups can be printed or in-mould labelled, but for use with hot liquids they need to be ribbed, which cuts down the presentation area. EPS cups have a high strength to weight ratio, rigidity, and very good thermal resistance, but their surface does not allow the standard of photo-quality printing that can be achieved with a label, applying labels after moulding is expensive, and moulding EPS has until now not been compatible with applying labels in the mould. Although the in-mould label improves the surface finish of the cup, it really needs to start with as fine a finish as possible, and that is where Nova feels it has an edge through the small diameter beads it is able to supply for this market.
One product application which Nova seems keen on is for ice cream packaging. Because of the cup's insulation properties the ice cream warms up more slowly and more evenly, preventing the 'solid centre in a jacket of milk' which can happen in some other types of tub.
Nova isn't saying how it has persuaded in-mould labelling to work in the hot and steamy atmosphere of an EPS mould. No special label handling technologies are involved - at present vacuum pinning is used, but static pinning is not necessarily out of the question - and the process has been used with both paper and film labels. PP labels are fixed with a tie layer for adhesion, but the company is aiming to use PS label stock to give it an all-PS product for recycling - at present the labelled cup meets code 7 requirements but an-all PS solution would bring it down to code 6. The final choice of label stock, however, is with the converter, as Nova will not be supplying labels.
Daylight or night light - the roof lights up your car March 29, 2006
Polycarbonate glazing is not only taking over the car roof business, it is also now being pitched at interior lighting - with the same components. Exatec has developed a way of integrating an electroluminescent band into the perimeter of the transparent car roof. It is applied as a multi-layer film acting as a kind of capacitor between two electrodes. Also in the sandwich is a luminescent pigment acting as a dielectric. When a voltage is applied, the pigment begins to shine.
The large luminous areas are dazzle and shadow-free, are low in power consumption, are highly ductile, withstand heat and cold, and do not themselves heat up.
Exatec lights up the inside of your car
Wavin sells out down under March 29, 2006
The Wavin Group has sold its 25 per cent stake in Antipodean pipeline systems producer Iplex Pipelines to its partner in the company, the Crane Group of Australia, for Eur 61 million. It is not severing connections, however, as the two companies have entered into a ten-year technology agreement. The Crane Group is a leading manufacturer of non-ferrous metal products and plastic pipes and fittings and is the largest distributor of plumbing supplies in Australasia.
Henkel quits double glazing sealants March 29, 2006
Henkel Technologies is selling its double glazing sealants business to HB Fuller of the USA. The insulating glass sealant business became part of Henkel as part of the 1991 Teroson acquisition. It is a non-core technology within the group.
DVDs moulded in less than 2 seconds March 29, 2006
Just how much quicker can optical discs be moulded? At this year's Media-Tech Expo, the International Trade Fair for the Optical Discs industry, Netstal will be running an all-electric e-Jet optical disc moulding machine making DVD-9 discs in under 2 seconds.
Rapra - count down to a conclusion March 26, 2006
An announcement is expected shortly of a potential buyer for Rapra Technology, which went into administration on March 8. Administrator BDO Stoy Hayward has been in discussions with several potential buyers, at least one of which is understood to be from outside the UK, and a deal is likely to be struck in the next few days. The sale of the company as a whole to an established business already involved in plastics testing and consultancy is likely to be welcomed by existing employees, around a third of whom attended an action meeting last week when they were shown a differing view of the move into administration and the company's pension liabilities from that which they had when they arrived.
A website, www.rapadmin.com, set up by one-time technical director Dr David Wright, reports on the outcome of the meeting and also carries a bulletin board reflecting some extreme comments on the reasons for the move into administration.
With the dust only recently stirred up, let alone settled, Rapra's position as a driving force in a number of external projects will need to be clarified. Rapra has taken the role of lead organisation in several EC-supported multi-national research projects. Should the company be sold piecemeal, as was originally feared by some of the staff, this would raise questions about the cohesion of these projects. Its sale as an entity may also call for a reappraisal of its position in these research projects by its new owners and early assurances of continuity of leadership.
One external activity with which Rapra is very closely interlinked is the Faraday Plastics government-sponsored R & D operation which is now part of the broader-based Materials Knowledge Transfer Network. Faraday Plastics has made no comment on Rapra's administration, but the Materials KTN anticipated possible concerns when it posted on its web site two days after the appointment of the administrators that 'Following the surprise announcement by Rapra, the lead partner in Faraday Plastics, to enter into administration, the management of the Materials Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) have been quick to clarify that this will not hazard the continued activity of the KTN within the plastics community'.
Management buy out at Boxmore March 26, 2006
Boxmore Plastics, based in Lurgan in Northern Ireland, has been sold by Chesapeake Corporation of the USA to a management team and renamed Beverage Plastics. Chesapeake bought the company in 2000 as part of the paperboard and plastic packaging group Boxmore International. It makes PET bottles, preforms and HDPE closures for the soft drinks and water markets.
Chesapeake says the sale is part of a continuing review of its businesses, which in plastics packaging it sees as niche markets and products. It retains four packaging plants for agro chemicals, industrial chemicals, automotive products and other specialty chemicals - in Crewe, one plant in France and two in China.
Unions act globally to represent DuPont workers March 26, 2006
DuPont has been targeted for international trades union solidarity with a move by the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) which has set up the ICEM Global Union Network of DuPont workers.
The ICEM says that 'DuPont has a long standing history of industrial problems in the United States, where it continues to bitterly fight against trade union representation'. The new union was inaugurated at a meeting in Brussels attended by representatives of workers in Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States, and says its main ambitions are 'the exchange of information and company strategies, useful for collective bargaining, as well as the planning of joint action where necessary'.
Among concerns expressed by the union are: the out-sourcing of DuPont's human resource functions; the growing concern about worker and community exposure to PFOA (C8) from Teflon-related chemicals; the lack of full company reporting of accidents; company support of union-busting in the United States; and 'the lack of a business strategy in Europe regarding DuPont's performance coating business'.
Summit adds metal fabrication March 26, 2006
To increase control and cut costs of the metal fabrications needed for customised materials handling systems Summit Systems has bought a metal fabrication company. The company says that its systems often require modifications to standard equipment, particularly as it is called on to supply more complex designs. Using sub-contractors increases the cost of a job, and takes it away from the direct control of the Summit engineers.
The metal fabrications business and its personnel are to be relocated in a dedicated 6,000 ft² facility at Summit which will enable complete projects to be built under one roof.
US water soluble films group buys more European penetration March 26, 2006
American water-soluble film group MonoSol, which owns the former Aquafilm company in this country, has bought Greensol of France. The acquisition strengthens MonoSol's presence in Europe and expands its resources to develop new products and new applications for water soluble films. The two companies have collaborated in marketing and development for some years.
Among the growth pointers for water-soluble films MonoSol cites the detergent market, where it says 15 per cent of detergent in Europe is sold in PVOH unit-dose packages; edible packaging film for ingredient dosing in food processing for which the company has received FDA approval of its F-100 film; and acid-resistant water-soluble packaging for aggressive cleaning compounds, chemicals and agricultural chemical packaging, for which it has developed its new M-8900 film.
Pensioner speaks out against Rapra management's move into administration March 13, 2006
The suggestion last week that Rapra Technology has gone into administration because of its pension liabilities has been given credibility in an - as yet - one-man response which raises questions over the company's motives.
Former technical director Dr David Wright started a protest this morning by picketing the Shawbury site and posting an internet (www.rapadmin.com) bulletin board inviting questions and comments. By a strange irony the web site went on line a year and a day after Rapra published a press release on its golden jubilee, quoting managing director Andrew Ward saying 'it is particularly pleasing to be able to celebrate a Golden Jubilee at the end of 2004 with an investment fund of over £1 million and a plan to create fifty new jobs in the business over the next five years.'
On his web site Dr Wright accuses the owners/managers who took part in the buy-out of Rapra in 2002 as being 'either unfortunate or blind enough to be lumbered with a large liability (the pension fund deficit)'. Whether or why the pension fund was in deficit is not expanded, but it is Dr Wright's contention that the Rapra management has elected to put the company into administration because this is a necessary condition of transferring its pension liabilities to the government's Pension Protection Fund - of which more at http://pensionprotectionfund.org.uk - and freeing the assets for sale. The knock-on effect of doing this, he says, 'will inevitably lead to the undervaluing of the company, to its dismemberment, and probably to the closure of the Shawbury site'. The compensation scheme from the Pension Protection Fund he describes as 'the worst case scenario' and in time would see 'most pensioners...in very reduced circumstances'.
Dr Wright has called a meeting for tomorrow night in Shawbury village hall 'to share information and ideas'.
Rapra in administration March 13, 2006
Rapra Technology has gone into administration with the loss of 21 of its 139 jobs at Shawbury near Shrewsbury. The company was today referring management enquiries to administrator BDO Stoy Hayward, which says it is hopeful of finding a buyer for the business as a going concern. It is thought that Rapra is another victim of pension liabilities which have brought down a number of British companies - certainly pension contributions turned last year's profit to a loss.
Rapra - originally the Rubber and Plastics Research Association - became a fully commercial company in 2002 when it was bought by its management and restructured from being a company limited by guarantee to a private limited company. It set out on a trail of expansion not possible in its previous guise and said that the MBO would release funds for development of the company, and would also protect it from being taken over itself. Almost immediately it opened an office in Ireland - the company has also for a long time operated an office in Billingham. At the end of 2004 Rapra announced plans to create 50 new jobs over the next five years in a 40 per cent staffing increase targeting a 50 per cent revenue boost.
Graham opens Dutch hole-in-the-wall bottle plant March 13, 2006
Graham Packaging has started up an on-site bottle-making operation with Royal Numico in the Netherlands. It is making HDPE multi-layer bottles for Numico's infant milk and clinical nutritional products for the European market using proprietary Graham Packaging technology.
Romar invests in more coex film capacity March 10, 2006
Film producer Romar Packaging of Leeds has invested more than £500,000 in a CMG three-layer blown film line. The company, part of the Roberts Mart Group, expects to increase output by 1,750 tonnes a year. As well as providing additional production for current customer demand, Romar and Roberts Mart are planning to take the increased capacity into new sectors in collation shrink packaging, including bottled water and soft drinks, toilet tissue and kitchen rolls.
Much of the film will be converted by Roberts Mart where it can be printed with print repeats of up to 1,350 mm in up to 10 colours.
The new line is the third coex line to go into the factory, and Romar plans to develop new products as lower cost replacements for monolayer films.
The film line is part of a wider investment by Romar, which has also bought a new reclaim machine for handling the trim and machine waste, two high speed doors to control the production atmosphere and further ancillary equipment to improve production.
Injection machine sales boost for Husky - but all in the garden's not yet roses March 10, 2006
Sales of injection moulding machines by Canada's Husky increased sufficiently in its last six months trading period for the company to switch back into profitability. In the six months to the end of January the company's sales reached $407·5 million compared with $366·3 million in the same period last year, and reversing the $16·1 million it lost in last year's first half to a $2·7 million profit.
Not only were sales up, but orders in the period increased around 20 per cent from $454·7 million last year to $547·5 million.
The recovery was largely due to sales in North America. In the six months period they rose 14 per cent under the influence of a 32 per cent rise in the second quarter mainly in PET machines for isotonic drinks and water bottles, and automotive applications. European sales rose 13 per cent in the first half, mainly through sales of PET machines into Eastern Europe, offsetting reductions in the company's other European markets, although orders increased in all European markets except for packaging.
Husky is far from complacent about its upturn, however. The current outstanding order level indicates it will increase its profit in the third quarter, but past experience has shown that its PET business can slow in the second half, so with other negative factors like the strength of the Canadian dollar and rising energy and commodity prices, Husky expects still to face tough times later in the year.
Composites consortium sends a new start to Sri Lankan fishermen March 10, 2006
Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Give a man a fishing boat, and you give him his life back. New hope for fishermen of Sri Lanka whose boats were destroyed by the Indian Ocean tsunami at the end of 2004 is on its way from a consortium of companies headed by Plastech of Gunnislake in Cornwall.
After the catastrophe, Plastech's Alan Harper contacted friends and colleagues in the composites industry with a plan to not just replace the lost boats, but to give the community the means to build them themselves. The project acquired international support from companies in the composites and marine industries including SeaRay Boats, AOC, Axel, Brunswick, Weld On and Nidacore from the USA; Scott Bader from the UK; Nord Composites from France; Saertex from South Africa and Andos/Norac from Sweden, with additional support from members of Saltash Wesley Methodist Church, who raised funds to contribute towards the purchase of some of the key machinery. The group teamed up with Relief Aid International based at McMaster University at Hamilton in Canada to focus the initiative on bringing relief to a specific fishing community in Sri Lanka.
At the end of February this year boat moulds and the supporting resin transfer moulding machinery were shipped from Plastech's site in Gunnislake, destined for the town of Kinniya in the Trincomalee district of Sri Lanka. When the equipment arrives a production unit will be established by Relief Aid International with help from Alan Harper to commission it and, once production has started, duplicate mould sets can be reproduced allowing further boat building units to be set up quickly.
Alison Miculan, chief executive of Relief Aid International, said: 'This project has not only provided a means for manufacturing low-cost day-fishing boats on location in Sri Lanka, but it has introduced a new technology to the country that will restore non-fishing livelihoods as well.'
Borealis confirms Bamble HDPE closure March 10, 2006
Borealis today confirmed that its 110,000 tonnes HDPE plant at Bamble in Norway will close later this year, as expected from the company's announcement at the beginning of February. Around 100 employees will be affected by the closure.
A statement from Borealis says: 'Our aim is to now focus on improving the competitiveness of our low density polyethylene and polypropylene plants in Bamble in synergy with the total operations of hub Scandinavia and on cost competitive feedstock opportunities in the region. This is a further step by Borealis to strengthen its
European operations.'
Dow and BASF take a step closer to HPPO production March 10, 2006
Plans by Dow Chemical and BASF to build a low cost alternative process for making propylene oxide - a principal component in polyols - have been formalised with the signing of a joint venture agreement by the two companies. A plant to make 300,000 tonnes/year of PO using technology based on hydrogen peroxide will come on stream in 2008 at BASF's Antwerp, Belgium site.
Two joint ventures are being set up, one to build and operate the plant - which will give both partners equal take-off rights - and another to further develop the HPPO technology.
Milacron restructure likely to downsize the Malterdingen plant March 8, 2006
Ferromatik Milacron has confirmed reports that it is to restructure its injection moulding machinery plant at Malterdingen in Germany, but as with previous statements, details are extremely sketchy.
Milacron first hinted at the restructure last year when it re-forecast lower its 2005 third quarter and full year performance. Chairman and chief executive Ronald Brown told shareholders that because of 'ongoing softness in markets served by our European plastics technologies operations' the company would take 'significant measures to cut costs'.
Now Ferromatik Milacron has announced 'a strategic and organizational alignment of the company' which will bring a 'product and market oriented organization' requiring 'a capacity change' at Malterdingen. The company is in negotiations with its Works Council to determine the impact of the new organisational structure, and the number of jobs to be affected.
At the Plast exhibition in February Ferromatik Milacron confirmed a change in strategy for the manufacture of injection moulding machines over 1,300 tonnes. Parts will no longer be made in Germany, but instead will be made in the USA and shipped to Malterdingen for assembly. While Maxima machines of 1,600 and 2,000 tonnes have been built at Malterdingen, it is understood that there have been very few, with consequent high production overheads.
The latest statement from the company blames competition from suppliers in low-wage countries, a fall in demand due to high crude oil prices and increasing costs of other materials such as steel for the need to restructure. In 2005 Milacron's European machine sales lost $4·9 million compared with a loss of $1·9 million in 2004. Actual machine sales fell from $167 million in 2004 to $150 million, however this was partly due to the weak order position towards the end of 2004, and in fact new orders last year were only slightly down on 2004 at $153 million ($155 million).
In his fourth quarter statement last year Ronald Brown commented that the restructuring of Milacron's European businesses would continue throughout 2006, with the bulk of the benefits not realised until 2007. The company expects to save around $15 million a year from the changes.
While the focus of Milacron's European machinery business is on the Ferromatik Milacron injection moulding machine operation it does, of course, also build blow moulding machines in Italy and the Czech Republic with some assembly in Germany. Changes are possible here as well. The company has started building blow moulding machines at the Ahmedabad plant of Ferromatik Milacron India, although no announcement has been made of how this additional worldwide capacity will affect its fragmented European base.
And still waiting to be revealed are Milacron's plans for its extruder business. After selling its Austrian-based Cincinnati Extrusion operation to SMS in 1999 Milacron retired from the world market under a non-competition agreement. This expired a year ago, and Cincinnati came back worldwide with sales of Cincinnati Milacron (as opposed to Cincinnati Extrusion) extruders built in the USA. The company has hinted since then of manufacturing outside the USA and this was hardened up in reports from the Plast exhibition. Just where has still not been revealed, but India and China look like being top options.
Plastics news web sites fold March 8, 2006
The plastics news web site PEplus - Polymer Engineering News - and its associated site Semi-Finished Plastics News have ceased operations. A message from their editors says:
'It is with great sadness that we have to announce that we have decided to suspend publication of PEplus and SFP-news.
'Over the last two years the markets have become tighter and tighter leaving companies with little money to spend on investment in new equipment, let alone marketing or advertising. As the circulation of both titles has to be constantly adjusted and improved to keep pace with companies going out of business and new start-ups, there is always a cost involved. That and other expenses have recently become overwhelming and without support from the markets we feel it is time to concentrate our efforts on more productive activities.'
Solvay enters fuel cell JV March 8, 2006
Solvay is to ally its polymer membrane business with the catalyst operations of Umicore of Germany in a joint venture to develop membrane electrode assemblies for fuel cells - the part of the cell where hydrogen reacts with oxygen to generate electricity. The 50:50 joint venture, SolviCore, will be based at Umicore's main R & D site in Hanau and is expected to become fully operational on July 1.
Big bubble from Battenfeld March 8, 2006
A blown film line built by Battenfeld Gloucester for a Latin American company is claimed as one of the biggest in the world. The line, for three-layer coextruded MD/LLDPE geomembranes, has a 2·2 m die and a 25 m tower. It produces 7 m wide film from 500 - 2,500 microns gauge at more than 1,200 kg/hour.
The die, one of the largest ever built by Battenfeld Gloucester, was designed specifically for geomembranes with particular concern to eliminate dead spots and prevent overheating to avoid negatively affecting the properties of the LLDPE - specified to increase the elasticity of the web.
The three extruders in the line are Battenfeld's Contracool air-cooled units. The B extruder, used for the core of the web, has a 203 mm diameter 36:1 L/D screw, and the A and C extruders for the inner and outer skins have 89 mm screws, also 36 D. Use of such relatively long screws increases the mixing efficiency and homogeneity of the melt and reduces process heat.
Both skins of the web need texturing for greater traction when they are installed, so Battenfeld Gloucester added a system to pump nitrogen into the A and C extruders. When the nitrogen exits the die in the outer and inner layers, it disrupts the melt flow and creates a controlled texturing of the skins. The line can also produce film with non-textured, smooth edges which aids the welding of the geomembranes to each other.
Other special components include the unfolder, secondary nip and winder. The Model 196C winder is designed for geomembranes with a 7·31 m wide spindle. It can be programmed to operate at speeds of 1 to 10 m/min. The largest roll that can be wound is 900 mm, although the company generally winds rolls 400 to 500 mm in diameter.
Record year for Bayer's plastics business March 7, 2006
Bayer's MaterialScience division, which includes its plastics operations, was the star performer for the company last year, with net profits more than doubling on sales up by a quarter in what was 'one of the most successful years in our company's history' according to chairman Werner Wenning.
The division's two principal materials, polyurethanes and polycarbonates, increased sales by 24 per cent (PU) and 30 per cent (PC). The cumulative 24·4 per cent higher sales figure at Eur 10,695 million was largely due to price increases forced by higher raw material costs, although there was 'a slight further improvement in volumes'.
Bayer MaterialScience has been given a budget of Eur 700 million for expansion of projects in China, the USA and in Germany. The company is currently building a 350,000 tonnes diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) plant in Caojing near Shanghai, China which is scheduled to come on line in 2008, and the 100,000 tonnes polycarbonate plant due on line there in the middle of this year will be expanded to 200,000 tonnes by the end of 2007. Bayer plans to spend a total of $1·8 billion on the integrated site in Caojing between now and 2009.
The US investment is for the expansion of chlorine production at Baytown, Texas, USA, from 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes. Chlorine is part of Bayer's integrated production chain for polycarbonates and polyurethanes.
The investment in Germany will be for refurbishments at the Bayer Chemical Park in Leverkusen where the MaterialScience division expects to move into its new headquarters at the end of this year or the beginning of next.
Dugdale gears up for growth in technical PVC March 7, 2006
PVC compounder Dugdale is pitching for increased business in the high performance PVC compounds market and has been expanding its management team accordingly. Last year Lee Constable joined the company from Prime Polymers as commercial/quality manager and has added networked statistical process analysis and strengthened existing quality control and procurement procedures.
In January Phil Goodison joined as sales director from Chemson and Martin Johnson joined from Hydro Polymers as technical service engineer. Now the company is waiting on contractual obligations to make another senior appointment.
Since 2001 Dugdale's sales have grown 40 per cent and the company has reached a capacity of nearly 24,000 tonnes. Its portfolio has moved away from flexibles under pressure from Far East competition, and rigid grades now account for about 60 per cent of its output, with niche products such as negative temperature compounds and intumescent grades along with a small lot colour matched compound service.
EU to investigate part of the Ineos Innovene takeover March 6, 2006
When Ineos bought BP's Innovene olefins business the ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol operations at Dormagen, near Köln in Germany, were divided off to become a separate transaction. The wisdom of this move has now been made apparent as the European Union has begun an investigation into the potential anti-competitive nature of the takeover.
The EU says its preliminary market investigation has found that should the sale go ahead, Ineos would become 'by far the largest supplier of ethylene oxide to the merchant market in the European Economic Area' giving significant competition concerns. Consequently it has begun an in-depth inquiry into the possible effects of the takeover with a target date of July 14 to come to a decision on whether the concentration would significantly impede effective competition. Ethylene oxide is used for the production of ethylene glycols, which are used, among other things, to make PET.
BPF calls for government rethink on energy March 6, 2006
The British Plastics Federation has called on the government to suspend the Climate Change Levy to relieve the pressure on businesses from the increasing cost of energy. In a letter to energy minister Malcolm Wicks it refers to the recent survey of BPF members which showed a potential 7,000 job losses and substantial reductions in investment as a result of high energy costs.
The letter says: 'We realise of course that there are limits on the action that Government can take' and goes on to suggest six ways in which the effect on the plastics industry of energy costs could be reduced, including suspending the CCL, maintaining a watch on the UK and European energy markets, and developing new realistic energy strategies including waste incineration schemes.
Alcan sells US bottle business March 6, 2006
Alcan has found a buyer for the three North American PP and PET barrier bottle plants it has been looking to sell since last summer. It is to sell the plants - in Illinois, Ohio and Ontario - to Ball Corporation for $180 million.
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