PolyOne Makes New Moves

A new compounding alliance, expansion in liquid colors, and two new business units are the latest headlines from PolyOne Corp., Cleveland. The most recent announcement was that PolyOne signed a market-development agreement with Eastman Chemical Co., Kingsport, Tenn., to be the exclusive North American compounder of filled systems using Eastman’s new Tritan proprietary copolyester (details in our Dec. ’07 issue). Tritan boasts unusual toughness and heat resistance for a copolyester, plus chemical resistance and easy processing. PolyOne will work with its customers and Eastman to develop specialty niche applications for Tritan compounds. PolyOne also recently expanded its liquid color concentrate production capacity by up to 50% at Massillon, Ohio. Upgraded mixers and grinding mills there reportedly also will increase quality and consistency. In addition, PolyOne has designated a new business segment called Specialty Engineered Materials, which includes the recent GLS Corp. acquisition, plus the former North American Engineered Materials operating segment. Finally, Geon Performance Polymers is the new name of the company’s Vinyl Business segment. The name indicates the shift toward performance and specialty materials in this segment over the last two years. (866) 765-9663 • www.polyone.com