Your Business in Brief - May 2006

Ampacet Boosts Capacity in Ohio

Ampacet Corp., Tarrytown, N.Y., has added a new twin-screw compounding line at Heath, Ohio, that increases capacity there by 20%. The new line will produce custom color concentrates for injection and blow molded packaging.

 

Bayshore Vinyl Bought by Mexichem

Bayshore Vinyl (formerly the Bayshore Group), Tennent, N.J., has been bought by Primex, a unit of Mexichem, a large chemical company based in Mexico City. Primex produces PVC resin and plasticizers. Bayshore comprises Bayshore Vinyl Compounds (flexibles), Bayshore Rigids, and Ricicla, a PVC recycler. The acquisition gives Bayshore access to a secure supply of raw materials, as well as to wire and cable compounds produced in Mexico.

 

Xaloy Acquires Dynisco Extrusion

Xaloy Inc., Pulaski, Va., has purchased Dynisco Extrusion, Hickory, N.C., from Dynisco LLC. With this purcase, Xaloy adds to its extrusion product line gear pumps, screen changers, water-rign pelletizers, and cleaning ovens. The Hickory site was included in the sale.

 

What’s Different About This NPE

Several new attractions will set this year’s Big Show apart from previous events:

• Make room for rubber: For the first time, the plastics show will have a TPE/Rubber Pavilion, co-sponsored by the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) and the Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA). It will highlight both TPEs and thermoset rubbers.
• Molds, molds molds: Another first for NPE will be the North American Moldmakers Pavilion, sponsored by SPI’s Moldmakers Div., the American Mold Builders Assoc. (AMBA), and the Canadian Association of Moldmakers (CAMM). Thirty to 40 companies are expected to participate. There will be hundreds of other tooling-related exhibits elsewhere in the show.
• Leading edge: Also first for NPE is the New Technology Pavilion highlighting four technologies expected to have broad implications for the future of plastics: nanotechnology, bioplastics, energy efficiency, and recycling. SPI will also host its second International Degradable Plastics Symposium immediately before NPE (June 14-17) in Chicago. (Contact Nancy Jones at SPI, 202-974-5267.) And Executive Conference Management will present the Nanocomposites 2006 conference in Chicago on June 18-19 (734-737-0507).
• Do it in the mold: Ask a panel of experts about another leading-edge topic over lunch at the show. Plastics Technology will sponsor a Q&A session on in-mold technologies—decorating, labeling, finishing, and assembly—on Wed., June 21 from noon to 1:30. Admission is free.
• A touch of Disney: See a fully automated manufacturing cell mold, assemble, and label an eight-piece toy robot, similar to the way it is produced for crowds of children and parents at the Fantastic Plastics Works exhibit at Innoventions at Epcot in Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. It’s running in booth N-4401.

 

Buss Leaves Coperion

Compounding extruder supplier Buss AG in Pratteln, Switzerland, has been purchased from the German Coperion Group by Swiss investor Fabrel Lotos and Buss management. Maker of the Buss Kneader, the firm’s U.S. branch is Buss, Inc. in Carol Stream, Ill. It will have its own booth (5926) at NPE in Chicago next month.

 

Spartech to Close Two Sheet Plants

As part of ongoing consolidation of its sheet extrusion business, Spartech Corp., Clayton, Mo., plans to merge three plants in Richmond, Ind.; Clare, Mich.; and Greenville, Ohio, into a new facility to be built in Greenville. The project will take about 16 months and will reduce Spartech’s total number of plants to 39.

 

BASF Plans Polyols Expansion for PUR

BASF Corp., Polyurethanes, Wyandotte, Mich., plans to construct two new reactors and revamp two existing reactors in Geismar, La., to produce polyurethane polyols. It will also transfer a major part of the polyol product at Wyandotte to Geismar. These measures will lead to a 40% capacity increase from the current 550 million lb to 770 million lb/yr by 2008.

 

PAC Adds Film Scrap Repelletizing Line

Precision AirConvey (PAC), Newark, Del., has entered into a joint venture with plastics recycling equipment maker Plasmac Ltd. of Aylesbury, U.K. PAC already offers equipment for reclaiming film edge trim, film waste, and offspec rolls. Now it will also offer Plasmac’s line of 21 film-scrap repelletizing extruders. These systems can reclaim edge trim and roll scrap without prior granulation.

 

BASF Trims Plasticizer Product Portfolio

Rising petrochemical costs have caused BASF Corp., Florham Park, N.J., to reduce the number and volume of linear phthalate plasticizers produced in the U.S. BASF says the recent increases in ethylene prices and growing demand for linear alpha olefins in other markets have pushed up the cost of linear oxo alcohols—raw materials for linear plasticizers—faster than raw-material costs for competing plasticizers. To remain competitive, BASF sees a need to switch to plasticizers based on propylene and butene.

As a result, BASF’s Chemicals unit will no longer offer Palatinol 711P, 79P, or 9P linear plasticizers. “Although BASF will continue to supply certain linear plasticizers, the difference in cost between them and the branched products will increase further,” said Martha Brabston, North American business director for plasticizer and oxo alcohols. “For customers who desire a more cost-competitive alternative, we are helping them transition to our flagship product, Palatinol DPHP, or to other products in our plasticizer portfolio.”

 

AGY to Boost S-2 Glass Capacity

AGY in Aiken, S.C., will increase capacity for its high-strength S-2 glass reinforcement by 50% in the next 18 months. This year alone, the company aims to raise productivity by 15%. In addition, a project already under way will add 80% to capacity for making S-2 rovings for ballistic armor panels.

 

Borealis Licenses Technology for Novolen Metallocene PP

Borealis A/S of Denmark has licensed metallocene PP catalyst technology from Novolen Technology Holdings C.V., a joint venture of ABB and Equistar that acquired PP polymerization technology from BASF’s former Targor subsidiary. Borealis plans to apply the superior properties afforded by metallocene catalysts to its Borstar multimodal PP polymerization technology, which reportedly produces high processability. Both companies will work together to develop new metallocene catalysts. Borealis’ Film & Fibre Business Unit, which sells polyolefin resins, is located in Linz, Austria.

 

Mattec, CMS Software Partner in ERP Systems

Seamlessly integrated top-to-bottom plant information systems are now possible through a partnership between Mattec Corp., Loveland, Ohio, and CMS Software, Inc., Toronto (U.S. office in Nashville, Tenn.). Mattec’s ProHelp EPM production and process monitoring system for plastics can now provide shop-floor data in real time to CMS’s ERP (enterprise resource planning) plant-management systems. CMS has a significant customer base in plastics firms and automotive suppliers.

 

DuPont Joins Effort To Develop TP Composites

DuPont Co., Wilmington, Del., is working with LRM Industries, LLC of Orlando, Fla., to develop LRM’s Thermoplastic Flowforming (TPF) process for molding long-fiber thermoplastic composites. Up to now, LRM has been used primarily with polyolefins, though DuPont can contribute expertise in engineering thermoplastics. DuPont’s interest is in building and construction markets.

LRM is a joint venture of Envirokare Composites Corp., Orlando, and Nova Chemicals Inc., Pittsburgh. It was formed last year to further TPF development and licensing. TPF is a low-pressure, automated process for molding large structural parts of long-fiber reinforced thermoplastic. This three-step process entails compounding, extrusion of a molten slab into the bottom half of a mold in a vertical press, and compression molding. DuPont’s Building Innovations Group is interested in making large seamless parts, such as novel types of building panels that may incorporate arches or doorways.

 

PolyOne Sells Its Engineered Films Unit

Compounder and resin distributor PolyOne Corp., Avon Lake, Ohio, has completed the sale of its Engineered Films business to an investor group comprising members of the unit’s management team along with an investor group formed by Matrix Capital Markets. PolyOne will retain a minority ownership interest in the new entity. The Engineered Films unit produces customized plastic films for applications such as automobile and truck interiors, flooring, wall coverings, and pool liners. Headquartered in Winchester, Va., the unit operates manufacturing facilities there and in Lebanon, Pa.