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Johnson Controls buys Plastech´s interiors unit
DETROIT (July 2, 4:30 p.m. EDT) -- Automakers are staggering from the industry’s downturn, but the auto supply business may have just regained some stability as Johnson Controls Inc. takes over the interiors operation of bankrupt Plastech Engineered Products Inc.

Lego taking production back in-house
BILLUND, DENMARK (July 2, 3:50 p.m. EDT) -- Toy maker Lego A/S said July 1 it will end its outsourcing agreement with electronics manufacturer Flextronics International Ltd. in 2009. The Danish firm will take over Lego production from Flextronics factories in Juárez, Mexico, and Nyíregyháza, Hungary.

Ideal Tool gets new owner, somewhat-new name
MEADVILLE, PA. (July 2, 12:35 p.m. EDT) -- Joint Venture Tool & Mold LLC has acquired Ideal Tool Co. Inc., picking up new capabilities in molding, more employees, a larger customer base and a new home and name.

Plastech details uncovered despite lawyers´ efforts
DEARBORN, MICH. (June 30, 6:35 p.m. EDT) -- As the five-month, breakneck bankruptcy case of Plastech Engineered Products Inc. comes to a close, a final chapter was written last week when Crain’s Detroit Business, a sister publication of Plastics News, obtained documents Plastech’s lawyers had tried to keep private: compensation details for Brown, her husband Jim and eight other family members.

Teamwork paying off big for BASF in furniture
CHICAGO (June 30, 1:10 p.m. EDT) -- A team consisting of a designer, a material supplier and a molder collaborated successfully to produce a breakthrough product: an all-plastic cantilevered chair. The Myto chair made its North American debut recently at NeoCon World’s Trade Fair in Chicago.

Mastercraft Cos. names new management
PHOENIX (June 27, 4:40 p.m. EDT) -- Mastercraft Cos. is using a midyear lull to restructure its management ranks and target injection molding and tool-building opportunities in medical and other markets.

Auto molders may find lifeline in medical
YORK, PA. (June 27, 3:55 p.m. EDT) -- As the auto market in North America continues to struggle due to the economic slowdown, foreign competition and gas price hikes, injection molders that supply the industry are losing margin. The solution for them may be switch to the medical-molding business, a high-margin, economic-downturn-insulated and outsourcing-resistant sector.

Firms form Sunstone to produce auto parts
TEMECULA, CALIF. (June 27, 3:25 p.m. EDT) -- Two Temecula businesses that make automobile electronics and safety systems have merged and now operate under a new identity, Sunstone Components Group Inc.

Manager calls Atlantis slayings "devastating"

Higdon

HENDERSON, KY. (June 26, 7:30 p.m. EDT) -- Police in Henderson said a pair of late-night arguments with co-workers led a press operator to open fire early June 25 at Atlantis Plastics Inc.’s injection molding plant there, killing five and wounding one before turning the gun on himself. Police identified the 25-year-old gunman as Wesley Neal Higdon, a Henderson resident.

Deal lets Synergetics bring molding in-house
O´FALLON, MO. (June 26, 6:10 p.m. EDT) -- Medical-device maker Synergetics USA Inc. of O’Fallon has purchased injection molder and toolmaker Medimold Inc. for $80,000.

Steelcase boosts plastics use in products
CHICAGO (June 26, 5:50 p.m. EDT) -- Don’t expect Steelcase Inc. to change its name anytime soon, but the office furniture giant is becoming more and more comfortable with the language of plastics.

Castle Mark teams up with U.S. designers
CHICAGO (June 26, 5:45 p.m. EDT) -- Chinese custom molder Castle Mark Enterprises Ltd. already makes office furniture for some of the leading names in the business. Now the company is out to make a name for itself.

Ribless chairs hold their own against students
CHICAGO (June 26, 5:40 p.m. EDT) -- Here’s an advantage to gas-assisted molding that most plastics engineers probably never considered: It stands up better to high school boys.

Herman Miller turns to patient seating

The Nala chair

CHICAGO (June 25, 7:05 p.m. EDT) -- Herman Miller Inc. is looking to bring its experience in both design and comfort out of the office and into the hospital. The company that changed the look of high-end executive seating with its plastics-intensive Aeron chair has introduced two new treatment chairs designed to change the way patients and medical professionals alike think about furniture.

Plastech employed nine members of CEO´s family
DETROIT (June 25, 2:55 p.m. EDT)— Troubled automotive supplier Plastech Engineered Products Inc. employed nine family members of owner and Chief Executive Officer Julie Brown. A list outlining the employment of Brown family members at the Dearborn, Mich.-based injection molder was attached to the proposed $9.25 million settlement between Brown and some of Plastech’s lenders filed in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit.

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