Brazil holds version of IDEA competition
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL (September 2, 2008) -- Winners in Brazil’s inaugural version of the International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) included a variety of products with plastics content. Objeto Brasil,
a São Paulo-based design group, organized the single-country IDEA/Brasil competition with cooperation from Industrial Designers Society of America in Dulles, Virginia.
N. American Rotomolders adjust to changing landscape
 Mooney
Step2 expanding exports to foreign markets
 Lifestyle Custom Kitchen from Step2
Plastics help designs bring home IDSA gold
 One project provides low-cost, energy-efficient laptops to children around the world.
Foamex reduces debt, lays out growth plans
 Foamex´s “green” foam chair
Rubbermaid raising prices, cutting lineup
 Ketchum
Hard times force U.S. molder Modern to shut doors
BENTON HARBOR, MICHIGAN (July 29, 2008) -- Modern Plastics Corp., founded in 1937, is closing down -- a victim, company officials said, of the many hardships facing the U.S. plastics industry.
Executives said Modern Plastics got walloped by high costs for resin, utilities, transportation and health care, the inability to pass along price increases, financial turmoil at customers and loss
of work to China and Mexico.
Hoffer buys minority stake in auto molder Intec Group
SOUTH ELGIN, ILLINOIS (July 22, 2008) -- At the request of some of its top customers, Hoffer Plastics Corp. has expanded its global footprint by investing in a minority share of Intec Group Inc. Intec
runs three plants in China, and one each in the U.S., Singapore and Mexico. The two firms see it as a complementary marriage since their markets have little overlap. Hoffer’s end markets include
packaging and industrial and consumer products, with less than 10 percent automotive, while Intec’s reputation as an auto molder should help Hoffer gain business in that area.
International plastics mergers, acquisitions on rise
 Blaige
Has China lost its ‘low-cost workshop’ status?
 Franz
Design competition goes international for NPE 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 15, 2008) -- In a break with tradition, the Washington-based Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. (SPI) will make its next design competition an international event and will
add new design categories. The competition will be held in conjunction with NPE 2009, scheduled for June 22 to 26 in Chicago, Illinois. In the past, the National Plastics Design Competition was
mostly restricted to U.S. entries and limited to load-bearing parts, enclosures and structural parts. The upcoming competition will be open to virtually any type of design, including packaging
products, bioplastics, nanocomposites, and products that address energy efficiency and sustainability.
Rosti to open Indian injection molding plant
CHENNAI, INDIA (July 15, 2008) -- Injection molder Rosti Technical Plastics plans to open a new plant in India, further strengthening the Danish group´s commitment to Asia, where it already
operates a facility in China.
Opinion: Design center gala full of surprises
 Grace
CCL Industries adding label capacity in Asia
TORONTO, ONTARIO (June 24, 2008) -- CCL Industries Inc. will try to capitalize on five years of solid Asian sales with the expansion of its CCL Label operations during 2008 and 2009. The Toronto-based
packaging supplier will build four new plants in China, India, Thailand and Vietnam and will expand facilities in China and Japan. CCL Industries employs about 5,400 and has 55 production facilities
in the Americas, Asia and Europe. CCL Label’s products are sold to the packaging, health-care and consumer goods markets.
Castle Mark creates chair line for ‘green’ market
 Castle Mark’s Edge1 line of office chairs are 90 percent recyclable.
U.K.-based BNL to open Thai plastic bearings plant
RAYONG, THAILAND (June 24, 2008) - BNL UK Ltd., a U.K.-based plastic bearing designer and manufacturer, is opening a new factory in Thailand this month. Production will start later this year.
Initially, the plant will assemble parts for some Asia-based customers, with further opportunities to transfer other assembly work and molding activities to the factory. The Rayong plant will also
start injection molding on seven new Krauss Maffei presses.
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