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This site is published by Plastics News, Crain Communications' international newspaper for the plastics industry.
  
Extrusion
Extruder maker PTi to debut global line at ’09 shows

Chalmers
AURORA, ILLINOIS (September 2, 2008) -- Extrusion equipment maker Processing Technologies LLC (PTi) will introduce its first global brand of sheet production lines next year at the Chinaplas and Plastindia trade shows, among others. Dubbed the Globaline range, the line is a key part of a worldwide strategy for increasing sales in countries such as China, India and Eastern Europe where food packaging is a fast-growing business, said John Chalmers, vice president of sales and marketing. Globaline will be available in two sizes, and the controller can send out a page to key personnel if the machine needs attention. Plus, the alarm system talks -- in what PTi officials claim is an industry first -- in Chinese, English, Spanish or Russian.

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.

U.S. to impose duties on Chinese PP woven sacks
WASHINGTON (July 22, 2008) -- The U.S. government ruled July 18 that it believes China subsidizes makers of laminated polypropylene woven sacks, and will impose penalties of up to 444 percent on the Chinese-made bags. The decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission was hailed by American bag producers, who said it would help "restore fair competition in the U.S. market."

International plastics mergers, acquisitions on rise


Blaige
AKRON, OHIO (July 22, 2008) -- International players are big on the mergers and acquisitions scene this year, and, in certain plastics sectors, that’s likely to pick up. Spurring the activity are, in part, the weak U.S. dollar and protectionism, as companies in North America and emerging markets compete for global advantage. Several analysts interviewed by Plastics News noted increases in the numbers of plastics mergers and acquisitions deals in the first half of 2008 versus the same period in 2007. For instance, Tom Blaige, president of Blaige & Co. in Chicago predicts pipe, profile and tube extrusion mergers and acquisitions will increase by nearly 60 percent, driven primarily by cross-border sales of privately held niche companies.

Has China lost its ‘low-cost workshop’ status?

Franz
GUANGZHOU (July 15, 2008) -- Many Chinese manufacturing plants are feeling the pinch from rising costs and a stronger Chinese yuan. And some manufacturers are moving work to Vietnam and other cheaper manufacturing locations. Plastics News interviewed several companies for their take on the situation, including Helmar Franz, executive vice president of Chinese press maker Ningbo Haitian Group Ltd., who said the situation is complex, with some of the company’s customers greatly impacted by China’s rising costs.

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.

German machinery maker keeps close eye on S.E. Asia

Rehkopf
SINGAPORE (July 15, 2008) -- Reifenhauser Pte. Ltd. is monitoring the Southeast Asian market, staying close to its film extrusion customers through a regional office in Singapore. The German machinery maker has been in Asia for more than 30 years, with a main regional office in Singapore plus offices in the Phillippines, Thailand, Malaysia, India and China, said Jurgen Rehkopf, Reifenhauser’s Singapore-based managing director.

Opinion: Design center gala full of surprises


Grace
Plastics News editor Robert Grace recently returned from a trip to China where he was a part of the opening ceremonies of the International Design Center, a joint-venture undertaking between Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s School of Design and Zhejiang University. The joint venture has been a year in the making, and the Zhenhai district government of Ningbo city is offering strong support to help get it kick-started. The aim is to stimulate industrial design and product research and development. Grace shares his observation and experiences of the celebration through the eyes of a Westerner.

Linpac packaging unit opens Chinese PVC film plant
CHANGZHOU, JIANGSU (June 24, 2008) -- Linpac Group’s packaging division has opened its first plant in China, to make PVC stretch film for food packaging in Changzhou. The 20,000-square-meter facility opened this month with room to expand. The company said it sent two teams of Chinese employees to its stretch film plant in France for training, ahead of the opening.

Kautex increasing production in Asia

Lichtenauer
SINGAPORE (June 24, 2008) -- Kautex Maschinenbau GmbH has sold its first six-layer coextrusion machine in India to an automotive supplier. Managing Director Andreas Lichtenauer called the sale a breakthrough in the Indian market for the German company, which has been in China for nearly a decade with a plant in Shunde, Guangdong province. He noted significant demand for the firm’s machines in Asia, especially India and China.

Milacron transports Chinaplas show goers to tech center

WPC profile produced at the Shanghai tech center
SHANGHAI (May 27, 2008) – Milacron Inc.’s director of international business development at Cincinnati Milacron Extrusion Systems said it is difficult to run a large extrusion line during a trade show. So, over the course of the three-day Chinaplas show this year, Milacron’s solution to that difficulty was to transport attendees to its Shanghai Technology Center. While they were there, the 105 visitors saw a TC86 conical twin-screw extruder turning out wood-plastic composite deck board. In addition to the home country of China, the Shanghai open house attracted visitors from other areas, including the Middle East, Korea, Africa, Nigeria, India, Australia, Malaysia, the British Virgin Islands and several countries in Europe.

Entrepreneur sources China machines for Liberia venture

Williamson
BEIJING (May 27, 2008) -- Environmental consulting in the U.S. may seem a long way removed from both China and from film extrusion, bottle blow molding and plastics recycling in the western African nation of Liberia. Not for Joseph E. Williamson. Williamson, a Liberia native who has lived, studied and worked in the United States for 27 years, co-founded Kayco Environmental Corp. consulting firm in the U.S. in 2000 with his wife. But he has retained strong ties to his home country, where he also operates Krystal Clear Mineral Water Co., and where he has ambitious plastics-related expansion plans.



Malaysian thermoformer building Thai extrusion factory


Lee
GUANGZHOU, GUANGDONG (May 6, 2008) -- Malaysian thermoformer SCGM Bhd plans to build a factory in Thailand and expand its extrusion capacity in Malaysia, using some of the nearly 12.9 million Malaysian ringgits (28.5 million yuan) it raised from a February public offering. Andrew Lee Wee Teck, marketing executive with the company, said the Thai plant could eventually be larger than SCGM’s Malaysian operation. Lee spoke during an April 15 interview at the China Import and Export Fair in Guangzhou.

Cincinnati Extrusion closing Dalian plant
SHANGHAI (April 22, 2008) -- Sister companies Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik GmbH and Cincinnati Extrusion GmbH are consolidating their production in China, closing Cincinnati’s production in Dalian, Liaoning province and relocating it to Battenfeld’s facility in Foshan, Guangdong province. The two European companies said they will keep separate brand identities in China, but will be combining production later this year as a way to control cost and boost efficiency.

PN Forum speaker offers keys to unlock creativity

Innovation expert Ken Robinson
TAMPA, FLORIDA (April 1, 2008) -- “Innovation” is something every company wants. But not many managers know how to stimulate and nurture it. The key is fostering the imagination and creativity of all employees, according to an expert on the subject, Ken Robinson. Part of the problem is that most of us, from the chief executive officer to the cleaning person, take imagination for granted and “ignore its power,” Robinson said in the keynote speech at the Plastics News Executive Forum in Tampa.

Learning to embrace sustainability

Coleman-Kammula
TAMPA, FLORIDA (April 1, 2008) -- The message is clear: Sustainability is a mainstream issue. Companies that make petroleum-based plastic products should examine how they use energy and design products, Seetha Coleman-Kammula advised those at the Plastics News Executive Forum, held last month in Tampa. Coleman-Kammula, a former executive with Shell Chemical Co. and Basell North America, in 2005 co-founded Simply Sustain LLC, an environmentally focused consulting firm in Delaware.

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