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Korean additives supplier Songwon Industrial (Ulsan) is well on its way to establishing a global supply capability for one pack system (OPS) products. The company has just started production at a 7,000 tonnes/yr facility in Houston operated on a toll basis by Katoen Natie (Antwerp, Belgium), while its previous acquisition of Additives Technology Greiz (ATG) in Europe put it on a firm foundation there with 14,000 tonnes/yr of capacity.

MMI Engineered Solutions (MMI; Saline, MI) is investing $2 million in its Saline, MI plant, which will also become a an occasional showcase for Negri Bossi injection molding technology as part of an agreement the custom molder reached with the Italian press manufacturer.

Custom injection molder PRD Inc. (Springville, IN) has recently installed 13 new injection molding machines with three more set to arrive in August. PRD President John A. Passanisi told PlasticsToday the additional molding capacity is being installed in response to growth in automotive, industrial, and LED lighting as well new customer requirements. The three presses to be installed later this summer will replace older machines as the company updates technology.

Putnam Plastics will place significant focus on research into advanced technologies for medical catheters in a recently completed 92,000-sq-ft plant in Dayville, CT, CEO Jim Dandeneau said in an interview today at MD&M East in Philadelphia. Among the investments in the new R&D area is an extrusion line from American Kuhne.

Weatherchem, which was recently acquired by Mold Rite Plastics, has purchased an Engel 550 U.S. injection molding machine.

Highlighting its sustainability goals, Weatherchem said in a news release that this machine provides it with a combination of high efficiency and lower energy consumption.

A new acrylic alloy is taking direct aim at injection molded polycarbonate and copolyesters used in IV line components requiring chemical resistance.

Tests of the new material from Altuglas International, a subsidiary of Arkema, indicate that the new material, called Altuglas Luctor, resists attack from alcohols, lipid emulsions, plasticizers, TPN solutions, and new-generation oncology drugs. Contact with flexible PVC tubing can be a particular problem for the two medical plastics most commonly used in IV assemblies.

There's no doubt that a variety of plastic and non-plastic materials will play key roles in vehicle lightweighting moving forward. The consequence of this trends is that various material combinations will need to somehow be bonded together and adhesives are set to play a large part in this.

Lubrizol (Cleveland, OH) continues to broadly expand its specialty thermoplastic polyurethane compounds for the medical market.

One of its announcements at MD&M East in Philadelphia today was an all-new proprietary flame-retardant designed to accelerate the replacement of rubber in wire and cable insulation used in hospitals.

São Paulo—When you're compounding 240,000 tonnes of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) per year, small variations in the packaging phase can have big implications for the bottom line. That's the issue Brazil's Karina faced with its 25-kg bags of PVC compounds and masterbatch, which are produced and packaged at its facility in Guarulhos in the state of São Paulo.

NGR (Next Generation Recyclingmaschinen GmbH; Feldkirchen) announced it has acquired BRITAS Recycling Anlagen GmbH. NGR plans to operate BRITAS as a subsidiary.

BRITAS is a manufacturer and developer of filtration systems for heavily contaminated plastic melt streams. The automatic screen changers are especially well suited for filtration of post-consumer plastics waste and are used for high output rates, according to a news release.