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Green Matter: Changing of the guard at European Bioplastics

On 16 May 2013, during the first Members' Meeting in 2013, the General Assembly of European Bioplastics elected a new Board to represent the association and its members for the coming two years. François de Bie (Purac) was elected as Chairman. Mariagiovanna Vetere (NatureWorks) and Stefano Facco (Novamont) are Vice-Chairpersons. PlasticsToday managed to catch Mr. de Bie between meetings to congratulate him on his election as new chairman of the board.

The news is out and it’s good for manufacturing technology as March orders totaled $507.91 million, according to the Association for Manufacturing Technology, in their latest survey of companies participating in the USMTO (United States Manufacturing Technology Orders) program. That was up 30.4% from February and up 3.2% over March 2012.
   

São Paulo—Brasilplast became Feiplastic last year as the biennial Saõ Paulo show sought to better reflect its increasingly international nature, both in terms of exhibitors and attendees, and its roots as a longstanding Brazilian event with a growing global flavor were captured perfectly in the opening ceremony.

Evidence continues to mount showing soaring use of plastics in medical implants, led by polyetheretherketone (PEEK).

As of February 2013,  the number of implantable medical devices manufactured from PEEK-OPTIMA and cleared for market in the US reached 500, with more than 80 approved for market in China, it was announced by Craig Valentine, director of regulatory affairs for Invibio.

Guangzhou, China - For Bob Preston, president and CEO of Davis-Standard, it's a no brainer to have a presence at Chinaplas 2013.

"About 30% of our business is in Asia-Pacific, which is why Chinaplas is important to us," Preston said. "We're committed to expanding the footprint in this area, not just the manufacturing footprint, but also in expanding the capability in areas of service aftermarket and technical support."

Leading polyamide supplier Invista (Wichita, KS) has signed a Land Reservation Agreement with the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park Development Company for a polyamide 6,6 resin site at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP).

The 2013 edition of Chinaplas opened in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou today augmenting its status as the second largest plastics industry show in the world. Over 2900 exhibitors from 38 countries occupying 220,000 square meters of floor space, 15 national pavilions, and an anticipated 120,000 visitors, including 30,000 overseas visitors from 150 countries attest to the global status of Chinaplas and the importance of the China market to global and local suppliers of processing machinery and materials.

A nucleating agent has helped push homopolymer polypropylene (PP) into thermoformed packaging applications with the promise of better haze and less yellowing compared to conventional nucleated PP homopolymers.

Next Generation Films (Lexington, OH) has ordered another 3-layer blown-film line from Windmoeller & Hoelscher Corp. with an addition system being specified out. The latest system will be a three-layer Varex with a 134-inch working width, grooved feed extruders (105.30/135.30/105.30D), Optifil P3 gauge-control system, Opticool high-output air ring and a 35.43-inch Maxicone C die.

Until recently, vacuum maker Bissell viewed the costs of its outsourced plastic parts as largely inscrutable, simply accepting their price structure and design facets as delivered.