Automotive

For its sixth acquisition in just three years, Citadel Plastics Holdings Inc. chose QTR Inc., which markets custom compounds based on recycled polycarbonate and other engineering thermoplastics. QTR's brand lives on even as the company is being integrated into The Matrixx Group, another Citadel holding. QTR had annual sales of approximately $15 million, more than half out of the automotive market, and ran its compounds off of three twin-screw and to single-screw extrusion lines.    

PolyOne Corp. (Cleveland, OH) has opened a wholly owned business development office in Seoul, South Korea in response to the "growth of consumer product design and manufacturing companies, as well as polymer processors, in the Asia-Pacific region," according to Willie Chien, president of Asia operations for the resin distributor and compounder.

Canadian moldmaker Platinum Tool Technologies Inc. (Oldcastle, ON) is "fighting for its financial life" according to a July 25, Windsor Star report. According to published reports from the Ontario newspaper, the tool shop, which is headed in part by Dan Moynahan, who's also president of the Canadian Assn.

Automotive suppliers Dakkota Integrated Systems, Johnson Controls, NYX, and Lear, among others, will all be adding jobs at facilities in the Midwest in support of Ford Motor Co.'s (Dearborn, MI) new Explorer SUV. Ford said between its own new hires and those of its supplier, approximately1800 jobs will be created to support production of the new vehicle.

Two of the automotive industry's top suppliers of thermoplastic fuel tanks have formed a strategic alliance to help each better serve customers from a global platform. Both ABC Group Fuel Systems Inc. and YAPP Automotive Parts Co. Ltd. predict the new alliance will strengthen market share for both companies.

Thermoforming processors of large automotive or industrial parts who are keen to knock metal off its perch have a new tool to work with as the Penn Fibre division of Ensinger has expanded its product range, adding long-glass-fiber-reinforced polyolefin sheet to its quiver.

Exatec (Wixom, MI) and Japan's ULVAC will collaborate on turnkey mass-production systems for the cost-effective, high-volume production of weatherable, scratch-resistant, plasma-coated Lexan polycarbonate (PC) vehicle windows.

An improved grade of polyphtalamide overcomes the material's inherent brittleness, giving extrusion processors the ability to use the material to replace metal in automotive engine compartment tubing applications.

Automotive underhood applications are the target of a series of polyamide (PA) 6 grades derived from post-industrial recycled material that will debut from the end of 2010—with first commercial applications following in early 2011. The grades will officially debut at the upcoming K Show.

SupplierBusiness (an IHS Global Insight company) recently reported that Chrysler's new purchasing head, Dan Knott, announced that the company is revising its terms and conditions for its suppliers as part of a greater effort by the Detroit Three carmakers to improve their relationships with their supply base. In a report due to be published this month, Knott told SupplierBusiness that "improving supplier relations is his top priority."