Canada

Ahead of labor, materials, and energy costs, a new report states that access to talented workers capable of supporting innovation are the key factor driving global competitiveness at manufacturing companies. The 2010 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index, a research report from Deloitte's Global Manufacturing Industry group and the U.S.

For the fifth straight quarter, automotive Tier One supplier Lear Corp. (Southfield, MI) increased its earnings, with sales improving by 33% over the year-ago quarter to $3 billion and a profit realized. In the August 3 release of second-quarter financial results, Lear said core operating earnings had increased by $242 million to $190 million, with the three-year sales backlog up half a billion dollars to $1.9 billion and an improved full-year outlook for core operating earnings and free cash flow.

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.

A company founded in 2001 by a 19-year-old Princeton University freshman is increasingly finding a home for "un-recyclable" plastics and bridging the gap between consumers of everyday items like drink pouches and the brand owners that create them. Now, Tom Szaky, a grizzled 28-year-old that was named to Inc. magazine's 30 under 30 list at 24, and his company, TerraCycle (Trenton, NJ), are reaching out to the plastics industry.

Overview: The slide in spot commodity resin prices that began in May continued into the first week of June, with the average polyethylene (PE) price shedding $0.01/lb and polypropylene (PP) prices giving back another $0.02/lb. Plastics spot-trading platform The Plastics Exchange (TPE) reported that monomer costs also dropped, and market participants fully expect June resin contracts to settle lower.

Cereplast Inc. (El Segundo, CA) has entered into a distribution agreement with Ashland Distribution to supply its bioplastic resins throughout Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. A company representative told PlasticsToday that in the past sales in those geographies were handled directly by three regional directors. The company estimates that the North American region accounts for about 60% of its sales.

Year-over-year earnings reports show how far the global plastics industry has come since the start of 2009, with plastics titans Dow, ExxonMobil Chemical, and BASF showing double-digit gains in sales and volumes, even in Western economies that had heretofore lagged.

Traditional oil majors pushed to the sidelines, rising "petronationalism," and the increasing importance of the developing world both for its resources and market potential are just some of the factors reshaping the global energy industry and its downstream accompaniment—petrochemicals and plastics.

Orlando—Mike Biddle, founder and president of post-consumer plastics recycler MBA Polymers (Richmond, CA), offered details on his company's plans to double its capacity in the next year, as well as its intention to add recycled polycarbonate (PC) and PC/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) blends to its offerings. The company's new facility in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England will begin operations this year with annual recycling capacity of 60,000 tons/yr, before expanding to 80,000 tons/yr in a year and a half.

Husky Injection Molding Systems (Bolton, ON) finished 2009 with a 19% decline in revenues, watching sales fall from $1.2 billion in 2008 to approximately $1 billion last year. According to the financial filings by the company's private equity owner, Onex Corp. (Toronto), revenues were down in all regions, except Latin America, where they rose 13%. Elsewhere, Asia (-3%), North America (-23%), and Europe (-31%) all experienced declines.