Canada

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.

Houston, TX—Massive amounts of new capacity hitting the market at a time when demand for basic plastics and chemicals actually contracted on a year-over-year basis likely mean that pricing power will not return to resin producers until 2013. Gary Adams, president of industry consultant Chemical Market Associates Inc. (CMAI; Houston), delivered that viewpoint during his keynote address to the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) 2010 International Polyolefins Conference (Feb. 21-24; Houston).

Silgan Plastics LLC has signed an agreement giving it exclusive rights to supply multilayer thin-wall containers utilizing Kortec (Ipswich, MA) technology throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Under terms of the agreement, Silgan has made purchase commitments and has agreed to promote Kortec multilayer technology in specific markets, including wet pet foods; fruit cups; and microwaveable cups, bowls, and trays for ready-to-eat soups, stews, and meals.

As the Olympic torch makes its way across Canada en route to Vancouver and the 2010 Olympic Games, a portion of its journey through Ontario will be handled by Husky Injection Molding employee, Jason Ruby. According to The Caledon Enterprise, Ruby’s leg will take place on Dec. 28, with the 12-year Husky veteran selected to be a torchbearer in November after volunteering himself and his wife.

Husky Injection Molding Systems (Bolton, ON), manufacturer of hot runners, PET perform molds, and injection molding machinery, has broken ground on a new facility in Chennai, India. Planned there are sales, customer support, and sourcing, plus hot runner and mold refurbishing.

With the appointment of two representative firms, stretch blowmolding machine maker W. Amsler Equipment Inc. (Richmond Hills, ON) is entering new territory as it expands its sales network into Latin America. The manufacturer has named Plastec U.S.A. Inc. (Miami, FL) and Custom Sales & Systems Inc. (Oldsmar, FL) as its agents in Mexico and several other Latin American countries.

Contract injection molder and manufacturer Nypro (Clinton, MA) is investing $1.0 million in Morgan Solar Inc. (Toronto, ON), a start-up company developing what it calls concentrated photovoltaic panels, said to be much more efficient than current solar energy collection panels. Nypro also will mold and assemble components used by Morgan.

Canon Communications (Los Angeles, CA), parent of MPW and IMM, announced yesterday its acquisition of the Plast-Ex, Expoplast, and Packex trade shows in Canada. Canon intends to combine Plast-Ex and Packex while also rounding them out with other related shows.

New from GN Thermoforming Equipment (Chester, NS) is the GN DX series of thermoformers, a new line of servo-driven machines now available in two sizes. The GN 3021 DX comes with a forming area of 30 by 21 inches (762 by 533 mm), and the larger GN 3625 DX offers a forming area of 36 by 25 inches (914 by 635mm).