Industry Watch 20203

Multinational LSR molder moves

SILCOTECH NORTH America Inc.’s new headquarters in Bolton, ON just opened for business in November 2003, but the company already has plans to expand its new ISO 9001-2000 facility to 50,000 sq ft. Since starting in 1999 with two LSR molding systems, Silcotech now has 10 (30 to 80 metric tons) with three more on order for its cleanroom-capable NAFTA HQ. The 20-year-old Silcotech Group also has production facilities in Rhein, Switzerland (31 LSR cells) and Madrid, Spain (10 LSR cells). Cell automation is a cornerstone of the group’s manufacturing approach. Silcotech North America serves medical, automotive, household appliance, and E/E markets. Multishot molding is another specialty.

Moldflow buys American MSI

AMERICAN MSI Corp. (Moorpark, CA), the privately held supplier of hot runner controllers, was acquired in January by Moldflow Corp. (Wayland, MA) for about $12 million. Tim Triplett, chairman and CEO of American MSI, has been named executive VP and GM of Moldflow’s Manufacturing Solutions business unit. Moldflow’s Ken Welch had been promoted to executive VP and GM of its other business unit, Design Analysis Solutions.

American MSI opened for business in 1984. Revenues in 2003 were around $9 million. It reportedly has an active base of more than 3000 customers and more than 8000 installations. Its latest product, the compact and modular Altanium hot runner control system, can support up to 384 mold control zones.

Triplett is excited about being on the Moldflow team. “From our initial discussions with Moldflow, it was clear that their management team shares our commitment to delivering advanced technology solutions with clean and demonstrable returns on investment, while providing the highest level of customer service in the industry.”

Triplett also is excited about expanding American MSI’s products and services globally through Moldflow’s international sales and support presence.

Number of U.K. molders has decreased

PLASTICS INDUSTRY consultant Applied Market Information (AMI) says the number of United Kingdom molding plants has decreased from 1654 to 1535 during the past three years. Among the reasons it gives is the general decline in British manufacturing, a decrease in the foreign investment prevalent in the U.K. during the 1990s, and problems in specific markets such as telectronics, consumer goods, and, to a lesser extent, automotive.

The just-released sixth edition of a report entitled “AMI’s Guide to Injection Moulding in the United Kingdom” shows that fears of the U.K. losing its favorable status as a manufacturing location were already emerging when AMI did its last study in 2000. Prior to that, the number had held around 1600 for some time, but in 2000 the country had already opted out of the European currency, and the continuing strength of the pound has hurt exports and deterred investments. The examples of production jobs lost to cheaper markets in Asia and Eastern Europe are numerous, and there is scant reason to think the U.K. will adopt the euro.

The amount of polymer consumed for injection molding in the U.K. has shown little growth over the past five years. Telectronics continues to be weak and could slip further. There are some bright spots, many of them in the packaging market. PP boxes for DVDs and CDs are an example of a strong segment, as are closures, crates, and containers. Although it says the outlook for injection molding is uncertain, AMI forecasts 1% to 2% annual growth in polymer material consumption. The 390-page publication of the complete study is available from AMI for $315 (www.amiplastics.com.

Kortec’s new digs

KORTEC INC. moved into a new, ultramodern, 110,000-sq-ft, $14.1 million facility in Ipswich, MA in February. Kortec supplies industry-standard coinjection systems based on its proprietary technology, systems that are used to mold multilayer preforms, in particular using PET and barrier resins.

Kortec expects to employ 75 in its new climate-controlled facility, where they enjoy soundproofed offices and state-of-the-art conference rooms, among other amenities. There are offices in its new building for representatives of Kortec’s strategic allies, too, such as Husky IMS and Arburg Inc., molding machine suppliers for Kortec’s coinjection molding systems.

Its molding systems will be assembled, debugged, and test-run in 10 bays on the main floor, which, like the entire facility, is brightly lit by large skylights and panoramic windows. Press utilities descend from an overhead mezzanine, where there are two Piovan dryers that are shipped with each system—one for PET and one for the barrier.

In other news, Kortec announced at the Nova-Pack Americas 2004 conference in Miami, FL (Jan. 26-27) that it has introduced a 128-cavity coinjection system for producing wide-mouth multilayer PET containers. It’s designed to produce containers with neck diameters up to 43 mm on Husky molding equipment at costs competitive with glass.

Focus on R&D at new GE

A COMPANY-WIDE strategy of merging businesses at GE, which some industry insiders view as chairman/CEO Jeff Immelt putting his stamp on the company, has created a combined entity called GE Advanced Materials, consisting of GE Plastics, Silicones, and Quartz operations. At a press conference in late January held in New York, GE Advanced Materials president and CEO John Krenicki Jr. described the move as a way to serve common customers and industries with businesses that use common technologies.

“We intend to better meet customer needs and increase their productivity with new products that are the result of differentiated application development,” he explained. “This move will streamline operations and make more funds available for product development and R&D.” Sales forces for the three business units will remain specialized, according to Krenicki, but some systems will be merged.

In fact, R&D spending in 2003 rose by 33% over that in 2000 (for GE Plastics), a year that brought mainly declining profits. Operating profit in Q4 2003, however, rose by 10% over 2002, and Krenicki predicted solid double-digit earnings growth this year for GE Advanced Materials–Plastics. “With a strong focus on R&D, we can invent and build growth, limited only by our imagination,” he said.

Greg Adams, general manager of Global Marketing, said that the combined company offers “wing-to-wing” participation in the electronics market. “Our Quartz business leads in semiconductor production, Silicones are heavily involved in chip manufacturing, LNP’s compounds are used in packaging and transporting chips, and Plastics supplies material for connectors and housings.”

At the OEM level, Adams said that customers in all of the markets where GE participates focus on two material requirements—productivity and aesthetic differentiation. “It’s consistent around the world,” he said. “OEMs globally want to improve productivity through lower-cost resin or parts consolidation. They also want to differentiate their products from an aesthetic standpoint to improve sales.” He also noted that when defining attributes of materials for new product launches, OEMs consider input from molders on productivity and value to be essential.

Basell to compound polypropylene in China

POLYOLEFIN producer Basell says it will build a new PP compounding facility near Shanghai, China. Startup is planned for early 2005 and the plant will be completed in phases to reach an eventual capacity of 55 to 60 kilotons. The company says compounding is a strategic tool in its plans to provide value-added polyolefin solutions to its customers globally. Working with joint venture partners, Basell currently has 14 PP compounding plants in Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and sales offices in more than 120 countries.

SPI, DuPont, GE, Demag going to Disney World

A $6 MILLION, 5000-SQ-FT showcase called “Fantastic Plastics Works” is set to open this summer at Innoventions East, an interactive science and technology center at Walt Disney World’s Epcot center (Lake Buena Vista, FL).

Scheduled to run for three years, the exhibit is designed to improve the public’s appreciation of the vital role plastics play in today’s world, according to Bonnie Merrill Limbach, SPI’s chief communications officer.

“It’s designed to showcase the exciting science, technology, and ingenuity driving the growth of the plastics industry, and to encourage the public, especially youngsters, to consider careers in plastics,” Limbach says.

SPI members DuPont and GE Plastics lead a list of exhibit sponsors that reads like an industry Who’s Who, including the likes of Plastics News, Bemis Mfg., RBK Tool & Die, and Demag Plastics Group. Demag intends to put one of its injection molding machines into the exhibit, reportedly an all-electric.

Noveon to make TPU in China

CALLING ASIA a key driver for its future growth, Noveon will start up a new thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) plant near Shanghai, China before the end of the year. The company currently supplies TPU to Asian customers from Belgium and the U.S. Noveon, which reported 2002 revenues of $1.1 billion, offers a line of Estane aromatic TPU grades, and recently acquired the aliphatic TPU products and Massachusetts plant of the Thermedics Polymers division of Viasys. Although capacity of the new Shanghai plant is undisclosed, Noveon’s Timothy Madden describes it as a world-scale facility using the company’s most advanced technology. Initial capacity will be expandable by debottlenecking, and an additional piece of land is reserved for further capacity increases. Built on a greenfield site, the plant will include a full applications lab already installed in a temporary facility at another Noveon business unit near Shanghai. Noveon will concentrate initial production on grades currently in demand locally.

BASF acquires Sunoco plasticizer business

BASF SAYS its acquisition of Sunoco’s phthalate plasticizer business demonstrates its commitment to the North American market. Phthalate plasticizers give flexibility to vinyl materials used in films, cables, and medical devices. BASF paid $91 million for Sunoco’s assets, including the Pasadena, TX production site, intellectual property, and tolling rights for plasticizers from Sunoco’s Neville Island, PA site, which is not being acquired. The Sunoco business had sales of $150 million in 2002.

A low-volume molder’s high hopes

THE TWO NEW OWNERS of Seaway Plastics Engineering Inc. have ambitious plans to grow this prototype/low-volume molder and moldmaker in Port Richey, FL. Paul Bernard and Tim Smock bought out the two primary owners of this 19-year-old short-runner late last year.

Both feel U.S.-based manufacturers requiring production-quality prototypes and short runs will continue domestic sourcing to get products to market on time. Cost-competitive multishot tools for low-volume molding is a Seaway specialty.

Immediate plans are to add sales reps in the U.S., Mexico, and Europe. They’re also thinking of adding a 750-ton, 100-oz press to their 16-machine, 35,000-sq-ft, ISO 9000-2001 facility by Q3.

Short Shots

The HPM Div. of Taylor’s Industrial Services (Mount Gilead, OH) now offers vertical injection molding machines—the Trueblood Series—through its purchase of the assets of PH Group Inc. (Columbus, OH). HPM sources expect the Trueblood acquisition will add 10% to 20% to its sales.

Plastic Engineering & Technical Services (PETS; Auburn Hills, MI) has opened a manufacturing facility in Kowloon, Hong Kong, PRC to produce hot runner manifold system components that will be assembled in the U.S. PETS also has offices and manufacturing operations in England and Italy.

A U.S. Mold Builders’ Pavilion will open for the first time this summer at the East Coast’s largest amalgam of design and manufacturing trade shows held under one roof: Plastec East, Medical Design & Manufacturing East, EastPack, Ingredients Expo, and Atlantic Design & Manufacturing (June 15-17, New York, NY). The American Mold Builders Assn. (Roselle, IL) has partnered with the show’s organizer (and IMM owner), Canon Communications LLC (Los Angeles, CA), to produce the pavilion.

The Tech Group (Phoenix, AZ) recently acquired a 330-ton, 8-oz Powerline press for multishot molding, Ferromatik Milacron North America’s first-ever all-electric multishot molding machine. It will run standard, multicomponent stack, and servodriven tools built by The Tech Group. Milacron builds all-electric multimolding Powerline machines up to 1125 tons.

Tech Tool & Mold Inc./Tech Molded Plastics LP (Meadville, PA) has been named by a consortium of local concerns as one of Pennsylvania’s top 100 places to work for the fourth year in a row.

MIM molder Parmatech Corp. (Petaluma, CA) has upgraded to ISO 9001-2000 and has added Six Sigma black belts to its staff.

Molder and moldmaker Plastic & Metal Center (Laguna Hills, CA) has added a fused deposition modeling (FDM) machine from Stratasys (Eden Prairie, MN) to its prototyping services.

A big name in mold release agents, Stoner Inc. (Quarryville, PA) won the 2003 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Reportedly, it is the smallest company ever to win the prestigious award.

Nissei Plastic Industrial Co. Ltd. (Nagano, Japan), Japan’s largest injection molding machine builder, has established a sales, service, training, and demo subsidiary called Nissei Plastic (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. in the Waigaoqiao free trade zone in Shanghai.Precision molder/contract manufacturer Thermotech Co. (Hopkins, MN) has been purchased by its management team and a private equity firm, Audax Group (Boston, MA), from its previous owner, Menasha Corp. (Neenah, WI).

Citing a decline in revenues of almost 50% over the past four years, Rogers Corp. (Rogers, CT), a polyurethane molder, is closing its manufacturing plant in Windham, CT and relocating its operations to Rogers’ facility in Suzhou, China, along with about 95% of the plant’s 125 jobs.

The Hull-Finmac Div. of Hull Corp. (Hatboro, PA), manufacturers of thermoset injection molding machinery, deflashers, and other capital equipment, has been acquired by Chant Engineering Co. Inc. (New Britain, PA).

To better reflect its expanded product offerings, including its 5 Step Process software, Beaumont Runner Technologies (Erie, PA)—best known for its MeltFlipper melt management systems—has changed its name to Beaumont Technologies Inc.

The “Gammaflux Challenge” program allows a molder to try the company’s GLC or TTC hot runner control systems for up to two weeks with no obligation (see www.gammaflux.com). Mike Brostedt of Gammaflux says the program lets molders see for themselves how better temperature control can improve part quality, save material, and improve part-weight consistency. The user can keep the system or return it with no obligation.

With the opening of Progressive Components Europe in Buckinghamshire, U.K., the tooling components supplier now has facilities in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Industry veteran John Wakefield will head up the new office.

A little more than a year after dry-docking its 12,000-sq-ft facility in Elk Grove Village, IL, JSW Plastics Machinery Inc.’s Chicago Technical Center is sailing again with Robert H. Columbus, formerly of Niigata Plastics Machinery, on board as marketing manager. Columbus told IMM that the sales slowdown that prompted the shutdown has petered out, and that business has picked up substantially—one recent order alone was for four 1500-tonners. The Tech Center will have demo machines—JSW’s EL-III Series all-electrics—as well as offer sales, parts and service, and training for the company’s plastics and magnesium molding machines.