Names in the news: BASF, Treofan, American Maplan, Engel, Ferromatik Milacron, Gloucester, Dorner

BASF (Ludwigshafen, Germany) has appointed Andy Postlethwaite as senior VP Engineering Plastics Asia Pacific, effective April 1. He succeeds Hermann Althoff, who returns to BASF's headquarters in Ludwigshafen to take over the position of senior VP, Polyamide & Intermediates.
Postlethwaite started his career with BASF in New Zealand in 1986 and has held several key management positions in Singapore, Malaysia, and China. He graduated from the University of New England in Melbourne, Australia, with a masters degree in Business Administration

Carlo Ranucci has stepped down as managing director and CEO of BOPP films processor Treofan Group (Raunheim, Germany). He is being replaced by Giovanni Canetta. Canetta has been working with Carlo Ranucci during the past two years as a representative of Treofan's board of management appointed by Management & Capitali SpA, one of Treofan's largest shareholders.

The Treofan Group processes about 200,000 tons of biaxially oriented polypropylene film (BOPP) annually under the brand name Treofan. It has four manufacturing sites in Europe and America. As we reported last year, Treofan sold its Treofan Benelux SA business in Liège, Belgium, so it could focus on a smaller range of specialty BOPP films, especially in the areas of tobacco, electronics and IML labels. Treofan in early 2010 sold its site in Lamezia, Italy, where cast PP film was extruded. In October 2009 the management of Treofan South Africa acquired that business.

Frank Lopez Jr. has been named pipe system salesman for battenfeld-cincinnati's American Maplan Corp. (McPherson, KS). Lopez has more than 10 years of experience in the plastics pipe industry. battenfeld-cincinnati says this addition to its American Maplan business will strengthen this group of companies presence in the pipe market.

Ferromatik Milacron India Ltd. (FMIL) has promoted Shirish Divgi and Vinod Bhalavat, naming them COO and CFO, respectively, of FMIL, a division of Milacron Plastics Machinery. The promotions correspond with the recent retirement of former FMIL President N.K. Balgi. Divgi and Bhalavat have been managers at FMIL since the company's inception in 1995. As COO, Divgi will be responsible for operations, engineering, and sales & marketing, reporting directly to Jay Woerner, VP India Operations for Milacron Plastics Machinery. As CFO, Bhalavat will assume responsibility for finance, human resources, and information technology. He will report directly to John Francy, Milacron LLC's CFO.

Gloucester Engineering Co. has appointed Adrian King as VP finance. Prior to joining Gloucester, King was the CFO at electronic test-system-integration company, CIMTEK, and, prior to that, VP finance at global supply chain software provider, Open Ratings. A graduate of the University of Natal, South Africa, Adrian holds both a bachelor of commerce and an honors degree in finance and taxation.

Carlyn Bargemann has been appointed new West Region Sales Manager for Dorner Mfg. Corp. (Hartland, WI). Prior to joining Dorner, Bargemann had positions with Lantech, a stretch-wrapping equipment manufacturer, and OvalStrapping Inc., a manufacturer of packaging equipment. Bargemann holds a bachelor's degree in business from Cal State Long Beach, and an MBA from the University of Southern California. She resides in Huntington Beach, CA.

The North American arm of injection molding machinery and robotics supplier, Engel, has added two representative agencies to work with newly appointed midwest regional sales manager, Larry Davis, hiring on Carroll Enterprises and Sahly/Anderson and Associates to represent North and South Dakota, Minnesota, and Northern Illinois. Carroll Enterprise Corp. is led by Thomas Carroll and his son Pat. Representing Engel from Sahly/Anderson and Associates is Mike Sahly, son of company founder, as well as representatives Michael Wright and Ed Papenhause.