E-Weekly
Jun 1st, 2007                                Print this article

e-Weekly News Briefs May 28-June 1

By Modern Plastics Editorial Staff

Chinaplas report: ’Walking the floor’ notes

Werner Wittmann, president and founder of the eponymous Austrian auxiliaries supplier, told MPW at Chinaplas that the company’s China manufacturing site in Kunshan is in the final stages of a second expansion that will cover 3000 sq m. The area will be ready by late June/ early July as the company purchases sheet-metal processing equipment, with production space available for dryers and feeders. Wittmann China currently employs nearly 100, with sales and service offices in the North, near Tianjin and the south, in Shenzhen. The company will likely add staff on the basis of 30-50% annual growth. In addition to auxiliary and robotic displays, Wittmann’s booth featured an Arburg 520A Allrounder Alldrive running a two-cavity inmold labeled packaging application in a 2.7-second cycle.

Extruder manufacturer Reifenhäuser (Troisdorf, Germany), which began manufacturing of blown-film lines in China in July 2004 at Suzhou, will add 6000 sq m to its operation, bringing it to 10,000 sq m in total, according to Jürgen Rehkopf, managing director Reifenhäuser Private Ltd. Singapore. The company produces its Filmtec three-layer line at the plant, delivering its first line in January 2005, and 25 in total since then, selling out its annual capacity since inauguration, according to Rehkopf. The bulk of the machines have been delivered in the ASEAN region, and with this expansion, Reifenhäuser might consider the addition of five-layer lines to supply the heavy duty sack market.

Krauss-Maffei’s extrusion unit announced a sale of three KMD extruder lines to Manila-based processor Nation for that firm’s PVC and HDPE pipe processing. At a Chinaplas press conference, Josef Märtl, Krauss-Maffei (Munich, Germany) CEO, announced the sale, which has two phases-the first entails two 60-mm single-screw extruders for HDPE pipe with an outer diameter of 630 mm. The second phase will be a KMD line for PVC pipe with an outer diameter of 355 mm. Nation buys K-M exclusively, and currently has nine of its lines, according to Andreas Kessler, K-M sales manager for the Far East. The lines were constructed at K-M’s 14,000-sq-m Chinese production plant outside Shanghai, which opened one year ago. The facility, which has 70 employees, will expand into the production of screws and barrels, according to Kessler, who estimates K-M has close to 1000 extrusion lines installed in China.

Competitor Cincinnati Extrusion (Vienna) has roughly 700 to 800 lines installed in China, according to Wolfgang Hild, overseas sales manager. The company opened a sales and service center in Dalian six years ago, starting machine assembly there two years ago, with some parts sourced locally, although the screw, barrel, gearbox, and other key components, are still made at Cincinnati’s 400-person Vienna headquarters. The company, which had 2006 turnover of €85 million, featured a Chinese-assembled Titan conical-twin and Talos single-screw extruder at its booth.

Global additive supplier and compounder PolyOne (Cleveland, OH) launched a liquid colorant, PicoTint, and biopolymer product, OnColor Bio, at Chinaplas and announced plans to add a lab in Tianjin by the end of the third quarter. That facility will feature technical support and color matching, according to Teddy Xiong, PolyOne manager of sales development in China.

PolyOne has production in Suzhou for engineering materials and color in Shenzhen, with a color plant in Thailand and engineering materials in Singapore. Xiong says Asia accounts for less than 10% of sales, but PolyOne forecasts 100% growth by 2010.

China remains the place to go for many major plastics suppliers. BASF (Ludwigshafen, Germany) just inaugurated its engineering plastics compounding plant in Shanghai, with an annual capacity of 45,000 tonnes. “We have ambitious targets in Asia Pacific: by 2010 we aim to achieve 20% of our group sales and earnings in the chemicals businesses in Asia/Pacific, 70% of those coming from local production,” says Martin Brudermüller, member of the company’s board responsible for Asia. Ticona (Kelsterbach, Germany) plans to create a customer application development center in Shanghai to support use of its products by Chinese and Asia processors. In Nanjing, China the company last week broke ground for two new production plants, one ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene and a long fiber-reinforced thermoplastic plant. Both should open next year.

New technology: LFI and inmold graining realized in a single mold

Plastics processing machinery manufacturer Krauss-Maffei (Munich, Germany) has teamed with Galvanoform (Lahr, Germany), a manufacturer of nickel tools, to perfect an inline process that combines long fiber injection (LFI) with inmold graining (IMG). This new technology makes it possible to produce glass fiber reinforced polyurethane (PUR) parts with grained surfaces using just one mold. Typical applications are door trim sections, glove box doors, and instrument panel surrounds for automotive applications.

The two firms developed a system whereby a heated film is positioned in a thermoforming tool and negatively thermoformed, with the downside grained. The fixing frame is retracted and an LFI mixing head sprays a PUR matrix, with its embedded long glass fibers, onto the shaped and grained skin. The mold is closed while the PUR cures, and then opened for removal of the finished part. This contrasts to the more typical way of making these parts, which involves back coating of a film and embossing, followed in a separate step by thermoforming to realize final part shape. This can lead to stretching of the embossed film’s surface structure.

Combining the two processes in a single mold eliminates concerns about distorted and imperfect graining, says Krauss-Maffei. In addition, combining LFI and IMG saves costs as the embossing stage is no longer a separate process, and different surface graining can be realized with a single type of film. Plus, the glass fiber roving used in LFI is less expensive than glass mat.

Galvanoform makes its very finely grained tools using a patented galvanizing process that reproduces leather graining in a porous nickel-electro shell a few millimeters thick. This shell is then integrated in a complete mold with temperature control and a vacuum system. The pores in the technical porous nickel (TPN) used by Galvanoform to make its tools have a diameter of less than 0.15 mm. The number of pores can be matched to the geometry of the part being produced.

Revitalized specialty plastics supplier reopens

Polyscope Polymers (Geleen, Netherlands), a supplier of styrene maleic anhydride (SMA) copolymers, has started production at the overhauled existing polymer plant in Geleen and recently introduced a new range, Xiran, that aims to compete against ABS blends, nylon, long glass fiber reinforced polypropylene (PP), as well as PP/EPDM rubber combinations. The advantages SMA offers automotive suppliers and makers of industrial parts include reduced cycle times and weight savings, says the company

The company, formerly part of DSM but closed in 2001, has found new life through a consortium of investors and management that reopened the business under the Polyscope name last year. Company Managing Director Michael Charles Downs says car manufacturers are opting for the resin in instrument panel retainers, air ducts, and finishing trim because of the copolymer’s high temperature stability, dimensional precision, and adhesion characteristics, important for attaching foamed skins. Xiran is a medium molecular weight engineering plastic with a maleic anhydride content of between 22-34%.

Conference discusses further North American applications for WPCs, upcoming technology

Madison, WI - A series of presentations on the nature, structure, performance, markets, and issues concerning wood and biofiber plastics were held at the 9th International Conference on Wood & Biofiber Plastic Composites on May 21-23. The opening session presented by Mohini Sain, Professor and Director of the Centre for Biocomposites & Biomaterials Processing at the University of Toronto, addressed new market opportunities for bio-based composites in North America that go beyond the building and decking sectors, including automotive interior parts, food industry containers, pallets, and furniture. Sain said that the European automotive industry has taken the lead and currently uses around 20,000 metric tons of natural plant fibers in luxury cars.

The remaining sessions were grouped according to the following categories: materials and morphology, nanocomposites, mechanical performance, matrix and biofiber interaction, moisture and durability, and durability and coatings.

For more information on the studies and results presented at the conference, contact the Forest Products Society (Madison, WI) at conferences@forestprod.org or call 608-231-1361.

Antec report: Broad program draws more than 3500

The 65th Antec program held in Cincinnati from May 6-10, offered 656 papers in 121 sessions, according to Susan Oderwald, executive director of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE; Brookfield, CT). The annual technical conference was co-located with the Plastics Encounter trade show, with combined attendance by the last day of 3546. The Plastics Encounter trade show, which is organized by Crain’s Plastics News, drew 200 exhibitors.

Oderwald reported that SPE membership had “flat lined” or seen slight declines over the past year, however the new Advanced Energy Storage section and a new Medical Section in Europe had helped stem the outflow. New divisions and special interest groups have also helped. “The Extrusion and Composites divisions in Europe are one example of where North American people are reaching out and helping grow these special interest groups,” said Oderwald.

SPE currently has some 2500 to 3000 members in Europe, and those numbers are increasing. There is a strong Color and Additives division, and SPE has created a European Advisory Board.

To boost membership in India, the SPE lowered the rate to 1000 rupees, about $26. That division is autonomous and has an advisory board that stays in close consultation the SPE in the U.S., Oderwald said. Antec and Plastics Encounter will co-locate again in 2008 in Milwaukee at the Midwest Express Center from May 4-8.

In additional SPE news, Vicki Flaris will serve as 2007-2008 SPE president. Flaris is currently an assistant professor of chemistry at Bronx Community College of The City University of New York. Her area of expertise is in blends and alloys, and she is extensively published in this area and is editor of a number of professional journals. She succeeds Tim Womer of screw/barrel manufacturer Xaloy.

Coat parts forever, before they’re even formed?

The Polymer Technology Group, Inc. (PTG: Berkeley, CA) has publicized news of its newest technology for polymer surface modification: Self Assembling Monolayer End Groups (SAME). SAME is described as a ’two-dimensional nanotechnology’ that PTG says overcomes the complexity and expense of coating surfaces after they are formed. Instead, SAME technology modifies a structural polymer by permanently binding special end groups onto the polymer molecules while it is being made. When the modified polymer is formed into a device, for example via injection molding, the end groups migrate and self assemble in the surface to form a molecular monolayer optimized for the application.

Until now, Self-Assembling Monolayers (SAMs) have been made with silanes or by absorbing thiol-terminated oligomers onto gold or other noble metals. The sulfur-containing thiols create well-controlled surfaces for research, but they fall apart within a few days and are therefore too fragile for long-term applications, says PTG. PTG has discovered that similar monomers (without sulfur) chemically bonded to high-strength polymers will still self assemble at the surface, ensuring permanently bonded SAM-like end groups. The technology can be applied to virtually any polymer.

Antec report: SPE honors industry leaders at Antec

The 2007 International Award Winner, Society of Plastics Engineer’s (SPE; Brookfield, CT) highest honor, was Dr. William J. MacKnight, the William D. Barrett Distinguished Professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. MacKnight has been a leader in polymer education and research for more than three decades. His educational accomplishments include the training of 48 Ph.D.s in the field of polymer science and engineering, and the development and leadership of the world-renowned Polymer Science and Engineering Department at the University of Massachusetts. MacKnight was one of the founders of the polymer program at UMass and served as its head for 16 years. He has contributed more than 330 papers to polymer literature and has co-authored two books.

The Annual Award for Benefit to Society (John W. Hyatt Award) went to Dr. Gary E. Wnek, for his contributions to polymers in medicine and, in particular, for his research and development of electrostatic spinning (electrospinning) as a method for the fabrication of scaffolds for tissue engineering, drug delivery, and related applications. He is the Joseph F. Toot, Jr. Professor and Chair of the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University.

The Annual Award for Education went to Dr. Frank N. Kelley, who played a leadership role in establishing the College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering at The University of Akron, and was instrumental in the construction of the Goodyear Polymer Center at the University. Kelley recently retired as Dean of the College of Polymer Science and Engineering.

The Annual Award for Engineering/Technology (Fred O. Conley Award) went to Dr. Kun Sup Hyun, president of the Polymer Processing Institute, and research professor of the Otto H. York Chemical Engineering department at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Hyun spend 35 years at Dow Chemical Co. where he was instrumental in developing and leading Dow’s polymer processing R&D group. His major contributions have been in the area of melt rheology and extrusion of polystyrene, polyvinylidene chloride, low-density polyethylene, and polypropylene.

The Annual Award for Research went to Dr. Pierre Carreau, Director of the Center for Research in Polymer Engineering and Composites at Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal. He was instrumental in establishing the polymer research program at Ecole Polytechnique. His work on mixing of polymers with helical ribbon agitators is highly recognized by the research community. He has made lasting contributions in the areas of constitutive equations, mixing, heat transfer, mechanics of complex fluids, and composite materials.

GW Plastics expands its Querétaro facility

Injection molder and contract manufacturer GW Plastics (Bethel, VT) announced the expansion of its Querétaro, Mexico plant to nearly 60,000 sq ft in response to increased regional demand, reports the firm. The facility now has the capacity for up to 50 molding machines sized from 40 to 500 ton, along with space for a medical clean room for additional molding and assembly work. GW will soon begin construction on a Class 8 clean room molding and assembly area in response to increased demand for healthcare molding and assembly in Mexico. This new clean room will give GW Plastics clean room molding and assembly capability in its facilities in the U.S., Mexico, and China.

GW Plastics President and CEO Brenan Riehl, said in a statement, “Our customers have told us that they want the same high level of quality from our new facilities in Mexico and China as they have come to expect from us in our U.S. operations. We insist upon standardization because it improves our quality while giving us tremendous flexibility to accommodate ever-changing customer demands in the marketplace in a timely and cost-effective manner.” The company’s molding facilities are located in Bethel and Royalton, VT; San Antonio, TX; Tucson, AZ; Querétaro, Mexico; and Dongguan, China.

Perlos taps Serigraph, again, for more IMLs

Plastics decorator Serigraph Inc. (West Bend, IN) will establish a factory-in-factory operation at its customer Perlos’ plant in Guangzhou, China by the end of the year. Perlos (Helsinki, Finland) is a globally active molder and manufacturer of cellular phones. Serigraph will supply Perlos with inmold labels; Perlos is already a customer of Serigraph’s IML products. The new Serigraph facility within Perlos will be operated in conjunction with the firm’s JV partner SE Printing in Shanghai, China, according to Jennifer Reichert, marketing specialist at Serigraph.

Perlos, with sales of more than $900 million, employs 10,600 people worldwide. Serigraph employs more than 1200 in North America with four plants in West Bend and three in Mexico. Its partners in China and India employ more than 500 people, including the joint venture near Shanghai area with S.E. Printing, a Malaysian processor of graphic components.

Astra increases capacity 50%

Growing tenfold from its base of 6000 tonnes/yr at inauguration in 1993 in Damman, Saudi Arabian compounder Astra Polymers (Al Khobar) is looking to add 40,000 tonnes of capacity to its existing output of nearly 80,000 tonnes, according to Bandar Al-Otaibi, general manager commercial, and Nigel Parrish, technical services manager. The company has manufacturing in Damman, where it originated, and the Jebel Ali free zone of the United Arab Emirates, where it expanded in 2005. The company’s 200 employees produce masterbatch products and compounds for PE, PP, PS, ABS, PMMA, PET, ABS, and PVC.

Packaging industry still going strong

Industry financial consultancy Piper Jaffray & Co. (PJC), in a report on the first quarter 2007, said that constituents of the firm’s North American Packaging Index (NAPI) posted in sum a very strong first quarter, reflecting “solid growth” in the underlying consumer product markets. The Q1 2007 earnings period proved to be quite strong, with over half of the constituents (with published estimates) in the NAPI beating consensus earnings per share (EPS) estimates. Collectively, the group exceeded expectations by 89%. Many companies cited disciplined pricing actions and the ability to maintain pass-through mechanisms as catalysts for performance and maintaining margins. Productivity improvements and attention to cost management proved to be significant contributors to the outpaced performance.

PJC expects that the packaging sector will continue its strength through the end of 2007, and is revising its estimates upward after the strong Q1 2007 results. “The brightest prospects are expected in rigid packaging, where top line growth is estimated to be 8.6%,” said the report. “Pricing power and outsized growth in the beverage market should provide rigid packaging companies with very solid prospects. Plastic packagers, however, will have to deal with the recent up-tick in resin prices. Overall, volume trends are expected to continue to be strong for all packaging companies and those with sizeable presence overseas should be able to take advantage of outsized growth in foreign and emerging markets.”

Cereplast featured on television series

Cereplast Inc. (Hawthorne, CA), manufacturers of proprietary biobased renewable plastics, will be featured on Sundance Channel’s original series “Big Ideas for a Small Planet” in the episode airing on Tuesday, June 19 at 9:00 pm PST. “Big Ideas for a Small Planet” is a documentary series presenting designers, products, and processes that are on the leading edge of a new environmentally attuned world. Cereplast’s products are used to manufacture plastic products that are biodegradable and compostable.

U.S. medical disposables top $70 billion by 2011

Demand in the U.S. for disposable medical supplies will increase 4.9% annually to more than $70 billion in 2011, according to the latest report from The Freedonia Group, a Cleveland-based industry market research firm. The best growth opportunities are anticipated in dry powder inhalers, prefilled syringes, and transdermal patches for drug delivery; blood glucose test strips for diabetes monitoring; polymer and biological tissue sealants for wound closure; and daily contact lenses. Hospitals will remain the largest market for disposable medical supplies based on the complexity of procedures performed and stringent infection prevention requirements. The home health care market will grow faster as consumers broaden preventive medicine and self-treatment activities to save out-of-pocket health-care costs. The report, Disposable Medical Supplies, said that catheterization and related products would remain the largest and fastest expanding group of disposable medical supplies, with demand increasing 5.7% annually to $35 billion in 2011. Among other disposable medical supplies, blood glucose test strips and home test kits for other diabetes markers, along with daily contact lenses, first aid kits, biological indicators, and laboratory gloves, will command the strongest growth opportunities.

Briefs

Corrugated pipe processing equipment manufacturer ITIB Machinery International (Paderno Franciacorta, Italy) sees continued growth in demand, especially from developing markets such as Russia and the CIS countries, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. The company had a stable turnover of about €10 million last year and expects this year to top that figure. Piercarlo Cominelli, sales manager, says processors are expressing more interest in inline insertion of wires and cables as well as inline insertion of crosslinked polyethylene (PEX) pipes into corrugated protective pipes, in order to cut assembly costs.

Additives and vinyl supplier PolyOne (Cleveland, OH) was named by Plastiflex Participations (Luxembourg), a global processor of hose systems for floor care, pool, as well as industrial and white good applications, as its Supplier of the Year for 2006. The award evaluates performance, on-time delivery, value-added services, responsiveness, and product quality.

Vinyl supplier Vinnolit (Ismaning, Germany) has acquired the paste PVC (E-PVC) business of Ineos ChlorVinyls. The deal consists of commercial goodwill of the Ineos paste PVC business along with its vinyl paste production facilities at Hillhouse, England and Schkopau, Germany. Also included is an off-take agreement for the entire PVC paste output at Ineos’ Porto Torres plant in Italy. This acquisition increases Vinnolit’s annual production capacity from 680,000 tonnes to almost 780,000 tonnes.

Packaging processor Intertape Polymer Group (Montreal, QC, Canada) says its new Black Clawson Converting Machinery stretch film line built by Davis-Standard (Pawcatuck, CT) is helping its Danville, VA facility increase output to up to 670 m/min or 2136 kg/hr. According to Bob Wise, Intertape’s production manager, the new line generates just 0.4% scrap from edge and bleed trims.

Nova Chemicals (Pittsburgh, PA) says new grades of its Arcel foam resin permit reduction of package size without sacrificing protective qualities found in traditional foam packaging. The smaller package sizes result in less waste, more fuel efficiency and lower transportation emissions when moving packaged goods from the producer to points of sale. The company says based on cube size of a shipping carton, packaging volume can be cut by as much as 40%.

Polyolefins supplier Basell (Hoofddorp, Netherlands) has launched a developmental range of polypropylene (PP) called Stretchene that targets stretch blowmolding of food and beverage, household chemical packaging, and hot-fill applications. The manufacturer claims this new family of resins out-performs standard PP in terms of rigidity, transparency, impact strength, and cycle times.

A new softer version of its Santoprene thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV) that bonds with engineering thermoplastics has been introduced by ExxonMobil Chemical (Houston, TX). Santoprene TPV45B100 also bonds well with metals and various polyolefins, says Bill Ramsey, global marketing segment manager. In overmolding, it eliminates the need for adhesives, bonding agents, or physical or mechanical interlocks.

Footware company HBN Shoe (Salem, NH) is using molded Insolia Insole Supplements from clear thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) and alloys supplied by GLS (McHenry, IL) to help take the torture out of women’s high heel shoes. The Insolia products are finding use in designer footware from DKNY in the U.S., shoes sold by retailer Marks & Spencer in the U.K, as well as top brands in Asia and Europe. BeeJay Molding in Texas molds these insole supplements. The weight shift produced by this product improves body alignment and balance, reducing leg and back fatigue while reducing pressure on the ball of the foot, the company says.

Thermoplastics compounder RTP Company (Winona, MN) has teamed with Impact Colours UK (Rushden, Northamptonshire) to offer masterbatch to European plastics processors. The partnership gives Impact Colours use of RTP’s compounding presence in continental Europe and takes advantage of Impact’s growing presence in the U.K. color market. The companies share the same universal masterbatch formulations and present themselves as one in selected European markets using the RTP Company brand name UniColour and the Impact brand name MaximUM for both custom and standard colors.

Names in the News

Subhash Pahuja, founder, chairman and CEO of plastics compounder Alloy Polymers Inc. (Richmond, VA), passed away on May 22 (see MPW November 2004 World Tour for a Pahuja/Alloy profile). “Subhash was a pillar in the industry and within our organization. We are deeply saddened by his passing. But his passion and zest for Alloy and always striving to deliver services beyond expectations will be carried on. It’s part of who we are and the foundation he has built,” says Charles Chiappone, Alloy Polymers’ president and chief operating officer.

Alloy Polymers began as an internal unit of precious metal supplier Inco Ltd. in New Jersey. Pahuja took over the business in 1982, refocused it on compounding and engineering plastics, and moved it to Richmond in 1987. Under his leadership Alloy Polymers saw steady, profitable growth and four years ago the company purchased a 150 million lb/yr polypropylene facility in Gahanna, Ohio. Last year, the company added a 175 million lb/yr compounding facility in Crockett, Texas, boosting total capacity to about 400 million lb/yr. Also in 2006, Pahuja turned over day-to-day operations to Chiappone.

Pahuja’s success brought substantial recognition including the Commonwealth of Virginia Entrepreneur of the Year award, U.S. Senate Productivity and Quality Award for Outstanding Achievement and the 2004 Chemical Entrepreneur of the Year award by the business consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.

Pahuja’s wife of 34 years, Kamini Pahuja, will assume the role of company chair. Donations in Pahuja’s memory may be made to the 5P Foundation (8713 Butterfield Ave. Richmond, Va. 23229). All monies collected will go either to Massey Cancer Center in Richmond, Va. or to support the Blood Disorders Center in Faridabad, India.

Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. (Bolton, ON) named Gerardo Chiaia as president, Asia, and appointed him to the company’s executive team. He succeeds Marcus Sutch, who is leaving the company. Chiaia has spent the past 13 years at Husky, most recently serving as general manager, hot runners and molds, based at Husky’s Luxembourg manufacturing facility.

Husky Asia garnered attention at the recent Chinaplas show in Guangzhou not for what it displayed, but what it didn’t, namely, itself. Contacted for comment, Husky officials in Bolton said they limit their Chinaplas attendance to years when the event is Shanghai, where the company has a manufacturing and sales office to support the show. A number of machinery exhibitors in Hall A were surprised by the injection molding machine, hot runner, and mold supplier’s absence, saying they understood the company had signed up for floor space in the hall.

Tony Grant is the new director of sales at bimetallic screw and barrel manufacturer Wexco (Lynchburg, VA), according to firm president Peter Jones. “We are fortunate to have someone with such an extensive background in plastics processing component sales join the Wexco team,” Jones said. “Grant is a seasoned executive with over 27 years of industrial experience, the last 14 of which have been in sales management and general management positions within the plastics processing equipment industry.”

Stephen Montalto has been appointed director of sales & marketing at Parkinson Technologies Inc. (Woonsocket, RI), a manufacturer of large-scale web-handling, winding and plastics processing equipment. Montalto comes to Parkinson from Process Control Corp. where he was VP of sales. Prior to Process Control, Montalto held technical and commercial roles with extruder manufacturers Sano/Black Clawson and Davis Standard.

Dynisco (Franklin, MA), a manufacturer of testing equipment and sensors for the plastics and rubber industries, with manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Germany, and Malaysia, has appointed Michael Millsaps to the position of marketing and sales manager for the firm’s ’Polymer Test’ product line at its Alpha Technologies Inc. subsidiary. Millsaps is responsible for sales and marketing of the entire product line in North and South America. He will be located at the Alpha location in Akron, OH. Prior to joining Dynisco, Millsaps was North American sales and marketing manager for Japan Steel Works Marubeni (JSW), where he was responsible for its line of compounding.

Engineering thermoplastics toll compounder Westchester Plastics (Nesquehoning, PA) has named William (Bill) Diecks as regional sales manager. He joins Westchester Plastics from Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. where he was business manager for oxygen scavenger polymers. Diecks also recently served as the general chair of the 2007 SPE International Polyolefins Conference.

Weekly futures activity from the LME

Futures trading of linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and polypropylene (PP) on the London Metal Exchange (LME) for the trading week of May 21-25 saw a low price for LLDPE of $1190/tonne set on Monday, May 21, for June buyers. LLDPE’s high of $1245/tonne was reached Tuesday through Thursday, May 22-24, for August sellers.

For PP, a low price of $1240/tonne was reached on Friday, May 25, for June buyers. The high of $1290/tonne was reached on Friday, May 25, for August sellers.

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