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This is our last enewsletter of 2007. We resume bi-weekly publication on January 9, 2008. We'd like to send all our readers greetings of the season, and best wishes for a prosperous 2008.
Plast-Ex Summit coming in May 2008
The Plast-Ex Summit, a conference for CEOs and others concerned with the direction of the plastics industry, is slated for May 22, 2008. The venue is the Rogers Center (formerly the Skydome) in downtown Toronto.
The one-day event is jointly planned by Plastics in Canada magazine and the Canadian Plastics Industry Association, which is the owner of the Plast-Ex brand-name. The intent is to look at ways of turning around problem of low investment in Canada's plastics industry, and to chart some concrete solutions.
A line-up of high-profile speakers is currently being prepared. The day includes lunch, dinner, a networking opportunity, and, at no extra charge, a Blue Jays baseball game, which can be seen from the Rogers VIP box at the Rogers Center.
More details will follow early in 2008.
www.plasticsincanada.com, www.cpia.ca
Schad bids farewell as Husky shareholders agree to buyout
Shareholders of Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. (Bolton, Ont.) voted nearly unanimously on December 6 to accept a bid from Onex Corp. to buy all the company's shares and take it private. The final legal steps in the takeover by Onex, which was the buyout choice of Husky founder Robert Schad and the company's board after bids were solicited earlier this year, should be completed by December 13. The existing slate of directors was re-elected to remain in place at the December 6 annual general meeting, but a new board will be chosen on December 13.
At the meeting, Schad joked that since he turns 80 next year, "an age where most people pass on," it was definitely time to step down from the company he has headed for over 40 years.
"It has been a difficult decision," he said in some personal remarks before the meeting opened. "I don't have any family in the business, and I think that a change of ownership and a change to doing things differently is beneficial for the company. Onex have promised that they will maintain our culture and values. This culture and values have been key to our success.
"Our culture is about doing big things. It's not a reflection of having a special cafeteria or all kinds of company benefits. Having exciting work, working in good teams – that's our culture at Husky. I want to thank especially the employees of Husky, who have made all this possible."
The existing CEO, John Galt, will remain at the helm after the change of ownership. While changes in how the company operates are difficult to predict at this point, he has said several times that he expects Husky to expand through acquisitions in future.
www.husky.ca
Robert Schad, who is ceding
control of the company he founded in 1953.
AceTronic Industrial Controls – Clarification
The November issue of Plastics in Canada Magazine erroneously printed an outdated advertisement for AceTronic Industrial Controls. This included prices that no longer apply, for both the 10-ft cables and mainframes. In addition, the temperature module shown has been replaced by an updated version with a number of extra features.
Lower prices than those given in the advertisement are now in place, and Plastics in Canada Magazine wishes to apologize for any inconvenience caused.
AceTronic prides itself on being highly competitive in its pricing and will gladly share the new pricing for these products with its customers.
AceTronic Industrial Controls Inc. 1-800-803-8871, www.acetronic.com
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Cross wins CPIA Atlantic Leader of the Year award
Duncan Cross, Atlantic region executive director of the Canadian Plastics Industry Association, and director of its composites council, received the Atlantic Canada Plastics and Composites Leader of the Year Award at a luncheon last week at the Halifax Club. Cross was honoured with the award for his eight years of service to the Atlantic and Canadian industry. Sandy Marshall, co-chair of the Atlantic Region and a former recipient of the same award made the presentation on behalf of the nominating committee.
In accepting his award, Cross said, "It has been an honour and pleasure to serve the Atlantic plastics sector, and that the teamwork and enthusiasm of the group has been the cornerstone of its success." Due to restructuring at CPIA, the Atlantic office of CPIA will close, and the composites file will be handled from CPIA's headquarters in Mississauga, Ont., after the end of this year.
Cross will continue to serve the association and its Atlantic region under a contractual arrangement.
www.cpia.ca
Duncan Cross receives his award from Sandy Marshall
Bioplastics firm receives BioCouncil investment
The Ontario BioAuto Council Commercialization Fund has made its first investment, in GreenCore Composites Inc., a natural-fibre composite company based in Toronto. The Council has committed $755,000 to GreenCore for scale-up production, process enhancement and market development of its bio-based compounds.
GreenCore Composites has proprietary technologies to manufacture natural fibre-reinforced composites for conventional injection moulded and extruded semi-structural and structural products. By replacing petroleum-based materials with natural fibres, its Green Inside compounds can more than double the strength of the base polymer while offering added environmental benefits.
"GreenCore Composites has been working aggressively to commercialise this technology as we see immediate opportunity for our novel composites in Ontario's industrial sectors, most notably the automotive sector," said Geoff Clarke, president and CEO of GreenCore. "The investment from the BioAuto Council will go a long way to accelerating our product development and refining our production processes".
"The innovation showcased in the Green Inside pellets produced by GreenCore Composites made our decision to invest very easy," said Dr. Bernard West, chairman of the Ontario BioAuto Council. "The BioAuto Council is excited to support the commercialisation of this world class technology in an Ontario enterprise".
www.greencoreNFC.com
Bayer sponsors Humber College design contest
This fall, Bayer MaterialScience, a business unit of Bayer Inc., partnered with Humber College's School of Applied Technology (Rexdale, Ont.) to support a design competition for students advancing their skills in the plastics field. Fifty second-year industrial design students were challenged to create a new product or greatly improve an existing product used regularly by members of the baby boomer generation, who are now entering their retirement years. Students were required to use injection-moulding and extrusion technologies.
BMS' support of this project included a $5,000 honorarium: a portion for the program, a portion
went towards the program, a portion to each team's project expenses and a portion to the winning team as a prize.
BMS' support also included regular visits to Humber College to offer expertise and advice as the students prepared their final presentations.
Students presented their final projects on November 6 to a panel of Bayer judges including senior country representative, Ernie Springolo.
"Bayer MaterialScience is proud to support these bright students," said Springolo. "This partnership expresses Bayer's commitment to young people in the science field and to the Canadian plastics industry."
"Design competitions are an outlet for students to apply the skills that they learned in class to address real-world needs." said David Alcock, associate dean, Humber School of Applied Technology, "Without support from local companies like Bayer, these competitions would not be possible."
The winning team developed a prototype using BMS' Makrolon polycarbonate for light-emitting diode (LED) baseboards to help seniors remain independent and stay safe in the home. The team received a cash prize and a commemorative trophy.
www.bayermaterialscience.com
Ernie Springolo (right) with the winning team of Humber College students.
Bisphenol-A sees first Canadian commercial ban
Bisphenol-A, a feedstock for both polycarbonate and epoxy, is increasingly the target of an environmentalist protest. Now, Mountain Equipment Co-op (Vancouver) has become the first major Canadian retailer to pull polycarbonate products from its store shelves. The store is saying it has done this in response to customers who expressed concern about BPA in products they buy.
The federal government is examining whether BPA poses any health threats to humans. Health Canada is expected to release its findings on this in a report next May. The Ontario government is also launching a study on BPA after a November protest rally in Toronto. It is appointing a panel to examine how to reduce the amount of BPA in baby bottles.
Much of the opposition to BPA is spearheaded by Dr. Frederick vom Saal, a University of Missouri biologist, who has been a vocal critic of it as an endocrine modifier, and is often quoted by those seeking a ban. BPA was originally developed in the 1930s a synthetic version of the female hormone estrogen, but was abandoned at the time as ineffective. Vom Saal and other researchers claim it is acting as a form of rogue estrogen, while most previous researchers as well as industry groups have failed to identify a BPA-related link to health problems.
http://hc-sc.gc.ca, cerhr.niehs.nih.gov/chemicals/index.html
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Changes
Camoplast Inc. (Sherbrooke, Que.) has opened a technical centre in Magog to support its design and moulding activities. The company is consolidating R&D for its track systems, used on snowmobiles and related transportation, in Magog. It is investing $6-million, with Quebec government agencies are contributing about $2.3-million more center. Camoplast anticipates the centre will employ 35 people.
ITM Instruments Inc. has opened new offices in Newmarket, Ont. This has a showroom, a laboratory with six clean rooms for calibration, which meet ISO 17025 standards, and a warehouse. It is at 16975 Leslie St., Newmarket, Ont., L3Y 9A1; 905-947-1771; fax: 905-947-1551. www.itm.com
ITM's new headquarters in Newmarket, Ont.
The Canadian Plastics Industry Association is offering a seminar on the Ontario Ministry of the Environment's Certificate of Approvals process, on January 18, 2008. CPIA has arranged for Pinchin Environmental Ltd., a consulting firm with experience in this field, to present a practical seminar on aspects of addressing the need for a C of A in the plastics processing sector.
www.cpia.ca
The Thermoplastic Elastomer Division of Teknor Apex Co. (Pawtucket, RI) has appointed Channel Prime Alliance (Toronto) to distribute its thermoplastic elastomer compounds in the US and Canada. Channel Prime' business manager Joe Muhs stated this extends his company's capabilities beyond a broad range of rigid thermoplastics to include a wide variety of softer TPE products.
www.channelpa.com
Dow's Engineering Plastics business will exit ABS and SAN sales in the Americas for all non-automotive markets by February 1. Dow ABS/SAN assets in Europe are not affected by this announcement.
www.dow.com
Basell Holdings NV (The Netherlands) has acquired polypropylene compounder Solvay Engineered Polymers for an undisclosed price. Solvay EP is based in Mansfield, Tex., and has about 200-million lb of PP compounding capacity at plants in its home state. It also makes specialty thermoplastic vulcanisate compounds at a site in Shirley, Mass. In July, Basell acquired plastics and chemicals maker Lyondell Chemical Co. of Houston for $19-billion. That deal will create a firm with annual sales of $34 billion and 15,000 employees worldwide.
www.basell.com
Gammaflux LP (Sterling, Va.) and Synventive Molding Solutions (Peabody, Mass.) have reached a private label manufacturing agreement whereby Gammaflux will supply its LEC and TTC hot runner temperature control systems to Synventive. The agreement began December 5.
www.gammaflux.com, www.synventive.com
Applied Precision Inc. (Mississauga, Ont.) has changed ownership. Robert Bell, one of two original founders of the private optical 3D digitising firm, is now president, and Scott Reiner has joined the firm as co-owner and vice-president, sales & marketing.
www.appliedprecision.ca
Bayer AG (Leverkusen, Germany) and the Dow Chemical Company (Midland, Mich.) have completed a license agreement that allows Dow to produce polyether polyols using Bayer's patented IMPACT technology. Financial terms regarding cost of the license have not been disclosed. A world scale Dow production facility based on this technology is being evaluated for start up in 2010. Prior to this, Dow expects to have pre-marketing volumes of these products available.
www.dow.com, www.bayermaterialscience.com
Georgia Gulf Corp. will idle its Sarnia, Ont. PVC plant by the end of December. The plant has 450-million lb of resin capacity. The move accommodates what the company is calling a seasonal slow period.
www.ggc.com
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Coming
Events
2008
January 17: Ontario section of the Society of Plastics Engineers dinner meeting, featuring Victor Satov of Canada Colors & Chemicals speaking on Developments in Flame retardants. (Contact: Joe DeRose at 416-410-2286 or jderose@axispsi.com)
February 12: Plastic Film Manufacturers Association of Canada's Triple M Technical Conference, with table top exhibits.
At Bellvue Manor, Vaughan, Ont.
(Contact: Marilyne Berman at 905-678-7748 or mberman@cpia.ca).
March 12: Space draw for Expoplast 2008. Details to follow. (Contact: Tom Sockett at 905-678-7748 or tsockett@cpia.ca).
April 6-9: The International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA) Annual Expo will be held at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort in Orlando, Fla. (Contact: Stacy Flint at 609-799-4900, ext. 62, or SFlint@icma.com).
April 8-11: Plastimagen 2008, Mexico's premier plastics show, at Centro Banamex, Mexico City (Contact: Guadalupe Olvera Arellano at 52-55-1087-1650 or golvera@ejkrause.com)
September 30 - October 2: Interplas 2008, Britain's national plastics show, at the Birmingham NEC, UK. (Contact: Graham Earl at 020 8910 7890 or graham.earl@reedexpo.co.uk).
October 20-21: Expoplast 2008, Quebec's triennial plastics show, at the Palais de Congres in Montreal. (Contact: Tom Sockett at 905-678-7748 or tsockett@cpia.ca) TOP
Coming
Soon From Plastics In Canada Magazine -
February issue
Automotive exterior components
Mould steels- what's new
Extrusion report on sheet and profile production
Injection moulding – Developments in controls
Spotlight on Chillers
Raw materials report
Processor profile
Closing: January 16, 2008
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