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Manufacturers look to Ottawa for help
The Canadian Manufacturing Coalition, a consortium of members and executives of various manufacturing groups, has called on the federal government to offer fresh help to the country's industry. In a letter dated October 9, the coalition, which includes the Canadian Plastics Industry Association, says "Canada's manufacturing industries are under risk," and goes on to state that the challenges of globalisation and a high dollar "require urgent action by manufacturers and governments alike."
The letter asks that the government make "manufacturing a priority in the upcoming Speech from the Throne, and (implement) on an urgent basis the 22 recommendations unanimously agreed to by all parties in the report on manufacturing competitiveness tabled earlier this year by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science, and Technology."
It adds, "We recognise that the onus is on each and every business to compete and win. But, governments also have a critical role to play in ensuring a business environment that enables Canadian industry to retain and attract investment, and make the crucial improvements they require to remain competitive and grow in global markets."
There are 10 recommendations in the letter, including better tax credits for R&D and for training, improved depreciation rules for purchases of new equipment, and simplification of regulations. The complete text of the document is available on the CPIA's website at www.cpia.ca.
New investor for Milacron
Milacron Inc. (Cincinnati) has a new controlling shareholder, Bayside Capital Inc. This investment group, based in Miami, is part of H.I.G. Capital, and has bought all the Series B preferred stock owned by Glencore Finance AG, a Swiss-based raw materials conglomerate that refinanced Milacron at a difficult point for the company in 2004. This gives Bayside 57.5 per cent of the total, so that Bayside will now control about 30 per cent of actual voting power in Milacron.
Milacron announced its board of directors had approved the deal on October 3. Terms have not been disclosed. The deal covers all of Milacron's plastics equipment operations: injection moulding and blow moulding machines, extruders and mould components.
www.milacron.com
Moldpro handling Uniloy Milacron line
Moldpro Inc. (Burlington, Ont.) is now the Canadian representative for the Uniloy Milacron line in Canada, and is also selling Italian-built Uniloy blow moulding machines in the US market. The company held an open house at its headquarters last week to show off its new product line. Pictured here in front of one of the Uniloy machines are Moldpro's family team: Sam Agnew, Beverley Agnew and Moldpro president Bob Agnew.
www.moldpro.com
Vinyl still shows promise
Long-term global growth of the vinyl industry remains intact, despite economic, political and social challenges, according to Irving Leveson. If the name isn't familiar, he is the co-author of Vinyl 2020, the report on the vinyl industry released 10 years ago, and he was speaking two weeks ago at the World Vinyl Forum III in Boston.
“Underlying strengths during 1995-2002 have been contorted by crises and boom-bust that added volatility,” Leveson said, but those strengths will continue, and “the stage is being set for high growth in the years ahead.”
He noted that economic growth will be greatest in third world countries, where “the installed base of PVC is not large.” As countries grow, those with larger internal markets will become more self-sufficient in vinyl production. “This is especially true of China,” Leveson added.
In the U.S. vinyl market, PVC demand increased rapidly through 2005, but slipped in 2006 because of the housing market downturn a slump that will be prolonged if the US economy falls into recession, Leveson said. High and volatile energy prices will also present challenges to the US and other countries, although he noted that rising energy prices have contributed, along with growth in Asia, to a boom in infrastructure.
Despite bumps in the road, technology is providing significant opportunities for the vinyl industry. The US and the rest of the world, Leveson said. We are in a period of “accelerated technology change that will continue for many years and underpin the continuation of accelerated economic growth.”
Although technology development in the vinyl industry is evolutionary rather than revolutionary, “it will provide new solutions and markets.” He added that although the obstacles facing the industry are greater now than in the past, “the business and social environment remains a manageable challenge for an industry that has become and will remain part of our way of life.”
www.cpia.ca/vinyl
Film association hosting technical conference
The Plastic Film Manufacturers Association of Canada (PFMAC) is holding a technical conference in the Toronto area on February 12 next year. The association is calling for submissions for technical papers at this half-day event.
Abstracts should be of a maximum 250 words, and should contain enough information for committee members to evaluate the scope and content of the paper. All papers must be non-commercial in nature. The deadline for abstract submissions is October 19.
Abstracts should be submitted via e-mail to Jim Waslowski of Flex Essentials, at jimw@flexessentials.ca.
The Triple M conference will include the opportunity for vendors to rent a table-top space for exhibiting of their products. To reserve a table, vendors should contact Marilyne Berman at the Canadian Plastics Industry Association, at 905-678-7405, ext. 278, or mberman@cpia.ca.
Correction
An item in our last enewsletter included information on the TDM seminar in Windsor and Toronto being held later this month
on October 23 in Windsor, Ont., and October 24 in Toronto
but omitted to mention a key sponsor. This seminar is an Export Development Canada imitative co-sponsored by the Windsor Essex Development Commission and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
www.edc.ca
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Changes
D-M-E Co. (Madison Heights, Mich.) has new global management. Ken Jasina has been promoted to general manager for the Americas with oversight of sales, finance, engineering and operations. Bruce
Wasilewski is promoted to director of Asian operations, and Alex Rosenzweig will continue his position as interim COO for D-M-E Europe. Doug Miller is now operations manager, with
responsibility for all North American plants and distribution centres. Dave Lawrence, president of D-M-E Mold Technologies, will focus more on the company's global strategy while supporting dedicated management of each D-M-E business unit. Prior to the new reporting structure, Lawrence had also been directly responsible for operations in the Americas.
www.dme.net
Makino (Auburn Hills, Mich.) has added Andre Ey to its Die Mold Technologies Group. Ey has 18 years experience as a senior executive at global manufacturers, both in management and marketing.
www.makino.com
Clariant's Pigments & Additives Division in Canada is closing its technical application
laboratory in Markham, Ont. As part of a transition to a regional administrative and business support structure, the laboratory will combine with Clariant's industry-specific laboratories in Coventry, RI, effective December 1.
www.clariant.com
Brian T. Bishop, president of Demag Plastics Group's US operations, has left the company, by mutual agreement with the German parent company. Christian Renners will be temporarily responsible for all activities related to Demag's machine sales; John Martich will be responsible for all activities related to the US after-sales business; and William Thornton will be responsible for all other activities related to the US operations.
In late June, the company closed its Strongsville, Ohio manufacturing operations, and said it would shift production of its large-tonnage Titan injection presses to a plant in Ningbo, China.
www.dpg.com
Epco LLC (Fremont, Ohio), a remanufacturer of plastics processing machines and die-cast machinery, will close its plant in Fremont at the end of this year and move the operation one in Michigan run by thermoforming equipment maker Brown Machine LLC. Epco and Brown both are owned by Chicago investment firm Madison Capital Partners.
www.epcollc.com
Watlow (St. Louis, Mo.), a designer and manufacturer of heaters, controllers and temperature sensors, has promoted Chad Merryman to vice-president, global end user sales and support. For the last two years he served as director for Watlow's domestic and international technical sales and support teams.
www.watlow.com
Chad Merryman
Ineos Nova plans to shut down its Montreal polystyrene production by the end of 2007. The site has annual production capacity of 120 million lb of PS. The plant is the company's smallest, and thus its least cost-effective. Closing it will eliminate six per cent of North American PS production.
www.ineos-nova.com
Dow Building Solutions, a business unit of the Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.), is reconfiguring its polyisocyanurate assets in North America. This will position two sites (Charleston, Ill. and Pennsauken, NJ) for growth and technology upgrades; and result in the closure of sites at Texarkana, Ark. and Tracy, Cal.
www.dow.com
Arburg GmbH + Co. KG has opened its technology centre in Elgin, Ill. It is investing in two US technology centres at the same time, the other being in Irvine, Calif. The Elgin centre has a 2,500-sq ft showroom.
www.arburg.com
Dr. Jeffry Schumm, sales director of IDI Composites International (Noblesville, Ind.), a global formulator and manufacturer of thermoset moulding compounds, has been appointed to the Society of Plastics Engineers Thermoset Division Board of Directors. Dr. Schumm received a PhD in chemistry from the University of South Carolina and a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from Eastern Illinois University. He joined IDI in 2003.
www.idicomposites.com
Dyneon LLC has named Netha N. Johnson president and general manager. Johnson succeeds Bill Myers, who last month was named general manager of 3M Energy and Advanced Materials Division.
www.dyneon.com
Bayer MaterialScience LLC (Pittsburgh) has appointed Lennie Scott manager of environmental governance in its HSEQ NAFTA organisation. In this position, Scott will be responsible for overall coordination of environmental governance in the NAFTA region. Scott began his career with Bayer (then Miles Inc.) in 1987 as the manager of corporate environmental affairs at the company's Elkhart, Ind., plant.
www.bayermaterialsciencenafta.com
Lanxess (Leverkusen, Germany) has successfully completed two portfolio adjustments. Effective September 30, 2007, the former Lustran Polymers business unit became part of Ineos ABS, a newly formed joint venture with British chemicals group Ineos. Lanxess initially holds a 49 per cent financial interest in the joint-venture, which will be acquired by Ineos in two years when Lanxess withdraws completely from the ABS business. Also effective September 30, 2007, Lanxess has divested its wholly owned subsidiary Borchers GmbH to the OM Group. Borchers, which specialises in additives for coatings, emulsion paints and printing inks, was considered a peripheral business of Lanxess.
www.lanxess.com
Bayer MaterialScience LLC (Pittsburgh) has named John Brandt director of new technologies and strategic initiatives in the Future Business group. In this position, he will be identifying business opportunities both within and outside the BMS traditional business structure. Brandt joined the Bayer organisation in 1988 as a chemist in the Coatings Division .
www.bayermaterialsciencenafta.com
Malvern Instruments has relocated its US headquarters to new, purpose-designed facilities in Westborough Mass. Earlier this year the company's Analytical Imaging group also relocated to new premises in Columbia, Md., where it has established a centre of excellence for chemical and morphological imaging.
www.malvern.com
Vecoplan LLC (High Point, NC), which makes heavy-duty grinders, shredders and recycling equipment, has doubled the size of its factory in Highpoint to 60,000 sq ft. Officials held a grand opening Sept. 15. Vecoplan was created in 2000 when High Point-based ReTech Industries Inc. merged with Vecoplan Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. of Bad Marienberg, Germany.
www.vecoplanLLC.com
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Coming
Events
October 22: CAMM meeting at the Ciociaro Club of Windsor, Oldcastle, Ont., featuring Dr. Jay Baron, president of the Center for Automotive Research, speaking on Characteristics of a World Class Tool Shop and Prospects in a Global Economy.
(Contact: diane@camm.ca).
October 24-31: K 2007, Germany's international plastics super-show, at Dusseldorf Trade Fairgrounds. Nearly 3,000 exhibitors showing the latest plastics technology.
(Contact: Stefan Egge at 416-598-1524 or messeduesseldorf@germanchamber.ca)
November 13: Sustainable Packaging Technical Conference & Exposition, co-hosted by the Packaging Association of Canada and Wal-Mart. At the Toronto Congress Centre
(Contact: Joanna Griffin, 416 490-7860, ext. 222 or jgriffin@pac.ca).
November 29: First Quebec Forum on Lean Plastics & Composites. At Hôtel des Seigneurs, St-Hyacinthe, Que. Organised by Quebec region, CPIA.
(Contact: Maryse Lavigne at 450-641-5923 or mlavigne@acipquebec.ca)
December 5-8: Euromold is the world’s largest mould, tool and die event, held at the Exhibition Centre, Frankfurt, Germany.
(For exhibiting, contact Sally Damstra at 905-678-7748, ext. 280 or sdamstra@cpia.ca. Show website is www.euromold.com).
2008
April 6-9 2008: 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). TOP
Coming
Soon From Plastics In Canada Magazine -
November
issue
Large part automotive injection moulding
Hot runner controls
Blow moulding report
Spotlight on Printing, decorating and welding systems.
Raw materials report
Processor profile
Closing: October 31
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