Strictly-Extrusion

Nextrom has sold its metallic cable and pipe operations to a management buy-out, which has acquired the Maillefer name to trade under. The product lines sold are extrusion systems for copper telecommunications cables, energy cables and pipes - mainly composites with metals. Included in the sale is the Ecublens, Switzerland site which becomes Maillefer’s headquarters, and an engineering and service centre in Vantaa, Finland. www.maillefer.com.

KIEFEL Extrusion GmbH, Germany, one of the leading producers of blown film extrusion lines is presenting its participation in the fair also live on the Internet during the entire period of the K 2001 in Düsseldorf (25th October to 1st November). A number of Web cameras convey immediate impressions of the fair events of the machinery maker (Hall 17 /Stand B 41) to visitors to www.kiefel-extrusion.com using the link fair-special. Among others, the exhibits will be captured with various camera views. The complete production program of both extrusion lines presented at the world’s largest plastics fair can also be seen with daily updating. A news page additionally offers news about the company. A special highlight is the current machinery parameters as well as the film thickness profile of the exhibited coextrusion line which convey a realistic impression to the virtual visitor of the performance and technical competence. With the extended worldwide web presentation KIEFEL provides in addition to the exciting fair participation, the possibility of obtaining a topical impression of the product proposals of this full range supplier to those interested who cannot visit the K in Düsseldorf themselves.

Plastics recycler Delleve,UK, has invested more than £375,000 in an extrusion line to make pipe from 100 per
cent recycled materials. Much of the equipment was supplied by Corma of Canada, and the technology for processing the recycled material is Delleve’s own, developed in association with Aston University. The line is making four sizes of single wall drainage pipe and ducting products and is part of a continuing larger investment to completely re-equip the factory. Delleve intends to reach an annual production of 10,000 tonnes of pipe.

LG Dow Polycarbonate has started up its Yosu, Korea polycarbonate plant. The company is a 50/50 joint venture between the Dow Chemical Company and LG Chem Investment. Expansion in output at LG Dow was announced last year as part of a polycarbonate expansion by Dow. In July this year LG Dow Polycarbonate took over Dow’s polycarbonate market franchise in the Pacific, with the exception of Japan. The new plant is starting at 65,000 tonnes and is expected to ramp up quickly to an annual capacity of 130,000 tonnes.

Thailand’s Rayong Olefins had increased their operating rates at their 800 kt/annum naphtha cracker in Map Ta Phut to 100% capacity this week, easing the supply constraints in the region. While operating earlier at 90% rates due to a decoking exercise, Rayong’s regular customers had reportedly suffered delivery delays however at current levels the source said that all commitments would be met without any hitches. With this additional availability, prices of feedstock would be kept in check according to the market source as pressures on avails would immediately ease.

Polypipe, UK, is up for sale once again. IMI plc bought the British plastics pipe, profile and fittings company for US$543 million in 1999. But Birmingham-based IMI just completed an in-depth business review and announced that it plans to reshape to focus on higher-growth global operations that represent 65 percent of its total sales.

Speedex Designs will be featuring their complete range of downstream equipment for the extrusion of plastic pipes and profiles up to 2000mm diameter at K.
Speedex is recognised around the world as a leading supplier of high quality machines.
In the year since Speedex Designs Ltd was formed when the IMH Group purchased the intellectual property of Speedex (Engineering) Ltd, the already successful SPEEDEX range has been extended and improved and now includes: vacuum tanks and spray cooling extension tanks for pipes up to 2000mm diameter; vacuum calibrating tables for profiles; take-offs for plastic pipes from 10mm diameter to 2000mm diameter and profiles from 10mm sq. to 200mm high x 1000mm wide; circular saws for pipes and profiles; planetary saws for pipes; swarfless planetary cutters for polyolefin pipes up to 95 mm wall thickness; coilers and discharge tables.
Slitters and Perforators for Pipes up to 630mm diameter.
Speedex will also be demonstrating their capabilities for complete turn-key extrusion line packages for pipe and profiles with single or twin screw extruders, and for pultrusion equipment.

Leistritz in Somerville, USA, has expanded its production capacity for twin-screw compounding extruders. The firm acquired a 20,000-sq-ft plant adjacent to its process laboratory. The additional space for manufacturing and assembly will enable Leistritz to expand into machine refurbishing and gearbox rebuilding services.

The Belgian chemical and PVC group Tessenderlo, Brussels, expects for the PVC field in 2001 „the worst year of the recent ten years“. The prices have not returned to a reasonable level in spring and went down this summer again. The company hopes for slight improvement by end of this year. Regarding the plastics processing field: slumps in the French pipe and the American pipe market could be compensated by growth in the UK.

Bunzl Extrusion Inc., USA, is taking another step south of the border with the acquisition of Protectores del Golfo SA de CV. According to John Boben, president of Bunzl’s Moulding Specialists Inc., the mexican producer of pipe-thread protectors in Veracruz provides Bunzl with a presence in the center of the oil and gas industry and a foothold to develop other markets in Latin America.