Strictly-Extrusion

Italian film machinery maker Bielloni Castello this week bought the Dolci and Dolci Extrusion trademarks and associated assets from Swiss machinery group Nextrom, which is in the process of liquidating its former Italian film equipment subsidiary. Under the deal, Bielloni Castello will acquire the Dolci trademarks, all corresponding licences, construction designs, stock, some customers’ orders in progress, spare parts and technical support files. The company will also take on about 10 former Nextrom employees. The value of the deal has not been disclosed.

A 0.5-in.-diam. die measuring 2 x 4.5-in. with four tiny spirals is the smallest spiral blown-film die in the world, according to the builder, Randcastle Extrusion Systems Inc., USA. Randcastle first showed the latest mini die at May’s SPE ANTEC meeting in San Francisco. The die appeared on a new mini blown-film lab line with a 30 x 30 in. footprint (vs. 3 x 5 ft for Randcastle’s smallest before now). The object of the tiny film line, which incorporates an on-line rheometer parallel to the 5/8-in.-diam. extruder, is to minimize the amount of resin needed to make test samples. www.randcastle.com

Siemens AG, Germany, confirmed July 26 that it is selling the world’s largest plastics equipment maker, along with six other businesses, to U.S. buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. One analyst who follows Siemens in Germany said he thinks KKR will hang onto the MPM companies — at least until the capital equipment market improves.

Sales at Epurex Films GmbH & Co KG, Germany, a subsidiary of Wolff Walsrode AG which belongs to the Bayer Group, stagnated at EUR 32.7m in 2001 due to the declining automotive market. Despite additional burdens resulting from a relocation from Bonn to Bomlitz, the company, which produces PU film for engineering applications, achieved an annual profit of EUR 4.3m for the year, with an average of 82 employees.

SMS Plastics Technology in Mainerzhagen, Germany, has purchased SMB David GmbH in Herrsching, Germany, a maker of downstream equipment for a variety of foam board products. SMB designs and builds equipment for finishing the sides and surfaces of EPS, extruded foamed PS, PU, and PE foam. The acquisition lets SMS supply turnkey lines to these markets, which include insulation and other construction-related products, for the first time. SMS owns Battenfeld Gloucester Engineering, USA, Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik,Germany and SMS Follientechnik in Vienna, Austria, which all make film and sheet equipment.

Agricultural films made from ExxonMobil Chemical’s Exceed resins have superior qualities that will benefit China’s film manufacturers and farming customers, according to field and laboratory tests. Two Chinese film manufacturers that made film from Agricultural films made from ExxonMobil Chemical’s Exceed resins have superior qualities that will benefit China’s film manufacturers and farming customers, according to field and laboratory tests.

Two Chinese film manufacturers that made film from ExxonMobil’s specialty Exceed resins and compared it with film from conventional C4 resins found that film made from Exceed was superior to conventional film.
The two types of films were mounted on local greenhouses in several of China’s farming regions. They were then left in the field to age over a test period of 12 to 15 months. In parallel, samples of the same films were evaluated under laboratory conditions. Although films made from Exceed were 20 to 25 per cent thinner than those made from conventional C4 resins, films made from Exceed lasted as long or longer than conventional films in the field.Features which give the films superior qualities include: better optical clarity to stimulate plant growth; more dust resistance to make the films stay cleaner over a longer period of time; better puncture resistance to withstand greenhouse supports and shade coverings; and cost effectiveness as the grower stands to benefit from the film’s superior optical properties. In addition, the film maker saved some 10 to 20 percent in raw material cost because a smaller amount of resin is needed to make the film.
Exceed is made with ExxonMobil Chemical’s state-of-the-art metallocene technology. ExxonMobil Chemical was the first company in the world to develop this technology, and also the first to make polyethylene-based metallocene products commercially viable and readily available to customers worldwide.

The idea was to supply manufacturers of small plastic profiles with a high-quality versatile extrusion line at an attractive price and with a short delivery time.

miniBEX – a complete line concept for extrusion

The miniBEX line of Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik, Germany, is a package of standardised machines and components. Hence, the price could be reduced by 30 % compared with conventional lines, and the delivery time shortened to just 4 weeks, while maintaining the high Battenfeld quality standard. The line consists of a standardised base frame – which can be fitted with any one of four interchangeable standard extruder models – and standardised downstream equipment. Each type of extruder comes complete with barrel and screw, heating/cooling aggregate and its own drive. The base frame is equipped with a compact visualisation screen, a control panel and a control cabinet including electrics, PLC and drive.
The calibration table, belt haul-off and saw are delivered as one compact unit, bolted together and with wiring in place, ready for “plug and play”. The line may be extended to include co-extruders, post co-extruders, notching devices, winders, additional cutting devices, etc., according to customers’ requirements.
miniBEX-extruders – a wide range:
There are four different types of extruders to choose from:
Ø 50 mm 18 D parallel twin screw extruder
Ø 54 mm active conical twin screw extruder
Ø 45 mm 25 D single screw extruder
Ø 60 mm 25 D single screw extruder

http://www.sms-k.com/SMS_Startframe_engl/BEX_Startframe_engl/GrafikenBEX/miniBEX_E.pdf

ENTEK Extruders had a very successful stand at the International Wood Plastic Conference in Austria last month. This was the first time that potential customers in Europe had seen the Entek extrusion system for Natural Fibre Plastic Composites (NFP Composites) and the range of products that could be produced with these extrusion lines. Various samples of Natural Fibre Plastic Composite (NFP Composite) were on display, which provided immense interest and focal point for discussion.

ENTEK used the Conference to show their Direct Extrusion process technology NFP Composite extrusion. ENTEK has been able to design a unique system which allows Natural Fibre & Plastics to be combined in the extruder to produce a NFP Composite which can be extruded directly through a profile die producing a NFP Composite product or die face cut to produce NFP Composite pellet compounds. In the USA, the most popular form of these composites is Wood decking, in which there is a vast market. Other profiles have been extruded using the Entek technology, some of which were on display on the stand, using a wide range of fibre fillers including; Wood Fibre, Rice Hulls, Sugar Beet, Kaolin and Ground Paper, to name a few.

The process knowledge and expertise that ENTEK’s technical process engineers have in the area of direct extrusion is extensive. The key benefits displayed at the conference were the versatility of the NFP Composite production from the ENTEK extruder and the ability to extrude Very High Throughputs of NFP Composite profile directly from the ENTEK E-MAX™ Extruder. ENTEK manufacture a wide range of twin-screw extruders from 27mm up to 133mm in diameter, which can give typical throughputs from 50 kg/hr up to 3600 kg/hr of NFP Composite (depending on formulation). ENTEK can supply complete “Turn Key Systems” which can include LIW feeders, melt pumps, calenders, dies, pelletisers as well as other custom equipment tailored to best fit the processing needs of their customers. ENTEK’s turnkey experience includes sheet lines, direct extruded wood fibre filled lines and numerous lines with feeders, extruders, water bath/slides and pelletisers.
For additional information please contact: : sjones@entekmfg.demon.co.uk

UK building products group Heywood Williams is to extend its plastics windows activities with a move into the manufacture of glass sealed unit cassettes. The company has already made its first step in this sector with the acquisition of Cestrum, a supplier of conservatory products to trade customers with a small glass cassette manufacturing capability. Glass cassettes currently account for around £500m of the UK’s total doors, windows and conservatories market, which are estimated to be worth around £4bn.

Walothen GmbH, Germany, Wolff Walsrode AG´s subsidiary for BOPP films, increased its sales revenue by 6.2% to EUR 56.5m in 2001 thanks to increased sales volumes. The company´s business activity result has also undergone a considerable improvement, according to a status report from Wolff Walsrode, which belongs to the Bayer group.