Strictly-Extrusion

The Deceuninck Group has announced a fourth quarter turnover for 2006 of €166m, representing a downturn of 1.5%.
The Group’s overall full-year turnover for 2006 was up 4.6% to €662.5m, from €643.7m in 2005. The company said the downturn in the fourth quarter was mainly due to a 20% fall in US sales. “Despite a slight improvement of construction indicators at the end of 2006, expectations are that the decline will continue to have a negative impact on turnover in the United States during the first half of 2007,” the maker of PVC windows and building profiles said. Deceuninck said the full year turnover for Europe was €444m, up 5% on the previous year. The greatest growth was in Russia, with a turnover increase of more than 60%.
Turnover for the year had also jumped up in Germany. The Group attributed the 15% increase to government initiatives promoting investment in improved insulation materials, an energy certificate required by residential home owners (set to commence 2008), and the temporary effect of purchases brought forward to avoid the 3% VAT increase on building materials that went into effect 1 January 2007. The Group experienced “difficult market conditions” in the UK and reported a “significant” decline in turnover.
Looking forward, the Group announced plans to increase production capacity in Russia to 25,000 tonnes in 2007, noting that a large percentage of the profiles for Russia are imported from Germany and Belgium. “The Russian import taxes on profiles in Russia have placed Deceuninck at a competitive disadvantage in comparison with local profile producers,” Deceuninck said. The Group has purchased a site in Protvino, a town about 100km south of Moscow.

Wayne Machine has introduced a new medium sized “Yellow Jacket” Cast Film Takeoff System that features Orientation capability. This is accomplished by a second chill roll featuring a high precision speed ratio follower drive linked to the main chill roll drive. The closed loop AC Flux Vector drive system maintains the selected speed ratio between the two rolls allowing the film to be oriented in the machine direction to the exact degree required. Once set, the motors are constantly monitored with encoders to maintain the degree of orientation. The chill rolls feature double shell, spiral baffle construction with mirror finish chrome plating, and are direct driven with independent motors. A nip roll station is an integral part of the takeoff system. The nip rolls also feature a precision speed ratio follower drive linked to the second chill roll that maintains the exact amount of film tension desired. Orientation and Tension control are key to achieving critical mechanical property parameters in the finished film, especially when dealing with engineering and highly filled polymers. Various roll finishes are available to make specialized film, such as corrosion resistant types for Teflon FEP, and anti-stick matte finishes for polyurethane films. A complete emergency stop system opens the nip rolls and stops the chill rolls whenever air pressure drops, the safety chain is pulled or when a mushroom pushbutton is pressed. Screw jacks provide for easy height adjustment of the entire system. The new “Yellow Jacket” Cast Film Takeoff systems are ideal for adding Cast Film capability to existing extruders, as drop in replacements for existing takeoffs or as part of a complete cast film system including extruder, die, takeoff and winder. Complete computer and SCADA control system interface is available for automatic, remote control and data logging and trending. Custom options, including payoffs for fiber or paper backed film are available.

Borealis, a leading provider of innovative, value creating plastics solutions, announces the appointment of Mark Garrett as CEO
Designate. He will assume the role of Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO when John Taylor turns 60 years old and retires at
the end of 2007. Mark Garrett will join Borealis on April 1, 2007 to ensure a smooth transition into the business. He comes to Borealis from Ciba Speciality Chemicals where he was Executive Vice President Water and Paper Treatment and a Member of the Executive Committee. Having first joined the company in 1986 in Australia, he has held several business management positions before joining DuPont for a year and returning to Ciba Speciality Chemicals in Switzerland in 2001. Garrett holds a Bachelor of Arts, Economics, degree from the University of Melbourne in Australia and a Graduate Diploma of Applied Information Systems from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He is 44 years old, married and has 3 children.
“We are delighted that Mark Garrett will be joining Borealis as CEO Designate in April,” comments Gerhard Roiss, Chairman of the
Borealis Supervisory Board. “Over the past six years, John Taylor has led a highly successful transformation of Borealis and we are grateful for his contribution and many achievements. We are now well positioned to continue the pursuit of our Value Creation through Innovation strategy along with our Borouge joint venture in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

Over 150 participants representing about 100 customers from 25 countries attended a high-tech symposium on 15th and 16th November 2006 to mark the fifth anniversary of the Coperion Group. ‘Within only five years,’ said Manfred Eiden, CEO of the
entire Group, in his welcoming speech, ‘Coperion has developed from what used to be individual companies to become the world’s technology and market leader in pre-processing, compounding and extrusion lines, in bulk solids handling systems and in the provision of services and the supply of components.’ Manfred Eiden went on to say: ‘The Coperion Group is a genuine global player,
for we operate worldwide in all the key regions of the plastics industry – in 27 countries and with 8 production facilities on 3 continents.’ The technological competence of the Coperion Group is reflected in its economic success: in the current business year, sales are expected to rise by over 20 % to around € 450 million compared with the previous year. Incoming orders – totalling more
than € 530 million – represent an increase of almost 30 %. The Group’s vast resources of knowhow will be implemented for the intensive development of those markets outside the plastics industry, especially the markets for foodstuffs, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, their present share in Coperion’s turnover being in the region of 20 %. Under the motto „5 years Coperion – Integrated Compounding Solutions“, the participants were afforded, in a series of 14 technical lectures, comprehensive information on innovations and current developments in bulk materials handling systems and components, on the available lines for the compounding and extruding of plastics and on the growing importance of all-inclusive December 2006 service contracts for such lines. Several lectures highlighted the marked trend towards complete production lines from just one supplier. This trend is noticeable both in mega projects for polyolefins – Coperion Waeschle is currently building two such lines in Saudi Arabia, each with an annual output of 1 million tonnes – and in service-proven modular lines in which all the processing stages for the compounding of standard and engineering plastics are integrated, i.e. material feed, compounding, pelletizing and onward transport of the ready-to-use pellets.
Particular highlights of the Symposium were the two introductory lectures delivered by guest speakers. Dr. Willy Hoven-Nievelstein, Group Vice President Engineering Plastics Europe at BASF, Ludwigshafen, explained in his lecture “Engineering plastics – markets and developments” among other things, why and to what extent the growth of these markets will shift towards the East, and above all towards China and, in the already foreseeable future, India. One reassuring aspect of this shift, however, is the fact that development competence will for the most part remain rooted in Europe for quite some time to come, and in Germany in particular. A second interesting aspect is that new applications, primarily in the bodywork sector, will enable the growth of engineering plastics to remain unaffected by the generally negligible growth of the automotive industry. In his lecture ‘Trends in polymer processing’, Dr. Thomas Bott, Senior Vice President Polymer Technology at BASF, explained why nanofoam materials are an efficient means of heat
insulation, by reason that the gas in the cells does not have a share in thermal conductivity. Coperion’s developments are making a great contribution towards simplifying the process chain in all compounding applications, not least through the transition from discontinuous to continuous modes of operation. The same goes for the demand for ‘plug-and-produce’ modules, even for relatively demanding tasks. An important step in this direction are the modular production lines. Once these lines have been equipped with in-line measuring technology (not yet available), the present needs of the chemical industry will have been fully met.

Wavin N.V., Europe’s leading supplier of plastic pipe systems and solutions, has today completed its acquisition of Pilsa Plastic, a prominent Turkish manufacturer of plastic pipes and fittings. Selling parties are Sabanci Holding and related minority shareholders.
The purchase price of 82 million USD (approximately EUR 56 million) will be funded from existing credit facilities. The 2007 revenue of Pilsa is approximately EUR 85 million. Wavin expects the acquisition to be accretive to earnings per share from the start. It is foreseen that Turkven, a Turkish private equity firm, and the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) will become co-investors, with Wavin maintaining a majority stake of 60%. This is expected to materialise during Q1 2008.

The acquisition of Pilsa provides Wavin with an excellent opportunity to benefit from the positive economic developments in Turkey and surrounding countries. Pilsa is a significant player in its home market and has strong export positions in several Central and Eastern European countries.
The company currently employs 390 people and generates approximately half of its revenue from Civils & Infrastructure business and the other half from Building & Installation business. The company is based in Adana and has been part of the Sabanci Group, Turkey’s leading industrial and financial multi business firm, since 1971.

The Extrusion Systems Group of Davis-Standard, LLC recently announced the grand opening of an online parts store located at www.davis-standard.com. With the new service, Davis-Standard customers will have the option of using Web-based parts ordering via a user-friendly online retail format beginning in January. More than 50,000 parts for extruders sold from 1981 to the present will be catalogued and available, including those for the Davis-Standard, NRM, Merritt and Killion extruder brands.
The store will not only enable customers to order or research parts for their machine 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but it will take the guesswork out of locating the correct part. When customers log in, they will be able to search by part number, sales order number or bill of material number. They will also be able to pull up pictures and drawings of their machines. Sequence numbers labeling different parts of the machine will correlate to parts shown on the drawing. Customers can click on a part number or go down a level to the sub-assembly to find what they need. Once ordered, customers will receive an e-mailed order acknowledgement and will be contacted within 48 hours with an estimated shipping date. For in stock parts, customers should have their parts shipped in as quickly as one business day.
“As with any online retail outlet, we’ve set up the store to be convenient and secure. Once our customers are registered, they will be able to more easily identify the part they need, order it and purchase it via credit card or purchase order,” explained Jerry Warren, Business Director of Aftermarket. “Having our parts resources accessible online to registered customers will also enable our aftermarket team to more quickly identify the right part and get it out in an expedited manner.”
Warren also noted that as far as he knows, this is the first online parts store of its kind in the industry. Customers are invited to register for the store as soon as possible by calling the Extrusion Systems Parts Department at 1-800-480-8105 or by sending an e-mail via the website. They will be requested to provide serial numbers for their machines, which will be entered into the system. This registration will create a private and secure “space” for each customer. Once registration is completed, customers can start using the store.
For more information, contact Jerry Warren at jwarren@davis-standard.com.

Brückner Group, Siegsdorf and JM Gesellschaft für industrielle Beteiligungen mbH & Co. KgaA, Worms, announced today that effective 01 January 2007 all shares of Kiefel AG, located in Freilassing and active in various fields of plastics machinery, have been transferred to the Brückner
Technology Holding GmbH. As of 01 January 2007, Brückner Technology Holding GmbH functions in the capacity of a holding company for the entire Brückner Group.

With a staff of nearly 650 employees, Kiefel AG has a consolidated sales figure of approx. EUR 120 million in its 12 domestic and foreign locations. At the headquarter in Freilassing production and special-purpose machines for plastics processing in the automotive, medical and packaging industry are manufactured, whereas Kiefel in Worms is specialized in blown film extrusion systems and film winders for the packaging industry. Kiefel`s equipment is sold through a global network in over 60 countries. Both business units are among the worldwide leading suppliers in their respective fields.

The takeover of Kiefel is a significant step for Brückner to further strengthen the strategic development of the Group. The principal aim is to open new expanding markets with innovative products of a high technological level in the field of plastics machinery.

The Brückner Group achieves an annual turnover of about EUR 200 million with its approx. 600 employees in 14 companies in Germany and abroad. Brückner Group comprises: Brückner Maschinenbau, worldwide leading supplier of film stretching lines; Brückner Formtec, successful within the field of cast film lines, as well as Brückner Servtec which offers a wide range of service products and Brückner Biotec, which is actively involved in the growing market for biogas plants.

With this step the JM Gesellschaft für industrielle Beteiligungen, which is mainly made up of the companies Renolit AG and the RKW AG Rheinische Kunststoffwerke with a group turnover in excess of EUR 1.5 billion, will focus its business activities on manufacturing and selling plastic foils, with the aim to develop the worldwide foil business further and even more intensively than in the past. By changing from the previous group of companies to Brückner, Kiefel will gain additional market potentials.

Although Brückner will continue to develop Kiefel in a decentralized manner within the framework of its own corporate structure, it shall also benefit from considerable synergy potentials together with Kiefel in the future. This applies in particular to the combination of product programs and the joint use of sales and production platforms in Asia, Eastern Europe and the USA.

In the words of Brückner Technology Holding management: “As a company acting globally with a strong brand and sound customer relationships, Kiefel fits perfectly into the growth-strategy of Brückner. We are looking forward to continuing Kiefel’s long-term development as an innovation leader.”

Kiefel management sees this reorientation in an absolutely positive light: “Both groups of companies have established themselves, as far as innovation, technology and quality goes, a long time ago as the best in the world within their fields. Together we will be able to strengthen our position even further.”

And the management of JM Gesellschaft für industrielle Beteiligungen adds: “We are convinced that the customers will benefit significantly from this transaction and that it will give Kiefel positive long-term prospects for the future.’

A reorganisation of Soveplast’s Chantonnay facility in France is likely to lead to the loss of 28 jobs, the PVC profiles company said.

Soveplast is a subsidiary of Arkema’s Alphacan Pipes and Profiles business unit. It produces PVC profiles for applications in window shutters and blinds, but the competitiveness of the Chantonnay site is “being adversely affected primarily by the complexity of its production range which is undermining its results”, an Arkema statement said.

The management of the Chantonnay facility has presented to the Works Council a project intended to restore the site’s competitiveness. This would be achieved by ceasing products with the weakest margins.

The project aims to ensure the long-term future of the site by also investing in new products. The statement said: “High added value activities would see their profitability boosted by development investments and by the introduction of a targeted sales policy.”

Another measure, designed to reduce operating costs, would involve the central services of the Chantonnay site merging with those of the nearby Sablé-sur-Sarthe site.

The management is looking at redeployment, internally or externally, of all employees affected by job losses.

Alphacan has ten production plants in five European countries, producing around 110,000 tonnes of extruded PVC and PEX products each year.

German conglomerate L.Possehl & Co. has acquired the Italy-based plastics and rubber machinery business of multinational engineering company Techint, which trades under the Pomini banner. According to Italian press reports, Possehl will form a new company in Italy, but will retain the Pomini brand.

Production will continue in Italy, in Castellanza, west of Milan. The factory will remain the property of Techint, which has reached a long-term agreement with Possehl on its use for production of continuous and batch mixers, and single- and twin-screw compounding extruders. Pomini equipment is used by both plastics and rubber compounders.

The deal awaits approvals by anti-trust authorities.

Pomini has been making mixing and compounding equipment for close to 60 years, originally as a licensee of US group Bridge Farrel McNeil. Pomini Farrel is a well-known name in the industry, although the two companies cut their ties several years ago.

According to Techint, it is the world’s fourth largest supplier of mixers for the rubber industry, and has sales of around €25m. Possehl, based in Lübeck, has a long history as a metal trader, but more recently it has acquired a substantial interest in the rubber machinery business.

Possehl subsidiary Harburg-Freudenberger, a world leader in tyre production equipment, was formed in 1996 as ThyssenKrupp Elastomertechnik, through the merger of the rubber equipment operations of Werner & Pfliederer (based in Freudenberg) and ThyssenKrupp. Possehl acquired that business, which has sales of around €50m, two years ago.

The web sites for Davis-Standard’s Converting Systems and Extrusion Systems Business Groups have a new look and improved features for 2007. The newly launched sites have been redesigned to enable easier navigation and provide more specific equipment information, including additional graphics and photos. Both sites offer access to updated news and events as well as safety bulletins for a variety of product areas to help customers optimize the maintenance and safety of their equipment.
Specific to the Converting Systems site, www.bc-egan.com, customers can request a service visit, service contract, technical papers and literature, and obtain a list of sales contacts by region. Customers can also find information such as typical line specifications including line speeds, tension ranges, widths, winder diameters and end use applications. At www.davis-standard.com, Extrusion Systems customers will find information about specific types of extruders, complete systems and applications. They will also have access to a new online parts store to conveniently place orders for commonly ordered parts.