MRC launched the program of automatic generation of analytics on polymers market

(MRC) -- MRC announced the launch of a new program, which can automatically generate reports, news and short messages concerning the market of polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, PVC and PET. The new program will allow to increase the information contents of analytical reports, as well as create new reports, which format will be determined by the users themselves.


Sergey Yaremenko, MRC director, said: "At the present we make 1,100 market reports each year. The total annual volume of analytics makes approximately 50 thousand pages. Of course, a team of 20 people can not physically process such volume of data. So over the five years, our company has been using a system of automatic generation of tables part of the reports. And now our program is able to write text analytics in Russian and English. In fact, the prototype of the future artificial intelligence systems was created .

The volume of our analytical messages to the market will grow by ten times. In particular, we will offer short messages (posts), which will be formed on the basis of an event, e.g. a new supplier appears in the Russian market of polyethylene or the share of a market's leading player declines significantly. In future, analytical reports may be formed by the customers in their own terminals. Our clients will be able to adjust their personal analytics. And managers will have a chance to work with its own Price and Annual Reports, ScanPlast or DataScope."

MRC makes a research of polymers market in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. In partnership with ICIS, the world leading analytical company in the chemical market, MRC prepares weekly price analytics for the market of polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, PVC and PET in the Russian language. The both companies work together under the brand of ICIS-MRC.

mrclast.com

(Plasteurope) -- Visteon (Van Buren Township, Michigan/USA) signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Huayu Automotive Systems (HASCO), the automotive components group of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), its joint venture partner in Yanfeng Visteon Automotive Trim Systems (YVF).

The Memorandum allows the tier-1 US automotive supplier to sell the majority of its global interiors business to YVF.

Definitive agreements for the proposed sale are expected to be signed in early 2012.

The transaction, when completed, will result in a leading global interiors company within YVF, with an estimated annual revenue of around USD 4 bn. The combined venture will serve more than 30 customers from over 60 facilities in 16 countries.

MRC

(PlastEurope) -- France's Proplast Packaging Group (Flines-lez-Raches) has acquired Dutch packaging manufacturer Wiezoplast (Oss), significantly expandings its business in The Netherlands.
As a result of the transaction, Proplast will raise its annual revenues from EUR70m to EUR82m, Marketing & Development manager Jean-Luc Kropfinger told Plasteurope.com.

Injection moulder Wiezoplast mainly produces plastic bowls for the food industry as well as furniture components. Proplast subsidiary Nutripack also specialises in plastic food bowls, most of them made of PP. Nutripack operates plants in northern France and Spain and also has sales offices in Germany, The Netherlands, Italy and the UK.

MRC

(KraussMaffei Group) -- The KraussMaffei Group has decided to expand its production plants in Martin (Slovakia) and in Haiyan (China). At both locations, the production capacities are to be doubled and the performance spectrum extended. For both sites, the start of production is planned for the beginning of 2013.

The KraussMaffei Group is growing. In order to strengthen our activities in core markets and in emerging markets, we have decided to expand our production plants in Martin (Slovakia) and Haiyan (China)", explains Dr. Dietmar Straub, CEO of KraussMaffei AG. In Haiyan (China), the previous production area of 12,000 m2 will be increased to around 22,000 m2. In addition to the expansion of existing production capacities for machines and plants for Reaction and Extrusion Technology, Netstal and KraussMaffei injection molding machines for PET applications and KraussMaffei injection molding machines of the MX series will also be produced here.

In the production plant in Martin (Slovakia), which was put into operation only in autumn 2010, robots and KraussMaffei injection molding machines of the EX series as well as machines and plants for reaction and trimming technology will in future be produced on a production surface area of around 13,000 m2 (today: 6,600 m2).

At present, KraussMaffei injection molding machines of the AX series, as well as switch cabinets and molds, are manufactured at this location.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Germany's chemical production is forecast to increase 1.0% year on year in 2012 as growth weakens compared with 2011, the country's chemical producers' trade group, Verband der Chemischen Industrie (VCI), said on Wednesday.

In 2011, Germany's chemical production is set to grow by 4.0% year on year, VCI said, below the 5.0% year-on-year growth the group had forecast. ⌠It is difficult to make an accurate forecast for the coming 12 months, said Klaus Engel, the president of VCI and CEO of specialty chemicals major Evonik.

Engel pointed to the unresolved government debt crises in the eurozone and the US as factors causing increasing uncertainties among customers and producers. VCI hopes a planned summit of EU leaders in Brussels will be able to resolve the eurozone crisis, he added.

Meanwhile, Germany-based chemicals producers are facing additional uncertainties from rising electricity costs because of the country's renewable energy law, the Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz (EEG), and emissions trading. In 2011 alone, the chemical industry's costs from the EEG and related legislation added up to EUR 1.3bn (USD1.7bn), Engel said.

A further challenge is Germany's move to abandon nuclear power generation following the catastrophic shutdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan caused by an earthquake and tsunami earlier this year. Germany has already taken eight of its older nuclear plants out of operation and all such plants will be phased out by 2022.

MRC