Elastomer machine supplier Maplan to launch Slovak plant extension

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Austrian elastomer injection moulding machinery maker Maplan is well on the way to opening a new EUR4.5m product assembly hall, part of a plant expansion project at Malacky in Slovakia, as per Plasticsnewseurope.

A formal hall topping-out ceremony was staged at the site, north of the Slovak capital Bratislava, this week and Kottingbrunn, Austria-based Maplan is due to open the plant extension at the end of March.

Since 2015, the machinery supplier has been manufacturing control cabinets at Malacky industrial park and currently employs a Slovakia workforce of around 20 at the plant.

Maplan intends to extend pre-production work at the 30,000m2 Slovak site and to start component assembly. From April 2018, it plans to begin the production of metal parts and prefabricated hydraulics as well as turning out assemblies.

Construction of the EUR20m Malacky expansion, where Maplan plans to create another 50 jobs, began last August. The company already has a 3,500m2 workshop and a 400m2 office building on the site where Maplan has potential for further growth.

Malacky site was originally chosen for its ideal location in respect of local infrastructure and situation between Bratislava and Vienna.

Components and assemblies already pre manufactured at Malacky plant were destined to prime machinery production for the Asian market launched at a Maplan plant in China from last September.

That was when Maplan launched production at its new 4,000m2 plant in Wujin near Shanghai, China. Two main machine types: vertical machines of 250 tonnes and up to 400 tonnes were initially manufactured at the facility as the new Asian offshoot took immediate orders for five machines for 2018, Maplan said last year.

The new operation, launched to enable Maplan to offer European quality alongside the region’s service and speedy delivery, has an annual capacity of 200 machines per year.

In 2016, Maplan inaugurated a production plant at its brand new group headquarters site in Kottingbrunn, Austria after moving work from nearby at Ternitz. Last year, the group reported a switch from individual manufacturing to line production in the new plant has enabled it to double annual production capacity to over 500 machines and to reduce throughput times by almost a third.
MRC

Full Apex unit to invest SGD 4 billion in Saudi petrochemical project

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Full Apex (Holdings) has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Pan-Asia PET Resin (Guangzhou) Co., is investing USD 3 billion (SGD 4 billion) to build a petrochemical and chemical fiber integrated project in the Jazan Economic City (JEC) in Saudi Arabia, as per GV.

Pan Asia is currently an investor and manufacturer of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin in China.

The group plans for the project to be constructed in three stages, starting from 2018.

The first stage will include the construction of a PET plant and a purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant, with capacity of 500,000 t/y and 1.25 million t/y, respectively.

The project is located near a refinery complex currently being built by Saudi Aramco – the world’s largest oil company - which is expected to have a crude oil processing capacity of up to 20 million t/y. Paraxylene (PX) produced by Saudi Aramco’s refinery will be used to produce PTA and PET.

It adds that it is considering various ways to finance the project, including loans from Saudi Industrial Development Fund, and capital funds from strategic partners.
MRC

KraussMaffeis Bourdon becomes a member of the Plastics Hall of Fame

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dr Karlheinz Bourdon, senior vice president integration at KraussMaffei Group, is to be included in the Plastics Hall of Fame, at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell, the US, as per Plasticsnewseurope.

The decoration honours people who have made a significant contribution to the development and growth of the plastics industry.

According to the Plastics Academy, during his long-term activity in the plastics industry, Bourdon has in past years made a decisive contribution to the advancement of injection moulding machinery.

A mechanical engineer, Bourdon started working at KraussMaffei in 1990 as head of system technology. This is where he set the first technological milestones in the field of automated mould changing and robot demoulding systems.

He then moved to Ferromatik Milacron as president global plastics machinery before rejoining KraussMaffei as managing director and CEO Injection Molding Machinery in 2008.

He became vice president technologies in the Injection Molding Machinery segment in 2012.
MRC

Air Liquide Foundation Awards recognize scientific research and the commitment of Group employees

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Air Liquide Foundation Awards honor the most innovative organizations among those supported by the Foundatio, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

For this second edition, two scientific organizations were singled out in the Research category for their projects promoting the Environment and Health.

New this year, the 2018 Awards for Societal Commitment honor the engagement of Group employees working alongside associations on citizenship projects supported by the Foundation. In all, six employees and six organizations received awards. The Group's employees also awarded a special "Coup de Coeur" prize to a project supported by Air Liquide employees, presented by Benoit Potier, the Chairman and CEO of Air Liquide, during a special ceremony held in Paris on February 5, 2018.

Since it was founded in 2008, the Air Liquide Foundation has been supporting research in the areas of the Environment and Health, as well as contributing to local development in countries where the Group does business. Since its inception, the Foundation has supported 284 projects in 50 countries thanks to the involvement of 345 employee sponsors who recommend and support these projects.

The 2018 Awards for Research, which were handed out in the Health category by Diana Schillag, European Healthcare Operations Vice President at Air Liquide, and in the Environment category by Francois Darchis, Innovation and Development Vice President at Air Liquide, supervising the Sustainable Development program, honored: The Universite Paris Descartes in collaboration with Institut Cochin for their research into the lung damage associated with a rare disease, systemic scleroderma1.

The Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD) of Paris for its research on the capacity of the Vietnam mangrove to capture CO2.
MRC

European PVC increased in price for CIS markets in February

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Negotiations on prices of European polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for February shipments to the CIS countries started last week. With the rise in the cost of ethylene, European producers have gone to increase export prices this month, according to the ICIS-MRC Price Report.

The February contract price of ethylene was agreed up by EUR20/tonne from January, which presupposes a EUR10/tonne increase in PVC production costs. Taking this into account European producers announced an increase in export prices for supplies to CIS markets by EUR10-20/tonne.

Demand for PVC from main consumers is still quite low due to the seasonal factor, while European producers do not activate their sales in this direction. Producers' stocks were not so critical, and some producers, on the contrary, limit their sales to form additional stocks of PVC for the high season.

Negotiations on February deliveries of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) for the CIS markets were done in the range of EUR725-800/tonne FCA, while the January deals were done in the range of EUR715-780/tonne FCA.
Some producers announced their price offers for February deliveries at the level of EUR860-880/tonne FCA, but no deals have been reported about such deals.
MRC