Pregis acquires engineered foam manufacturer Rex Performance Products

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In a bid to expand its foam production capabilities in North America, Pregis LLC has purchased Rex Performance Products (RPP) for an undisclosed amount, as per Canplastics.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Marysville, Mich., RPP makes closed-cell polyethylene foam. The acquisition adds another 100,000 square feet of manufacturing space to Pregis’ capabilities, as well as 150,000 square feet of warehouse space to the Pregis network.

RPP currently has 85 employees; RPP CEO Don Tate will join Pregis and lead the company’s engineered foam operations.

"We will now have five engineered foam manufacturing locations and a vast warehousing network across the continent to serve fabricators,” said Kevin Baudhuin, RPP’s president and CEO. “We view the RPP organization and their employees as a perfect fit within Pregis. We believe our combined product offering, enhanced foam technology and our teams’ knowledge strengthen our position as a valued partner to our customers."

RPP’s engineered foam products have been used for protective packaging (cushioning, surface protection, blocking/bracing, void fill) solutions for a wide variety of products and markets.

Headquartered in Deerfield, Ill., Pregis makes protective packaging and surface protection products as well as equipment systems. The company serves consumer and industrial market segments including food, pharmaceutical, healthcare, medical devices, agricultural, e-commerce, retail, automotive, transportation, furniture, electronics, building, construction, and military/aerospace.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Equate Petrochemical has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Honeywell to use the latter’s technologies to support operations at its industrial complexes in Kuwait, as per Refiningandpetrochemicals.

EQUATE is currently the owner and single-operator of several fully integrated world-class petrochemical complexes in Kuwait, North America and Europe. The company is Kuwait's first international petrochemical joint venture and the world's second-largest producer of ethylene glycol (EG).

Honeywell Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon president George Bou Mitri said: "As a global software-industrial company, Honeywell has supplied the petrochemical industry with leading technologies and services for decades.

"After half a century in Kuwait, Honeywell's commitment to deliver solutions that enhance the productivity of our customers is as strong as ever. We are proud to work with EQUATE to build local petrochemical capability that supports the New Kuwait 2035 strategy to become a global hub for the oil, gas and petrochemicals industry."

As part of the MOU, EQUATE will test newly released Honeywell technologies, including the latest additions to the Honeywell Connected Plant portfolio, as well as assess EQUATE's requirements and new ideas at Honeywell facilities.

The companies will join efforts to analyze EQUATE's needs and create added value through increased productivity and reduced downtime, setting a new standard for the petrochemical industry in the region.

EQUATE technical services vice president Tareq Jafar Al-Kandari, said: "We are firm believers that success requires input from all our key stakeholders, including our technology suppliers, such as Honeywell.

"Being part of the global petrochemical industry with operations in three continents and contributing to various economies, EQUATE is strongly committed to absolute reliability and sustainability in all operations and activities.“Our relationship with Honeywell is based on innovation and trust, which are key factors to ensure overall progress."

Honeywell has had a presence in Kuwait for more than 53 years and is the leading automation provider in the country that has about 9% of the world's oil reserves and is among the world's top ten oil exporters.

Honeywell has successfully delivered more than 2,000 projects in Kuwait and services 50 sites daily.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- With the goal of improving convenience as more consumers do their food shopping online, Nova Chemicals Corp. is helping film processors, converters, and brand owners develop sustainable packaging for the fast-growing meal kits industry, as per Canplastics.

"Solving the packaging challenge is key to transforming the meal kits business from a trend to a permanent segment of the food market,” Mark Kay, Nova’s polyethylene (PE) performance films leader, said in a Nova statement. “Packaging materials, such as our high-performance PEs, help ensure that fresh food deliveries are still truly fresh when the consumer arrives home to a meal-kit box on their doorstep."

Meal kits – the subscription services for ready-to-cook meal recipes and ingredients – are growing three times faster than any other food segment, the statement continued. “Perishable food deliveries create new challenges for the supply chain including product freshness, package integrity and package sustainability,” Nova said. “Instead of bulk deliveries to the grocery store that are then merchandised and hand-selected by the consumer, foods are portioned by co-packers or distribution facilities and shipped to the consumer’s home – a very different supply chain that often results in more packaging overall. In addition, unlike the brick and mortar system, the seller retains responsibility for e-commerce deliveries until it reaches the consumer’s home and the consumer inspects it."

Which is why Nova has developed several PE resins for e-commerce primary food packaging. The new VPsK914 PE grade, for example, is described as an ultra-durable sealant resin that is tough enough for granola and bone-in chicken, and can even replace plastomers in some applications. Another new grade, called SPsK919, is commonly used in heavy duty sacks and has the stiffness-toughness balance, creep resistance, and sealant properties for heavier food e-commerce packages.

Nova has also designed recyclable film structures that have the properties required for food e-commerce. The company’s PE and expandable styrenics businesses also have been working on a conceptual design for the insulating vessels used to ship weekly meal kit subscriptions.

"Meal kit delivery companies face a huge challenge in keeping fresh foods at their proper temperature until the consumer unpacks the order at home,” said Bob Stoffa, Nova’s expandable styrenics sales leader. “Many people who’ve tried one of these services has a story about a delayed or damaged vessel, or arriving home late, only to find their weekly order has spoiled ingredients. Customized vessel design can greatly reduce this problem, and a reusable vessel has tremendous sustainability benefits as well."
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Styrindo Mono Indonesia (SMI) has undertaken an unplanned shutdown its styrene monomer (SM) plant No. 1, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Indonesia informed that company has taken off-stream the plant in end-February 2018. The unplanned outage is likely to remain in place for a period of around 2 weeks.

Located at Merak in Indonesia, the plant has a production capacity of 100,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, SMI has another SM plant No. 2 in Merak. The plant's capacity is 250,000 mt/year. This plant was shut in March 2016 owing to a technical glitch.

Styrindo Mono Indonesia (SMI) is an affiliate of one of the major petrochemical producers in Indonesia - Chandra Asri.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Vietnam's state-owned oil and gas firm PetroVietnam and Thailand’s Siam Cement Group (SCG) have commenced construction on the USD5.4bn Long Son Petrochemical (LSP) Complex in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Vietnam, as per Refiningandpetrochemicals.

The project is being developed through the Long Son Petrochemical, a joint venture between SCG and PetroVietnam. Planned to be completed in 2022, the complex will have capacity of 1.6 million tons of olefin per year. It is expected to contribute about USD60m to the provincial and the state budget annually.

SCG Roongrote Rangsiyopash president and CEO said: "SCG believes that the project will encourage the long-term investment in related industries throughout the value chain as well as improving competitive standard of products that will lessen the need of importing petrochemical products."

The project is expected to create around 20,000 jobs during construction phase and a further 1,000 technical jobs once commissioned.

Vung Tau People’s committee chairman Nguy'n Van Trinh was quoted by Viet Nam News as saying: “After beginning operation, the project will have a great impact on the development of the petrochemical industry and downstream businesses, such as automobiles, electronics, electrical equipment, packaging and other services of the province."

The complex will be equipped to produce petrochemical products, including materials for plastics with the capacity of more than 2 million tons per year.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was reported by Vietnam Investment Review as saying: “The Vietnamese government commits to facilitating this project, which is very important not only to the national economy, but also for the strategic relation between the two countries of Vietnam and Thailand."

Recently, SCG has awarded a contract to SK E&C and TechnipFMC for the construction of the Long Son Petrochemical complex.

Under the USD2bn contract, TechnipFMC and SK E&C will provide basic design, detailed design, procurement, construction, and commissioning services for a new 950,000-tonne/year ethylene plant, which will be the largest plant at petrochemical complex, reported Oil & Gas Journal earlier.
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