GN Thermoforming winning new orders for its new GN800 unit

MOSCOW (MRC) -- GN Thermoforming winning new orders for its new GN800 unit
The Chester, N.S.-based company has received multiple orders from Canadian and American processors for its new GN800 Thermoformer, and expects further increased business activity over the next several months in the U.S, Mexico, and the Caribbean, as per Canplastics.

On the heels of what it calls a “highly successful” NPE2018 trade show in May, Chester, N.S.-based GN Thermoforming Equipment has received multiple orders from Canadian and American processors for its new GN800 Thermoformer.

According to Jerome Romkey, GN’s vice president of sales and foreign operations, GN has received orders for six GN800 units so far and expects further increased business activity over the next several months in the U.S, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Targeted for food, medical, and industrial packaging, the GN800 offers many standard features including forming capability of five-inches above and below the sheet line, in-mold-cut capability, auto-grease, heavy-duty bearings in the toggle system, and high-efficiency SOLAR heaters.

Additionally, the GN800 has a forming area of 830 mm by 570 mm (31.5-inches by 22.4-inches). The cutting force of the forming and cutting stations is 75 tons. The GN800 also has additional space between the forming and cutting stations, providing extra cooling time when running heavier gauge materials or PP. The GN800 features a standard oven that is four times the index length of the forming area. The unit also features independent top and bottom servo-plug drives for better material distribution. The GN800 handles sheet widths up to 880 mm (34.6-inches), and can run sheet thicknesses ranging from 0.25 mm (0.010-inches) to 1.5 mm (0.060-inches). The unit comes fully equipped and handles all thermoformable grades of PET, OPS, HIPS, PLA, PP, and PVC.

“Overall, traffic was down at our booth at NPE2018 but we were pleased to see that the quality of attendees was superior to previous shows,” Romkey said. "It was a great show because we had a targeted group of visitors – they were at NPE for a reason and interested in buying."

GN manufactures roll-fed thermoformers for the production of high-quality plastic packaging. The company’s operation also includes a technical service and sales centre in Jihlava, Czech Republic.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Specialty plastics extruder Pexco LLC, headquartered in Alpharetta, Ga., has acquired Custom Extrusion Inc. (CEI), a profile extruder with facilities in Sheffield, Mass. and Asheboro, N.C., as per Canplastics.

The terms of the deal have not been disclosed. CEI was founded in Massachusetts in 1957, and expanded to North Carolina in 1993. Since that time, the company has expanded into a variety of specialty industrial market segments.

"We are delighted to welcome Custom Extrusion Inc. to the Pexco family," Pexco CEO Sam Patel said in a statement. "CEI brings a wealth of expertise in lighting and custom industrial extrusions."

Since 2009, Pexco has made multiple acquisitions; the company claims to be the largest custom industrial extrusion company in North America.

Pexco was acquired earlier this year by private equity group AEA Investors, and CEI is its first acquisition under the new ownership. "We look forward to the continued pursuit of acquisitions that fit our core objectives, enabling us to enhance our suite of capabilities and expand our geographic footprint as the largest custom extruder in North America," Patel said.

Pexco operates multiple plants across the U.S. and Mexico, providing standard and specialty parts and components to manufacturers and end-users for custom applications in the specialty industrial, lighting, traffic safety, fence, and filtration industries.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Teijin Limited has announced that it has agreed to acquire Inapal Plasticos SA (Inapal) Opening a new window, a leading automotive composite supplier in Portugal, said the producer in its press release.

The shares of Inapal will be purchased by Teijin Holdings Netherlands B.V., the Teijin Group's holding company in the Netherlands. The acquisition was completed at the beginning of August 2018, following the satisfactory completion of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval.

Inapal, headquartered in Leca do Balio, Porto, Portugal, is a Tier One supplier of composite components to the automotive and heavy truck industries. The company’s capabilities include Class A body panels, structural and underbody components using a variety of materials and processes, including sheet molding compound (SMC), carbon fiber SMC, pre-preg compression molding (PCM), direct long fiber thermoplastic (D-LFT) and glass mat thermoplastic (GMT). The company has two manufacturing locations in Portugal serving a variety of European OEM customers including Jaguar, Land Rover, BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen and Bentley.

In addition to its automotive and heavy truck business, Inapal supplies components to the heating and cooling industry, as well as passenger seating components to the bus and rail industries. The company had sales of EUR 31.9 million (USD 37 million) in 2017.

"We are leveraging our lightweight, strong, high-performance materials and integrated composite technologies as one of the key focuses of the transformation strategies for our medium-term management plan," said Jun Suzuki, president and CEO, Teijin Limited. "The acquisition of Continental Structural Plastics (CSP) Opening a new window positioned us as a Tier One supplier of high-performance composites to the global automotive market. In July, we announced the acquisition of J.H. Ziegler GmbH (Ziegler) Opening a new window, a leading supplier of automotive interior materials in Germany. Now the acquisition of Inapal enables us to deliver on our promise to stakeholders to expand our technologies on a global basis, including in Europe. We will seek synergies by leveraging the business capabilities of CSP, Ziegler and Inapal to continue to grow as a supplier of multi-material components. It also enables us to demonstrate our commitment to evolve for future society as an enterprise that delivers new value."

"The addition of Inapal positions CSP well as a global leader in the lightweight composites industry," added Steve Rooney, CEO of CSP. "With this, we can truly say we are among the world’s largest suppliers of lightweight composite components to the automotive industry, we are strategically located to meet our customers’ needs, and we’re ready for the rapid changes that are taking place in the industry today."

Teijin expects its automotive composite business sales to reach approximately EUR1.7 billion (USD2 billion) by 2030. The company now has the ability to serve customers in most major regions of the world, including North America, Europe and Asia, and has established business with every major global automotive OEM.

Teijin will continue to enhance Inapal’s operations, developing expansion opportunities, investing in growth and creating value for all stakeholders, namely employees, partners and clients.

Following the acquisition of CSP in 2017, Teijin has committed to expand its automotive capabilities globally. Technology developments include Sereebo, the world's first mass -production technology for carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP), and in Europe, TENAX Part via Preform (PvP). Developed by Teijin Carbon Europe GmbH, the group’s core carbon-fibers business, PvP is a material process technology that enables the highly efficient production of thermoset carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP). PvP is recognized as a Tier One technology by European OEMs and is in production as a structural application on a current automotive platform. Finally, CSP’s European facility in Pouance, Maine-et-Loire, France, recently announced that it will be installing a sheet molding compound (SMC) line, making the company’s patented, award-winning composite material technologies readily available to customers in Europe.

Teijin is a technology-driven global group offering advanced solutions in the areas of environmental value; safety, security and disaster mitigation; and demographic change and increased health consciousness. Its main fields of operation are high-performance fibers such as aramid, carbon fibers & composites, healthcare, films, resin & plastic processing, polyester fibers, products converting and IT. The group has some 170 companies and around 19,000 employees spread out over 20 countries worldwide. It posted consolidated sales of JPY835 billion (USD 7.6 billion) and total assets of JPY 986.2 billion (USD 9 billion) in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik has developed the world’s first flexible plastic material based on PEBA (polyether block amide) for use in 3D printing, as per the company's press release.

The new high-performance powder stands out for its high elasticity and strength and is suitable for a variety of powder-based 3D printing technologies.

3D printed parts made from the new PEBA powder show a high degree of flexibility, excellent resistance to chemicals and outstanding durability over a wide temperature range from -40 C to 90 C. The powder is also ideally suited for the manufacture of functional 3D high-tech plastic parts - for prototypes as well as series products.

"Flexible polymer materials significantly expand the options for additive manufacturing because they allow us to realize new, demanding applications in attractive markets," says Fabian Stoever, senior product manager for polymers at EOS, the global technology and quality leader for high-end solutions in the area of additive manufacturing from Germany. "In addition, the variety of materials not only enables us to produce individual high-tech functional components, but also to develop much more sophisticated 3D concepts that make use of the entire material range."

Evonik's PEBA material is suitable for a variety of powder-based 3D printing technologies such as laser sintering (LS), high speed sintering (HSS) or binder jetting.

The flexible synthetic powder was optimized for use in EOS laser sintering systems as part of an intensive development collaboration between the specialty chemicals company and the leading technology provider for industrial 3D printing of metals and polymers. It has been successfully adopted into the material portfolios of multiple service providers. EOS markets the powder material under the name "PrimePart ST".

"New innovative products that are developed in bespoke projects in close cooperation with our customers form an important cornerstone of our organic growth," notes Thomas Gro?e-Puppendahl, head of the Engineered Products Product Line at Evonik.

The development of the flexible high-performance powder expands Evonik’s existing product portfolio of synthetic materials for 3D printing. The specialty chemicals company is a world leader in the production of polyamide 12 powders (PA 12), which have been used in 3D printing for over 20 years. Evonik produces the powder materials at its largest global site, the Marl Chemical Park.

As MRC reported earlier, in June 2018, the technology company The Linde Group and the specialty chemicals company Evonik Industries concluded an exclusive cooperation agreement on the use of membranes for natural gas processing. The two companies will jointly promote membrane technology - Evonik on the membrane and polymer side and Linde’s Engineering Division as the system integrator for the complete membrane package units. Evonik’s established membrane technology will serve as the basis. The joint product will be marketed by Linde as the "HISELECT powered by Evonik" high-performance membrane package unit.

Evonik, the creative industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. Its activities focus on the key megatrends health, nutrition, resource efficiency and globalization. Evonik benefits specifically from its innovative prowess and integrated technology platforms. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- A senior executive at Sinopec, the country’s largest refiner, said on Monday that some of its refineries will be negatively affected if it stops importing Iranian crude, in the first public comment by a senior Chinese oil executive about Washington’s decision to resume sanctions on Iran, as per Reuters.

"Some of our downstream refineries were designed for refining Iranian oil,” said Huang Wensheng, vice president of the company formally known as China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. “If we stop imports, the benefits would be affected."

The comment comes after Reuters reported last week that state oil trader Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp and Sinopec have taken measures to safeguard supplies, activating a clause in long-term supply agreements with National Iranian Oil Corp that allows them to use vessels owned by National Iranian Tanker Co.

Speaking during a news conference the day after Sinopec reported bumper first-half earnings, Huang said that the ongoing trade spat between U.S. and China will have a limited impact on the company’s profits.

Meantime Sinopec expects its crude oil output to remain stable over next three years, after crude oil production declined 1.6 percent in the first half of 2018, Huang said.

Sinopec also sees significant growth in natural gas production, Huang said.

As MRC informed earlier, Sinopec Corp’s subsidiary Shanghai Petrochemical Corp started providing cleaner diesel fuel with "National 6" standards on Monday to customers, ahead of a deadline set by the Shanghai authorities.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec Limited is a Chinese oil and gas company based in Beijing, China. It is listed in Hong Kong and also trades in Shanghai and New York . Sinopec is the worlds fifth biggest company by revenue.
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