Arburg achieves new ISO standards

(Arburg) -- Arburg has reached another milestone by achieving ISO 50001 certification from TUV Sud. The certification commits the company to make efficient energy usage in all its business areas. The achievement enables the company to move forward in terms of environmental protection and efficient use of resources and energy.

Arburg’s focus on the production of efficient injection moulding machines in an energy-efficient manufacturing system had already been implemented in environmental management in accordance with ISO 14001. Now, ISO 50001 enables the company to implement and comply with individually measurable energy-efficient methods.

For decades, company-wide savings potential has been a key feature in all investments and developments and plays a major role in energy consumption. This strategy is applicable to products, productions and buildings. In terms of product, the series of energy-optimised machine technology is continuously expanded. This increases the numbers of Arburg’s Allrounder injection moulding machines.

Arburg is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-end injection moulding machines for plastics processing. The comprehensive machine range are used in the production of plastic parts for the automotive sector, for communication and entertainment electronics, for medical technology, domestic appliances and in the packaging industry.
MRC

(Asom) -- BASF announced that its new Ultradur LUX B4300 G4 plastic material, toughened with 20% glass fibers, is now being used by Precision Motors Deutsche Minebea (PM DM), a Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany-based motor development center, to build the housing cover of an innovative air flap control unit.

The unit has unique application in automotive construction. This compact actuator includes an electronic unit, an electric motor and gears. It is used to control the air flaps in vehicles, and helps reduce carbon dioxide emissions and promotes improved aerodynamics. PM DM developed the actuator along with Rochling Automotive, a car industry supplier.

Ultradur thermoplastic polyester from BASF is a partly crystalline, thermoplastic polyester based on polybutylene terephthalate (PBT). It is used as a material for high-quality, highly stressed engineering parts in a wide variety of industrial sectors. Ultradur thermoplastic polyester features high stiffness and strength, very good dimensional stability at high temperatures, low water absorption, good resistance to many chemicals, and outstanding heat aging performance.
MRC

(Azom) -- The medical device plastics market is expected to grow quickly in regions, such as Latin America and Asia-Pacific, due to a steady increase in demand for enhanced medical care and sophisticated medical devices. Demand for medical plastics increases due to various factors, including the utilization of disposable medical supplies, technological innovations, advancements in sterilization methods and reductions in healthcare costs.

Commodity thermoplastics are the commonly utilized plastics in medical devices and the series include polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene (PE) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). These materials dominate the market, which is followed by thermosets, engineering resins and thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs). Engineers and designers from the medical device industry largely prefer plastic rather than conventional materials, like glass and metal, as they have excellent flexibility during the fabrication process.

Plastic materials with enhanced properties that comply with infection-control standards are under development. In addition, the development of innovative plastic materials, such as biocompatible polymers, will help overcome the environmental issue that is widespread in the worldwide medical plastics market.
MRC

(plasticker) -- Starlinger & Co. GmbH, Austrian manufacturer of machinery for woven plastic packaging production and plastics recycling, has opened a representative office in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. From there, sales and after-sales service in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan will be organized.

The strong economic growth in Central Asia during the past years has also had a positive effect on the textile packaging industry. Starlinger sees a strong potential for growth in this region - comparable to Russia, where 7 new customers could be acquired within the last 18 months.

The Uzbek-Swiss joint venture Leading Force Co. was the first company in the region to purchase a production line for the patented Starlinger AD STAR block bottom sacks in 2010, says Starlinger. They produce 20 million AD STAR sacks and 15 million standard sacks per year and supply bags for cement, fertilizer and flour to the respective industries in Central Asia and Russia. A second AD STAR project has been commissioned beginning of this year in the Turkmen port city of Turkmenbashi.

As Starlinger explained they have sold their first PET Bottle-to-Bottle recycling line in Uzbekistan which is currently being installed in Tashkent. The produced rPET is supplied to the beverage bottling industry in the region and will be used in preforms in order to reduce their carbon footprint.
MRC

(plasticker) -- Styrolution recently announced the inauguration of its Luran S plant located in Ulsan, South Korea. Luran S is the brand name for Styrolution’s styrene acrylonitrile copolymers that have been impact-modified with acrylic ester rubber, acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA). The new plant has a capacity of 43,000mt per year, complementing current ASA capacity in Europe and North America, enabling Styrolution to offer customers in the Asia-Pacific region greater security of supply and shorter lead times.

Hyung Tae Chang, president Asia-Pacific, Styrolution said: "The new line will also enable Styrolution to expand our product portfolio in more Asian countries and further strengthen our market position as a global leader in styrenics" .

As MRC reported earlier, Styrolution announced the signing of a trademark license agreement with Plastic World (China) Ltd (PW) for the production of acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and high-heat acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (HH ABS) for the Chinese market at PW's Shenzhen plant.