Chinese plastic pipe makers under pressure to boost quality

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Improving the quality of plastic pipe in China has become a focus for several major customer groups of the industry, including municipal water systems and natural gas utilities who buy pipe, said Plasticsnews.

The China Urban Water and Wastewater Association, for example, hopes this year to roll out a qualification system with a recommended list of suppliers, driven by concerns about pipe failures and leaks hurting city water systems.

Wang Lan, vice secretary general of the Beijing-based association, told an audience of several hundred plastic pipe makers at an industry conference in early June that the group wants to form long-term relationships with those selected suppliers.

Poor manufacturing and poor installation practices sometimes means that pipe that should last 30 years will only last 15 years, she said.

A speaker from the China Urban Natural Gas Association said, for example, that they're concerned about quality problems and would like to work with CPPA companies and third-party testing labs to improve monitoring.

A representative of the China Water Conservation and Water Supply Institute urged the industry to pay attention to quality in raw materials and pipe production.

And an official from the Tianjin City Construction Materials Association said in prepared remarks that the group wants stronger monitoring of quality. Tianjin, one of China's largest cities, has set up a testing institute to monitor the quality of many construction materials, including plastic pipe, TCCMA said.

In an interview with Plastics News after her speech, Wang said her group hopes to rely on the Beijing-based China Plastics Piping Association to develop a list of suppliers and then do some testing of their products. She said it's a particular concern as China puts more focus on developing its Western regions.

She identified three reasons for pipes failing: poor quality raw material, improper pipe manufacturing and poor installation in the field. She said the group also plans to focus on quality issues with reinforced concrete pipe.

The plastic pipe industry has been working with customer groups to address quality concerns, said Wang Zhan Jie, secretary general of the Beijing-based CPPA.

He said that generally speaking, bigger companies have good quality and smaller pipe makers have more problems. He said raw material quality is a significant problem, and that some companies substitute cheaper materials in the manufacturing process.

Wang said CPPA is working on new regulations for pipes, and regularly holds meeting with customer groups to try to address concerns and invites them to speak at its events, like the Chengdu conference.

One challenge, he said, is that groups that purchase pipes, like utilities, are not always knowledgeable about how to determine if a pipe is good quality. He said CPPA is working to educate those groups so that quality becomes a bigger part of their purchasing decisions.

It's a point echoed by others involved in China's pipe market.

"Most of the government knows the quality is not good but they don't know how to do the quality control," said Zhao Qihui, Beijing-based technical services manager with French chemical company Total, which sells higher grade polyethylene to the Chinese natural gas pipe market.

An executive from pipe maker Foshan Rifeng Enterprises Co. Ltd. agreed that the pipe industry is under more pressure from customer groups to improve quality, and needs to work more closely with them.

Li Baiqian, vice general manager of the Foshan, Guangdong-based company, said part of the purpose of the CPPA conference was to gather big and small companies together and emphasize that the market trend is toward higher quality. To some extent, the problems should be expected given that it's only been a little more than 30 years since China began opening its economy, he said.

As MRC wrote before, Moody's Investors Service, the international rating agency, has changed China's outlook to stable from positive. Meantime, the rating agency affirmed China's government's bond rating of Aa3. The main reasons for this were a strong economic growth of the country, strong central government finances and an exceptionally strong external payments position.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - The growth of Belarus production of finished products from rubber and plastics in May of this year slowed down. But in general, the industry continue to show a fairly high production growth - 10% in the first five months, according to MRC analysts.

According to the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus, the total production of plastic windows and window sills in May made up 38,300 sqm. During the five months of this year, the total output of these products in the Republic amounted to 175,500 sqm, up 22% year on year.

Production of pipes, hoses and fittings made from polymers in the Republic of Belarus last month totalled 1,200 tonnes. In January - May of this year, this figure has reached 5,200 tonnes, up 21% compared to the same period in 2012.

May production of boxes, crates, trays of plastic reached 58 mln units. In January - April of this year the total production of these products from polymers made ??289.1 mln. units, which is 12% more than in 2012.

The production of of polymer non-reinforced and combined films rose in May and reached about 7,700 tonnes. In January-March 2013, the total production volume of films totalled 37,800 tonnes, up 2% year-on-year.

Negative growth in output in the first five months was seen in the production of tires for passenger cars and plastic doors and boxes. The total volume of production of these products in the Republic of Belarus in May totalled 285,100 units and 2,800 sqm, respectively.

Overall, in the first five months of 2013 the total production of these products totalled 1,296 mln units and 12,900 sqm, up 14.5% and 19.3%, respectively, less in comparison with the same period a year ago.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- KraussMaffei, leading German machinery producers, is expanding the range of machines in the GX series and presents the new model with 900 tons since the GX series following its announcement of a successful establishment of these machines worldwide one year after launching on the market, according to the company's press release.

With a cycle time of 7 seconds the machine produces packaging product, whereby KraussMaffei impressively corroborates the performance of the GX series as the fastest 2-platen machine on the market.

With the sizes 750 and 900, as well as the 6100 and 8100 injection units, the combination options of the GX series will be extended to 44 types in the clamping force range from 400 to 900 tons. The machines are optimally adapted to every production task using different PowerPack drive modules.

The aim of every plastics processor is maximum machine production time. With its project engineering and system competence KraussMaffei offers qualified support in the search for an optimal solution for every customer. The new machine shows a fully automated solution for horizontal mold change on the GX 900-8100. This is ideal for production plants with frequent mold changes, which are the result of small lot sizes or released quantities. The processors benefit from reduced storage and JIT (just in time) delivery to the customer.

As MRC informed previously, KraussMaffei Group GmbH started production of MX injection moulding machines at the company's plant in Haiyan, China, in the first quarter of 2013. The first Chinese-assembled MX 850-6100 from the Haiyan production plant was delivered to a long-standing Chinese customer and went into operation shortly afterwards.

The KraussMaffei Group is a global leader in the plastics and rubber processing industries. The company covers all areas of injection molding machinery, extrusion technology and reaction process machinery, which gives it a unique selling point in the industry.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SIBUR, a Russian gas processing and petrochemicals company, and Linde Group, a German Technology company, have signed agreements to build and operate new air separation units in Dzerzhinsk, the Nizhny Novgorod Region, reported SIBUR on its site.

On a long-term basis, SIBUR will provide Linde with a leased site and power supply while Linde, in its turn, will supply technical gases to SIBUR.

Linde will be investing EUR 70 million in the ASUs. The new on-site plants are expected to come on stream at the end of 2015.

In an initial step Linde will assume responsibility for SIBUR’s existing air separation unit at its Dzerzhinsk site. As part of the next step Linde will build a new air separation unit, which - on completion - will be operated by Linde's Gases Division.

The main aim of the new unit is to supply the oxygen, nitrogen and compressed air required to SIBUR’s local ethylene oxide and glycols plants. Linde will also supply air gases to other customers at the Dzerzhinsk chemicals hub as well as to the regional market in Nizhny Novgorod and beyond. The new unit will have a total production capacity of around 30,000 cubic metres of gaseous oxygen per hour.

"This deal will enhance the operational efficiency of SIBUR's ethylene and glycols plant in Dzerzhinsk and enable us to further strengthen our leading positions in Russia and CIS markets," commented Valery Andosov, Director for Strategy, SIBUR's Plastics and Organic Synthesis Division.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, earlier this year SIBUR launched a sales office in Ekaterinburg to facilitate distribution of its basic polymers across the Urals Federal District. The newly-established office in one of the majors Federal Districts of Russia will bring the company closer to its consumers and ensure timely response to the clients' needs, while promoting high-quality service. The representative office will market SIBUR"s polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) both to large industrial consumers and SME customers.

The Linde Group is a world-leading gases and engineering company with around 62,000 employees in more than 100 countries worldwide. In the 2012 financial year, Linde generated revenue of EUR 15.280 bn.

SIBUR is a uniquely positioned vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company. SIBUR owns and operates Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes, and is a leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry.
MRC