At the general assembly on 21 June 2012 in Bonn the representatives of the member firms of the Plastics and Rubber Machinery Association elected a new Board for the period 2012 to 2015; the new Board members are: Jürgen ARNOLD, Battenfeld-Cincinnati Germany, Bad Oeynhausen; Günter BACHMANN, Coperion GmbH, Stuttgart; Michael BAUMEISTER, Brückner Maschinenbau, Siegsdorf; Dr. Karlheinz BOURDON, KraussMaffei Technologies, Munich; Lutz BUSCH, Kampf Schneid- und Wickeltechnik, Wiehl; Jan-Udo KREYENBORG, Kreyenborg, Münster; Dr. Peter NEUMANN, Engel Austria, Schwertberg; Ulrich REIFENHÄUSER, Reifenhäuser, Troisdorf; Uwe ROTHAUG, Kurtz, Kreutzwertheim; Dr. Peter SCHMIDT, Troester, Hanover; Peter STEINBECK, Windmöller & Hölscher, Lengerich; Dr. Olaf WEILAND, Kautex Maschinenbau, Bonn; and, Rainer ZIMMERMANN, AZO, Osterburken.

In the inaugural session that followed, the Board elected Ulrich Reifenhäuser, managing partner of the company of the same name, as its Chairman and Peter Steinbeck, managing partner of Windmöller & Hölscher KG, as his deputy.

With Dr. Peter Neumann, CEO of Engel Austria GmbH, an Austrian firm is represented on the Board for the first time. This takes account of the group’s growing importance in the Association, said Ulrich Reifenhäuser.

Strengthening its presence in Asia, Rosti has established a subsidiary, Rosti Integrated Manufacturing Solutions (IMS), located in Senai in southern Malaysia.

Indian firm Jain Irrigation Systems will invest US$375 million over the next few years to build sustainable agriculture that will improve income of small farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.

BOPP producer Taghleef Industries has acquired Applied Extrusion Technologies (AET), a US-based manufacturer of specialised BOPP films.

Sabic has shipped its first consignment of ethanolamines and ethoxylates from its manufacturing plant in Jubail, Saudi Kayan, making Saudi Arabia

Rome-based Assobioplastiche and Bangkok-based Thai Bioplastics Industry Association have formed a five-year agreement to carry out R&D of bioplastics.

US-based specialised polymer materials provider PolyOne announced the opening of its innovation centre in Shanghai, China.