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IN THIS EDITION
Septmber 2012

Lead Feature

Company News

Materials News

Machinery News

Injection Moulding


Rubber Journal Asia

E-Magazine for the Rubber Industry
Top Glove Top Glove expands its capacity

Malaysia's leading global supplier of gloves is expanding its capacity through creating a total of 22 glove factories across the country to achieve its goal of getting 30% of the global market share by 2015, Top Glove's Founder and Chairman, Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai told PRA in a recent interview.

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Electronic Issue

September-October 2012 Issue Still Available!
ON THE COVER:

Auxiliary and automation equipment company Azo is enjoying a healthy growth of its Mixomat mixer in Asia

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LEAD FEATURE

Innovating barrier films for a cause
Innovating barrier films for a cause

The plastics mould and die industry is one of the most dynamic and vibrant growth sectors within the Malaysian manufacturing sector. With over 1,550 manufacturers, Malaysia is among the largest plastics producers in Asia. But the industry is expected to see a slight decline in 2012 with growth resuming in 2013, said companies interviewed at the recent M’sia Plas show in Kuala Lumpur.


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COMPANY NEWS

Kingfa feeling the pinch with lower profit
Kingfa

China’s largest plastic compounder Kingfa Science & Technology reported 30% lower profit in the first half of the fiscal year, due to the slowdown in the markets it serves, which include the automotive, appliances and electronics sectors.


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Bioplastics firms expand

Institutional investment firm Ironridge Technology has invested US$5 million in American bioplastics manufacturer Cereplast, which has been beset with low sales and production stoppage. It will also allow the firm to expand in India. Meanwhile, PLA maker NatureWorks is increasing its capacity to 150,000 tonnes/year, using new equipment from Swiss firm Sulzer Chemtech.

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Nordson continues buying spree in the US

US firm Nordson Corp. has bought Sealant Equipment & Engineering, which makes metering, mixing and dispensing equipment and valves. Nordson had also earlier in the year purchased screw/barrel maker Xaloy and die maker Extrusion Dies Industries.

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Mitsui expands and relooks at upstream activities
Mitsui's Tafmer plant, Singapore

Japanese firm Mitsui Chemicals is investing 2.5 billion yen to add 8,000-tonne/year capacity of its speciality Tafmer high performance olefin elastomer at its Singapore plant in Jurong Island, by 2013. In other news, Mitsui plans to restructure its joint venture petrochemical operations in Chiba, Japan, it runs with partner Idemitsu Kosan.

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Versalis strengthens its presence in Asian markets
Versalis CEO Daniel Ferrari

As part of its new international strategy, Versalis aims to gain a leadership position in emerging markets by leveraging its technological and industrial expertise and its direct presence in the Asia-Pacific region will allow for better monitoring of the industrial and market dynamics, and for direct interaction with clients in sectors of strategic interest.

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PolyOne adds on technical expertise in Asia

US compounder PolyOne has opened an Innovation Centre in Seoul to serve its growing colourants and additives business in South Korea and added on other technology in Shanghai, China, and the US.

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BASF closing EPS plants in Malaysia and India

Citing overcapacity and low margins in the EPS market, German chemical firm BASF is closing down its Styropor EPS plants in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, and Thane, India. The combined EPS capacity of the two plants is more than 100,000 tonnes/year.

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Materials News

Phthalates cause higher risk of asthma

American researchers say that children exposed to diethyl phthalate (DEP) and butylbenzyl phthalate (BBzP) – phthalate chemicals commonly found in personal care and plastic products – have elevated risk of asthma-related airway inflammation.


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Plant-based resins from MGP and Green Dot

US-based MGP, a grain and other plant-based ingredient solutions company, has developed Terratek BD, a new line of biodegradable composite resins. Meanwhile, bioscience firm Green Dot has also introduced a compostable bioplastic, a soft rubber-like material that has been used to make the BioCase phone cover.

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Multilayer PLA film for sensors

Japanese firm Teijin and Kansai University have developed a flexible, transparent piezoelectric material that demonstrates what it says are “unprecedented piezoelectric effects”. The new material comprises laminates of PLA, PLLA and optical isomer poly-D-lactic acid (PDLA) films.

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New brochure guide on bioplastics

To deter false or misleading communication of environmental product properties, European Bioplastics, the association for the European bioplastics industry, has published its Environmental Communications Guide for Bioplastics.

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Modified plastics to grow in China

By adding modifying agents to plastics, modified plastics have increasingly found uses in the automotive and home appliance industries in China. Output increased from 320,000 tonnes in 2000 to 5.84 million tonnes in 2009 and is expected to hit 8.53 million tonnes in 2012, says a new report from Research in China.

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Water soluble edible films

MonoSol, a manufacturer of water soluble films, has launched Vivos Edible Delivery Systems. Water soluble and edible, pouches engineered from Vivos films disappear and release their contents when exposed to hot or cold liquids; the dissolved film can then be consumed along with the food.

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Plastic bag ban in RP not advantageous : business bloc

Fourteen local business groups have put out full-page advertisements in various major newspapers in the Philippines on the last day of August to castigate the ban of plastics in the country, asserting that the ban may do more harm than good to the environment.

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Machinery News

Gloucester and Dolci to offer winders

US-based extrusion machinery maker Gloucester Engineering and Italy-based Dolci Extrusion will share winding technology and offer customers a choice of either Gloucester or Dolci winders for cast stretch film.

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Unicor supplies pipe lines to Iraq

German manufacturer of corrugated pipe extrusion lines Unicor, recently supplied lines for the manufacture of PVC drainage pipes to Iraq, which were installed remotely.

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High Tech Extrusion unveils new extrusion lines

The High Tech Extrusion group presents its new TEC 4s as retrofit kit, which has been developed with Siemens according to the newest state-of-the-art technique, and combining simple handling and a uniquely efficient control system .

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Reifenhäuser achieves new sales record

Reifenhäuser, a global extrusion lines provider closed the 2011/2012 financial year with record results, generating total sales of over EUR 450 million.

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New cooling system increases films capacity

Reifenhäuser Kiefel Extrusion has added a new, user-friendly high-performance cooling system to their new Evolution blown film line generation that it said will make it possible for film manufacturers to significantly increase output capacity.

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 Injection Moulding

Vespel takes centrestage in gears

Using DuPont Performance Polymers’s Vespel TP bearing cages, Harmonic Drive of Germany, has developed a lighter and more compact component gear set, used in industrial service robots, medical technology, aerospace and semi-conductor manufacturing.


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Lower costs from foam moulding

Austrian machine maker Engel has expanded its working relationship with US-based MuCell foam injection moulding technology supplier Trexel by fully integrating MuCell units into the victory and e-victory series machines, thereby improving the price-performance ratio of system solutions.


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New 3D solution for faster designs

French 3D design software firm Dassault Systèmes has introduced SolidWorks 2013 with 200 new and improved design applications to enhance collaboration, speed model creation and simplify the product development process.


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Lanxess bolsters portfolio with composites

Specilty chemicals firm Lanxess, known for its light-weight materials and green mobility concept for the automotive industry, has recently acquired German company Bond- Laminates GmbH, a manufacturer of custom-made plastic composite sheets that are reinforced with materials such as glass fibres.


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