MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - Huntsman Chemical Co. Australia Ltd. has bought the synthetic resins operations of Ferro Corp. (Australia) Pty Ltd. Neither company would reveal the price, which newspaper reports estimated at between A$5 million and A$10 million (US$3.62 million and US$7.24 million).
Melbourne-based Huntsman is managed and 50 percent owned by Huntsman Chemical Corp. of Salt Lake City. Sydney-basedFerro is a subsidiary of Ferro Corp. of Cleveland.
Joe Foster, managing director of Huntsman's Australian operations, said the acquisition will expand Huntsman's downstream polyester resin operations. Ferro previously was Huntsman's largest customer for polyester resins produced at Huntsman's Melbourne plant.
The Ferro acquisition includes a manufacturing operation in Sydney with pigment, paste and polyester gel-coat facilities, and a national distribution network, supplying the fiberglass-reinforced plastics industry.
Foster said the synthetic resins business will enable Huntsman to offer customers com-plete service from raw materials to finished resin.
David Moseley, managing director of Ferro's Australian unit, said Ferro no longer regards synthetic resins as an integral part of the corporation's business in Australia.
DRS Industries buys equipment, expands
TOLEDO, OHIO - DRS Industries Inc., a Toledo-based prototyping service, has purchased new equipment and expanded its facility.
In October, DRS installed a400-ton HPM toggle molding machine with a shot size of 48 ounces. The machine, which cost about $160,000, increases the firm's capability to build molds and run prototype products.
The company also operates a 150-ton HPM press.
DRS also increased its plant's size from 10,000 square feet to nearly 13,000 square feet.
The company, with annual sales of about $1.5 million, employs 13.
IMS pland to build new Cllif. facility
CHAGRIN FALLS, OHIO - Injection Molders Supply Co. said it would break ground early this month for a new, 20,000-square-foot warehouse and office facility near Lake Forest, Calif.
Jane Morse, treasurer for the Chagrin Falls, Ohio-based company, said the facility is scheduled for completion Aug. 1.
IMS sold its Compton, Calif., building last year and has been working from leased space in Tustin.
``We looked extensively all over the Los Angeles area and couldn't find anything suitable,'' said Morse, who declined to comment on the cost of the project.
IMS purchased 11/4 acres for the facility, which will include a warehouse with racking capability, and space to expand offices to an upper level mezzanine.
The company recently installed a new computer network system that will improve response time to customers looking for equipment and supplies, Morse said.
In July, IMS first offered its catalog on CD-ROM.
3D Systems markets line in S. America
VALENCIA, CALIF. - 3D Systems Corp. said its stereolithography rapid prototyping systems will be marketed through a distributor, Robtec SA, in South America.
Previously, 3D products have not been sold in South America, the company said.
Robtec is headquartered in Montevideo, Uruguay, and will handle 3D lines in that country and Argentina, Chile and Paraguay, according to 3D Systems, based in Valencia.
Robtec is an entrepreneurial venture in computer-aided design and manufacturing and rapid prototyping.
The new distributor will have a sales demonstration center, function as a stereolithography service bureau, offer computer-aided design services and provide molds for urethane prototypes.
Planstics Recycling continues to grow
INDIANAPOLIS - The growing demand for recycled polystyrene and some other materials has helped Plastics Recycling Inc. of Indianapolis grow so much it will expand into its third location in four years.
Alan Shaw, president of the Indianapolis pellet maker, said PRI will move to a 120,000-square-foot plant in Indianapolis by mid-May.
The company will vacate a 45,000-square-foot building it has occupied for two years, which was a step up from the 18,000-square-foot facility it operated when it started four years ago. All of the locations have been in Indianapolis.
``We will be adding three grinding lines to the three we already have,'' Shaw said. ``We will also be adding densifiers and three new wash lines to the three we already have when we get to the new location.''
The company cleans, grinds and repelletizes a number of resin types, but about 70 percent of its annual volume of 14 million pounds is PS, according to Shaw.
The bulk of the company's PS and other products comes from recording industry-related scrap from plants in the region.
``Our customers have been seeing a lot of growth, and we are having to grow to serve them,'' he said. ``With the new facility we will be able to do that.''