HOUSTON - Exxon Chemical Co. of Houston has filed for a permit to build a 550 million-pound-per-year polypropylene plant in Baytown, Texas, by 1998. Spokeswoman Irene Binash confirmed May 31 that the company filed for the permit, but Exxon is withholding a formal announcement until the company approves the project internally.
Should Exxon proceed with its plans, the plant would be one of the largest PP production facilities built in North America in the 1990s.
Twister damages Multibase buildings
COPLEY, OHIO-A tornado destroyed two minor buildings at Multibase Inc., a custom compounder based in Copley, but did no damage to the company's main production facilities.
Andre Fritz, president of Multibase, said the buildings lost in the May 29 storm were a 10,000-square-foot packaging and railroad car unloading operation and a 2,400-square-foot office building. The facility's main, 138,000-square-foot production building was untouched. No injuries were reported, Fritz said.
Woodbridge Inoac mobing headquarters
TROY, MICH.-Woodbridge Inoac Inc. said it is moving its headquarters from Troy to Bardstown, Ky., site of its largest plant. The molder also named a new president and set up an operations committee to manage the company.
President Fumio Kohri replaces Leonard R. Griffin, who left the company to pursue other business interests. Kohri has been vice chairman of Woodbridge Inoac and president of Inoac USA Inc.
Woodbridge Inoac molds automotive instrument panels and soft interior trim. It is a joint venture of Inoac Group of Japan and the Woodbridge Group of Mississauga, Ontario.
Of the move to Bardstown, Chairman William M. Kinch said, ``We want to establish closer ties and communications with this important facility. However, the finance, sales and technical services will stay in Troy to make certain we maintain optimum ties with our customers.''
Dinesol Plastics buys 10 new presses
NILES, OHIO-Dinesol Plastics Inc. of Niles has expanded injection molding capacity by purchasing 10 new presses and other equipment for $2.5 million, according to a published report.
The firm, which makes plastic products for Rubbermaid Inc.'s Housewares Division, also plans to spend $5 million on a 70,000-square-foot addition to its Niles plant, according to the Business Journal of the Five-County Region, based in Youngstown, Ohio.
Dinesol Vice President Herb Olmi confirmed his company is expanding and automating production lines, but he said he would provide no details or identify the customer ``until the project is farther along.''
Dinesol hired 50 more workers since February and plans to hire 20 more, the article stated. The firm installed new machinery in its recently reopened West Farmington, Ohio, facility. Olmi said the firm has not decided whether the West Farmington plant will remain open when the Niles addition is complete.
Dinesol's expansion was aided by a $900,000 low-interest state loan and tax breaks from the city of Niles.
The firm reported injection molding sales of $11.2 million last year, according to Plastics News' 1995 ranking. It also reported it had 18 presses and 95 employees at one plant.
Nasdaq drops Hammer's from listings
IOWA FALLS, IOWA-Nasdaq dropped Hammer's Plastic Recycling Corp. from its small caps issues board on May 24 for ``insufficient capital,'' a spokeswoman said.
The same day, the company's board of directors voted to change the firm's name to Plastic Recycling Inc.
The company, in a printed statement, said that although Nasdaq no longer will list the publicly owned company's stock and warrants, the securities will be listed on the over-the-counter bulletin board and continue to be listed on the Boston Stock Exchange.
The stock closed May 23 at 50 cents. Its all-time high was between November 1993 and February 1994 when it traded at $3.50.
Floyd V. Hammer founded the Iowa Falls company 11 years ago, but left the firm in July.