LINCOLNSHIRE, ILL.-Ivex Packaging Corp. of Lincolnshire has bought Packaging Products Inc. of Bellwood, Ill., a maker of protective film and paper products. Ivex Treasurer Rick Cote confirmed the purchase Sept. 14, but said the company would not comment further. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Ivex derives about $189.1 million in sales from consumer packaging products, including thermoformed oriented and high-impact polystyrene and PET sheet products. It also has sales of $201.9 million from industrial packaging, including polyethylene film masking products and specialty paper. Ivex is the third-largest thermoforming company in North America, according to Plastics News' February ranking of such companies, and claims to be the world's largest producer of OPS sheet.
Delphi to produce PP batteries in China
SHANGHAI, CHINA-Delphi Automotive Systems, General Motors Corp.'s parts-making unit, is negotiating with a Chinese partner to set up a $30 million automotive battery plant in Shanghai.
Delphi said it expects to begin production in China of a million Delco Freedom batteries per year beginning in 1997. Its partner, Shanghai Mechanical & Electrical Holding Co. Group, controls more than 350 subsidiaries and affiliates.
Few details were available about the venture's production plans. Typically, Delphi molds its battery cases out of polypropylene on 750-ton injection presses and the lids for the cases on 250-ton machines. Delphi already manufactures batteries in 10 plants in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, France and South Korea. The automaker plans to begin construction of a new battery plant in Saudi Arabia later this year.
Plastics feed massive warehouse fire
JOLIET, ILL. - An undetermined number of gaylords of regrind polyethylene, PVC and ABS, as well as 5,000 pounds of raw rubber, fueled a spectacular warehouse fire Sept. 12 in Joliet.
Joliet Fire Chief Lawrence Walsh said Sept. 14 the cause of the fire was undetermined, but investigators were checking to see if spontaneous combustion could have taken place in bales of shredded plastic owned by a recycling company on the premises. At press time, Walsh did not know the name of the recycling company, nor did the operator of the warehouse.
No serious injuries were reported in the blaze at AAM Transit Co., which burned more than eight hours and produced a black plume visible 20 miles away.
Mothers sue car seat maker Century
AKRON, OHIO-Child car seat firm Century Products Co. of Macedonia, Ohio, faces a lawsuit launched by two mothers who allege its Model 590 may be unsafe in an accident.
Century corporate counsel Sharon Freimuth disputed the allegation and said tests done by Century and government agencies show that the Model 590 infant seat is safe.
Wingate Partners, owner of Century Products Co., announced in March it may sell the company, which claims to be the largest U.S. child car seat producer. Freimuth said she did not know what effect the lawsuit might have on a potential sale.
The New Jersey mothers based their suit on a recent report in Consumer Reports magazine that Model 590 was among three child seats that failed safety tests. Manufacturers recalled the two others, Evenflo's On My Way and Kolcraft Traveler 700, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. The potential class-action suit, filed in Summit County Common Pleas Court in Akron, relates to no reported injuries, Freimuth said.
Smucker dumps plastic six-pack rings
WASHINGTON-In a move environmentalists claim could save ``thousands of ducks and other waterfowl,'' Smucker Quality Beverages will market some 50 major carbonated fruit drink brands in paperboard six-pack carriers, replacing the plastic six-pack carrier rings the company has used for 10 years.
Denny Armstrong, manager of beverage operations, said the conversion will affect both of the beverage unit's operations - Chico, Calif., and Havre de Grace, Md.
John Foran, executive vice president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said in a Business Wire Inc. report, ``Thousands of ducks and other waterfowl potentially will be saved by this one simple change in packaging.''
Smucker, a unit of J.M. Smucker Co. of Orrville, Ohio, announced the switch at a Washington news conference.
