SAINTE MARIE DE BEAUCE, QUEBEC - In its largest-ever single contract, Canadian plastic bathware producer Maax Inc. agreed to supply C$50 million (US$37.5 million) worth of products to S.G. Kai Ltd. of Tokyo during the next three years. Maax will spend about C$1.5 million (US$1.1 million) in new machinery and molds to make modular bathware units specially designed for Japan's market. The units are slated for installation in hotels, condominiums and residential buildings, the firm said in a Nov. 12 news release.
Maax will make about 10,000 units and begin delivery in January. It will begin production at its Axam Division in Sainte Marie de Beauce, where it is headquartered. The firm said it will determine a final location in a few weeks for completing the contract.
S.G. Kai is an association that includes the 220 largest building contractors in Japan. Maax said Canadian government officials in Tokyo and Montreal helped it obtain the contract after it spent 18 months on marketing and product development.
AUBURN, IND. - Rieke Corp. expanded its plastic closures business by acquiring Stolz GmbH of Neunkirchen, Germany, for undisclosed terms.
Rieke of Auburn makes a range of industrial drum and pail closures and dispensing products for the packaging industry. Stolz's closure product line includes types with spouts and seals that it markets for edible oils, food, paints and other consumer products. Its U.S. subsidiary, Stolz USA in San Antonio, injection molds plastic closures.
Rieke corporate development manager Gordon Bell said Stolz's focus on plastic closures for small plastic and metal containers complements Rieke's main business in industrial markets. The deal also expands Rieke's European operation, established in July when Rieke bought Englass Group Ltd. of Leicester, England. Englass makes a range of dispensing systems, pumps and sprayers for consumer and other products.
Rieke President Lynn Brooks said in a Nov. 4 news release that the deal will help his firm serve its ``multinational customers into the 21st century.'' Stolz Managing Director Mathias Siepel said in the release that Stolz should benefit from Rieke's production technology and markets.
Officials did not disclose sales data for the two companies. Rieke is a subsidiary of TriMas Corp., an industrial holding company in Ann Arbor, Mich., that trades on the New York Stock Exchange.
SANTA ANA, CALIF. - A batch of overheated resin at filament winder California Composite Design Inc. generated noxious fumes and prompted an evacuation of about 100 people from the small plant and nearby business facilities around midday Nov. 7.
A technician was mixing bisphenol F epoxy resin with 2-ethyl 4-methyl imidazole, a hardener that he does not use in regular production. The batch ``got too hot,'' said Fred Good, chairman and owner of the Santa Ana firm. ``We had a spill of about 12 gallons in a resin spill pan that is 15 by 10 feet. Other chemicals may have been in there and mixed together.''
Good said the individual ``mixing it followed the mix ratio for the hardener with resin, but it got away from him.''
Nearly 100 people left offices and plants for about two hours until the fumes dissipated. About 40 firefighters responded.
The 2-year-old firm employs 25 and filament winds carbon and glass fibers for high-performance missile launch tubes, torque tubes, drive shafts, industrial rolls and bicycle tubes.
MIRABEL, QUEBEC - Nora Beverages Inc. plans to expand its PET bottle production and water bottling operation in Mirabel after the firm could not reach a definitive sales agreement with Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc.
Coca-Cola signed a letter of intent in July to buy Nora for about C$161 million (US$120.8 million) to expand its bottled water business. The companies announced that the deal was off in a Nov. 6 news release.
Nora would not comment on why the deal fell through. Coca-Cola spokeswoman Laura Asman would only say ``the parties could not agree on a valuation that provided sufficient return for our share owners.''
Nora spokeswoman Anita Jarjour said her firm will expand next year but she was unable to provide details. Nora planned the expansion independent of Coca-Cola's acquisition plan, she explained. In an early 1996 interview Nora indicated its Mirabel plant could make 50 million PET preforms and 200 million PET bottles a year, but Jarjour could not confirm current capacity.
Coca-Cola plans to continue seeking a bottled water acquisition, Asman said in a telephone interview from Coca-Cola's head office in Atlanta. Coca-Cola and Nora both said they expect Coca-Cola will continue distributing Nora's Naya brand bottled spring water.