CINCINNATI - Specialty film producer Clopay Plastic Products Co. has formed a joint venture in Germany to supply plastic films and laminates for markets in Europe, South Africa and the Middle East. Clopay of Cincinnati teamed up with Corovin GmbH of Peine, Germany, a producer of nonwovens. The venture plans to make films and film/nonwoven laminates for infant and adult diapers and feminine hygiene products. It also aims to market its production for surgical gowns and drapes and protective apparel.
The joint venture, Finotech Verbundstoffe GmbH, will begin production in the first half of 1997 at a new facility in Aschersleben, Germany. Its initial production will be sold under contract to an undisclosed ``major international customer.'' Clopay predicted in a Nov. 6 news release that initial sales will be nearly $50 million annually and that the partners will develop new film composites.
Clopay Plastic reported film sales of $111 million for the year ended Sept. 30, 1995, in Plastics News' 1996 film and sheet ranking. Clopay has three plants in North America and mainly processes polyethylenes and nylons to make films for diaper, feminine napkin, incontinence, surgical and medical products.
Clopay Plastic is a subsidiary of Griffon Corp. of Jericho, N.Y.
TORONTO-Polyethylene bubble products maker Polyair Inter Pack Inc. is expanding its Youngs-town, Ohio, operation by moving to a larger plant and adding extrusion and other equipment.
The Toronto firm announced Oct. 30 that it completed US$8.5 million Ohio Government Loan and Bond financing for a new 156,000-square-foot plant. It will relocate its Youngstown pool products operation there in December and by February it plans to add packaging production, President Henry Schnurbach said in a telephone interview. The expansion includes an extrusion line to reduce the company's reliance on film purchasing.
The new facility replaces a leased, 65,000-square-foot Youngs- town building. Polyair revealed its intention to expand in Youngs-town when it closed an initial public offering last spring. Its operation there houses its U.S. sales office. Schnurbach did not reveal equipment details for Youngs-town but he said the company will arrange its own financing for machinery purchases. The Ohio loan only covered construction.
Polyair expects to open another U.S. facility by fall 1997 but has not chosen a site yet. Schnurback said his firm also has expansions under way in Chicago, Corona, Calif., Atlanta and Toronto.
Polyair Inter Pack raised C$19.2 million (US$14.4 million) in its IPO, which closed in mid-April. Its sales for the nine months ended July 31 at C$51.2 million (US$38.4 million) were about 24 percent higher than a year earlier. Net profit of C$921,000 (US$690,750) was up about 26 percent.
WILMINGTON, DEL.-DuPont Co. of Wilmington is accepting entries for the 1997 DuPont Plunkett Awards for Innovation with Tef-lon. Entrants must be processors or users of fabricated products who have placed products using Teflon or Tefzel-brand fluoropolymer resins, film, fibers, finishes and DuPont fluoropolymer products licensed under the Teflon trademark in commercial markets in the last five years.
The entries will be judged on innovation, breadth of application and significance to or impact on industry or consumers. Applications include aerospace, automotive, environmental, telecommunications, chemical process- ing, electronics and wire and cable. The awards are conducted worldwide with regional winners. Deadline for entries from the Americas is Jan. 24.
The award is named for Roy J. Plunkett, the scientist who discovered Teflon, known generically as polytetrafluoroethylene.For entry forms, call (800) 432-7536.
The following firms received ISO 9001 certification: injection molder Key Plastics Inc. of Novi, Mich.; and calendered PVC film maker Vereinigte Kunststoffwerke GmbH of Staufen, Germany.