Foamex refinances to gain flexibility
LINWOOD, PA. — Foamex International Inc. announced a $480 million refinancing deal geared to improve its financial and operating flexibility and reduce interest expense.
The Linwood-based firm, through its Foamex LP subsidiary, plans to set up a $480 million credit facility, including a $150 million revolving loan, to repurchase public debt totaling $489.7 million. In a news release, Foamex said it expects to have roughly $100 million in revolving funds available to invest in its foam manufacturing business.
The company makes flexible polyurethane foam products for furniture, bedding, packaging and health-care cushioning; automotive trim and accessories; and for carpeting, industrial and consumer technical markets, including filtration foams.
England's BOC Group to sell Ohmeda unit
WINDLESHAM, ENGLAND — BOC Group wants to sell Ohmeda, its international health-care division, which includes a disposable medical plastics device business.
Windlesham-based BOC announced recently that it instructed investment banker J.P. Morgan to find a buyer for Ohmeda. Analysts expect it to fetch up to £1 billion ($1.61 billion).
Ohmeda, with 4,800 employees in 30 countries, had 1996 sales of £506 million ($814.7 million) and profit of £53 million ($85.3 million), according to BOC.
London-based Smiths Industries plc has expressed an interest in Ohmeda's plastics business.
BJB Polymer plans N. American growth
BRAMPTON, ONTARIO — BJB Polymer Systems Ltd. of Brampton is moving its Brampton plant in October and increasing capacity.
The lease is up on the 17,000-square-foot plant, so the firm is moving down the road into a 20,000-square-foot building. The new plant will incorporate two more 31/2-inch extrusion lines, and two injection molding molding machines that the company has purchased. The company already had eight lines.
The company will hire 10 more employees for a total of 25.
The $400,000 improvement will bring an expected 40 percent increase in capacity.
According to a company spokesman, the plant has incorporated a new line for automotive markets. The addition of new customers, Ford and Volvo, made the expansion necessary.
The company also is planning to expand its Mexican plant in the fall and open a U.S. plant around the same time. The company had annual sales of $3.2 million.
Web pulls up roots, moves to Cleveland
MARION, OHIO — Web Plastics Co. of Marion will relocate to Cleveland by the end of October.
The move will expand the firm's space from 26,000 square feet to 41,000. About 5,000 square feet will be office space.
The company, which employs 35-45, depending on the season, hopes to have a total of 50 with the expansion.
Web will purchase three new Davis-Standard extruders; it has eight lines already.
The company plans to spend at least $1.5 million on the move.
``We're an old company that's come into the '90s,'' said Greg Hildebrandt, owner of the almost 45-year-old company. Hilebrandt believes that the technology has to come up to speed.
The company hopes that this move will improve communications between the offices that were in Cleveland and the plant that will be moved to Cleveland.
The company's total sales are about $3 million. It extrudes such things as decorative candy canes for driveways. Web serves the industrial, sign, lawn and garden, and electrical markets.
Briefly ...
Owens Corning Yapi Merkezi Pipe AS started up a glass-reinforced pipe facility in Karapurcek, Turkey. The joint venture between Owens Corning of Toledo, Ohio, and Yapi Merkezi Construction and Industry Inc. of Istanbul, Turkey, manufactures large-diameter pipe for Turkish municipal water and waste-water systems.
Eagle Pacific Industries Inc. has raised $10 million through private placement of redeemable 8 percent convertible preferred stock to Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. William H. Spell, the firm's chief executive officer, said Eagle Pacific will use the capital to boost capacity and efficiency at all three of its manufacturing plants. The funds also will deleverage the Minneapolis tubing and pipe extruder's balance sheet, he said.
Jamestown Thermoset Molding has changed its name to Ashton Plastic Products Inc. The molder of thermosets and phenolics operates out of a 12,600-square-foot plant in Xenia, Ohio. The firm also does insert molding and assembly.
Vermont Business magazine and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce have honored injection molder Mack Molding Co. of Arlington, Vt., with the 1996 Deane C. Davis Outstanding Vermont Business Award for its accomplishments in such areas as sensitivity to its employees and the environment.
Automotive seating and interiors manufacturer Johnson Controls Inc. received one of General Motors Corp.'s 1996 Supplier of the Year awards. Both Milwaukee-based JCI and its Strasbourg, France-based joint venture, Roth Freres, were among GMC's supplier winners. Four JCI facilities also won the 1997 Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing, awarded by the National Association of Manufacturers.
Chrysler Corp. gave ADAC Plastics Inc. of Grand Rapids, Mich., its Gold Pentastar Award for supplying its 1996 vehicles with injection molded components for door handle and cowl grille assemblies and lighting.
Two Rubbermaid Inc. products have taken two recent awards in the Industrial Designers Society of America's 1997 Industrial Design Excellence program. Rubbermaid's blow molded Icy Rider multiperson sled won a bronze award. Also taking a bronze was the Wooster, Ohio, firm's Clear Classics Intellivent food-storage system, designed to go from freezer to microwave to table. The system comprises four nesting polycarbonate bowls with vented lids.
George Fischer Inc. has completed its Class 10,000 clean room in Tustin, Calif. It offers fabrication of custom, user-specific polyvinylidene fluoride components for the ultrapure water market. The company, which would not disclose the cost of the facility, is a unit of Georg Fischer Rorhleitungssysteme AG of Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
Fawn Industries Inc., an injection molder in Hunt Valley, Md., recently received ISO 9002 registration for its Maryville, Tenn., molding facility. The plant, which manufactures components for the automotive and telecommunications industries, also does painting and sonic welding. ... Injection molder Industrial Molding Corp. has received ISO 9002 and QS 9000 registration for its Lubbock, Texas, headquarters facility. ... Alcoa Buildings Products, based in Sidney, Ohio, is contributing volunteers, technical support, accessories and enough vinyl siding for 15 houses to the 1997 Jimmy Carter Work Project.