Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Plastics News China
  • Rubber & Plastics News
logo-pn-color
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • End Markets
    • FYI Charts
    • LSR World
    • Multimedia
    • NPE2021
    • K Show
    • Special Reports
    • Top materials of injection molders
      Recycled PET use by product category
      US PET, flexible packaging desintations
      Global fluropolymers additives market: CAGR
    • NPE exhibitors question handling of deposits for canceled trade show
      Exhibitors back NPE cancellation: ‘We couldn't take that risk'
      NPE2021 canceled as in-person event
      NPE reviews its options as pandemic prompts exhibitor to exit
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • What Keeps You Up At Night
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Videos
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • CEO Issue
    • Best Places to Work
    • Processor of the Year
    • Rising Stars
    • Women Breaking the Mold
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • Heavy Metal
    • One Good Resin
    • BRICS and Plastics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Perspective: Making the best of working from home
      Nypro's Gordon Lankton left the plastics industry a better place
      Recognizing Plastek Industries for all-around excellence
      Let's look forward, rather than back, to mark COVID anniversary
    • Kickstart: Yes, this 'paper' bottle is really plastic, and yes, it's a bad look
      Kickstart: Plastics ready to take flight on Mars
      Kickstart: Let's hear it for leftovers
      Kickstart: Big data, big bowls and consumer packaging
    • Heavy Metal: Coronavirus edition, plus the work of working from home
      Don't put off succession planning
      What's a good gift for your cobot? Batteries?
      Here's some big ideas to mull over the holidays
    • PE resin trends highlighted in Shell report
      Dow's Lowry honored by World Economic Forum for sustainability work
      Africa impacts new colors from Ampacet
      Plaskolite marches into madness with its own online bracket
    • Climate debate in Washington increasingly includes plastic
      There was no choice but canceling NPE still a big deal
      The business case for producer responsibility
      Think divided government stalls plastics legislation? Think again
    • Want prices? Introducing historical resin pricing, now available in a downloadable form
      A new annual ranking: Top processor gains
      Thermoformers: Would you believe a 12 percent gain?
      Just how big is thermoforming in North America?
    • Working from home: Rugrats edition
      Nypro's Gordon Lankton left the plastics industry a better place
      Let's look forward, rather than back, to mark COVID anniversary
      Virtual pitfalls derail exhibits for builders' trade show
    • PEX pipe maker Uponor donates $30,000 for Texas storm relief
      Virtual pitfalls derail exhibits for builders' trade show
      PPI puts $200 bounty on exhumed HDPE conduit
      Raise the roof: Housing starts hit a 12-year high
    • Perspective: Making the best of working from home
      Perspective: The Materials Wars: Is plastic actually better?
      Perspective: Plastics manufacturers — a surprising contribution to sustainability
      Plastics industry business owners: Listen to your future workforce
    • Mailbag: Additional fees for electric vehicles ‘unfortunate'
      Mailbag: Where's the plastics industry's response to critics?
      Mailbag: Manufacturers struggling to follow COVID-19 safety rules
      Modernizing recycling infrastructure will benefit businesses as well as the environment
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
    • Maintenance can ensure efficient blender operation
      Dosing: Perfect for adding color
      Blending vs dosing: What you need to know
      Going low or high: Comparing volume
    • Colors and custom compounds
      In the laboratory: Compounding solutions
      Recycling content: Resins going ‘green’
      Compounding: Glass and other fillers
    • Dryer maintenance: Don’t err with air
      Dryers: Options for a shop’s process
      Dryer installation: Going central?
      Resins: Hygroscopic or non-hygroscopic
    • Electric injection molding presses: Efficiency is key
      Hydraulic injection molding machines
      Proper maintenance can prevent downtime
      Hybrid injection molding machines
    • Purging Hot runners: Open or closed methods
      Purging extrusion machinery
      Purging extrusion blow molding machines
      Purging: Chemical, abrasive and non-abrasive
    • Controls, special applications boost production, profitability
      Robot maintenance key for smooth operation
      High-speed robots: A rapid way to increase efficiency
      Robots: Every shape and size
    • Maintenance: Key for efficiency
      Shredders: Plastic in pieces
      Safety first for size reduction
      Granulators: The right fit
    • Video: Structural foam molding
      Structural foam molding: Flexibility for processors
    • Mold inventory: How many molds does a shop have?
      Molds: Innovation
      Mold changeover: Saving time and money
      How molds work
    • Labor: Apprenticeships may provide answer
      Internships: Solving the skills gap in-house
      College training, programs
      Lean Six Sigma: Transforming business operation
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Ask the Expert
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
    • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Polymer Points Live - April 2021
      Polymer Points Live - February 2021
      Polymer Points Live - January 2021
      Polymer Points Live - December 2020
    • Plastics in Healthcare 2020
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Plastics in Healthcare
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
  • Resin Prices
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Rankings
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Data Store
  • Directory
  • More+
    • Classifieds
    • Digital Edition
    • Newsletters
    • Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Sponsored By Bandera
      Bandera US was born for the North American market
      Sponsored By Ensign Equipment
      Filling systems customized for any process or budget need
      KraussMaffei
      Sponsored By KraussMaffei
      KraussMaffei retools in US with investment from parent ownership
      Sponsored By Mitsubishi
      Innovative new technology from Mitsubishi Engineering-Plastics Corporation helps reduce emission footprints
    • KraussMaffei
      Sponsored By KraussMaffei
      KraussMaffei Retools in US with investment from Parent Ownership
    • Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Tailored maintenance for injection molding machines and robots
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Improve maintenance efficiency with e-connect.monitor
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Maximum precision for lowest shot weights
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Even more cost effectiveness for small precision parts
    • Shell Polymer
      Sponsored By Shell Polymers
      Food and beverage trends impacting the polymer industry
      Sponsored By Conexiom
      Use Sales Order Automation to free up time for CSRs to focus on customers, not manual entry
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
January 26, 1998 01:00 AM

HOUSING TO GIVE EXTRUDER MAKERS STABILITY

Bill Bregar
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print

    A stable construction industry translates into a steady-as-she-goes outlook for extruder manufacturers as 1998 begins.

    Housing starts, which drive the U.S. construction industry, used to move along a boom-and-bust cycle. The ripple effect extends down to extruders of vinyl siding, pipe, windows and fencing — and eventually hits their machinery suppliers.

    In recent years, however, housing starts have moderated and stayed between 1.3 million and 1.5 million a year.

    ``Remodeling is still strong, and housing starts are promising. It looks like we will have a good first half of 1998,'' said Hans-Jurgen Matthesius, vice president of Krauss-Maffei Corp.'s extrusion division. But construction could slow down in the second half, he said.

    The National Association of Home Builders predicts a decline of about 5 percent for 1998, followed by a small recovery in 1999. Starts were off about 2 percent in 1997, ending at 1.45 million.

    When new construction is down, remodeling is up, and that helps ``balance the market,'' said Tom Brown, general sales manager for extrusion systems at Cincinnati Milacron Inc.

    Both Brown and Matthesius said the pipe sector seems a bit off going into 1998. Siding, Matthesius said, ``had an extremely strong start [in 1997] and then a weak finish.''

    Brown said vinyl fencing, which took off in 1994 and then seemed to decline, is back. Fence extruders are adding capacity again, he said.

    Larger extruders of vinyl windows have boosted output of their machines, through tooling improvements and better compounded resin, Matthesius said.

    ``So customers can utilize installed capacity better, but that doesn't necessarily lead to more machine sales,'' he said.

    Other major sectors of the U.S. economy have mirrored construction's moderate year-to-year pace. Davis-Standard Corp. has enjoyed growth in automotive and packaging, too. ``Our activity in those markets has been strong this year,'' said Fred Bartkiewicz, vice president of sales and engineering at Davis-Standard.

    Davis-Standard had been on a buying spree in recent years, buying eight companies or product lines from 1991 through 1996. The company took a break from acquisitions in 1997 — but it did invest $3 million to expand its headquarters factory in Pawcatuck, Conn. Another $2 million went to buy a new whirling machine for cutting screws.

    Davis-Standard is the dominant force in single-screw extrusion, with more than 50 percent of the U.S. market. The company expanded its twin-screw offerings last year with a new, high-output compounding extruder.

    For Davis-Standard , a division of Crompton & Knowles Corp., 1997 was a year to rebound after a poor 1996 that saw flat sales and a 40 percent decline in operating profit. Through the first nine months of 1997, sales rose at Davis-Standard to $230.8 million, up nearly 9 percent from $212.1 million in the year-earlier period. Operating profit jumped back 43 percent, to $25.9 million, from $18.1 million in the first nine months of 1996.

    The company credited a 12 percent increase in unit volume, cost reductions and an improved product mix for the turnaround.

    A smaller maker of single-screw extruders, Processing Technologies Inc. in St. Charles, Ill., enjoyed a 40 percent sales increase in 1997, according to President Dana Hanson.

    ``This is primarily due to expansion in market segments that we serve, including growth in compounding, foam sheet, sheet lines, pipe and coextrusion systems,'' he said. ``We also had an expansion in fiber applications.''

    PTI has become more aggressive in foam sheet. Hanson said the company built a tandem foam line for Tenneco Packaging, with an 8-inch extruder feeding a 10-inch extruder, to make polyolefin foam. Hanson said the machine is one of the largest tandem foam systems in the United States.

    Other PTI markets include sheet for food packaging, high density polyethylene pipe and single-screw compounding. Privately held PTI does not release sales numbers.

    Last June, NPE 1997 provided a boost to the extrusion industry. Davis-Standard reported it generated $25 million in sales at the Chicago show. A few months before NPE, Cincinnati Milacron Inc. and HPM Corp. announced a jointly developed extrusion system for thin-gauge packaging, called the Alliance System.

    At NPE, HPM exhibited a huge-output machine in a small package. The Mount Gilead, Ohio, firm showed a machine with a 21/2inch-diameter screw running at 2,500 pounds an hour.

    Another Ohio firm, Akron Extruders Inc. in Canal Fulton, is busy.

    ``Our backlog is extremely strong, and I don't see any weakening through calendar year 1998 at this time,'' Don Sproule, vice president of sales and marketing, said in December. The company makes screws and single-screw extruders.

    Akron Extruders used to make only standard machines. But about two years ago, it expanded into customized machines, including multilayer systems.

    ``About 30 percent of our business base is customized extruders, and we want to keep it at that level,'' Sproule said.

    The blown film extrusion sector has one fewer player, as the Sano line of machines will no longer be manufactured. Early in 1997, Black Clawson Co. moved its Black Clawson Sano Inc. business from Amelia, Ohio, and into the Fulton, N.Y., plant of its sister company, Black Clawson Converting Machinery Corp. Black Clawson bought Milacron's Sano blown film business in 1994.

    Now Black Clawson has stopped making new Sano systems, though the company will continue to support machines in the field, said Laurie Beth Tyldesley, marketing manager for Black Clawson Converting.

    ``We decided to only serve the existing customer base that we had for Sano, and we're not pursuing any new customers, other than with our winding technology,'' Tyldesley said.

    Black Clawson Converting is a major supplier of cast film and extrusion coating equipment, and Tyldesley said those businesses are growing, especially for wider films, like stretch film.

    Harold Wrede, president of Battenfeld Gloucester Engineering Co. Inc., expects 1998 to be ``at best flat compared to 1997.'' He said the economic problems in the Far East ``definitely will have an impact on our ability to book orders.''

    The Battenfeld unit, based in Gloucester, Mass., generates about 30-40 percent of its sales from exports — and lately the Far East has been a hot market, as firms such as blown film makers have upgraded their plants with sophisticated equipment.

    But Wrede expects that sales in that sector will cool, since key markets like South Korea and Southeast Asia have seen their currency values drop significantly against the U.S. dollar.

    ``Europe is, generally speaking, recovering from its doldrums,'' he added, and the U.S. market, with the exception of stretch film, will start to pick up later this year.

    Some bright spots, Wrede said, include cast polypropylene film machines, foam extrusion units, dies, and a new cooling screw.

    For Reifenhauser Inc. in Lawrence, Mass., demand for PP sheet extruders has been strong, according to John Wise, sales manager. The sheet gets thermoformed into cups, deli containers and packaging, often replacing polystyrene sheet, he said.

    Sales at Reifenhauser have been balanced between sheet, blown film and cast film, he said.

    A new extruder company started in 1997, American Kuhne in Norwich, Conn. David Citron, director of sales and marketing, said the company exceeded first-year projections, but he declined to give a sales figure. ``We have firm commitments for two sheet lines right now,'' he said in December.

    Sandy Guthrie, president of Merritt Davis Corp., said the company in Hamden, Conn., sold more than 150 machines in 1997. Like many smaller single-screw extruder makers, Merritt has tried to pick its spots against the giant Davis-Standard.

    ``We're still finding extremely high demand for specialty applications from people who are trying to create a niche outside of a me-too environment,'' Guthrie said.

    Jerry Berlyn, founder of Berlyn, an extruder maker in Worcester, Mass., that is part of Clay Group Inc., said the company shipped 70 percent more machines in 1997 than it did in 1996. ``And our backlog is such that I know we will ship 50 percent more than that next year,'' he said.

    Fiber manufacturing, profiles and color compounding are among the best markets.

    ``What we've done is develop a small group of dedicated people who know how to build special equipment,'' Berlyn said.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    logo-pn-color
    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber & Plastics News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • Plastics News China
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • What Keeps You Up At Night
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
        • Polymer Points Live
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • FYI Charts
        • Current FYI
      • LSR World
      • Multimedia
        • Videos
        • Galleries
        • Podcasts
      • NPE2021
      • K Show
      • Special Reports
        • CEO Issue
        • Best Places to Work
        • Processor of the Year
        • Rising Stars
        • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • Heavy Metal
      • One Good Resin
      • BRICS and Plastics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Plastics in Healthcare
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Ask the Expert
      • Polymer Points Live
      • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
      • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
      • Plastics in Healthcare Library
      • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Resin Prices
      • All Resins
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Rankings
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Data Store
    • Directory
    • More+
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified
      • Digital Edition
      • Newsletters
      • Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Processor of the Year submissions