Snyder to establish rotomolding in W. Va.
LINCOLN, NEB.—Snyder Industries Inc. plans to establish its fifth rotational molding plant, in West Virginia.
The Lincoln firm wants better access to markets in Pennsylvania, Ohio and the Northeast, Snyder President Howard Gross said in a telephone interview.
Snyder will spend $2.1 million on machinery and equipment and install it in a leased, 25,000-square-foot plant in Philippi, W.Va. Gross said operations will begin in October. Equipment details had not been finalized.
The plant eventually will employ 40 or more, he said.
The company will focus on industrial and agricultural tanks and industrial custom products, Gross said. Snyder also considered locations in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio, but agencies in West Virginia offered the best incentive package, he said.
The state will provide a training grant and assist in Snyder's capital costs with a low-interest loan. Even more important, Gross said, Barber County will modify the plant to Snyder's needs in time for an October start and will help it get a rail spur.
Snyder operates two rotational molding plants in Lincoln, one in Arkansas and one in Alabama. It had 1997 sales of about $33 million.
Tessenderlo buys part of PVC profiles group
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM — Group Tessenderlo, a Belgian chemicals and plastics conversion company, has ventured into England with its purchase of a 75 percent stake in PVC profiles group Fairbrook plc.
The purchase, for an undisclosed sum, gives Tessenderlo a foothold in Britain, the second-largest plastics profiles market in the region, and is a step toward the Brussels-based group's aim to become a global profiles player.
Tessenderlo said it has the option to acquire the remaining 25 percent of the publicly traded English group within five years.
Fairbrook of Alfreton, England, comprises the operating companies Eurocell Profiles Ltd., a producer of PVC window systems and associated building products in Alfreton; and custom extruder HL Plastics Ltd. of Little Eaton, England.
Fairbrook, which employs 350, reported group sales for 1997 of £25 million ($41 million).
Fairbrook's operations will join Tessenderlo's plastics processing division, including plastic profiles, pipe systems and compounds, which had sales of $391 million in 1997.
Tessenderlo has three PVC profile subsidiaries in France and Belgium. It also operates profile firms Chelsea Building Products Inc. in Oakmont, Pa., and Extruco Ltd. of Jonquiere, Quebec.
Ingram, Solectron planning PC alliance
MILPITAS, CALIF. — Wholesale technology product distributor Ingram Micro Inc. of Santa Ana, Calif., and custom contract manufacturer Solectron Corp. of Milpitas are moving toward a strategic alliance to provide global assembly services, mainly for personal computers and servers.
The alliance will have ``more opportunities for all of our suppliers — plastic, sheet metal and all the rest,'' Kurt Colehower, Solectron director of business development, said in a telephone interview.
Over time, as the model proves itself, the companies will include plastics operations, he said.
A definitive agreement is expected in September, and initial shipments to customers from Solectron facilities in Newark, Calif., and Dublin, Ireland, should occur by year-end.
Next, the program will involve sites in Brazil, China and Mexico. The companies disclosed a letter of intent to form the alliance on June 15.
``Tremendous cost pressures'' in the computer industry require quicker build-to-order solutions, Colehower said.
Ingram had 1997 sales of $16.5 billion. Solectron provides design, manufacturing and assembly services for electronics firms and had sales of $3.7 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31.
Low & Bonar growing rotaional molding
DUNDEE, SCOTTLAND — Scottish plastics and packaging company Low & Bonar plc plans to accelerate its acquisition of higher-return plastics and specialty materials businesses with proceeds from commodity packaging disposals.
The Dundee-based company, which disposed of two European polyethylene film and stretch-wrap operations for £13 million ($21.7 million) last year, is set to grow its rotational molding business further.
In the past year, Low & Bonar has bought three European rotational molders with combined annual sales of about £14 million ($23 million) and is investing £3 million ($5 million) to expand a United Kingdom subsidiary to meet rising demand.
Low & Bonar recently reported that sales rose 4 percent to £439 million ($733 million) for the year ended Nov. 30. Its pretax profit dropped from £52 million to £46 million, due to the strong pound sterling.
Sales for its plastics division, including rotomolding, were up 2 percent to £71.4 million ($119 million) while pretax profit rose 6 percent to £10.8 million.
Low & Bonar, the parent of Bonar Plastics Inc. of Newnan, Ga., and Bonar Inc. of Burlington, Ontario, admitted that North American business profit did not match expectations, and it is investing in efficiency improvements there.
Thermoformer Contnyl to increase exports
BUENOS AIRES — Cotnyl SA, an Argentine thermoformer of polypropylene disposable trays and plates for microwave ovens, wants to increase exports to Central America, Mexico, Africa and Asia.
Owners Sergio and Daniel Nosovitzky said the 12-year-old company currently exports 20 percent of its production, with markets including all of the other Mercosul countries: Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Cotnyl originally made wooden bookshelves and other products, but shifted gradually toward disposable food-service goods. By the end of the year, it will have 10 thermoforming machines making disposable trays, Sergio Nosovitzky said.
``For us, the program to modernize never ends,'' he said in a May 7 telephone interview from his office in Buenos Aires. In June, the company took delivery of an Illig thermoformer, and has plans to bring in another at the beginning of 1999.
The plant uses Argentine and Brazilian extruders, and thermoformers from Germany and Italy like OMV, Kiefel and Illig. Cotnyl processes 5.2 million to 6.6 million pounds of polyolefins a year.
He estimated that Cotnyl has close to 80 percent of the local PP tray market, and 30 percent of the entire market for trays.
Buenos Aires-based Cotnyl has 65 employees. The owners declined to comment on sales.
The Nosovitzkys added that even as they explore increasing exports, they do not plan to export more than 40 percent of production.