Arburg adds space for training, display
WESTMINSTER, CALIF. — Arburg Inc. has upgraded its Westminster technical, sales and service center with a 35-person training room and space to showcase 15 injection molding machines.
``We average two mold trials a week,'' said Anthony Codet, western and southwestern regional manager.
The center is open to any customer for mold trials and trouble-shooting, and employs seven, including a press engineer.
The 3,000-square-foot reconfiguration was completed in March. Arburg installed six presses of 17-220 tons.
Arburg Inc. of Newington, Conn., has other centers in Elk Grove Village, Ill.; Grand Prairie, Texas; and Spartanburg, S.C. The company operates as the North American sales and service subsidiary of Arburg GmbH + Co. of Lossburg, Germany.
Borealis AS closing compounding plant
LYNGBY, DENMARK—Borealis AS is closing its German polyolefin compounding plant because of the operation's low capacity and lack of competitiveness.
Meanwhile, the company is strengthening its presence in South America through a compounding joint venture with leading Brazilian resin producer OPP Petroquimica SA of Sao Paulo.
The Borealis Compounds GmbH facility in Nordestedt, near Hamburg, Germany, will close by the end of 2000. It has a capacity of 70 million pounds per year and employs about 40.
The plant produces a range of polyethylene and polypropylene compounds modified with elastomers, fillers and stabilizers, according to Lyngby-based Borealis.
Production will shift to plants in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France and Italy. Some job cuts are planned.
The Brazilian venture will compound polyolefins for the South American market. OPP has three polyolefin plants in Brazil.
Borealis is the world's fourth-largest polyolefin producer, with annual resin capacity of 6.6 billion pounds at six major manufacturing sites in Europe.
In related news, Borealis has struck an agreement to market Huntsman Corp.'s Rexflex-brand flexible polyolefins in Europe.
Polypropylene-based Rexflex is used in automotive, medical, food and industrial markets. The company claims it offers exceptional flexibility and heat resistance, and is easy to process.
Huntsman of Salt Lake City will consider building a flexible polyolefins manufacturing facility in Europe at the end of the two-year deal Borealis, officials said.
In addition to handling distribution and marketing, Borealis will compound Rexflex at several European plants.
Repsol, DSM form acrylonitrile accord
SITTARD, THE NETHERLANDS—Spanish petrochemical group Repsol SA is joining forces with DSM NV of Heerlen, the Netherlands, to market acrylonitrile outside the European Union through a 50-50 venture to be called Campanex.
The groups will set up the firm in Sittard through their respective subsidiaries, Repsol Quimica and DSM Acrylonitrile. The venture was to start operating this month.
Repsol, Spain's largest industrial company, operates one acrylonitrile plant in Tarragona, Spain, with annual production capacity of 264 million pounds. DSM Acrylonitrile has two production units in Geleen, the Netherlands, with a total annual capacity of 441 million pounds.
