Midwest Elastomers expands toll grinding
WAPAKONETA, OHIO - Midwest Elastomers Inc. is expanding its toll grinding operation by installing equipment that can pulverize resins at room temperature.
In mid-July, the Wapakoneta-based firm will open a 7,000-square-foot, ambient-temperature, disk mill grinding operation adjacent to its cryogenic grinding mill.
Steve Campanella, Midwest plastics sales director, said the operation will focus on polyolefin pellet pulverization to create resin powders for rotational molders and adhesive formulators. He said the new unit also will be able to grind PVC into powder. The ambient mill's rated capacity is about 6.5 million pounds per year.
He said the ambient mill will offer lower processing costs for resins that do not need cryogenic temperatures for pulverization. It includes a modern quality-control laboratory to help customers with product development. Midwest is ISO 9002 registered.
The company's plastics business mainly is toll grinding and packaging, but it also does dry mixing. It handles virgin and compounded pellets.
Campanella said his firm produces and sells its own rubberized compounds for sports and play surfaces. Rubber products were its first business when it started in 1979, but in 1996 it diversified into plastics.
Euromap providingtechnical help online
FRANKFURT, GERMANY - Euromap, the European Committee of Machinery Manufacturers for the Plastics and Rubber Industries, has published more than 30 technical recommendations. The information includes design features and technical data, for injection presses, extruders, blow molding machines and presses used for compression molding and transfer molding.
Euromap, based in Frankfurt, offers the data for free on its Web site at www.euromap.org.
B&G machine plant adds second bay
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. - B&G Products Inc. has doubled the size of its PET blow molding machinery factory in Middleville, Mich., to 40,000 square feet by adding a second manufacturing bay.
President Paul Geddes said the company bought an adjacent, 10,000-square-foot building and built another 10,000 square feet of space.
The original bay has a 20-ton crane. The new bay is equipped with larger cranes, including a 100-ton model, allowing B&G to work on larger equipment. Geddes said the company has started rebuilding injection molding machines that are used to mold PET preforms.
He declined to say how much B&G invested to expand the plant, which is next to Dimond Machinery, a rigging and trucking company that handles machinery made by B&G.
B&G also moved its administration, engineering and customer service operations into larger offices in Grand Rapids.
The company was founded in 1979 to rebuild blow molding machinery, which it still does. In 1986, B&G began building its own brand of PET stretch-reheat blow molding machines. Its products include XT machines to produce narrow-neck finishes and the UMW, which stands for ``universal wide mouth.''
Vickers controls unit looks for new owner
CLEVELAND - Eaton Corp. placed machine controller maker Vickers Electronics Systems on the selling block in May.
Cleveland-based Eaton said Vickers does not match the company's long-term strategy, and does not fit Eaton's existing businesses, which include hydraulic products, fluid connectors, power distribution and control equipment and engine components.
Vickers picked up plastics controllers in 1995, when plastics machinery maker Milacron Inc. sold its Electronic Systems Division to Vickers. Vickers continued to make the Camac controller and sell it back to Milacron.
Eaton bought Aeroquip-Vickers Inc. of Maumee, Ohio, in April, then a month later announced it would sell the Vickers machine controller unit.
Vickers used to make all of Milacron's Camac controllers, but the advent of personal-computer-based controls is changing that relationship, said Ron Sparer, Milacron's manager of controls and automation.
Milacron developed software for its PC-based Camac Xtreem controller. The company still buys industrial PCs from Vickers, but no longer buys complete Vickers controllers, according to Sparer.
Sparer said Milacron is committed to servicing Vickers-supplied controllers already on existing machines, regardless of who buys Vickers.
``We support our customers and we make sure that we've got a relationship that allows us to do that,'' he said in a telephone interview from Milacron's Plastics Technologies Group in Batavia, Ohio.
Vickers makes a wide range of industrial controllers. The company runs four manufacturing locations, two in Cincinnati, one in Bedford, England, and one in Casella, Italy. The business employs about 800 and generated $130 million in 1998 sales.
Universal Dynamics earns NASDA award
WASHINGTON - Universal Dynamics Inc., an auxiliary equipment maker in Woodbridge, Va., was named an Exemplary Small Manufacturer by the National Association of State Development Agencies in April.
Una-Dyn was one of only four companies to earn that designation. Una-Dyn President Donald Rainville accepted the award at NASDA's annual meeting in Washington.
Italy supplier Govoni opens Houston office
Oilville, Va. - Italy's Govoni Sim Bianca SpA, which supplies pneumatic conveying and bulk handling systems, has opened its second U.S. office, in Houston.
The company opened its first U.S. operation in Oilville two years ago.Govoni said its 1998 worldwide sales topped $80 million.
Briefly...
Comet Automation Systems Inc. of Dayton, Ohio, an auxiliary equipment maker, named R.B. Eldridge & Associates Inc. of Wakefield, Mass., as its sales agent covering six states in the northeastern United States. Comet also named a new sales agency for Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama: Eagle Plastic Equipment of Gardendale, Ala. ... Injection press supplier Netstal Machinery Inc. of Devens, Mass., added seven field service technicians for North America, giving it a total of 17 full-time technicians, to improve customer response times. ... Injection press supplier Sandretto USA Inc. announced Alba Enterprises Inc. of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., is its sales representative for the western region, including California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah. ... Nissei Plastic Industrial Co. of Nagano, Japan, opened an office in Monterrey, Mexico, Feb. 1. ... Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. of Bolton, Ontario, has issued its hot-runner design center on CD-ROM, to simplify the integration of hot runners into molds. ... Nearly 1,500 visitors from 21 countries attended a Technology Days event, May 6-8 at injection press builder Arburg GmbH + Co. of Lossburg, Germany.
