Geon to invest in Thai vinyl business AVON LAKE, OHIO — Geon Co. plans to expand in Asia by acquiring a 50 percent stake in the vinyl compounds business of Thai Plastic & Chemicals Public Co. Ltd.
Thai Plastic, based in Bangkok, runs a compounding plant there capable of making 110 million pounds a year, estimated Geon spokesman Chris Mohm. Slated to be included in the deal is Thai Plastic's interest in a joint venture in Vietnam, pending that country's approval. That venture in Ho Chi Minh City runs a single vinyl compounding line with annual capacity of about 11 million pounds.
Geon and Thai Plastic expect to finalize their agreement in July. The venture will be named TPC-Geon Co. Ltd. and will focus on applications such as wire and cable jacketing, pipe fittings, bottle-cap liners and integrated-circuit tubes. Geon estimates the TPC-Geon venture will have annual sales of about $30 million.
Avon Lake-based Geon has another venture in Southeast Asia. SPC/Geon of Singapore focuses on injection molding grades of PVC.
Thai Plastic's sales last year were $270 million. It has another compounding venture with Riken Thailand Ltd. that sells auto wire harness and medical compounds to Japanese firms in Thailand.
Coke clarifies recycled-content figures
ATLANTA — Coca-Cola Co. has confirmed what percentage of its PET bottles will have recycled plastic this year — at least 25 percent of them will have 10 percent recycled PET.
"At least 25 percent of our bottles will contain 10 percent recycled content plastic this year," spokesman Trey Paris said April 27.
Atlanta-based Coke previously had said only that it would use 10 percent recycled content in billions of bottles.
The GrassRoots Recycling Network, which has been pressuring Coke, said the latest prediction is not enough.
"We're asking for Coke to commit to a substantial amount," said Bill Sheehan, coordinator for the network.
While GRRN does not want specific targets, it said Coke should use "more in the vicinity" of 25 percent recycled content in every bottle — the figure Coke proposed a decade ago. Coke should phase in that amount so it does not harm existing recycling markets, Sheehan said.
Van Dorn building sales, training center
STRONGSVILLE, OHIO — Van Dorn Demag Corp. is planning a 77,500-square-foot sales and training center in Strongsville.
The builder, Duke-Weeks Realty Corp., said construction began in April on the facility, which will include 15,000 square feet of offices, plus laboratory, training and warehouse space. The maker of injection molding machines will lease the facility, said Spencer Pisczak, senior vice president and head of Duke-Weeks' industrial unit in Independence, Ohio.
Strongsville city records indicate the project will cost $3.5 million. The facility is about a mile from Van Dorn's U.S. headquarters in Strongsville.
JPI plans to buy assets of VinylSource
LISBON, OHIO — American Architectural Products Corp. has secured a buyer for its VinylSource Inc. subsidiary, leaving AAPC with only its aluminum extrusion businesses.
Vinyl profile extruder JPI Inc. of Lisbon, Ohio, has entered a letter of intent to acquire the assets of Girard, Ohio-based VinylSource by mid-May, said John Schoenike, AAPC general counsel. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
JPI owns numerous vinyl extrusion and reprocessing facilities throughout the country.
After recently moving its headquarters from Boardman, Ohio, to Miami, AAPC announced it would divest of its noncore assets, including VinylSource.
AAPC had purchased VinylSource two years ago. The company was AAPC's first vinyl extrusion operation. Later AAPC bought Kreidel Plastics in nearby Barberton, Ohio. Both manufactured vinyl window components for companies other than AAPC.
After Kreidel's operations were gutted in a fire last fall, VinylSource was left holding all the vinyl extrusion cards. A Kreidel worker admitted to setting the blaze.
With the close of the latest deal, AAPC said it has no plans to try vinyl extrusion in the future, Schoenike said.
