National Pipe postponing its relocation
VESTAL, N.Y. - National Pipe & Plastics Inc. is staying put for now, halting plans to move to a site five miles from its headquarters in Vestal.
The PVC pipe extruder began a $13 million, three-year project in 2002, purchasing property from footwear maker Endicott Johnson Corp. National had planned to move 16 extrusion lines to the 235,000-square-foot site in Union, N.Y., and eventually shift 360 employees.
According to Pyramid Brokerage Co. in Endicott, N.Y., the property now is for sale.
``We hadn't planned to move that quickly,'' President David Culbertson said in an Oct. 2 telephone interview. ``We had that building because it was a good building and [had] a lot of room. Our plans haven't changed. For right now, we have everything we need where we are. We may be able to gain better efficiencies and economies and increase our profitability by looking at other properties in our future planning.''
The PVC pipe industry as a whole suffered during the second quarter especially, as demand eased and selling prices trended downward.
In July, National Pipe idled extrusion at its site in Thomasville, Ga., but maintains distribution operations there. It runs another extrusion plant in Greensboro, N.C.
Louisiana-Pacific moving HQ to Tenn.
PORTLAND, ORE. - Louisiana-Pacific Corp. plans to relocate its headquarters to Nashville, Tenn., by 2005.
The building products conglomerate, which has been based in Portland more than 30 years, announced the move Sept. 30. The relocation marks the firm's final stage in a series of consolidations and divestitures that have occurred during the past year.
``Now, we're focused on the strategic businesses. In order to accomplish our growth goals, we have to have key leadership in one location,'' spokesman David Dugan said in an Oct. 2 telephone interview. ``We're working through negotiations on property to acquire in Nashville. We're nearing that decision.''
The move will bring L-P closer to its mills, customer base and investors, officials said. L-P will keep about 130 employees in Portland and move 15 there as part of the consolidation, officials said. The firm also operates administrative offices in Hayden Lake, Idaho; Conroe, Texas; Charlotte, N.C.; Montreal; Schaumburg, Ill.; and Troy, Mich.
The firm will relocate its Charlotte site to Nashville. Other sites will be handled on a case-by-case basis, Dugan said. L-P inherited the Charlotte site when it bought vinyl siding firm ABTCo. in 1999.
Podesta to head up BASF chemicals unit
MOUNT OLIVE, N.J. - Plastics industry veteran Gerry Podesta has landed at BASF Corp., where he will run that firm's Performance Chemicals unit in North America.
The unit, which posted sales of more than $500 million in 2002, produces plastic additives, as well as chemicals, dyes, inks, biocides and wood preservatives. Podesta will be based in Mount Olive.
Podesta ended a 20-year career with General Electric Co. earlier this year. At the time, GE officials said Podesta left to pursue opportunities outside the company. Most recently, he had served as vice president of GE Plastics Americas, which includes the GE Polymerland resin distribution business.
Podesta ran GE Plastics' e-commerce initiatives from 1999 until being promoted to the Americas job.
Former ADT chief facing fraud charges
BOSTON - Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts charged the former head of coatings maker Advanced Deposition Technologies Inc. with fraud Sept. 30 for what they said was a scheme to create phony license agreements to secure bank loans.
Prosecutors said Glenn Walters, 49, who was chief executive officer of the now-defunct ADT, created fake invoices in December 2000 that said three customers owed the Taunton, Mass., company $575,000, and then used them to increase ADT's line of credit with the Bank of Canada.
Walters was charged in U.S. District Court in Boston with one count of bank fraud. If found guilty, he faces up to 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release and a $1 million fine.
Walters' lawyer could not be reached.
When the alleged fraud was uncovered in 2001, the firm's loans went into foreclosure and the firm collapsed. The company, which supplied metalized coatings for plastic films, had been publicly traded.
