Braun Formenbau to change its name
BAHLINGEN, GERMANY - Germany's Braun Formenbau GmbH is getting a new name and investing $2.5 million in its production capabilities.
The toolmaker, which specializes in high-technology injection molds, Sept. 1 will become Braunform GmbH - Plastics and Pharma Technology.
The 30-year-old firm will expand production facilities at its headquarters in Bahlingen by 10 percent to a total of 110,000 square feet.
The company also will add a temperature-controlled area to allow it to produce larger-cavity tooling and technology for its consumer and personal-care products, the firm said in a news release.
Braun has a sales office in Pinellas Park, Fla., and will emphasize North America in its growth plans, according to Ron Cisliek, vice president for North America.
About 65 percent of Braun's tools go to multimaterial production and it offers a variety of technologies for complex molding issues including spin-stack molding, Cisliek said.
Network Polymers adds Nycoa products
AKRON, OHIO - Network Polymers Inc. of Akron has expanded its resin distribution lineup to include materials from Nylon Corp. of America (Nycoa).
Network now will stock Nycoa's nylon 6 and 6/6 resins, as well as nylon-based thermoplastic elastomers and alloys, said Jeff Stachler, Network's marketing and business development director.
He added that Network will focus the Nycoa products on both automotive and nonautomotive markets.
Network operates its resin distribution business jointly with Diamond Polymers Inc., an Akron ABS maker and compounder. The combined firm employs 75 and has annual sales of about $50 million. Diamond has annual capacity to produce 60 million pounds of ABS, specialty styrenics and related compounds.
Nycoa of Manchester, N.H., increased its production capacity by 10 percent last year and also commercialized two new grades of nylon copolymer alloys in early 2005.
Markets for the alloys include athletic shoe soles, windshield-wiper tubing, brake cables and laminated sheet used in skis and snowboards.
The company employs 60 at a nylon polymerization and compounding plant in Manchester.
Network is owned by distribution industry veteran Alan Woll. Nycoa was purchased in early 2004 by Metapoint Partners LP, a private equity firm in Peabody, Mass.
