Orto Co. targets North American market
CHICAGO - Profile extruder Orto Co. (Booth N6195) of Samara, Russia, attended NPE 2003 as a visitor.
Now, it wants a piece of the North American profile extrusion market.
At two facilities in Russia, the firm extrudes PVC panels, windowsills, floor moldings and siding.
Officials said they realize the popularity of vinyl siding in the U.S. market and Canada, but they're looking for growth in those wall and ceiling panels, the advantages of which the North American markets have not realized.
``We just want to check and evaluate options to be in this market,'' said Alina Yakushina, head of Orto's purchasing department, in a June 21 interview.
The company also is involved in extrusion tooling, mixers and decorating equipment.
Setco division of Berry buying machines
CHICAGO - FGH Systems Inc. (Booth S1309) and Uniloy Milacron (Booths S1702, S1715) made a conquest during NPE 2006, in what FGH Systems calls its biggest NPE order ever.
The coup came in the form of converting Berry Plastics Corp.'s Setco Bottles division, based in Anaheim, Calif., to using its shuttle machines for a proprietary packaging application.
Setco placed an order for three Uniloy Milacron UMS 16D shuttle blow molding machines. Setco also bought four injection blow molding machines, said Marty Dailey, regional sales manager for Uniloy.
``Uniloy is doing great,'' said David Skala, vice president and general manager of Uniloy Milacron's North American operations, in a June 21 interview at the show. ``We've had a very strong start to 2006. On a year-over-year basis, it's stronger than 2005. What's been particularly strong is the Mexican market.''
In that market alone, Uniloy has seen nearly 25 percent sales growth, he said. He attributed a lot of that growth to the conversion of the dairy, water and juice markets to single-serve containers, and paperboard to plastic conversions even as dairies themselves attempt to push more consumption of milk.
Setco officials had no comment on the machinery purchase.
UMS 16D can be fitted for two-, three-, four-, five- and six-parison production in single- or double-station configuration, according to Frank Hohmann, president of FGH Systems. The machine also features tie-barless access, in-machine trimming, closed-loop position and speed control, 10 percent energy savings and a space-saving footprint.
NPE 2006 registration already tops '03
CHICAGO - By the midpoint of NPE 2006, the number of registrants already had nudged past the total for the entire 2003 show.
As of 2 p.m. Wednesday, a total of 63,040 attendees and booth personnel had registered for this week's event - inching past the 63,018 for the five-day show three years ago. The show's organizer, Society of the Plastics Industry Inc., said that 22 percent of the registrants so far have been from outside the United States, down a percentage point from the Tuesday count, but still on pace to set a record for international participation.
The Wednesday numbers represented an increase of 1,308 registrants from the previous day.
Chroma expands rotomolding products
MCHENRY, ILL. - The Chroma Rotational Molding Division recently expanded its rotomolding color and special materials product line and added a product development center.
The company installed a specially designed high-speed extruder and an underwater pelletizing line with ancillary equipment. The new extruder can be adapted to manufacture micropellets for rotational molding.
``We've added more machinery, but more importantly, this expands our capacity significantly and gives us redundancy across all product makes - ground powders and microspheres,'' said Paul Kinsella, general manager of the rotational molding division, in a June 16 telephone interview.
Kinsella said the rotomolding division is set up in a building across from the main Chroma Corp. Inc. complex. It features a product development center as well as a full-size rotomolding machine setup for testing. They've added more people for technical support.
``We're not rotomolders, but provide all our customers' services in one building. They can work with it, can grind it up and get a mold, and not interfere with their own production facility,'' he said.
The company offers color compounds, dry colors, special-effect resins, polyethylene foams, engineering resins and granitelike formations. They are offered in powder, pellets and micropellets.
McHenry-based Chroma Corp was founded by Robert Swain in 1967.