Flooding closes portion of Reliance site
MUMBAI, INDIA - Heavy rains and flooding in western India have caused the partial closing of Reliance Industries Ltd.'s Hazira petrochemical complex near Surat.
The complex has total annual capacities of 800 million pounds each of polyethylene and polypropylene, 350 million pounds of PVC and 180 million pounds of PET. The site also produces plastic feedstocks vinyl chloride monomer and purified terephthalic acid as well as polyester yarn.
Details of the shutdown were unavailable. An Aug. 8 statement from Mumbai-based Reliance said only that the firm ``has shut down some plants until such time that normalcy is restored.''
Heavy rains that began in late July have displaced more than 500,000 people and resulted in at least 100 deaths, according to a British Broadcasting Corp. report.
Reliance is India's largest oil producer as well as the nation's largest maker of PP, PE, PVC and PET. The firm added almost 700 million pounds of PP capacity in Jamangar in April.
Reliance posted sales of almost $20 billion and profit of more than $2 billion in its fiscal year ended March 31.
Tube maker Essel plans Poland facility
MUMBAI, INDIA - Tube producer Essel Propack Ltd. plans to set up a plant in northwest Poland.
The Mumbai firm expects to spend about $23 million on a new facility, according to Essel spokesman Ramdas Warrier. It will be Essel's 25th global plant.
``This will be a new market for Essel Propack as we have not supplied before to Poland,'' Warrier said in an e-mail communication. The plant will make coextruded plastic tubes, mainly for cosmetics and toiletries markets, when it begins production in March. The operation will employ about 90.
Tube demand is growing especially fast in Poland compared with Western Europe.
The plant will make products under the Arista Tubes brand name. Arista Tubes UK, based in Stevenage England, is a major plastics tube producer for the United Kingdom and Europe. Essel Propack bought the company in August 2004.
Warrier indicated Essel's expansion in North America is continuing. It recently began using extra capacity for laminated tubes in Danville, Va., and is installing coextruded tube capacity in Danville that should be available by the end of December.
In April, Essel bought Tacpro Inc., a tubing and medical-device developer and manufacturer based in Campbell, Calif.
Railing Dynamics buys plant, closing site
LINWOOD, N.J. - Composite decking and railing fabricator Railing Dynamics Inc. acquired a 30,000-square-foot plant adjacent to its assembly operations in Millville, N.J., prompting the company to close its 6-month-old distribution center in Fairbluff, N.C.
The company, based in Egg Harbor Township near Linwood, also is renovating its company headquarters.
Officials plan to have the newly acquired Millville facility up and running by the fourth quarter of this year.
``When we acquired the new building, we realized that we really didn't need the other facility, so we just closed it,'' said Carol Lyn Groce, Railing Dynamics' sales and marketing coordinator, in an Aug. 8 telephone interview.
Railing Dynamics is the company behind low-maintenance railing lines Endurance and Novaline, and Strata decking.
Strata deck board is composed of 100 percent recycled polypropylene, with a thin, vinyl cover that slides over each board. Woodbridge, Ontario-based Royal Group Technologies Ltd. extrudes the profiles.
The Novaline wood-plastic composite railing system is made by Greenwood, S.C.-based Tech-Wood.
Loan will allow Wolverine to diversify
ELLWOOD CITY, PA. - Wolverine Plastics plans to use a Small Business Administration loan to help it diversify its extrusion activities.
The Ellwood City-based firm plans to spend more than $450,000 to introduce rubber extrusion and lamination technology, according to a news release from Congresswoman Melissa Hart. The company does extrusion and plastic molding in a 27,000-square-foot building.
In June, the firm was bought by Adam Hall, now president, and Vice Presidents Paul Persson and Ted McMillin.
``Six new customers will grow 2006 sales to over $5 million,'' Hall said in a news release. Adding the rubber technology will lead to more worker training and a new line of acoustic products, he noted. The firm is focusing on development of proprietary products.
Wolverine has added 10 jobs since the start of the year to bring its staff level to 48. Hall expects to add another five to 10 jobs this year and five more in the next two years.