Plane crash kills MRC's Dan Eberhardt
CHICAGO - An Oct. 19 plane crash at an airport outside of Baltimore claimed the life of Daniel Eberhardt, owner of Chicago-based compounding and recycling firm MRC Polymers Inc.
A single-engine Piper aircraft carrying Eberhardt, age 57, and an unidentified passenger crashed about 3:45 p.m., soon after taking off from Tipton Airport in Odenton, Md.
The plane, registered to Eberhardt, crashed and caught fire about a quarter-mile east of the airport, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Arlene Murray. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating, Murray said.
Eberhardt's son-in-law, Stan Sypien, said Eberhardt often flew on business and recreational trips. A private airstrip was located behind Eberhardt's home in Downers Grove, Ill., Sypien said in an Oct. 20 phone interview.
Eberhardt founded MRC in 1980. The firm specializes in polycarbonate and polycarbonate alloys, but also makes products based on nylon and PET. MRC employs more than 140 at seven plants in the U.S. and Mexico.
Eberhardt is survived by three sons and two daughters.
Plastech Engineered closing 2nd site
DEARBORN, MICH. - Plastech Engineered Products Inc. will close its molding facility in Bryan, Ohio, just months after shutting a nearby plant.
The Dearborn auto supplier told state officials Oct. 18 the Bryan site will close, with layoffs beginning by mid-December.
It did not specify how many workers it has in Bryan. Earlier this year it shut down its Napoleon, Ohio, operation, which made interior parts for Ford Motor Co. That site had 200 employees.
Plastech acquired the Bryan site in 1997 with its purchase of Bryan Custom Plastics' parent, United Screw & Bolt Corp.
Western Industries shutting factory
MENOMONEE FALLS, WIS. - Western Industries Inc. of Menomonee Falls will close its blow molding factory in Chilton, Wis., by December.
``We want to integrate all of our equipment and support functions into one facility'' in Kansas, said Joe Messina, group vice president and business unit manager for Western Industries, in an Oct. 18 telephone interview.
Western will move 13 blow molding machines to Winfield, Kan., where it operates a 300,000-square-foot plastics campus with 230 employees. Western Industries will add roughly 40-60 employees to the Winfield campus.
``We will ultimately move all the machines to Winfield,'' he said.
The factory in Chilton has been operating since the 1950s. Under Western, it employed 95 and did business as Chilton Products. Its products included molded parts for portable toilets.
Last year, Western generated sales of $70 million from blow molding, according to Plastics News' upcoming ranking.
APC to become ACC's plastics division
ARLINGTON, VA. - The American Plastics Council - which became a unit within the American Chemistry Council in 2002 after eight years as an independent entity - now is scheduled to become the plastics division of ACC in January.
Arlington-based ACC has no plans to reduce the plastics group's budget for 2007, sources said.
The restructuring is designed to increase efficiency, lower overhead and reduce the number of hours members of both groups spend in separate meetings, they said.
Radnor Holdings auction set for Nov. 20
RADNOR, PA. - The auction for bankrupt disposable food-service products firm Radnor Holdings Corp. will be Nov. 20, and officials with the Radnor-based firm said in court documents the offer from stalking-horse bidder TR Acquisition Co. Inc. is worth $224.7 million.
Radnor Holdings, which owns Phoenix-based thermoformer WinCup Holdings Inc. and StyroChem of Fort Worth, Texas, is under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As part of the proceedings, Radnor agreed to sell its assets to TR. Radnor officials said Sept. 28 that they were continuing to solicit better offers.
