K-Tron International makes Forbes list
PITMAN, N.J. - Forbes magazine ranked K-Tron International Inc. of Pitman 19th place on its list of the 200 Best Small Companies in America last year. Forbes profiles the top 200 publicly traded companies and includes sales, five-year averages in sales growth, earnings-per-share growth and share market value. K-Tron makes gravimetric feeders and pneumatic conveying systems.
Erema leader touts
recycling technology
IPSWICH, MASS. - Erema continues to develop new technology, such as Vacurema Prime, which produces food-grade recycled PET in one pass, saving costs and energy. Another new equipment package system offers considerably higher throughputs for polypropylene.
Gerhard Wendelin, managing partner and chief executive officer, said current events could help Erema and recycling in general.
``If it does come to the worldwide slowdown in economic growth at some point this year, as now assumed by the economic experts, it is possible that the impact on the recycling industry will not be that hard,'' Wendelin said. ``An oil price that is already high and continues to increase may result in polymer prices for virgin material soaring even further. This would mean that the demand for high-quality recycling materials would then also increase.''
That, in turn, would give a faster return on investment for buying Erema equipment, he said.
Erema North America Inc. is based in Ipswich and is the U.S. operation of Engineering Recycling Maschinen und Anlagen GmbH of Ansfelden, Austria.
Sinopec, SK Energy sign plant agreement
BEIJING - China's largest oil refiner and South Korea's biggest oil refiner are joining forces to build an ethylene plant in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province.
Beijing-based China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) and Seoul-based SK Energy Co. signed an agreement on the joint venture May 28 in Beijing, during South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's first visit to the Chinese capital.
The project will be the largest investment South Korea has made in China, according to China's Xinhua News Agency. SK will hold a 35 percent stake in the project, which has an estimated investment of more than 14 billion yuan (US $2 billion).
Sinopec said a contract will be signed this year. The project will have annual capacity of 1.76 billion pounds of ethylene, 661 million pounds of high density polyethylene, 661 million pounds of linear low density PE and 882 million pounds of polypropylene.
The joint venture will be the first large-scale ethylene facility in Central China, Sinopec said. The company added that the new capacities will help meet domestic demand and fuel economic development of China's central region.
Briefly...
* Cincinnati Extrusion GmbH of Vienna, Austria, delivered its 7,000 conical extruder, a Konos 63, in December to Pipelife Austria GmbH & Co. KG in Wiener Neudorf, near Vienna. ... Ryka Molds Inc. of Mississauga, Ontario, will use Ritemp mold technology for blow molds. Ritemp, from Ritemp Technologies Pty. Ltd. of Edwardstown, Australia, cools mold efficiently using sealed ``cooling chambers'' that surround the working surface of the mold. ... In 25 years of working together to serve the Indian market, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany-based Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik GmbH and Mumbai-based Kabra Extrusionstechnik Ltd. report they have sold nearly 1,300 extrusion lines for PVC and polyolefin pipe and about 100 granulators. ... Engel Machinery Inc. in York, Pa., has added two new sales representative companies, Mirocke Sales Corp. of Shawnee, Kan., and Scott Equipment Sales Inc. of St. Charles, Ill. They are working together with Mark Sankovitch, Engel's Midwest sales manager. Mirocke Sales represents Engel in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and southern Illinois. Scott Equipment handles northern Illinois and northern Indiana. Engel also announced that Mav Maquinaria Ind. S.A. de C.V. of Monterrey, Mexico, will handle sales in the states of Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas. ... Absolute Haitian Corp., the Worcester, Mass.-based company that sells the China-built injection presses, has announced its three sales representative firms. Pacific Plastic Systems Inc. of Mission Viejo, Calif., covers southern California. Handling Florida is Suncoast Plastic Equipment Sales of Bradenton, Fla. EPD Sales Co. of Batavia, Ill., covers the Chicagoland area of northern Illinois and eastern Wisconsin. ... AEC Inc., the auxiliary equipment maker in Schaumburg, Ill., named Fordham Plastics Equipment Corp. as its sales representative covering North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. Fordham Plastics is based in Cary, N.C. ... Eurotherm Inc., the controller and instruments maker in Leesburg, Va., appointed Advance Technology Systems of Greenville, S.C., as its representative for southeastern states, which covers North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia and Tennessee. ... ICMA San Giorgio SpA, the maker of sheet and film extrusion lines from Legnano, Italy, announced its North American representative is Montesino Technologies Inc. of Wilmington, Del.
