Molder Perrin buys Canadian competitor
CITY OF INDUSTRY, CALIF. — Perrin Manufacturing Co. has bought competitor Global Plastics Ltd. in a move that allows Perrin to become a leading supplier of bathroom dispensing equipment.
The firms did not disclose terms. Perrin's majority owner is Kinderhook Industries LLC, a New York-based finance group.
Both Perrin, based in City of Industry, and Global Plastics of Surrey, British Columbia, injection mold dispensers for paper towels, toilet tissue and other paper products for use in bathrooms and for janitorial and food- service use. Both companies have proprietary products, Perrin Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dean deBuhr said in a Jan. 26 news release.
Global Plastics' 50,000-square-foot Surrey plant operates 25 presses, with clamping forces from 40-720 tons.
UFP acquires Foamade auto part assets
GEORGETOWN, MASS. — Packaging and specialty molder UFP Technologies Inc. has purchased certain assets of Foamade Industries Inc. and is preparing to consolidate that business within an existing UFP plant.
Foamade makes water shields, seals and gaskets, noise control panels and other auto parts at two plants in Hillsdale, Mich. UFP of Georgetown will move that work to a Grand Rapids, Mich., plant it acquired in 2008 from Stephenson & Lawyer Inc.
Foamade Chief Executive Officer Michael Egren will join UFP as part of the deal. No other details or terms were disclosed.
SPI offering stimulus to NPE exhibitors
WASHINGTON — The Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. on March 16 will announce what it calls “extraordinary measures” to ensure that exhibitors and attendees can afford to participate in NPE2009.
“SPI understands that these extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures,” SPI President Bill Carteaux said in an e-mailed statement. “Along those lines, we are now working with our vendors to cut NPE's operational expenses so savings can be passed through to NPE exhibitors and attendees without compromising services.”
SPI, which sponsors the June 22-26 trade show in Chicago, is calling the measures a “stimulus package” for exhibitors.
“We are taking a balanced, formulaic approach based on square footage and weight of exhibits because we recognize that the large machinery manufacturers will incur higher costs,” Carteaux said.
Washington-based SPI also will offer discounts to all attendees and greater savings for group delegations and SPI member companies.
ITW brings Ceast into Instron division
GLENVIEW, ILL. — Illinois Tool Works Inc., which already owns Instron Corp., has added another testing instrument maker, Ceast srl of Pianezza, Italy.
Glenview-based ITW bought Ceast from founder Mario Grosso and his family. Ceast's testing instruments include melt-flow testers, rheometers and impact-testing devices.
Ceast will continue to operate at Pianezza, as part of ITW Test & Measurement Group's Instron division.
Terms were not disclosed for the deal, announced March 10.
ITW acquired Instron of Norwood, Mass., in 2005.
Mass. grocers to curtail plastic bag use
BOSTON — Grocery stores in Massachusetts have agreed to reduce by one-third the number of plastic bags they provide customers by 2013.
The Boston-based Massachusetts Food Association, representing more than 500 grocery stores, signed a March 12 memorandum of understanding with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to cut the number of bags it provides to customer from 1.5 billion to 1 billion a year.
Under the agreement, grocers will set up recycling stations near checkouts for customers to recycle old bags. Grocers also will sell reusable cloth bags and offer incentives for customers to bring in their own plastic bags.
“We think this is the right way to go about reducing the number of bags,” MFA President Christopher Flynn said in a news release. “We expect this incentive-based, voluntary approach to maintain a balance between environmental stewardship and consumer choice.”