Standard Register acquires IML assets
DAYTON, OHIO — Document-management firm Standard Register Co. has purchased the assets of Fusion Graphics Inc., a provider of in-mold labeling and decorating technology.
Dayton-based Standard Register said the assets of Englewood, Ohio-based Fusion consist of patented IML products and intellectual property. Fusion will join Standard Register's Industramark business unit, which focuses on product labeling and marking for manufacturers.
“Standard Register has licensed certain technology from Fusion Graphics in the in-mold-labeling space for about two years,” Industramark President Tom Furey said in a June 3 news release.
The acquisition includes Fusion's Grafilm IML system, a patented family of products that enables in-mold-decorating technology to be used across a range of applications. According to the release, Grafilm's attributes allow it to conform to irregular product surfaces and to provide durable, fade-resistant product marking. Grafilm works with polyolefins as well as ABS, polycarbonate, PVC, PET, elastomers, vinyl, glass-reinforced nylon and styrene. It has also been molded into thermoset polymers and into rubber during vulcanization.
“We can now continually develop new products by combining the material-science capabilities of Standard Register with Grafilm's unique properties,” said Bob Freund, founder and co-owner of Fusion.
Standard Register reported 2009 sales of $694 million. It employs about 2,900 at 50 locations.
Mold-Masters adds to capacity in China
SHANGHAI — Five years after establishing local manufacturing in China, hot-runner supplier Mold-Masters Ltd. continues to expand there, with its focus on fast-growing end markets such as packaging, automotive and medical.
The Georgetown, Ontario-based company is increasing capacity at its facility in Kunshan by 40 percent this year, according to Ling An-Heid, Mold-Masters' president for Greater China.
Specifically, Mold-Masters (Kunshan) is adding more than 20 computer numerically controlled machines, growing its workforce by 20-30 percent and considering plans to expand its existing 86,000-square-foot manufacturing space, she said.
An-Heid has worked for the privately owned company for more than 20 years, starting in the Georgetown headquarters and then spearheading the firm's entry into China.
“We stick to our business principles — quality products and service, fast delivery and competitive pricing,” she said. More than 80 percent of the products made at the Kunshan factory are sold in mainland China.
Despite the global recession in 2009, An-Heid said the company's efforts then — such as continuing to invest 10 percent of sales into research and development — laid a solid foundation for its recovery and expansion this year.
WaterBrick and Dow help Haitian victims
MIDLAND, MICH. — Dow Chemical Co. has donated 600,000 pounds of its Continuum high-density polyethylene to produce WaterBrick International Inc. plastic containers that will be used to transport clean water to areas of Haiti, and potentially will be used to build more than 400 individual structures.
Midland-based Dow and its employees have made other donations in the wake of the January earthquake that killed more than 200,000 and left an estimated 1 million people without homes.
The containers are designed so that, once they are empty, they can be filled with dirt, interlinked and stacked like concrete blocks to create homes, schools and other buildings.
WaterBrick estimates Dow's donated resin will make more than 250,000 containers — enough to build 460 12-foot-by-12-foot structures, or 370 20-foot-by-20-foot buildings, according to an April 8 news release.
WaterBrick is based in Orlando, Fla.
Clariant moving jobs to headquarters site
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Clariant Corp. is relocating sales and technical jobs in Coventry, R.I., to its North American headquarters in Charlotte by the end of the third quarter.
The Coventry facility was a pigments plant until it was shut at the end of 2008. Remaining staff there supported Clairant's pigments and additives businesses. About 30 Coventry workers will be offered transfers to Charlotte. In total, about 50 now work in Coventry.
“We concluded that consolidating these activities in Charlotte alongside comparable positions that support our businesses in North America will allow us to achieve significant efficiency and cost synergies while reducing our region's structural complexity,” said Kenneth Golder, head of Clariant's North American region, in a news release.
“North Carolina offers a favorable business environment that is taking an increasingly progressive approach on matters ranging from workforce development and taxes to transportation and energy,” Golder elaborated in a separate news release.
The company will invest about $2.5 million in Charlotte as a result of the move. The new jobs there will carry an average annual wage of $85,796, 76 percent higher than the regional average. The move was partly aided by a $55,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund.
Clariant Corp. has a plastics-related operation in North Carolina. In Mooresville, it runs a masterbatch plant it acquired as part of its purchase of Rite Sysems Inc. and Ricon Colors Inc. in 2008.
Coventry's pigment production was relocated to Germany and Mexico. The site is undergoing decommissioning and environmental cleanup so it may be redeveloped. Part of it has been sold to International Process Plants of Hamilton, N.J. Clariant acquired the Coventry operation from American Hoechst in 1997.
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