Nordson rebrands Xaloy, EDI operations
WESTLAKE, OHIO — Nordson Corp. is rebranding its screw and barrel and flat-die businesses to more common-sense names of Nordson Xaloy and Nordson EDI.
They had been called Xaloy Superior Holdings Inc. and EDI Holdings Inc. Westlake-based Nordson bought Xaloy and EDI last year.
Also, Nordson announced that the Nordson EDI brand name now includes Constructiewerkhuizen G. Verbruggen NV, the Belgian flat-die maker Nordson bought in 2011, and Premier Dies Corp., which EDI had purchased.
During the next several months, Nordson Xaloy and Nordson EDI will get new logos, to align them more closely with Nordson's identity. Contacts for sales and service will remain the same for both organizations.
Nordson Xaloy and Nordson EDI fall under Nordson's Adhesive Dispensing Systems unit. In a conference call, President and CEO Michael Hilton said the plastics-related operations have long-term growth rates that are one or two percentage points above the overall adhesives business.
Nordson, which is traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange, reported full-year and fourth-quarter results on Dec. 14. Nordson reported 2012 sales of $1.4 billion, a 14 percent increase from 2011. The fiscal year ended Oct. 31.
Hilton said he is optimistic about the plastics business and the cold-material sector served by another recent acquisition — Sealant Equipment & Engineering Inc. — in the first quarter of fiscal 2013.
“With regards to the current market trends within plastic processing, although we're seeing recent softness in flexible packaging OEM demand, we do expect to be on plan for the year as capacity has reached the level where a further investment is required,” Hilton told analysts. “We remain very excited about the growth opportunity in plastic processing, as well as the cold-material end market ... and are optimistic that these businesses will be strong contributors to Nordson's overall performance.”
Nordson is in good financial shape to make more acquisitions, according to company officials.
Chief Financial Officer Gregory Thaxton said Nordson has very strong cash flow and available credit. That “provides adequate liquidity for strategic opportunities,” he said.
Young compounder PII plans expansion
JURUPA VALLEY, CALIF. — Plastic Innovations Inc. is barely a year old, but the California-based compounder already is growing.
The firm opened in November 2011 in Jurupa Valley, near Riverside, and began producing glass-filled grades of polypropylene, nylon and other resins in early 2012, project manager Donna Dungan said in a Dec. 17 phone interview.
PII now operates four extrusion lines and is adding a fifth. The firm also is preparing to lease adjacent manufacturing space that will double the 11,000 square feet it now occupies. The new line should be in place and the new space occupied in January, Dungan said.
To date, PII has sold its glass-filled and color compounds — based on a variety of commodity and engineering resins — into numerous markets including medical, sports, recreation and aerospace. The firm employs nine and is likely to double the size of its workforce during 2013, Dungan said.
Dungan joined PII after working for almost 30 years with compounders Plastics Color Corp. in Sun Valley, Calif., and Color Science Inc. in Santa Ana, Calif. PII sales and marketing director Terry Moreno also worked at Color Science for 20 years.
PII is owned by President Vipul Mandani and several other investors.
Arsenal's Chromaflo acquires colorant line
NEW YORK — Arsenal Capital Partners ended 2012 the way it began: by opening its checkbook and buying a plastics-related business.
The New York-based private equity firm recently made its fifth plastics-related deal of the year, this time buying the Tint-Ayd brand line of alkyd polyester-based colorants from Elementis Specialties Inc. of London.
No purchase price was disclosed.
Tint-Ayd colorants are sold in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. They are primarily used in decorative paints and coatings. Arsenal made the deal through Chromaflo Technologies Corp., the business it created in 2012 by merging Plasticolors Inc. and the Colortrend business of Evonik Industries AG — both of which Arsenal had acquired in 2012. Chromaflo is based in Ashtabula, Ohio.
Arsenal closed the deal for Tint-Ayd on Dec. 13. In a Dec. 13 news release, Chromaflo President and CEO Scott Becker said that the acquisition “is consistent with our efforts in supplying colorants for high-performance industrial coatings and architectural paints in the European markets.”
Acquiring Tint-Ayd “is the first acquisition of several we hope to make to extend the reach” of Chromaflo,” Arsenal partner John Televantos said in the release.
In addition to the two acquisitions that created Chromaflo, Arsenal in 2012 acquired plastics barrier treatment maker Fluoro-Seal Holdings LLC and Clifton Adhesives, a supplier of thermoplastics and elastomeric adhesives and coatings.
Absolute introduces multimaterial press
MONTREAL — Absolute Haitian Corp. is introducing its multimaterial injection molding presses to North America, an official said at Expoplast 12, held Nov. 14-15 in Montreal.
“The entry barrier to North America is high but the market needs an affordable, precise multimaterial machine,” said Absolute Haitian Vice President Nate Smith in an interview.
Absolute Haitian said separately in a Nov. 14 news release that the multimaterial presses cost as much as 40 percent less than competitive machines.
Absolute Haitian will offer the Iapetus machines in the 135- to 1,574-ton range with shot sizes ranging from 1.23 ounces to 110.9 ounces. The systems are available in a wide range of configurations and are based on Haitian's Saturn series. Iapetus presses are capable of either synchronous or sequential injection.
The company, based in Worcester, Mass., is the North America affiliate of injection press maker Ningbo Haitian Machinery Co. Ltd. of Ningbo, China. The Chinese company claims to be the world's largest supplier of injection molding machinery and shipped more than 27,000 presses in 2011.
Absolute Haitian announced at NPE2012 that it is opening a technical center in Parma, Ohio, to handle increased business. It will complement an existing technical center in Chicago.
The multimaterial machine series comes standard with a turntable and wide or narrow mold platens. A customized, rotating shaft option is well-suited to mold testing, but is not designed for mass production. The series features servo drives to save energy.
Australia continues anti-dumping efforts
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA — Australia has extended its anti-dumping measures on PVC homopolymer resin exported from Japan and South Korea, and amended dumping prices for U.S. and Japanese imports.
The Canberra-based Australian Customs and Border Protection Service announced the changes after completing three separate inquiries into anti-dumping measures. Australia's Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare accepted ACBPS recommendations Oct. 19.
The percentage changes to the measures for the U.S. and Japan were not disclosed for confidentiality reasons.
Clare accepted ACBPS's recommendations and imposed an interim dumping rate of 3.26 percent on Korean imports.