Kickstart: A different kind of auto plastics in Spring Hill

General Motors Co.'s Spring Hill, Tenn., plant — once home to GM's Saturn brand and in-house injection molding for plastic doors and other exterior body panels — is about to get another plastics-extensive addition.

GM and LG Chem's battery division, LG Energy Solution, announced April 16 that Spring Hill will house an electric vehicle battery plant, the second for the companies' Ultium Cells joint venture.

The $2.3 billion plant "will supply battery cells to GM's Spring Hill assembly plant, which will begin building EVs next year, starting with the Lyriq midsize crossover," our sister paper Automotive News reports.

The site will match the first Ultium facility, now under construction in Lordstown, Ohio.

"The addition of our second all-new Ultium battery cell plant in the U.S. with our joint venture partner LG Energy Solution is another major step in our transition to an all-electric future," GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra said in a news release announcing the project.

The former CEO of Braskem SA's parent company, Odebrecht, has pleaded guilty in a bribery case that has been at the center of an extensive international investigation.

In 2016, Braskem agreed to pay nearly $1 billion in fines related to the case, which the U.S. Department of Justice termed the "largest foreign bribery case in history" at the time.

The investigation, called Lava Jato or "Operation Carwash," in which Brazil-based Odebrecht engaged in an "unparalleled bribery and bid-rigging scheme" dated to at least as early as 2001, with the company paying approximately $788 million in bribes to government officials, their representatives and political parties in multiple countries, the Justice Department said in 2016.

On April 15, Yahoo News reported that former Odebrecht CEO Jose Carlos Grubisich admitted in Brooklyn, New York, federal court to conspiring to violate anti-bribery provisions of the federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and falsify Braskem's records and financial reports to conceal bribes.

Grubisich could face up to 10 years in prison. Sentencing is set for August.

It looks like Ball Corp. is ready to take on Dart Container Corp.'s red Solo cup as the party drinkware champion.

Ball is hitting social media with promotions for its Ball Aluminum Cup, a foodservice and party-friendly cup that it boasts can be reused and easily recycled. The cups are moving into wide release across the U.S. this year, which means they will be featured in more marketing.

Social media spots already feature music and drinking and dancing. They do not, however, have country musician Toby Keith and an earworm of a song demanding: "Let's have a party."