Kickstart: It's potty time for Bemis

Forget about the gadgets at CES in Las Vegas and get down to basics: toilets.

Specifically toilet seats, made by injection molder Bemis Manufacturing Co., and its introduction of the NextStep2 which integrates a toddler training seat into a regular toilet seat. That means one seat can serve the whole family.

"Children will use the built-in seat confidently, knowing it's sized right for them. They can also lower the potty seat themselves when needed," Bemis said in a Jan. 7 news release.

And the seat has a "WhisperClose" design so it won't slam or clang down. And when the child gets older, just remove the smaller potty training seat.

Bemis may not get the same ... splash ... as those products shown at CES this week, but you can bet it's products will show up in a lot more homes. Now if they could just create something to make sure men don't leave the seat up.

Laurent Favre has just taken over as CEO at Plastic Omnium, the France-based global auto supplier of front-end modules, fascias, fuel tanks and other key parts, becoming the first person outside of the Burelle family to fill that job.

Laurent Burelle took Plastic Omnium from a regional player in Europe to a global powerhouse. (In North America, Plastic Omnium's blow molding fuel tank division generates $1.4 billion in sales, while its auto exteriors group accounts for another $425 million in injection molding sales.)

Our friends over at Automotive News Europe sat down with Favre to talk about the future of automotive, and it shouldn't be surprising that he's bullish on plastics.

"If you take a bumper or tailgate made of steel, you will save 30 percent using plastic," Favre said. "Think of a simple equation: When you're able to reduce the weight of the car 10 kilograms you can save one gram of CO2. We think we can extend that from the bumper to the tailgate and then to the door to the roof. It's also a question of aerodynamics and design, because you can form plastic into shapes that you can't do with metal."

Check out more here.

Hollee Keller, our guru of data, collects a lot of information during our regular rankings of processors that we don't use in that normal coverage. We're now starting to gather some of that information available for purchase. (Sorry. We're nice people, but not a nonprofit.)

First up is a consolidation of the 796 North American plastics processors serving the auto industry, compiled from all six of PN's processor rankings.

The new Excel file in the Automotive List covers injection molders, thermoformers, pipe, profile and tubing extruders, rotational molders, film and sheet makers, blow molders and tooling suppliers.

The data includes: headquarters addresses, websites, top official name and title, related sales figures and plant count along with addresses. Some firms appear in more than one list.

The full file sells for $499 at plasticsnews.com/automotivelist. Contact Hollee at [email protected] for more information.