Marketing

ABB on April 4 announced the acquisition of B&R, the largest independent provider focused on product- and software-based, open-architecture solutions for machine and factory automation worldwide. B&R, founded in 1979 by Erwin Bernecker and Josef Rainer is headquartered in Eggelsberg, Austria, employs more than 3,000 people, including...

A company specialised in manufacturing extrusion and packaging machines for plastic pipes and profiles, IPM is now celebrating its thirtieth anniversary. IPM was founded in 1987 by Claudio Argnani, Bruno Barabani and Silvia Geminiani (see picture below) after they had worked together for another company operating in the plastics sector for...

German plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers can look back over the past year with great satisfaction. 2016 as a whole saw substantial growth in sales, continuing the positive trend of the past few years. “At 4 per cent, growth is actually higher than the 2 per cent originally anticipated,” says Ulrich Reifenhäuser, Chairman of the VDMA…

On March 21, the company Negri Bossi celebrated seventy years in business. It was, indeed, 1947 when Pietro Negri and Walter Bossi, with the participation of Marco Giani, founded what is now one of Italy’s oldest industrial companies. The three had already worked together, from 1943 to 1947, at Cogema...

EuPC (European Plastics Converters) recently created the independent VFSE (Vinyl Films and Sheets Europe) association, whose mission is to represent the interest of European suppliers of plastics sheets, films and foils. To this aim, VFSE will drive common action tackling environment and recycling issues and carry out studies relating to the...

JEC World 2017, the exhibition dedicated to composites materials, closed its doors on March 16 with a two-digit attendance growth (+10%). “JEC Group’s strategy towards end-users is a winning one as we welcomed more architects, creators, developers, designers, style engineers and trend-setters”, said Frédérique Mutel, JEC Group president and...

Assocomaplast (Italian trade association, member of Confindustria, bringing together over 160 manufacturers of plastics and rubber processing machinery, equipment and moulds), through its Statistical Studies Center, has completed its year-end balance sheet for 2016, incorporating foreign trade data from Istat (Italian Institute of Statistics)...

The three companies, Baruffaldi Plastic Technology (machinery for profiles and roller shutters), Primac (machines for smooth and corrugated pipes) and Dosi (machining and engineering) have been reunited at Dosi headquarters in Fusignano (Ravenna, Italy), that have been enlarged for this occasion and now cover more than 4,000 square metres...

In 2016, sales of PVC in the US and Canada rose considerably (+4.4%, taking the total volume to around 7 million tons), while sales of PP and PS saw less marked increases. These figures are among data released by the American Chemistry Council, which, for these materials as a whole, has estimated growth rates of 3.7% and 5.7% for the...

Injection moulding is the most important processing method for mass production of plastic parts. Worldwide, almost 55 million tons of plastics are liquefied every year, then injected into various moulds, and after cooling removed as a finished product. From small Lego bricks to large pipe fittings, almost everything is possible; the flexibility of…

At the Technology Days scheduled from March 15 to 18, 2017 in Lossburg (Germany), Arburg once again presents more than 50 exhibits that demonstrate unique technology, offering an extensive overview of production efficiency in plastics processing. The Arburg Technology Days 2017 offers the opportunity to see more than 50 "live" exhibits...

In recent days the company Sandretto was formally declared bankrupt by the Court of Ivrea. The announcement came following months of waiting after company leaders had filed a request for an arrangement with creditors. This outcome had been requested by the company’s own workers and by union leaders in...

The board of directors of Gefran, which met on March 9, unanimously approved the company’s financial statements as of 31 December 2016. These showed a 3.4% increase in turnover, which amounted to 119.3 million euros, with net profits standing at 3.9 million euros. The breakdown of sales by geographical areas showed positive results...

Last year, turnover was up by 3.2% on the 2015 figure (which itself had represented a 1.3% increase on 2014), amounting to a value of 60.8 billion euros (compared with the 59.8 billion recorded in 2015). These figures were released at the general assembly of GKV, the German association of plastics processors, a sector that numbers 2,900 companies…

In the first two months of 2017, Sipa saw its orders increasing by 20% compared with the same period in 2016. The most important contracts driving this increase include one with IBG, a leading Italian name in the beverages sector, which has purchased three rotary blow moulding machines from the company based in Vittorio Veneto (Treviso, Italy)...

Sidel has opened a new office in Wrocław, Poland, to offer an improved service to customers in the Central and Eastern Europe area. This is part of Sidel’s commitment to better understanding its customers’ products and the markets and value chains in which they operate. It provides the opportunity for more tailored solutions, combining...

The robot and automation leader headquartered in La Roche sur Yon, France, Sepro is establishing a new, direct sales and service operation to serve the plastics injection-moulding industry of Switzerland. Sepro Switzerland will have an office east of Zurich, where Thomas Scherz has been hired...

Borealis, a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins and base chemicals, announces a net profit of 239 million euros for the fourth quarter of 2016, compared to 242 million euros in the same quarter of 2015. For the full year 2016 the company recorded a net profit of 1,107 million euros, compared to...

In 2016, Basf achieved the growth and earnings goals it set for itself. The chemicals business grew successfully and profitability improved further. As expected, earnings in Oil & Gas did not match the previous year’s level. “As the year progressed, we were able to increase Basf’s growth. Our sales volumes rose from quarter to quarter.…

The first deadline for applications, January 31, registered more than 600 companies which have confirmed their participation in Plast 2018 (the international exhibition for the plastics and rubber industries, which will take place in Milan from May 29 to June 1, 2018), reserving an area about two thirds as big as that occupied in 2015...