International news

Azelis Group announced the appointment of Evy Hellinckx to succeed Anna Bertona as CEO of Azelis Emea when this latter will assume her new role as Group CEO on 1 January 2024. Evy Hellinckx has held strategic leadership roles within Azelis since 2016. In her current...

With its “Forward” action plan, special chemical company Lanxess counteracts the phase of weak economic development. This will initially save Lanxess around 100 million euros in 2023 through one-time cost reductions and lower investments. In addition, the group is positioning itself more efficiently and will permanently reduce its annual costs...

The Board of Directors of Azelis Group, a leading global innovation service provider in the specialty chemicals (and food ingredients) industry, has appointed Anna Bertona as new CEO, starting on 1 January 2024. She will succeed Hans Joachim Müller, who served more than ten years as group CEO and will retire at the end of the year...

More than 50 years of cooperation between H&K Müller and Arburg were crowned by the delivery of the company's 100th machine. The hydraulic Allrounder 420 C Golden Edition is equipped with a Multilift Select handling device and produces screw-top cans as well as measuring and dosing spoons for...

Ineos recently completed the formation of a 50/50 joint venture with Sinopec for the Tianjin Nangang Ethylene Project, announced in December 2022, which is currently under construction by Sinopec and expected to be on-stream by April 2024. The petrochemical complex includes...

Kautex Maschinenbau, specializing in the development and production of extrusion blow molding machines, with its German production site in Bonn, has been in insolvency in preliminary self-administration since August 25, 2023. The unrestricted continuation of operations is given. The operations site in...

LyondellBasell announced it has acquired a 50% stake in Stiphout Industries. Stiphout is involved in the sourcing and processing of post-consumer plastic packaging waste. The company operates a facility located in Montfort, the Netherlands, with an annual processing capacity equivalent to...

In charge of the European Green Deal from 1 December 2019, Frans Timmermans is leaving the European Commission, of which he was first vice-president since 2014, to run and campaign for the Dutch general elections scheduled for the autumn, called after the resignation of Prime Minister Frank Rutte a few days ago...

EU27 chemical production is expected to decline by about 8% in 2023 compared to the previous year, with no imminent recovery of chemical demand in Europe. This outlook applies to nearly all segments of the business, while consumer chemicals are more resilient. This is reported by Cefic, the...

Effective July 1, 2023, Jochen Pernsteiner has become the new Sales Director at Wittmann Battenfeld. In his capacity as Head of Sales, he succeeds Valentina Faloci, who held this position during the last four years. Following his technical training and subsequent study of sales engineering at the Mittweida University...

The Reifenhäuser Group is repositioning itself in the Southern African region and has founded a new subsidiary in Durban (South Africa). The new company Reifenhauser Southern Africa started its business activities on 1 July and will for the first time directly serve the countries...

Wilfried Ensinger, who established the family-run plastics processing company that bears his name, passed away on 23 May at the age of 87. With the loss of its founder, the company says farewell to a passionate engineer, creative inventor and dedicated entrepreneur who - even in the decades following...

At its recent annual general meeting, the British Plastics Federation (BPF) elected Nigel Flowers, managing director of Sumitomo (SHI) Demag UK subsidiary, as its new chairman. With more than 35 years of experience in the plastics industry, member of the...

The European association of the PET supply chain, Petcore Europe, has appointed Martin Stephan as new Executive Director and Ermis Panagiotopoulos, who served as interim Executive Director since January 2023, as Deputy Director. Martin Stephan spent his entire career in the chemical industry, in France, Germany...

Haitian International is expanding its production and logistics network in Europe and investing in the construction of a modern plant with a total area of 250,000 square metres at its site in Ruma, Serbia. The plant is scheduled to go into operation in the first quarter of 2025. With this investment in the centre of the Balkan Peninsula...

On 26 April, the Association of the European Manufacturers of Expanded Polystyrene (Eumeps) held its general assembly, and the members elected a new board of directors. In the board of directors elections, Eumeps members have reconfirmed Klaus Ries from Basf as President...

The 2022-2023 fiscal year of Engel, that ends in March, closed at a record high, with a turnover of 1.7 billion euros, confirming the group’s strategic direction. Engel surpassed last year’s turnover of 1.5 billion euros by 13%. “Closing at 1.7 billion euros, we reached the highest turnover in the company’s history...

The board of directors of Kem One announced the appointment of Paolo Barbieri as CEO and as a member of the board of directors as of 3 April 2023. He will succeed Laurent Lenoir who has served as interim CEO since June 2021 and will continue in his role as chairman of Kem One board of directors.

LyondellBasell and Mepol Group announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for LyondellBasell to acquire Mepol Group, manufacturer of recycled, high-performing technical compounds located in Italy and Poland, consisting of Mepol and its subsidiaries Polar and Industrial Technology Investments Poland.

For the Wittmann Group, the fiscal year 2022 was characterized on the one hand by a high order intake, which was well above average especially during the first half of the year. On the other hand, the tight situation regarding the supply of purchased parts, in particular electronic components, prevented the realization of an increase in sales over…