news US Q4 machine sales up news in brief
Primary plastics equipment shipments
Source: Society of the Plastics Industry
Shipments of plastics machin- ery in the US remained strong in the fi nal quarter of 2013, according to the latest statistics from the Committee on Equipment Statistics (CES) at the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI). An estimated $335m worth of primary plastics processing machinery was shipped during the fourth quarter of 2013, making it the strongest quarter of the year and a near all-time record. Taken as a whole, however, total ship- ments in 2013 were up by 8% on the previous year. Injection machinery
shipments were down by 5% in Q4 2013, but that is more a refl ection of the unusually strong performance in the fi nal period of 2012, SPI said in its summary of the year’s activity. Ancillary equipment orders, including robotics, tempera- ture control and materials handling systems, were up by 1% on the 2012 fi nal quarter, reaching a value of $101.3m. “When it is combined with
the data reported by the federal government, the CES data indicates that the recovery in the plastics machinery sector was gaining momentum at the end of last
year,” said Bill Wood, the plastics market economist who carried out the CES analysis. “These strong gains
notwithstanding, the trends indicate that the manufactur- ing sector is poised for further growth in the coming quarters. This will generate further gains in the plastics machinery data,” says Wood. His view is supported in the
CES market sentiment survey, which showed 95% of respond- ents expected US plastics business conditions to hold steady or improve over the coming 12 months.
www.plasticsindustry.org
…while Italy sees 2.5% decline
Production of plastics and rubber machinery, equipment and moulds declined by 2.5% in 2013 to end the year at a value of €3.9bn, according to sector trade association Assocomaplast. The association said,
however, the headline fi gures mask a considerable improve- ment in export orders in the fi nal quarter of 2013. As a result, it expects business for the fi rst half of 2014 to be
6
reasonably good. Exports of injection moulding machines was particularly strong, said
Assocomaplast, with export
sales up by 32% to more than €126m.
www.assocomaplast.org
Italian market for plastics and rubber machinery, equipment and moulds (€ millions)
Production Exports Imports
Domestic market Trade balance
Source: Assocomaplast INJECTION WORLD | April 2014
2012 4,000 2,575 625
2,050 1,950
2013 Change (%) 3,900 2,550 590
1,940 1,960
-2.5 -1.0 -5.6 -5.4 0.5
UK-based Carclo said it plans to close its Carclo Technical Plastics injection moulding plant at Harthill in Scotland. The company said it has commenced consulta- tions with staff at the facility, which it said had been loss-making for some years. However, sales for the Technical Plastics division as a whole are good, it reported, with a number of major contracts secured for its operations in the US and the Czech Republic.
www.carclo-ctp.co.uk
Switzerland’s AdvalTech has bundled all its mould- making activities – which include the Foboha, AWM and Omni operations - under the AdvalTech Foboha brand. Sales will be coordinated by Germany-based Foboha, which will also be the group centre of excellence for multi-component and cube mould technology. The thin wall mould competence centre will remain in Switzerland.
www.advaltech.com
Bayer MaterialScience has sold the bulk of its carbon nanotube (CNT) and gra- phene patents and technol- ogy to German carbon composite company Future- Carbon. BMS ended its Baytube activities back in May last year, saying it could not see commercial opportu- nities in the foreseeable future. FutureCarbon has been a long-standing development partner.
www.materialscience.bayer.com www.futurecarbon.com
www.injectionworld.com
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