news Americhem acquires Vi-Chem


The Americhem Group, which supplies colour and additive masterbatch and engineered compounds to the polymer industry, has acquired Vi-Chem, a US-based supplier of speciality engineered com- pounds for injection moulding, extrusion and blow moulding applications, most notably TPE and PVC compounds for the automotive industry. Following the deal,


Vi-Chem’s 15,800 m2 facility at


Grand Rapids in Michigan will become Americhem’s centre of excellence for TPE and PVC compounds. The site houses R&D laboratories certified to the ISO/IEC 17025:2005 standard for testing and calibration. The company is also accredited to the ISO/TS 16949:2009 automotive-specif- ic manufacturing standard. Vi-Chem employs 85


people, bringing the combined total for Americhem to around 800 located across 10 manu- facturing and technical service sites in the Americas, Europe and Asia. As well as automo- tive, the company is active in industrial, building and construction, medical, consumer and electrical and electronic industries.


“The addition of Vi-Chem is strategic and further expands


Weaker demand and Lucent costs hit Q2 earnings at A Schulman


A Schulman said on 5 April that costs related to falsified test results within the Lucent operation it acquired last year with its purchase of Citadel (see Compounding World February 2016, page 6), together with slowing demand in some key markets, nega- tively impacted its earnings in Q2 despite a 9% increase in sales to $592m. CEO Bernard Rzepka said


the company had incurred costs of $2.1m in Q2 due to the Lucent issues and will be seeking compensation. “We have reviewed our legal position in connection with the purchase agreement of Citadel and we believe that the sellers are responsible to compensate A Schulman for the Lucent losses that we have and may incur. Therefore, we intend to take full advantage of our contractual rights to pursue remedy. The Company has provided a written claim notice to this effect to the sellers and


6


North America,” Rzepka said, adding that more resources will be placed on cost saving and restructuring initiatives. l Earlier this year A Schulman announced it is to open its first Engineered Composites Innovation & Collaboration Centre in Bay City, Michigan, US, in the late summer. The centre will work with


Bernard Rzepka – A Schulman Chief Executive Officer


to the escrow agent with respect to the $31m indemnity escrow established,” he said. In response to slowing


markets, the company has reduced its full-year earnings guidance. “As the quarter progressed, we experienced lower volumes across our legacy businesses and our recent Citadel acquisition. While the deepest contractions have been in the oil and gas markets, there also has been a slowdown in some of our other markets in both Europe and


COMPOUNDING WORLD | April 2016


customers on development of lightweighting systems, with an initial focus on the engineered thermoset composites product line it recently acquired with Citadel Plastics. It will later expand to cover the whole of the company’s material range. The company said the


centre will include “a core innovation team including material experts, design and stress engineers and manu- facturing specialists who will work directly with partner customers to accelerate the timeframe from concept to production.” ❙ www.aschulman.com


our automotive portfolio of products and services,” said John Deignan, President, Americhem. “The automotive and transportation industry is already one of the pillars of our business, and this move adds capabilities and techno- logical innovations that will benefit Americhem Group’s customers and the industry as a whole.” ❙ www.americhem.com


Foster adds to medical TPE options


Heathcare materials specialist Foster Corpora- tion has introduced a new line of styrene-ethylene butylene-styrene (SEBS) TPEs designed to provide medical device manufac- tuers with a lower cost alternative to current TPEs. The ProFlex polymers are


suitable for use in conven- tional injection moulding and extrusion equip- ment. Six standard grades are available covering Shore hardness values from 35A to 85A. All meet USP Class VI biocompatibility standards, ranging in Shore hardness of 35A to 85A. The ProFlex TPEs are


suitable for overmoulding applications and provide a high grip surface. They also offer a 20% lower specific gravity than TPEs tradition- ally used in the device industry, allowing more parts to be produced per kilogram. ❙ www.fostercomp.com


www.compoundingworld.com


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