NEWS


AMI announces new dates for plastics industry expos in Essen


AMI has announced that its four focused plastics industry exhibitions, which were scheduled to take place at Messe Essen in Germany on 3-4 June, have now been postponed to 7-8 October 2020. Uncertainty created by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) led to the decision to delay the Compounding World Expo, Plastics Recycling World Expo, Plastics Extrusion World Expo and Polymer Testing World Expo. Rita Andrews, head of exhibitions at


AMI, said “We have been reviewing the fast-changing situation daily, and we have been consulting with exhibitors, Messe Essen, local government and


health authorities. Our primary concerns are for the health and safety of all attendees at our events, and delivering the very best audience for our exhibitors. With these factors in mind, we have taken the decision to postpone the expos to 7-8 October.” The shows will remain in the same two halls at Messe Essen, retaining the same floorplans with five free-to-attend conference theatres. The aim is to retain the existing conference pro- grammes, augmented with additional speakers over the coming months. AMI announced the decision to postpone the expos on 23 March.


Andy Beevers, events director at the company, said: “We felt it was impor- tant to make and announce this decision now, in order to end the current uncertainty and to allow exhibitors, speakers and attendees to plan effectively for the new dates.” Exhibitor numbers for the 2020


shows are up by over 80% compared to AMI’s launch event in 2018. More than 1,500 people have already registered to attend the 2020 expos and their bookings will transfer automatically to the new dates. � https://www.ami.international/ exhibitions


VTT of Finland is a partner in the two-year Beccu project – which will develop a concept for a process to capture and use carbon dioxide as a raw material for a range of chemicals. One of these is polyols, a precursor of polyurethane – whose uses include insulation products for the construction industry. The goal is to determine whether polyols can be profitably manufactured from bio-based carbon dioxide and hydrogen. � www.vtt.fi


ADS grows sales by 17% to Q3


US pipe manufacturer Advanced Drainage Systems (ADS) has posted positive sales growth – but a profit decline – for the first nine months of its financial year. Up to December 2019,


sales increased by 17% to reach US$1.3 billion. However, this equated to a net loss of US$195m, compared to a profit of almost $US80m for the same


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period in 2018. The company said this was due to the effect of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).


In Q3 alone, sales grew


nearly 24% to exceed US$393m, while profits were up around 43% to nearly US$24m. Scott Barbour, president


and CEO, said: “We generated strong results for


PIPE & PROFILE EXTRUSION | April 2020


the third quarter, with sales growth of 24%. We outperformed our


construction and agriculture end markets.” In construction, sales


grew 4%, while in agriculture, sales were up by 29%. For the full-year, ADS


expects net sales to be US$1.6bn to US$1.65bn. � www.ads-pipe.com


Change in head of KM group


Frank Stieler, CEO of KraussMaffei Group, has resigned and been replaced by the company’s current COO Michael Ruf. Stieler had been CEO


since July 2015. The COO position will not be filled. Under Ruf’s leadership, the company plans to streamline – in order to deal with the current economic conditions and the impact of the Coronavirus. Bai Xinping, chairman of


the board, said: “Dr Stieler has refocused and repositioned KraussMaffei as a plastic industry pioneer. We thank him for his work.” KraussMaffei is a public company listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. � www.kraussmaffei.com


www.pipeandprofile.com


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