Business and industry

The University of Nottingham in the UK is to host the Future Composites Manufacturing Hub.

Huntsman Advanced Materials has acquired exclusive worldwide rights to market, distribute and sell a range of its resins enhanced with Haydale Composite Solutions (HCS)’s functionalized graphene na

Gurit of Zurich, Switzerland, has acquired Ludwigshafen, Germany-based BASF’s polyethylene terephthalate (PET) structural foam business. 

Norafin Industries (Germany) GmbH has announced plans to build its first manufacturing plant in the USA.

Evonik Resource Efficiency GmbH is investing to expand the capacity of its performance foams business at its production site in Darmstadt, Germany. 

Ahlstrom Corp, a leading manufacturer of nonwovens with its headquarters in Helsinki, Finland, and Stockholm, Sweden-based Munksjö Oyj, a specialist in paper products, are to merge.

Bolton, UK-based technical textile cluster NWTexnet has been appointed to lead a new two-year £1-million research project aimed at developing antimicrobial textile coatings for use in the healthcar

Ahlstrom is investing in its plant in Madisonville, Kentucky, USA, with the aim of broadening its portfolio of nonwovens intended for filtration products for engines and industrial applications.

Two key contracts between Hexcel Corp and Airbus Group have been amended, with the former expecting these contracts to generate total sales of US$15 billion.

GE plans to acquire LM Wind Power, the Danish maker of rotor blades, for US$1.65 billion.

Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow (LIFT) and the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) are between them investing nearly US $50 million in their shared manufacturing

SCA is to invest almost US$24 million to increase production capacity and product diversity at its plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA, which is expected to create 20 additional jobs. 

BASF is building a replacement for its acetylene production plant at its site in Ludwigshafen, Germany. 

A lawsuit filed on behalf of a patient who received Ethicon’s Physiomesh Flexible Composite Mesh to repair an abdominal wall hernia is scheduled to go to trial in January 2018, reports New York, US

Consumer goods company Procter & Gamble (P&G) is to invest US$200 million in its Hungarian operations, according to press reports.

Solvay of Brussels, Belgium, is increasing its capacity for the production of composites with a new resin facility and an upgraded site in Östringen, Germany.

Mitsubishi Rayon Co (MRC) Ltd and Fiberline Composites A/S are to found a joint venture company for the manufacture and distribution of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) laminates for use in w

SCIGRIP of Durham, North Carolina, has completed an agreement to acquire Arjay Technologies Inc of Largo, Florida, a manufacturer of bonding compounds for the composites industry. 

SGL Group has inaugurated a production line for polyacrylonitrile (PAN) carbon fibre precursor at its Fisipe site in Lavradio, Portugal. 

Italian spunmelt manufacturer Union Industries has purchased a Reicofil production line to make nonwovens for speciality hygiene applications.

EconCore of Leuven, Belgium, has licensed its technology for the continuous production of honeycomb sandwich materials to what it describes as “a leading textile manufacturer in North America.” 

Clarcor, headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee, has acquired Fiberio, the manufacturer of technology for nanofibre nonwoven filter media.

European polypropylene (PP) staple fibre supplier Beaulieu Fibres International (BFI) has announced a €30-million investment to extend production capacity at its Meraklon plant in Terni, Italy, and

Teijin Ltd is to acquire North American automotive composites supplier Continental Structural Plastics Holdings (CSP) Corp for US$825 million. 

BASF has announced that it will be reducing its European production capacity for caprolactam by 100 kt – to 400 kt – over the next 18 months. 

Japan’s Oji Holdings has reportedly entered Myanmar’s disposable diaper market, joining such competitors as Unicharm and Kimberly-Clark, according to Nikkei Asian Review (3 September 2016)

Start-up LeMond Composites has secured a licensing agreement with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for the latter’s method for slashing the cost of producing carbon fibre. 

Sigvaris, a provider of graduated compression devices, has completed the acquisition of BiaCare of Holland, Michigan, USA.

Solvay has inaugurated a new carbon fibre production line at its Piedmont Facility in South Carolina, USA—doubling its production capacity.  

Owens Corning has announced plans to invest US$110 million to increase the production capacity of its composites operations in India.

Sweden-based SCA plans to split the group into two listed companies in 2017.

Royal DSM and specialty chemicals producer Zhejiang NHU Special Materials Co Ltd have inaugurated a joint-venture (JV) company for polyphenylene sulphide (PPS) compounds. 

A leading Chinese chemical company is to take complete ownership of a Dutch specialist in textile chemicals, Ede-based Tanatex Chemicals.

The US$50-million Indiana Manufacturing Institute – based in the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, USA, and housing the Center for Composites Manufacturing and Simulation – has officially ope

Recycling specialist ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd of Coseley, UK, has joined the US Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI). 

The National Composites Centre (NCC) in Bristol, UK, has signed a collaborative innovation agreement with the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST).

VMG Partners, a California, USA-based private equity firm, has completed the sale of Babyganics, a brand of personal care and household products for families with children, to SC Johnson of Racine,

PolyOne Corp has acquired Gordon Composites and Polystrand from Gordon Holdings.  

METYX Composites, a division of textiles company Telateks AS, is in the process of doubling the size of its production facilities at its main manufacturing centre in Manisa, Turkey.  

Canadian fibre-based products manufacturer Domtar has bought the assets of personal hygiene company Butterfly Health for an undisclosed amount.

Johns Manville of Denver, Colorado, USA, has announced it is making a "substantial" investment in the technology for one of its lines producing glass fibre nonwovens in Wertheim, Germany.

North Thin Ply Technology (NTPT) has opened its new production facility in Zory, Poland. 

JNC of Tokyo, Japan, and FiberVisions of Duluth, Georgia, USA, are to jointly invest in a new production line for polyolefin bicomponent fibres at ES FiberVisions in Suzhou, China.

As part of plans to increase its presence in Europe and North America, Chinese glass fibre producer Jushi of Tongxiang has started its second glass fibre furnace in Suez, Egypt. 

Colombian hygiene products producer Productos Familia, of which SCA owns 50% of the shares, has been found guilty in an anti-trust inquiry related to tissue products conducted by the Colombian comp

USA-based consumer products giant Kimberly-Clark has expanded its manufacturing facilities in Singapore with the addition of three new production lines making Huggies baby wipes and diaper pants.

Spain’s competition and markets authority has levied a total of nearly €130 million in fines on seven manufacturers of absorbent adult incontinence products doing business in the Spanish market.

Japan-based household and consumer product maker Oji Holdings has begun production on a new baby diaper line in Malaysia that will produce 10 million pieces a month to satisfy domestic and regional

Effective from today (1 June 2016), Karl Mayer has acquired Santoni’s technology (SWD) for seamless warp-knitting.

Hexcel Corp has made a strategic investment in Oxford Performance Materials (OPM), a producer of three-dimensionally (3D)-printed carbon fibre-reinforced thermoplastic parts.