Coatings World - March 2015

- that serve customers in the
flexible packaging, paint &
coatings, fibers & composites,
“The resulting open flow of ideas, solu-
tions, and application expertise will allow
faster introduction of new technologies
and applications and reduce customers’
concept-to-commercialization time.”
The three groups are Coatings, serv-
ing coating formulators with advanced
polymers and additives; Industrial
Manufacturing, whose teams work hand-
in-hand with discrete product manu-
facturers to improve productivity and
end-use performance; and Printing &
Packaging, providing the industry with
solutions in print receptive, functional
and barrier coating technologies.

Michelman has appointed the following people, all with extensive global experience, to lead the new groups: Gautham Parthasarathy has been hired as group director, Coatings. Michael Annis has been hired as group director, Industrial Manufacturing. Rick Michelman, Michelman’s chief technology officer, has assumed the role of group director, Printing & Packaging on an interim basis.

All three strategic groups are supported regionally around the world by enhanced management teams led by Jean-Marc Verhaeghe, VP/managing director, EMEA, Steven Wong, VP/managing director, Asia-Pacific, and Marty Riehemann who will assume the new role of VP/managing director, Americas in addition to his corporate role as chief commercial officer.

DSM and Cathay
Investments Join Together
to Sell Euroresins

Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company Royal DSM has reached an agreement with Cathay Investments for the sale of Euroresins. Subject to customary approvals and notifications, the transaction is expected to close in Q1 2015. Financial details will not be disclosed at this time.

Euroresins is a distributor of products
to the composite resins industry with
activities in nine countries in Europe,
including the United Kingdom, Italy
and France. Euroresins realizes sales of
approximately € 90 million with around

70 employees.

Eastman Chemical Company
to Join Together for
Sustainability

Eastman Chemical Company has announced it will join Together for Sustainability (TfS). Eastman and TfS have confirmed acceptance of Eastman’s application to the consortium as the first U.S.-based company to join, with plans to finalize Eastman’s membership in early 2015.

Together for Sustainability is a pro-curement-led initiative established by European-based multinational companies to drive improvements in sustainable procurement through standard processes, including shared audits and assessments. As a global specialty chemical company with significant business in Europe, Eastman has been working closely with TfS to understand membership requirements to expand the organization to U.S.-based companies. Mike Berry, Eastman’s Chief Procurement Officer (CPO), will represent Eastman on the TfS General Assembly as well as in the CPO Meetings.

As part of Eastman’s commitment to TfS, the company will continue to support the principles of UN Global Compact and Responsible Care, engage suppliers and other stakeholders to advance sustainable development, report sustainability performance, address stakeholder concerns about sustainable aspects in the supply chain, and operate in accordance with industry codes and applicable laws and regulations.

BASF Signs Supply Contract
with Shell, a Manufacturer
of Styrene Monomer &
Propylene Oxide

BASF and Shell have reached an agreement for BASF to sell its share in the 50- 50 joint venture ELLBA Eastern, Jurong Island, Singapore to Shell. The joint venture, which is operated by Shell, produces styrene monomer and propylene oxide.

Kane International Appoints
Eurikas as Distributor

Kane International of Rye, NY and Eurikas BVBA of Vilvoorde, Belgium have announced an agreement. Eurikas will represent and distribute the Kane International range of solventborne polyurethane resins, specialty coatings and chemical products and various shellac grades throughout all of Europe.

Wacker Expands Production Capacity for Dispersions Wacker Chemie AG is expanding its existing vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer (VAE) dispersions production facilities in the U.S. The Munich-based chemical company will add a new reactor with an annual capacity of 85,000 metric tons at its Calvert City site, investing an amount of approximately € 50 million in the site’s capacity and infrastructure. This makes the complex the largest of its kind in the Americas. The new reactor is scheduled to come on stream by mid-2015.

Wacker has further added an ethylene pipeline to the Calvert City facility for increasing the long-term reliability of raw material supply at the site.

SGL Group, BASF Conclude
Joint Material Research

The Carbon Company and the chemical company BASF have concluded the joint research of a new composite material system as an important development step of their collaboration. The system aims at enhancing the cost-effectiveness of manufacturing thermoplastic carbon-fiber composites, for example in injection procedures (T-RTM: thermoplastic resin transfer molding) and reaction injection molding. The composite is based on a reactive polyamide system and compatible carbon fibers. A carbon-fiber surface—or sizing—specially designed for the matrix system as well as tailored thermoplastic reactive systems mean that lightweight structural components for, say, the automotive industry can now be manufactured quickly and easily.