NOVA Chemicals names new senior vice president for PE business

MOSCOW (MRC) -- NOVA Chemicals Corporation has announced that Chris Bezaire, senior vice president, Polyethylene (PE) business will retire effective April 1, 2018. John Thayer, currently vice president PE marketing, will assume the role of senior vice president, Polyethylene business, as per the company's press release.

Bezaire joined DuPont Canada’s Polyethylene business in 1988 as a process engineer before coming to NOVA Chemicals in 1994. There he progressed through a variety of roles in operations, sales, marketing, investor relations, and corporate strategy, including expatriate assignments in Europe and Asia. In addition, he has held executive positions including vice president of investor relations; vice president, finance and controller; vice president, Advanced SCLAIRTECH business; and vice president, corporate planning. Bezaire was appointed to the NOVA Chemicals Management Board in 2011.

"I’ve been extremely fortunate with NOVA Chemicals to have enjoyed many different roles with great people in different functions and locations." said Bezaire. “I look forward to the next phase of my life, knowing that at NOVA Chemicals we’ve built a solid foundation for significant growth ahead."

"I would like to personally thank Chris for his contributions over the years and wish him well in retirement. He has been a steady hand in helping to guide the organization throughout a period of significant transformation. His vision and leadership has allowed us to have a clear focus and commitment to our customers - furthering our mission to develop great plastic products that make everyday life healthier, easier and safer," said Todd Karran, chief executive officer, NOVA Chemicals. ЭFurthermore, I’m excited to welcome John Thayer to the NOVA Chemicals Management Board. John brings with him a strong background in developing people, leading organizations through change and creating an exceptional customer experience. His experience and insight will be a tremendous asset as we continue to progress our growth journey."

Thayer started his career with NOVA Chemicals’ Expandable Styrenics business in 1997 after working at Weyerhaeuser Company. During his time with the Expandable Styrenics business, Thayer held various leadership roles, including human resources leader, site leader and global business director before serving as general manager of the business. In 2015, Thayer transitioned to the PE business, overseeing the business services function, where he was responsible for optimizing the PE sales planning, contract management, pricing, customer service, analytics, and sales execution efforts. Currently he is vice president, PE marketing and has responsibility for driving the execution of NOVA Chemicals’ market leadership strategy, which helps to meet the current and future needs of the company’s customers and brand owners.

As MRC informed before, in early 2017, NOVA Chemicals Corporation, a leading supplier of polyethylene in the Americas, announced the start up of its new world-scale linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) gas phase reactor at its Joffre, Alberta site.

Nova Chemical is one of the largest world's petrochemical companies, a manufacturer of polyethylene, styrene polymers, monomers, and many other related products. NOVA Chemicals, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is wholly-owned ultimately by Mubadala Investment Company of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
MRC

Henkel launches new coating weight measurement system

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Henkel is introducing Lioscan, a new inline, contactless and non-destructive coating weight measurement system in flexible laminate production. This system has been designed for reactive polyurethane-based adhesives systems and coatings. According to the company, Lioscan can be retrofit in almost any laminating machine. It boosts the customer’s process reliability and production efficiency, while improving quality and reducing material waste at the same time.

Flexible laminates are specialised products, combining two or more film/foil layers with different characteristics to bring out the desired features for each individual packaging solution: From human food, such as snacks, confectionary, coffee or fresh fruits, to pet food, pharmaceuticals and personal care products. To ensure the laminates’ performance, a thorough quality management process is highly recommendable. Lioscan allows users to do this inline to save both time and material in the process, said Henkel.

The introduction of Lioscan changes the work routine for quality control: Before, operators either had to stop the machine in order to check the quality of the laminate currently being produced or they had to wait until the end of the converting process of an entire reel before being able to measure the coating weight. Samples from different points of the film then had to be cut out and carefully delaminated in the laboratory to check if the adhesive had been applied correctly. If the result did not meet the customers’ quality standards, the entire reel would have to be disposed of and its production repeated. And even if the quality check was passed: Precious operation time had to be sacrificed in the quality control process.

With Lioscan, one brief check of the system’s touch screen is enough to instantly inform the operator about the actual coating weight across the full width of the film – without stopping the machine. The system detects any deviation from the specified coating weight and sets off an acoustic and visual alarm. Thus, it minimises the risk of any potential claims.

Lioscan is equipped with an automatically oscillating infrared sensor moving along the film sideways without any contact to the material. Its sensor detects the isocyanate content, allowing for high coating weight measurement precision at high machine speeds. The system is suitable for measuring adhesive coating weights on various film types, such as transparent, printed or metallised films and aluminium of various thicknesses.

According to Henkel, Lioscan is in use across multiple regions and has proven to be intuitive and can be retrofit into almost all laminating machines. "We want to provide our customers with the ability to constantly monitor the coating weight in real time and at unprecedented accuracy. Lioscan leads to a significant increase of our customer’s efficiency by reducing machine downtimes and material waste", said Andreas Wenzlaff, Technical Key Account Manager at Henkel. Lioscan comes with a comprehensive Technical Service offering that not only includes the installation of the system but also on-site user trainings and technical on-site support for the optimal calibration of the system.

"Currently, Henkel is the only adhesive supplier offering such a system that provides our customers with an integrated solution from one source at the mentioned accuracy level," Andreas Wenzlaff continued. "One percent waste avoidance of the global flexible packaging industry output equals a film the length of more than 70 times around the planet. Thus, beyond operational excellence, Lioscan also helps our clients to meet their sustainability goals by significantly reducing material waste."

As MRC reported previously, in 2015, Henkel Russia opened a new dry building mixes plant in the Novosibirsk region. The new production site reportedly places the company closer to customers in the Siberian and Far East regions of Russia.

Henkel operates in three business units, including laundry and home care, beauty care and adhesive technologies.
MRC

Peter Huntsman new Chairman of the Board of Huntsman

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Peter R. Huntsman, President and Chief Executive Officer, has been elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of Huntsman, an additional role he assumed as of 1 January 2018, as per GV.

The company’s founder, Jon M. Huntsman, stepped down as Executive Chairman on 31 December 2017 and the role of Executive Chairman was eliminated. After serving as Executive Chairman of the company he founded 48 years ago, Jon M. Huntsman will continue to serve on the Board of Directors as a Director and Chairman Emeritus.

"I am honored to be taking on this responsibility at a time when the company has never been stronger and had more opportunities before it. This will be a smooth transition as our founder, my father, will continue in a valuable capacity as a Board member, maintaining vital relations with customers, suppliers, and policy makers as well as sharing his total 56 years of industry experience," said Peter Huntsman.

"It's a high honor to turn the chairmanship role over to Peter Huntsman, who I consider to be one of the world’s outstanding CEO’s. Huntsman Corporation will continue to experience its sound growth and strong financial controls under Peter’s experienced oversight. It has been both a great challenge and a special privilege to be chairman for almost half a century," said Jon Huntsman, Sr.

As MRC informed before, in March 2017, Huntsman Corporation announced a plan to close the white end finishing and packaging operation of its titanium dioxide (TiO2) manufacturing facility based in Calais, France, during the third quarter 2017. The announced plan follows the 2015 closure of the black end manufacturing operations and would result in the closure of the entire facility.

Huntsman Corporation is a publicly traded global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated chemicals with 2016 revenues of approximately USD10 billion.
MRC

German plastics packaging optimistic about 2018

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Above-average results in the past two years has resulted in a renewed sense of optimism within the German plastics packaging industry, according to a recent survey, said Plasticseurope.

Conducted in Dec 2017 and participated in by 100 people, the survey, commissioned by German plastics packaging industry association IK Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen e.V. (IK), found that 90% of companies questioned rated the current economic situation as good.

“This is a significant rise in the percentage of confident views compared to the beginning of 2017 when 70% of IK members rated the economic environment as good,” the association added. Survey respondents also rated their own sales expectations more positively for the first quarter of 2018, while their assessment of export remained pretty much the same as 2017.

Almost 60% of respondent also said they expected higher raw materials prices, which could affect the price development of plastics packaging. “The profit situation, however, remains tense,” the IK survey added.

According to IK, the results of the survey show “a renewed increase in expectations among companies after the two previous years had delivered above-average results.”

However, commenting on the findings of the survey, IK general manager Ulf Kelterborn warned that the “promising” forecast should not obscure the fact that Germany, as an economic location, was faced with “growing threats”.

“Besides the still unresolved problem of high electricity costs, Germany now needs to prepare for even stronger international tax competition,” he pointed out. Kelterborn pointed to corporate tax cuts in the US, which he said had led to calls for corresponding tax reforms from China and other industrial nations.

“The effective tax burden for companies in Germany of over 28% is already too high comparatively and urgently needs to be corrected,” he added. Other locational risks, the IK said, were the “increasing skills shortage” and in the spatial and digital infrastructure.

These factors, warned the IK, could worsen and hinder growth “faster than expected”. “A viable government needs to make forward-looking decisions in this area as soon as possible,” the IK concluded.
MRC

Huhtamaki further consolidates Chinese operations

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Finnish packaging firm Huhtamaki has announced new measures to further consolidates its operations in China, said Plasteurope.

The company, which sold a vacated manufacturing facility in Guangzhou, China, last year has announced the closure of its manufacturing unit in Shandong, China. Following the move, which impacted 200 jobs, Huhtamaki plans to start sourcing the product range externally, the company said 28 Dec.

In addition, the company, which recently acquired International Paper's foodservice packaging operations in China, is planning to consolidate operations in Tianjin. Having acquired two manufacturing plants in Tianjin and Shanghai through the takeover, Huhtamaki said it is now planning to consolidate its Tianjin operations into one unit.

“All manufacturing operations will be transferred to the unit acquired from IP,” said the Finnish company, adding that employees at the closing unit will be offered equivalent work opportunities at the continuing Tianjin unit. The transfer is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2018.

With the restructuring of its Chinese operations, the company’s production footprint in that country will consist of three manufacturing plants. The plants, which Huhtamaki said will be “efficient and focused” will be in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Tianjin.
MRC