Plastics News Show Daily - April 3, 2012 - (Page 61)

PLASTICS NEWS, April 3, 2012 61 Plastics Color seeks niche acquisitions By Frank Esposito PLASTICS NEWS STAFF ORLANDO, FLA. — Fresh off of an acquisition, Plastics Color Corp. (Booth 43035) is looking to make more as it moves away from being a “me too” supplier. “What we’re doing is solutiontype selling,” PCC President Doug Borgsdorf said in an interview at NPE2012. “We had been a film commodity house, but now we’re offering whatever solutions our customers need.” In August, Calumet City, Ill.based PCC bought liquid color supplier Polysource LLC of Tempe, Ariz. PCC had done some business in liquid color, but its main business had been compounds and color concentrates. PCC has plants in Calumet City; Asheboro, N.C.; and Sun Valley, Calif. Polysource was “a good plugin” and had “human capital” in the form of founder Craig Degnaro, who will remain with the business. Borgsdorf said PCC now will look to acquire other firms with “niche technology,” and most likely will make another such deal by the end of the year. PCC also recently has launched a line of flame-retardant systems that are free of decabrome or antimony trioxide. The idea for the FlamaSol FR line surfaced in May 2011, and PCC began conducting material beta tests with a customer in August. PCC’s solutions center in Asheboro, N.C., developed FlamaSol FR in pellet form initially for polypropylene and is exploring liquid applications. Separately, PCC is registering the trade name LiquiSol and marketing a line of fully compounded advanced liquid colorants suitable for injection molding or extrusion applications. The colorant is metered mechanically into a processing machine. In sustainable materials, PCC is working with both bio-based and biodegradable products, said business development Vice President Tim Workman. The company recently signed a supply deal with Bio-Tec Environmental LLC of Albuquerque to use and distribute Bio-Tec’s EcoPure-brand bio-additive. Eco-Pure accelerates the biodegradation of traditional petroleum-based plastics in a biologically active landfill, officials said. The material doesn’t negatively affect the manufacturing process or the physical properties of plastics, they added. On the sales front, Borgsdorf said PCC’s sales were up more than 24 percent in 2011 and are on track to be up more than 22 percent this year. The firm also has added seven employees since the start of the year and now employs about 130. Plastics News correspondent Roger Renstrom contributed to this story. Plastics News photo by Michael Marcotte Photonix signs deal with Thermo Fisher By Frank Antosiewicz PLASTICS NEWS CORRESPONDENT ORLANDO, FLA. — Advanced Photonix Inc. (Booth 32055) recently signed an agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (Booth 5555) to allow the company to use its T-Gauge industrial terahertz gauging system for its line of web and metal gauges. The API sensor was developed as part the University of Michigan’s work with NASA about 10 years ago, according to an interview with John Riccardi, sales manager for Terahertz at API. Now Thermo Fisher Scientific will offer it as a way to monitor webbased and converting-industry production. The gauge system is non-evasive, non-nuclear, using light waves to measure physical properties such as multiple-layer thickness, density, contamination by foreign substances, sub-surface defects within a product and moisture analysis. “It helped NASA solve a problem about six years. … Now they can inspect an entire foam structure and it takes about 48 hours,” he said. Riccardi noted that the same technology has been used for military applications, such as Lockheed Martin’s B-35 bomber and for Homeland Security’s hand- held inspection system. “It’s a complete system and no one else can do it,” said Kim Townsend, sales director in the Americas for web and metals gauging at Thermo Fisher Scientific. Townsend said that the firm had a similar idea about three years ago, but didn’t find a market. However, an undisclosed customer brought the two companies together to create the needed application. The Photonix sensor is capable of replacing on-line web measurement that since the 1950s used either nuclear isotopes, ionizing Xray, eddy-current, laser or infrared technologies, according to API. The T-Ray 5200 T-gauge web process measuring system takes light-speed measurements and is able to target a 2-millimeter spot size. It uses patented fiber-coupled sensors. Riccardi said its target applications include laminations and composites, aseptic packaging structures and foam building materials. Other uses he noted include paint thickness inspection, robotic discrete part inspection and THz spectroscopy. Advanced Photonix, a leading supplier of optoelectronic products, is headquarterd in Ann Ara physical presence, we looked at Southeast Asia because of its costs, its infrastructure and its friendly legislation and laws,” Smith said. “We think this is one of the biggest things that will help us grow,” Smith said. Gala makes underwater pelletizing systems and centrifugal dryers at facilities in the U.S., Germany and Thailand. PCC President Doug Borgsdorf at NPE2012: “We had been a film commodity house, but now we’re offering whatever solutions our customers need.” Gala Asia Continued from Page 3 a good springboard for micropellets and rotational molding,” he said. Gala Industries has been selling into Asia — in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea — for more than 20 years. “But when we decided to have  http://www.brueckner.com http://www.brueckner.com

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