News archive for November, 2010
Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (RUSNANO) and Plastic Logic Inc. yesterday, 9 November 2010, announced they have entered into an agreement to create Plastic Logic’s second production facility for its next-generation plastic electronic displays and establish a plastic electronics industry in Russia.
Under the terms of agreement RUSNANO intends to make a significant investment in the company, which is the global leader in the emerging field of plastic electronics, as part of a large-scale investment project.
Plastic Logic said it will continue to house its core R&D facility in Cambridge, England, as well as maintain its commercial factory in Dresden, Germany and corporate headquarters in Mountain View, California.
Plastic Logic has developed broad and deep intellectual property in plastic electronics. Plastic electronics technology has many economic, manufacturing, form factor and environmental benefits, and will ultimately replace traditional silicon semiconductor glass-based display products in a variety of devices in the future. Plastic Logic’s first application of the technology makes possible an amazingly thin, lightweight, robust and flexible active matrix display that is unmatched in the marketplace. The display is at the core of Plastic Logic’s first commercial consumer electronics product, a next-generation electronic reader for business that is currently under development.
“The production facility for the next generation of plastic displays will become the first step to establish the new branch of electronics industry in Russia. By the time of the launch, the Russian facility will be the world’s most advanced fabrication plant in the plastic electronics industry,” said RUSNANO Managing Director Georgy Kolpachev.
Founded in 2000 by researchers from the Cambridge University Cavendish Laboratory in the UK, Plastic Logic opened its first high-volume, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Dresden, Germany in 2008, where it will continue with production of the company’s first commercial product.
“RUSNANO’s investment will enable us to dramatically expand operations in support of volume production of our next-generation products, and to continue to advance our technology platform to deliver on our broader long-term vision,” said Plastic Logic CEO Richard Archuleta.
“As a global company, we evaluated multiple countries for our expansion efforts and ultimately Russia offered the best strategic partnership opportunity,” added Plastic Logic’s CFO Rik Thorbecke. “Russia provides access to an enormous talent pool of scientists and engineers, and proximity to our European centers in Cambridge and Dresden. We have been very impressed with the caliber of the RUSNANO organization and, most importantly, its commitment to undertake the significant investment required to build a world-class volume production center capable of producing hundreds of thousands of units a month.”
About Plastic Logic
Plastic Logic’s mission is to lead a revolution in the way people acquire, organize and consume information. Founded in 2000 by researchers out of the Cambridge University Cavendish Laboratory, Plastic Logic has research and development in Cambridge, England; high-volume, state-of-the-art manufacturing in Dresden, Germany; and executive management, product engineering, sales and marketing headquartered in Mountain View, California.
Perm, November 9, 2010. Today the company Sibur-Khimprom held a ceremonial launch for three interrelated products – Alphapor™ ethylbenzene, styrene and expandable polystyrene . The total investment in the renovation and construction of new capacity was more than 8 billion rubles, says Media Center Sibur LLC.
A new plant for the production of ethylbenzene with a capacity of 220 thousand tonnes per year was built under license from the U.S. firm The Badger Licensing LLC. The application of modern technologies based on zeolite catalysts can completely stop the release into the atmosphere of hydrogen chloride and aromatic hydrocarbons, as well as the pollution of wastewater with chlorides, aluminum salts and phenols. The current installation for the production of ethylbenzene using outdated technology with a capacity of 120 thousand tonnes per year will soon be decommissioned.
The reconstruction of the styrene production facility gave an increase in productivity of 100,000 tonnes per year to 135,000 tonnes per year. During reconstruction, production was transferred to vacuum dehydration thereby reducing consumption of the raw material – ethylbenzene, as well as reducing energy consumption.
The new production of Alphapor™ expandable polystyrene with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes was built by the Austro-Norwegian technology company Sunpor. The new product of European quality will be produced in Russia for the first time. Until now the main bulk of the polymer materials were imported from Europe and Asia, including in the form of finished products. Current production is intended for a wide range of products, including energy efficient building insulation, retained formwork, and packaging for household appliances and foodstuffs.
All the brands of expandable polystyrene meet stringent European standards for fire safety, grain composition, density and physical-mechanical characteristics. The brands of expandable polystyrene designed for the manufacture of building insulation will necessarily contain flame retardants preventing the spread of fire.
The safety of Alphapor™, a material of organic origin consisting of 98% air, is directly dependent on the use of licensed products and strict adherence to building codes.
“The company provides comprehensive solutions for the rational use of associated gas, using products created from it to produce materials in demand in the marketplace,” said Dmitry Konov, President of Sibur. “The new Alphapor™ polymer insulation, manufactured under European license, increases the energy efficiency of housing when properly used. In addition, the technological updating of the Perm site substantially reduces the negative impact on the environment.”
According to PRW.com, Russian plastic pipe producer and compounder Polyplastic Group has opened a new compounding line at its Saratov pipe plant in southern Russia.
The latest installation provides the unit with a total of six composite material production lines and will allow it to turn out materials with up to 85% filling. The line also increases the plant’s compounds volume to around 40,000 tpa.
The Saratov expansion was prompted by a significant rise in demand for composite products, particularly from the automotive industry, construction, electronics and household appliances.
Polyplastic group, which has a dozen plastic processing businesses in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, plans further expansion of its composites section, Russian press reports quote Michael Katsevman, the group’s director of research and development as stating.
He estimated Polypastic could reach an overall capacity of 70,000 – 80,000 tpa by 2013. The group has two compounding plants apart from Saratov, in Moscow and Togliatti, Russia.
The group, which manufactured 180,000 tpa of polyethylene pipe systems, fittings and plastics composites in 2008, compounds a range of materials based on polypropylene, polyamide 6, PA 66 and PBT as well as thermoplastic elastomers based on PVC and PP.
Polyplastic is expanding compounding as major international automotive groups and their suppliers relocate production in the region. The firm counts among its clients in this and the home appliance sector names such as Ford, Faurecia, Indesit, LG and Vestel as well as Russian companies including Syran-Plastic, Alta-Profil and Assol.
Richard Higgs (PRW.com)
According to PRW.com, finnish automotive sector supplier Nokian Tyres plans to raise the production volume at its Russian plant in Vsevolozhsk by a third next year.
In the medium term, the firm intends to double its output in Russia with the national facility eventually reaching a production of 15 million tyres per year.
Today, Nokian of Nokia, Finland, sells around a third of all the tyres it manufactures overall in Russia. Now, thanks to a recovery in the Russian tyre market, it expects to increase that proportion to 50% by the year 2015, according to Nokian president and CEO Kim Gran.
There is renewed optimism at Nokian although its sales in Russia last year plunged 55%. In the first half of 2010, however, the Finnish firm saw its fortunes reversed with local sales up 72% to nearly €92m. In the whole of 2009, the Russian operation only achieved sales valued at less than €117m.
The upturn in results has been put down to the widespread recovery in consumer demand in Russia and the enhanced creditworthiness of tyre distributors.
The Russian car market has seen an increase in sales of foreign manufactured vehicles and in the premium segment. Since margins are higher in the premium business, Nokian has had to increase its tyre production volume to maintain its market leadership.
Nokian has more than doubled the investment it planned to sink in the Vsevolozhsk plant when it was first launched. The firm originally aimed to invest around €140m in the project, but has since spent about €400m, Mr Gran was quoted in press reports as revealing this October.
Since June this year, the Russian tyre plant has been operating nine production lines, each with an annual capacity of one million tyres per year. A substantial part of their output has been exported.
Nokian, which specialises in the manufacture of rugged tyres designed for the harsh conditions of Nordic countries, created the world’s first winter tyre in 1934. It also produces tyres for trucks and special heavy machinery used in snow and forest terrain. The present day company was formed in 1988 and last year employed 3,300 overall.
Richard Higgs (PRW.com)
According to PRW.com, The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) is considering providing a €29.8m loan to Ukrplastic, a leading producer of flexible plastic packaging in Ukraine.
The money would finance its energy efficiency investments, help it launch new products and restructure its balance sheet. It would help the Kiev-based company to notably establish a solvent recovery system, a new lamination line and commission a CHP (combined heat and power) plant.
Noting Ukrplastic’s operations have “undergone significant modernisation over the last 10 years”, an EBRD memorandum said the planned further changes would “have significant environmental benefits, through reduced volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions, higher operational efficiency and lower energy use”.
It added: “The project will facilitate launch and domestic production of new international quality products currently unavailable in Ukraine.”
The company has also agreed an environmental and social action plan with the EBRD, which includes commitments to:
- Establish designated noise protection zones in noisy production areas;
- Review its use of hazardous materials to eliminate or reduce and control their use;
- Develop and implement a solvents management plan;
- Improve surface water drainage and minimise water use;
- Review workforce personal protection equipment; and
- Set up an official grievance mechanism for workers and public.
Keith Nuthall (PRW.com)