Schulman considers sale of Invision business

Plastic compound supplier A. Schulman Inc. is putting its Invision-brand sheet business up for sale.

The company announced it’s seeking “a joint venture partner or other strategic arrangements” for the business.

The Invision business focuses on paintless surfacing technology. Invision is based on a polyolefin sheet technology with applications for the exteriors of trucks, farm equipment, cars, boats and recreational vehicles.

For the three months ended May 31, the corporation reported a 30 per cent decline in profit. It also recently raised some of its prices, pushed capacity and personnel cuts and has been implementing cost-saving moves.

Invision sheet has been used in bumper fascias on the 2005 DaimlerChrysler Neon and on front and rear components for the 2008 Chrysler Jeep Wrangler. Prior to the sheet effort, Schulman had tried to commercialize Invision technology as a thermoplastic olefin compound in 2002.

The move is the latest in a series of changes at Schulman since Joseph Gingo took over as chairman, president and CEO in January. In that time, Schulman has closed a plant in St. Thomas, Ontario; sold a plant in Orange, Texas; and announced plans to spend more than US$10 million to return compounding work to a plant in Akron, Ohio.

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