News Briefs (January 01, 2009)

Atlanta-based Georgia Gulf Corporation will permanently close its Sarnia, Ont.-based PVC plant. The plant was part of the company’s acquisition of Royal Group Technologies Ltd. in 2006, and had a capacity of 450 million pounds, but had operated only periodically due to decreased demand in housing and construction markets.

Candiac, Que.-based custom molder Precimold Inc. has installed two Class 100,000 portable clean rooms for the production of components, and a 400 square foot Class 10,000 clean room for assembly, decorating and special packaging.

Cobourg, Ont.-based Lorenz & Son has changed its name to Lorenz Conveying Products. The company has also had some major expansions and machinery acquisitions at the Cobourg location.

Georgetown, Ont. hot runner supplier Mold-Masters Ltd. has completed the purchase of their French distribution agency. Taking over leadership of the region from the agency will be Fabrice Fairy, a former Mold-Master’s agent in France who spent the last several years at Mold-Masters headquarters, working in various technical management roles.

Toshiba Machine has appointed CNSmith Machinery Sales, Inc. as their manufacturers’ rep agency covering Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Maritimes (Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island). The firm will market Toshiba’s entire product line ranging from five-ton electric molding machines to 3850-ton hydraulic systems to customers.

Bradford, Ont.-based film converter and printer Vins Plastics Ltd. has installed a new 10-colour printing press. Manufactured by Windmoeller & Hoelscher Corporation, the press was installed in early Jan. 2009. Founded as a family owned company in 1976, Vins Plastics employs approximately 50 workers.

Automotive tool builder BTM Tooling Inc., of Maidstone, Ont., has closed, leaving its 50 employees out of work. The company is bankrupt and its receiver is KPMG International. Royal Bank of Canada is the major creditor, and it has instructed KPMG to liquidate BTM’s assets.

Ohio-based equipment supplier Milacron Inc. has appointed David Lawrence as its new president and CEO. Lawrence had been president of the company’s D-M-E global mold technologies business. In mid-December, Ross Anderson, formerly Milacron’s CFO, was named president of machinery technologies North America, the company’s largest operating segment. Anderson replaces David Bertke, a 35-year veteran of Milacron who is retiring at the end of the year. Additionally, the current treasurer, John Francy, is now vice president of finance and CFO; Robert McKee, currently president of the global industrial fluids business, also will head up D-M-E; and controller Danny Gamex was named a vice president with expanded responsibilities.

Pierre Fillion has been named as the director-general of Federation des Plastiques et Alliance Composites (FEPAC), a newly created association for the plastics industry in Quebec. He was first appointed as Director, Industry Competitiveness with the Canadian Plastics Industry Association in 2001.

Fillion later went on to become the head of the CPIA’s Quebec office, but resigned from his position in December 2007.

Jeffrey Lipton, the CEO of Calgary, Alta.-based materials manufacturer Nova Chemicals Corp., is retiring effective May 1, 2009. Lipton’s decision comes after nearly 15 years at the company, with more than ten years as the company’s CEO.

The Thermoplastic Elastomer Division of Teknor Apex Company has appointed Nick Sandland to be senior market manager for industrial products. He will also be in charge of working with the division’s distributor in Canada and the U. S., Channel Prime Alliance.

Bolton, Ont.-based Husky Injection Molding Systems has named George Halatsis to the position of vice president, finance and CFO.

Dickten Masch Plastics, has named Steven A. Dyer as the company’s new president and CEO. Headquartered in Nashotah, Wis., Dickten Masch provides advanced technical solutions in thermoplastic and thermoset molding, engineering, analytical lab, and tooling services.

Mick Thiel, the founder and president of Loveland, Ohio-based Mattec Corporation, retired from the company at the end of 2008. Thiel founded Mattec, a supplier of real-time production and process monitoring systems in the plastic’s industry, in 1983.

Omron Canada Inc., headquartered in Toronto, has named Alan Campbell to the position of Alberta, Mid-West regional sales manager. Gustavo Zecharies has been appointed to the Executive Team and as the technical services and support manager. Leonard (Len) Apps has been named senior manager, strategic sales. The company also appointed Peter Chronis to the position of strategic promotions and pricing, and Robert Palajsa to the position of machine guarding global account manager.

See more news at www.canplastics.com