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Top Industry News                            March 5, 2007 Issue

Continental Airlines’ Use of Surface Pretreatment Free of Hexavalent Chromium Signals Shift in the Industry
Pantheon Chemical’s non-toxic surface pretreatment, PreKote, has been selected by Continental Airlines for use in its aircraft-repainting program. The airline’s decision to use hexavalent chromium-free PreKote marks a shift in the aerospace industry to eliminate toxins used in the pretreatment of aircraft ... Read full story here 

HERO Products Group Announces Acquisitions in India, Europe and China
HERO Products Group has acquired ECS Color Systems and ECS Color Solutions, “ECS” of Mumbai India. ECS is a seven-year-old producer of dispensing and mixing devices for the decorative and automotive coatings industry ... Read full story here

The People File

Noveon Names New Vice President, Performance Coatings
Noveon, Inc., Cleveland, has named Eric R. Schnur as vice president and general manager of its Performance Coatings division.  He replaces Julian Steinberg ... Read full story here

BASF Appoints New Manager in North America
BASF, Charlotte, N.C., has appointed Nancy M. Hoblack as distributor manager for the Functional Polymers Regional Business Unit in North America ... Read full story here

Steiger-Bagel Appointed Chief Administration Officer of Bayer MaterialScience
Dr. Axel Steiger-Bagel has been appointed chief administration officer (CAO) of Bayer Material Science AG, Leverkusen, Germany. He will be a member of the management board and executive committee of this Bayer subgroup. Steiger-Bagel succeeds Prof. Dr. Gottfried Plumpe who is leaving the company by mutual consent, as previously reported.

KUKA Robotics Names Stuart Shepherd President
KUKA Robotics Corp., Clinton Township, Mich., a leading global manufacturer of industrial robots, has appointed Stuart Shepherd as president ... Read full story here

Appointments at Tikkurila Oy
Mr. Jarkko Marjasalo, formerly IT manager, has been appointed CIO (chief information officer) for Tikkurila Oy. His area of responsibility will continue to include tasks related to IT within the whole Tikkurila Group. Mr. Petri Miettinen has been appointed group vice president, Supply Chain, at Tikkurila Oy.

Coordinating Across Worldwide Sites Produces a 10% Gain in Global Market Share for Best-Performing Companies
Profitable growth is the key consideration in corporate globalization efforts, according to a new benchmark report published by Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company, Boston ... Read full story here 

Lubrizol to Expand Presence in China With Shanghai Facility
The Lubrizol Corp., Cleveland, will expand its presence in China by investing approximately $40 million to build a facility in Songjiang, just outside of Shanghai ... Read full story here

Atlas Announces New Representative in Mexico
Atlas, Chicago, has appointed Equipos y Servicios Westek, S.A. de C.V. as its new exclusive representative in Mexico for Atlas products and services ... Read full story here

Plasticolors Completes State-of-the-Art Lab Expansion
Plasticolors, Inc., a leading supplier of pigment and chemical dispersions, recently completed a 4,200 square-foot laboratory expansion at its Ashtabula, Ohio, headquarters ... Read full story here

New Brook Selects CNX Distribution as Its Representative
New Brook International, Inc., Wyckoff, N.J., an importer/distributor of pigments, minerals and anti-corrosive products, has appointed CNX Distribution, Irving, Texas, as its exclusive representative for Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico and Louisiana. The product line includes New Brook's Brufasol^® bismuth vanadates, Brufalblend^® dry pigments, blanc fixe and micaceous iron oxide.

Avantium Doubles R&D Capacity to Accommodate Strong Business Growth
Avantium Technologies B.V., Amsterdam, the Netherlands, has announced the expansion of its R&D facilities in Amsterdam to accommodate the strong growth of its high-throughput R&D business. The expansion means that Avantium will double its capacity with the addition of 2,500 square meters (27,000 square feet) of laboratory and office space. Avantium anticipates it will start using the new facilities by the first quarter of 2008.  

Center for the Polyurethanes Industry Extends Call for Papers Deadline to March 9
The deadline for submitting technical paper abstracts for the Polyurethanes 2007 Technical Conference , in partnership with UTECH North America Exhibition, has been extended to March 9, 2007. The Conference will take place September 24-26, 2007, at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. Submit your abstract online to www.polyurethane.org/s_api/sec_events.asp?CID=932&DID=3647.

Fritz Walker Resigns From FSCT Board
The FSCT board of directors has accepted the resignation of Dr. Fritz Walker of Air Products & Chemicals, effective immediately. Dr. Walker, a member of the board for five years and the immediate past president of the FSCT, left the board due to increased business responsibilities ... Read full story here

Hydraulic Institute Announces New "Standards Partner" Relationship
Beginning this year, The Hydraulic Institute, Parsippany, N.J., is offering opportunities for engineering consultants and pump users to participate as "Standards Partners” ... Read full story here

First of Two-Part e-Training on Basic Physical Chemistry for Coatings Is Tomorrow
In this two-part Internet training course, SpecialChem expert Jochum Beetsma introduces the basic phenomena responsible for problems that coatings formulators experience and explains how to recognize them, enabling the participant to master the fundamentals behind his or her coatings issues ... Read full story here

WACKER to Present Novel Dispersible Polymer Powders and Innovative Silicone Products at European Coatings Show
Under the slogan “Innovation by Passion,” the Munich-based WACKER Group will be presenting a range of innovative product solutions at the European Coatings Show (ECS) in Nuremberg, Germany, from May 8-10, 2007 ... Read full story here

Dow Corning to Present at Kansas City Society for Coatings Technology Symposium
Dow Corning Corporation’s coating industry specialist, Gerald Witucki, will present at the Kansas City Society for Coatings Technology (KCSCT) annual technical symposium on March 20th at Harrah’s Hotel and Casino in North Kansas City, Mo ... Read full story here

CPMA Conference on High-Performance and Traditional Color Pigments Returns to Baltimore
The Color Pigments Manufacturers Association (CPMA) International Conference, the largest pigments conference in North America each year, focuses exclusively on topics of interest to color pigments manufacturers, suppliers and users ... Read full story here