PPG Industries Inc. and Kansai Paint of Japan announced the signing of a non-binding memorandum of understanding and said they have entered into negotiations aimed at the launch of an alliance that would target the global automotive OEM market.
Recent conferences in Europe provided assessments of advances in coatings for plastics and materials designed for use in the growing ink-jet market, with a varied lineup of industry experts addressing various aspects of technological and market developments.
Lord Corp. announced an expansion of the company's Automotive Solutions site in Wixom, MI, with the construction of a 19,020-square-foot facility that houses the operation's automotive sales office and a 7,736-square-foot formulation and testing laboratory, automotive aftermarket training classroom and a garage suitable for hands-on automotive application training.
The Dow Chemical Co.'s UCAR Emulsion Systems business unit announced plans to build a new production plant at the company's Union Carbide Corp. St. Charles site in Louisiana and expand production operations in Alsip, IL, and Sarnia, Ontario.
- Lyondell Chemical Co. and Bayer MaterialScience AG formally opened a major new propylene oxide/styrene monomer manufacturing facility in Maasvlakte, The Netherlands, near Rotterdam.
The U.S. market for paint and coatings rebounded with growth of 3.9% in 2003 and will continue to expand this year, hitting an estimated total dollar value of $18.2 billion, a newly issued industry study estimates.
International Specialty Products Inc. (ISP) has acquired Biochema Schwaben, a supplier of preservatives and biocides for industrial and personal-care applications, with products for the paint and coatings, ink, polymer emulsions, and other markets.
BASF's Greenville and Whitehouse, OH, coatings and resins facilities received the Ohio Chemistry Technology Council's 2003 "Excellence in Responsible Care" Award for environmental, health and safety performance.
Curtiss-Wright Corp. has acquired certain assets of the Evesham, UK, coatings business operated by the Morgan Advanced Ceramics Ltd. subsidiary of Morgan Crucible Plc. The purchase price was approximately £3.4 million, or about $6.35 million.
BASF Coatings presented the city of Sao Paulo with 15,000 liters of the company's Suvinil brand architectural coatings for "The Wall," a legal-graffiti art project celebrating the Brazilian city's 450th anniversary.
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