New WPC profile producer

Following substantial investment Extruwood, based in Austria, has started production of wood plastic composite (WPC) profiles. The initial capacity of the new WPC profile plant amounts to 650 tonnes/year and the company is aiming to produce 300-400 tonnes of profiles by 2010. Extruwood will focus on exterior applications such as fencing, mooring poles, play pen frames and park benches.
Extruwood’s WPC formulation, developed in co-operation with Austria’s Wood K Plus Institute under the CORNET European framework programme, displays remarkable low absorption of humidity, high flexural strength and creep resistance.
Extruwood, first established in June 2009, is jointly owned by extrusion toolmaker Zitta Kunststoffwerk and Stratics, a consultancy.

Belfast university to develop rotationally-moulded banana-polyethylene composites

Banana plantation waste from the Canary Islands is to be used to develop the manufacture of rotationally moulded plastics products. An estimated 25,000 tonnes of banana waste is dumped in ravines around the Canary islands each year.
Manufacture of rotationally-moulded cellulose-resin composites has been tried before, but so far the commercialisation has been fairly slow. Rotomoulding should, when commercialised, reduce substantially the amount of resin required to make the end-product, and reduce material costs.

Deceuninck's Rights Issue

Deceuninck, manufacturers of window frames and of the WPC material Twinson, plans to pay off its debts after a rights issue of €85m. The firm will use any surplus capital to pay the costs of restructuring.
In the first half of 2009 worldwide sales volume dropped by 20% and Western European sales by15%; Eastern Europe was hardest hit, with a sales decline of 39%, while Turkey and the US showed declines of 22% and 21% respectively. Net profit fell 51.4% to €8.9m during the period, and the restructuring programme resulted in one-off costs of €11.2m.
Over the past 12 months, Deceuninck has shed 449 jobs and closed production facilities in three countries (USA, Poland and Belgium). It reduced the size of one UK production facility by half.
The firm is now said to be starting to return to profitability.

Corporate Relaunch

Plastics machinery company Milacron, whose products include twin screw extrusion technology, has now emerged from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy, under which it had filed in March. The sale of substantially all of Milacron’s assets was approved, by bankruptcy court, to an investor group led by Avenue Capital Group and DDJ Capital Management LLC. Customers of the new company Milacron LLC were informed by letter in August.

A Greener Composite Recipe

Sabic has announced they have developed a range of LNP Thermocomp composites in which traditional glass fibre and mineral fillers are replaced by natural materials such as curau fibre and wood flour. In addition to using these renewable and biodegradable materials, the company claims that the new products require less energy for production and are lighter, which in turn reduces the amount of energy required for transport.

Wood-plastic Extrusion in Latvia

Riga-based N.V. Vega SIA is moving into the manufacture of extruded WPC hollow profile window sills. The company, originally a packaging producer, will be using machinery from German builder Reifenhauser Extrusion.

How will Chinese WPC Companies be affected by the Economic Slowdown?

Although Chinese WPC producers have been immune from economic problems, firms heavily involved in exporting are now seeing slowdowns. The housing industry problems in the US and Europe, as well as increasing strength of the yuan and also domestic isssues, such as new labour laws, are all having a negative impact.

WPCs used in Venice

Bizeta, an Italian profile extruder, is reported to be manufacturing WPC components for use in Venice as "vaporetto" pontoons and decking. This "Greenwood" range of WPC components is produced on extrusion tooling supplied by Austrian manufacturer Technoplast.