Acquisitions, expansions.

Akron, OH-headquartered Smithers Scientific Services expanded its tire testing services at its noise and vibration laboratory in Brecksville, OH, near Cleveland. It will now provide vehicle, tire and other manufacturers with a variety of acoustic and vibration tests in a testing chamber capable of accommodating vehicles ranging from motorcycles to 18-wheel trucks. The lab is fully-equipped with twin 10foot, floor-mounted roadwheels, along with on-site electronics, instrumentation, computers and data acquisition and analytical capabilities. Emphases will be on tire and vehicle dynamics. Typical tests include complete noise and vibration analysis, modal analysis and FEA correlation, tire/vehicle transmissibility and uniformity, order analysis of rotating machinery, product noise evaluation and OSHA compliance.

Yokohama completed the first phase of a capital spending program at its Salem, VA, tire plant, where annual production should reach 5.4 million tires. The second phase, begun during the first quarter, entails adding 150,000 sq. ft. of floor space and new equipment, plus upgrading existing equipment to increase capacity to 8.5 million units annually. Cost of the second phase is roughly $33 million.

Carlisle Companies in Syracuse, NY, is buying Goodyear's roofing systems business for an undisclosed price, and will make the new company a subsidiary to be directed by Carlisle SynTec Systems. Operations will remain in Akron, OH, and will retain the current management and employees. The unit will remain independent of CarliSle SynTec, which had supplied Goodyear's private label EPDM rubber roofing products since early 1990.

A $2.2 million internal expansion is underway at Goodyear's hose plant in Mount Pleasant, IA, that will increase production capacity by 25% and boost employment by 10%, creating 15 new jobs. Current employment at the plant is 155. The fifth expansion at the plant since it opened in 1977, the project involves rearranging and streamlining production flow in the plant, and is scheduled for completion in January 1994. The plant makes a variety of industrial and automotive hose.

Kelly-Springfield Tire is investing $21.8 million to expand radial light truck tire production at its Fayetteville, NC, plant by 1994. The second expansion at Fayetteville since November 1992, it will increase employment there by 60. Current work force numbers 2,900.

Davis-Standard, Pawcatuck, CT, expanded its technical center and capabilities with the start-up of a materials testing lab to support single and twin screw design optimization. Compounded samples produced during trials with different screw designs or extruder configurations can now be prepared and tested on-site to determine the best equipment configuration.

Brookfield Engineering Laboratories, Stoughton, MA, purchased Viscometers U.K. Ltd. of London, England, for an undisclosed amount. Brookfield manufactures and supplies viscometers/rheometers for laboratory testing and process control and will integrate the acquired products into its current product line.

John Chatilion & Sons, Greensboro, NC, entered the materials testing field with the addition of Lloyd Instruments' line of materials testing systems to its family of precision scales and force measurement instruments. The line, including materials testing systems, computer software, grips and accessories, will be marketed in the U.S. under the brand name Chatilion Materials Testing.

Corporate Consulting Service, which repairs, calibrates and services rubber testing instruments, and is a Shore Instruments distributor, moved into a larger facility in Akron, OH, totaling 12,500 square feet. The additional space will be used for rubber testing instrument rebuilding and repair and for the company's physical testing laboratory.

Elf Atochem North America, an engineering polymer supplier to the automotive industry, opened a Detroit, MI, office to build business in that area.

Shell Chemical, Houston, TX, reached a tentative agreement to buy selective assets of Rhone-Poulenc's whollyowned subsidiary Hi-Tek, which owns technology to provide epoxy resins and curing agents as waterborne dispersions, which reduces the need for organic solvents. The specialty epoxy resins and curing agents, used in industrial coatings, adhesives and composite structures, will complement Shell's existing technology and feedstock capabilities. Rhone-Poulenc will continue to make the resins, for now, at Louisville, KY, but will close its technical center there when the business is relocated to Shell's Houston facilities. The closing will affect 95 Louisville employees.

Datacolor International, manufacturer of computer color matching systems, equipment and instruments for color control in textiles, paint, coatings and plastics, dedicated a 25,000 square foot North American sales and support headquarters in Charlotte, NC. The facility includes a fullystaffed color laboratory equipped with color formulation, matching, quality control and dispensing technologies for industrial color applications.