Dyneon building worldwide headquarters in Minnesota.

Dyneon, the joint venture company between 3M Specialty Fluoropolymers Department and Hoechst AG Hostaflon GmbH, broke ground for a worldwide headquarters building in Oakdale, MN, just a few miles north of the 3M Center. The single-story, 46,000 square foot building will house approximately 100 Dyneon employees, including administrative, marketing, U.S. research and applications development employees. Completion of the building is scheduled for the spring of 1997.

The cooperative venture between Sloss Industries, Birmingham, AL. and Neochem, Akron, OH, completed a multi-purpose antioxidant plant in Birmingham. The state-of-the-art plant has a capacity of 800,000 lbs., and is initially slated to provide the antioxidant Neo-DNPD, N-N'-di-beta naphthyl-p-phenylene diamine. Subsequently, other similar low-volume specialty antioxidants will be added. Neo-DNPD is used primarily in rubber thread, automotive seals, wire and cable, adhesives, sealants and diversified plastic applications.

Pensler Capital, a private investment company, is acquiring Denman Tire of Warren, OH from Eagle Industries. Denman is a manufacturer of light truck, industrial, construction and off-road tires.

Econo Products announced the purchase of the Graphics Division of Goodyear Tire and Rubber. Goodyear's graphics business will be relocated to the Graphic Arts Rubber Division of Econo Products, located in Cuyahoga Falls, OH. Existing part numbers and descriptions for products, including rubber molding compounds, will be continued to facilitate easy ordering by customers.

Firestone Building Products plans to install a multimillion dollar built-up roofing (BUR) production line at its Beech Grove, IN facility. This expansion, which is expected to be completed by the end of 1997, with full manufacturing capabilities beginning in early 1998, enables Firestone to produce fiberglass-reinforced (G-2) base sheets and Type IV ply felts.

Molded Rubber & Plastic, a producer of custom-molded rigid and flexible thermoplastic and thermoset rubber components, announced an expansion of its manufacturing operation, including land acquisition and new equipment additions. The acquisition includes a 10,000 square foot building that houses additional office space and unspecified manufacturing. Molded Rubber & Plastic also announced the expansion of its Plastic Division, which involves a four-year plan to replace and add new injection molding equipment in the 28-1,000 ton press sizes. As part of that project, the company has already installed 120-ton and 250-ton Toshiba ISG presses, capable of processing engineering grades and TPR grades of thermoplastics.

Flexible Products, a supplier of injection molded rubber products to the automotive industry, announced expansion of its Auburn Hills, MI headquarters and production facilities. Construction is in progress on a 53,400 square foot addition to the existing 66,600 square foot building. Expenditures will total $5 million, including $2.5 million for land and building, and $2.5 million for additional molding machines and an expanded, upgraded engineering capability.

Greene Rubber announced its entry into the tape slitting industry with the purchase of a 20" state-of-the-art Cevenini slitter. With the addition of this machine, Greene will add to the company's ISO 9002 quality certification to meet the needs of their customer base.

Civiera & Silver International has established a fluoropolymers division for worldwide trading of fluoropolymer raw materials. The company will market virgin and reprocessed granular PTFE resins. melt processible fluoropolymers including FEP, PFA. ETFE and PVDF, and PTFE lubricant powders.

Degussa has doubled its organosilane production capacity at Degussa Antwerpen B.V. by opening a new plant, thereby increasing its annual Si 69 production capacity worldwide to 12,000 metric tons. Si 69 is an additive used in the production of low-rolling-resistance tires. This 40 million German mark investment is part of a five-year investment program of approximately 100 million DM in the silane chemicals area. At the same time, a logistics center for Si 69 is being opened in Japan, to cater to the growing demand for Si 69 from that country, Korea and Taiwan.

The Brazilian EPDM producer Nitriflex do Sul, which was acquired by DSM Elastomers BV (The Netherlands), announced its change of name to DSM Elastomeros Brasil. After the takeover by DSM Elastomers, the EPDM plant in Triunfo (South Brazil) has achieved an increase in production capacity from over 15,000 tpa to 20,000 tpa. Further increases are planned that will take the total production capacity to 25,000 tons of EPDM per annum.

Nalco Chemical announced the opening of a $3.5 million manufacturing facility, warehouse and distribution center in The People's Republic of China. The facility, which includes administration offices, is located in the city of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, 70 miles west of Shanghai. This is the latest action of the cooperative joint venture between Nalco and CITIC Chemicals, a wholly owned subsidiary of the China International Trust and Investment Corp., Nalco Chemica (Suzhou) Co. Ltd.

Elf Atochem has opened a fluorinated specialties plant at Viller-Saint-Paul (Oise, north of Paris) at a cost of FFr 100 million. These additional capacities will enable Elf Atochem to strengthen its world standing in specialty fluorinated compounds, which it markets under the tradename Forafac and Foraperle.

UCB has sold its subsidiary UCB Fine Chemicals, based in Ostend, Belgium, to the Belgian company Proviron. Proviron, a company specializing in fine chemicals, is looking for new production facilities for this type of intermediate chemical. In particular, the company has recently commissioned a production facility in the United States.

Moldtech has acquired a 300-ton B56 Rep molding machine for fabrication of custom molded rubber grommets used in underhood automotive applications.

Cadillac Plastic's Asia-Pacific Operations announced the opening of a branch located in Hanoi, Vietnam. The branch will help to develop the growing Vietnam market and act as a liaison office with its operations in eight countries in the Pacific Rim. The company will also conduct market research, execute contracts and promote products at this location. Cadillac Plastic has also opened its first Area Distribution Center in Coppell, TX, outside Dallas. The ADC is a hub and spoke distribution center of 100,000 square feet which will allow the company to offer a wider variety and depth of product.

Eastman Chemical plans to continue reinvesting in its core businesses through a $1.6 billion capital program over the next two years. Eastman expects capital spending to be around $750 million in 1996 and about $850 million in 1997. Current expansion projects include plants to manufacture Eastapak PET polyester resins in Mexico, Spain, Argentina. Rotterdam and Columbia, S.C.; oxo aldehyde manufacturing facilities in Singapore and Longview, TX; and a Spectar copolyester plastics plant in Malaysia.

Driven by the increasing demand for advancing products to market quickly, Global Tool & Engineering is expanding its capacity on the services it offers by adding the SDRC Master Series, seat of Pro/E, two EDMs, three CNC machining centers. two presses and leasing an additional 12,000 square feet.

Oliver Rubber has added 17 1997 truck tractors to its fleet in order to transport product and materials to independent Oliver and Long Mile dealers nationwide. The fleet also acts as an R&D test ground for new tread designs and rubber compounds.

Hayward Industrial Products, a manufacturer of metallic and nonmetallic filters, strainers and industrial flow control products, announced its acquisition of the assets of Wright-Austin of Detroit, MI, a designer and manufacturer of standard and custom liquid separation equipment, exhaust heads and steam traps for industrial and commercial applications.

EniChem America appoints

R-P de Mexico as agent

EniChem America announced that Rhone-Poulenc de Mexico will serve as its distributor/agent for specialty elastomers in Mexico. The agreement covers polychloroprene, nitrile, acrylic rubber and EPR elastomers. Mexican customers will benefit from the combined resources of the two world class multi-national chemical companies, according to EniChem.

Hermann Berstorff Maschinenbau GmbH. Hanover, Germany, parent company of Berstorff, Charlotte, NC, announced the sale of a Triplex rubber extrusion line to Barum Continental in the Czech Republic. The equipment, valued at more than five million marks (approximately $3 million), will be used in the production of treads for cars and trucks. Hermann Berstorff will supply extrusion technology, as well as downstream accessories, including conveying and cutting units, for the 55-meter production line.

Hoechst's polyester and cellulose acetate business (called Trevira) and the tire cord division of Sabanci Holding of Turkey announced their intention to form a joint venture (planned to be called Hoechstsa) for the manufacture of polyester tire cord fabric. In total, approximately DM 145 million ($100 million) will be invested in new production capacity. The joint venture, with 50% ownership by each partner, will begin commercial production in early 1999.

Dyneon and Asahi Glass have renewed and extended an agreement that allows Dyneon to market Aflas brand elastomers worldwide. The five-year agreement runs through the year 2000 and is non-exclusive, but permits Dyneon to market Aflas globally.

Crompton & Knowles has completed its merger with Uniroyal Chemical. Under the terms of the merger agreement, each common share of Uniroyal Chemical was converted into .9577 shares of Crompton & Knowles common stock. After the merger, Crompton & Knowles has approximately 73 million shares of common stock outstanding.

AlliedSignal and Kaiping Polyester Enterprises Group, Ltd., recently announced a joint venture formed by AlliedSignal's Industrial Fibers unit, specializing in advanced tire reinforcement technology, and Kaiping Polyester Enterprises, a chemical fiber company in China. The venture, owned 70% by AlliedSignal and 30% by Kaiping Polyester Enterprises, is investing approximately $25 million initially to upgrade and expand the Kaiping facility.

General Motors selected Michelin to develop the Michelin Proxima RR tire for the EV1 electric vehicle.

Versa Technologies' Moxness Products industrial silicone division of Racine, WI was awarded a $250,000 contract by the Defense General Supply Center in Richmond, VA. Under the terms of the contract, Moxness Products will supply three types of self-fusing silicone rubber tape.

Eastman Chemical and Yangzi Petrochemical Industrial have signed a letter of intent to study the feasibility of forming a joint venture in the People's Republic of China. The companies are considering building two plants in Nanjing, China, one to produce hydrocarbon tackifying resins and the other to manufacture sorbates.

Adco Products of Michigan Center, MI has merged with Astor, a privately held specialty chemical company owned by Aurora Capital Partners LP, a worldwide manufacturer and marketer of customized waxes, adhesives and sealants, headquartered in Raleigh, NC.

Pomini S.p.A., Castellanza, Italy, and Voith Sulzer, Appleton, WI, announced a mutually satisfactory resolution of the patent litigation brought by Pomini regarding U.S. Patent No. 4,811,524. Pomini has granted Voith the opportunity to sell the four current-design roll grinders already sold or under contract to date. On any further units, Voith has agreed to relocate the sensor instrumentation off the caliper carriage.

Nametre, a manufacturer of viscosity measurement and control systems, announced a merger with Holometrix, a manufacturer of instrumentation for thermal property measurement, and Tytronics, an affiliated manufacturer of online process and environmental instrumentation.

Daniel Products announced the appointment of Chemical Merchants as its distributor in the Philippines.