Lord forms joint venture with the Robertson Group.

CONTRACTS, LICENSES

Lord, Cary, NC, a global designer and manufacturer of coatings and adhesives, announced a joint venture with the Robertson Group, owners of Ken-Koat, Lewisburg, TN, a custom applicator of adhesives and coatings. The joint venture, Lorson Technologies, LLC, headquartered in Huntington, IN, will provide exclusive metal-coating services for Lord's MetalJacket technology for rubber-to-metal parts. The MetalJacket system is a metal treatment and coating system that eliminates zinc phosphatizing and the need for adhesive primers, while providing whole part corrosion protection without the need for post-painting.

VMI Americas, Stow, OH, in conjunction with its affiliate VMI Epe, Holland, is introducing a line of rubber injection molding machines to North America under the brand name VMI-RIMM. Last year, the Dutch company obtained an exclusive license from Maschinenhandel Mayerhofer GmbH to produce and sell the machines worldwide. VMI Americas will be the principal agent for selling and supporting these machines throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The product line covers a size range of 45 tons to 400 tons capacity. Presses are available in horizontal, vertical or c-frame models.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber, Akron, OH, took another step in its effort to integrate the Goodyear and Dunlop operations with the announcement that it will rationalize passenger and light truck tire production within the company's joint venture with Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. in Europe. This move, which is said to result in substantial cost savings and synergies for the Goodyear Dunlop Tire Europe joint venture, will involve discontinuing the production of passenger and light truck tires at the Dunlop Tyres U.K. plant in Birmingham, England, and moving it to other joint venture plants in Europe. Passenger and light truck tire production at the Dunlop Birmingham plant will be phased out by the end of this year.

Guthrie Latex, Tucson, AZ, has signed an agreement with Crusader Chemical, Baltimore, MD, for distribution of Crusader's defoamers and dewebbers.

The Business Research Group, Ltd., London, U.K., and TownsendTarnell, Houston, TX, have combined their specialty polymers and chemicals market information and consulting practices to create a new organization, BRG Townsend. The goal of BRG Townsend is to provide customers in the specialty arenas of polymers and chemicals with a larger, broader-based and reactive global supplier of data, insights and advice.

Preferred Rubber Compounding, Barberton, OH, and Gummiwerke Kraiburg GmbH of Germany signed a technical agreement that brings new options to the North American market in rubber compounding. Its first strategic effort will be directed to the rubber roll market.

DuPont Packaging and Industrial Polymers, Wilmington, DE, has signed a letter of intent with Saudi International Petrochemical to license DuPont technology and participate with other entities in a joint venture for a new 275,000 tons/year vinyl acetate monomer manufacturing plant to be located in Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia. DuPont will provide the technology license and technical assistance for the joint venture.