Troester Machinery, Ltd. plans major expansion.

ACQUISITIONS, EXPANSIONS

Troester Machinery, Ltd. purchased the property which they have leased for the last 15 years, in addition to a vacant lot in Cuyahoga Falls, OH, giving the company two acres on which to expand. Troester plans to build an office building of approximately 5,000 sq. ft. and convert their present offices into a conference center. The present shop of approximately 10,000 sq. ft. will be converted to a demonstration and training facility. Troester, together with partner ESI-Extrusion Services of Akron, OH, will install a full production scale rubber profile line, including a 3-1/2" rubber vacuum extruder, 12 kW microwave oven, three-level combined hot air/cooling channel and a cut-off saw from ESI. This line will be available for customer trials, where customers can bring compounds free of charge. Production and assembly of machinery will be moved to ESI-Extrusion Services in Akron, OH. Standard 90 mm extruders will continue to be in-stock at Troester's location for short delivery times. Together with upgrading its service capabilities, manpower and increased spare parts stock, Troester's total investment amounts to over $1 million this year. The extrusion line is scheduled to be started up in June, and the building additions should be completed in the fourth quarter.

Dow Chemical, Midland, MI, has reached a definitive agreement to acquire General Latex and Chemical, Cambridge, MA, said to be one of the largest rigid polyurethane systems suppliers in North America and a leader in rigid polyurethane foam formulations. The company is also said to be a leading supplier of custom compounds produced from natural and synthetic latex. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. General Latex's custom compounds produced from natural and synthetic latex are used in a variety of industries, including adhesives, automotive, carpet, fabric, medical and paper.

Bridgestone, the parent company of Bridgestone/Firestone Europe and Bridgestone/Firestone, Nashville, TN, held the completion ceremony for a technical center for diversified products at its Yokohama, Japan plant. The Bridgestone Chemical and Industrial Products Technical Center is an eight-story structure which stands atop 24 Bridgestone multi-rubber bearings to help protect building foundations from earthquakes. The technical center houses several R&D activities that have been scattered among facilities in Yokohama and elsewhere. Basic research on advanced materials will be a big emphasis at the technical center.

Bayer's $70 million Therban HNBR manufacturing facility, being built by Bayer AG in Leverkusen, Germany, accepted delivery and installation of a new reactor weighing in at about 140 tons. The reactor is where nitrile rubber is hydrogenated to become HNBR and is said to be Bayer AG's largest single investment in the plant that will have a nameplate capacity of 3,000 tons. Once online, the plant will double the company's global production capacity.

Mehler Engineered Products, a manufacturer of textile reinforcements for the rubber industry and supplier of high performance cord and yarn for hoses, v-belts, air springs, tires, conveyor belts, moldings and membrane fabrics, celebrated its grand opening in Martinsville, VA.

Azco Mining, Ferndale, WA, is in full production on its stockpile of high-grade mica at its Glendale, AZ processing facility, a plant with targeted capacity of 22 million pounds per year of the mineral.

NuSil Technology, Carpinteria, CA, announced the relocation of its European Technical Center from Arklow, Ireland to Sophia Antipolis near Nice, France. NuSil Technology, an ISO-9001 certified company, is a supplier of silicone raw materials to the aerospace, healthcare and other high technology industries. Acquisition of the 1,200 square meter Sophia Antipolis facility will give the company space for its technical solutions center for customers' application needs, and will also provide added laboratory research and specialized manufacturing capabilities.

SKM Applied Technology Partners, Radnor, PA, acquired the business of Nadel Industries, a manufacturer of a proprietary line of plastics (polyester) jars, compacts and cosmetic accessories for the health and beauty care market.

Following the completion of the $6.8 million private placement, SmarTire Systems reported a second major funding transaction involving shares of Transense Technologies plc, resulting in gross proceeds of a further $8.4 million. Under an agreement dated September 30, 1999, SmarTire acquired 250,000 share purchase warrants of Transense with an exercise price of 2 (pounds sterling) per share. The company has exercised the warrants and sold the resulting shares at 21.30 (pounds sterling) per share. Transense, based in Oxfordshire, U.K., develops and exploits the use of its patented SAW technology in the automotive industry. SmarTire will further benefit from its license agreement with Transense that grants the company the worldwide right to develop and market Transense's SAW technology for use in tire monitoring systems.

Analytical facilities available to Rubber Consultants, Hertford, U.K., have been further enhanced by the installation of a Rontec x-ray microanalytical system for standardless rough surface analysis. The Rontec EDX system performs automatic and interactive spectral evaluation, analysis of light elements on rough surfaces, particles and bulk samples.

BFGoodrich, Charlotte, NC, acquired the personal care business of Lambent Technologies, Norcross, GA, from parent company, Petroferm, Fernandina Beach, FL. The acquisition includes a variety of innovative products, a significant patent estate and an attractive customer base for the company's specialty silicones and Guerbet alcohol derivatives that are used to formulate skin and hair care, antiperspirant, deodorant and color cosmetic products. The transaction value is under $10 million.

M.A. Hanna, Cleveland, OH, has completed the acquisition of a majority interest in a leading Turkish compounder and distributor of engineering plastics. M.A. Hanna acquired 87% of the shares in the Tekno Polimer Group, based in Istanbul. Under the terms of the agreement, M.A. Hanna has the option to purchase the remaining shares within five years. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The Tekno Polimer Group of companies, with 1999 sales of more than $11.5 million, currently serves the appliance, electrical and automotive markets with nylon, polyolefin and polyester thermoplastic compounds.

Fulflex, Middletown, RI, a division of The Moore Company, has purchased the assets of Elastotec Stuart, Virginia operations. The Stuart facility, located near Martinsville, VA, will be integrated into Fulflex's high-performance elastic business. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

UCB, the Belgium-based group, has acquired the cellophane business from the Mexican company, Cydsa, representing a turnover of approximately $40 million.

Trion, Sanford, NC, has acquired the fights to the dust collection and air filtration products developed by DiversiTech of Montreal, Canada.

New Castle Industries, New Castle, PA, a manufacturer of screws, barrels and chill rolls, announced a major expansion of its Field Services Group. This business unit specializes in contract services for procedures like bore scope alignment, screw and barrel installations, machine maintenance and modifications or basic preventive maintenance on extruders and injection molding machines. Two additional service locations will be added.

Minerals Technologies, New York, NY, announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Minteq International, a global supplier of monolithic refractory products and systems, has acquired Ferrotron Electronik GmbH. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

The EPS (expandable polystyrene) Resin Suppliers Council (ERSC) was approved by the American Plastics Council's Executive Committee as a new business unit. The mission of the ERSC is to promote and defend the marketability of EPS resins, identify new EPS market opportunities and serve as a catalyst to engage the molder community to further promote new applications of EPS resin.

Rogers, Rogers, CT, announced that it will manufacture its R/flex 8080 line of liquid photoimageable covercoat materials in the United States, to serve U.S. and European customers.

Quality registrations

Bayer's Therban HNBR unit in Orange, TX has received QS9000 registration from Quality Systems Registrars.

The Paris, IL manufacturing facility of Boge North America has been certified as an ISO 14001 registered firm by Entela.

R.L. Hudson & Co., Tulsa, OK, a designer and distributor of fluid sealing devices and custom molded rubber and plastic products, has attained ISO 9001 registration.

Kaysam Worldwide, Totowa, NJ, a domestic manufacturer of meteorological balloons, has been awarded the ISO 9002 certificate of approval from SGS International Certification Services.

TriEnda, a unit of Alltrista, Indianapolis, IN, has been awarded the Ford Motor Q I preferred quality award. TriEnda supplies custom dunnage and material handling products for Ford Motor.