SUPPLIER NEWS

ACQUISITIONS/MERGERS

Valmet Corp. has acquired Swiss company Farros Blatter AG, a manufacturer of belt grinding machines for the paper industry and a supplier of onsite grinding services for Yankee, MG, and drying cylinders. The company will be integrated into Valmet’s global service operations. The acquisition will allow Valmet to more effectively develop specialized technology and enhance its ability to provide a wider scope of services to the worldwide paper industry.

Ahlstrom Corp. and Kvaerner ASA, an engineering and construction group, have agreed to merge their pulp and paper machinery activities into a new 50/50 owned company. The new company will offer technology and services for the worldwide pulp and paper industry. The company’s main business will be chemical pulping and recovery, chemicals preparation, stock preparation, and related services.

Georgia-Pacific has acquired Borden Chemical’s wet strength, dry strength, and temporary wet strength lines of both polyamide and ureaformaldehyde chemistry base. Georgia-Pacific Resins Inc., the chemical division of Georgia Pacific Corp., is a producer and marketer of paper chemicals, including sizing agents, strength resins, and coating products. Through this multi-year agreement, Borden will continue to make products for Georgia-Pacific at Borden Chemical plants in Laval, Que., Sheboygan, Wis., and Springfield, Ore.

Total Control Products Inc. has signed definitive agreements to sell 100% of its shares to GE Fanuc Automation Inc. Founded in 1983, Total Control designs, develops, and markets open control and display products for the industrial automation market. GE Fanuc, a joint venture between GE and Fanuc Ltd. Japan, is a supplier of industrial control systems with headquarters in Charlottesville, Va. The acquisition adds a new dimension to the company’s open control initiative and strengthens its position in open controls and operator interface.

Kemira Chemicals has acquired DuPont Canada’s hydrogen peroxide plant in Maitland, Ont. The plant has an annual production capacity of 41,000 metric tons.

U.S. Filter Corp., a provider of industrial wastewater and water treat-ment systems based in Palm Desert, Calif., has acquired Thomas Conveyor Co. Inc., a Burleson, Texas-based supplier of bulk solids handling equipment.

BF Goodrich and Coltec Industries have announced a strategic merger to create a stronger company with franchises in the aerospace, specialty chemicals, and engineered industrial products industries.

GenCorp has purchased the U.S. acrylic emulsion polymers business of PolymerLatex, located in Fitchburg, Mass. PolymerLatex is a 50/50 joint venture of two German chemical producers, Bayer AG and Huls AG. The Fitchburg facility will be inte- grated into GenCorp’s Performance Chemicals unit. The acquisition builds on GenCorp’s product expertise in textiles, non-wovens, paper, and coatings and provides GenCorp with manufacturing and supply capabilities in the Northeast.

Neenah, Wis.-based FH&K has purchased Maggie Springer & Assoc. (MSA) of Appleton, Wis., a business-to-business marketing firm. MSA’s focus on marketing in the paper, plastics, and converting industries enables FH&K to move into new product areas as well as strengthening several of its existing services. In addition to research, FH&K offers services in all marketing communications disciplines, including public relations, media planning, Internet technology, and sales support.

Hollingsworth & Vose Co. has purchased the former Sandy Hill Development Center nonwovens pilot equipment and laboratory from Valmet.

Dillon Force Measuring Products, a division of Weigh-Tronix Inc., has purchased the North American operations of Mecmesin Ltd., a force measurement and materials testing company. Under the terms of the agreement, Mecmesin’s USA business, Mecmesin Inc. of Santa Rosa, Calif., will be incorporated into the sales, service, and marketing structure of Dillon Products. Mecmesin products will be sold under the Dillon name and distributed exclusively through Dillon.

Loveshaw, an ITW Company, has acquired Malvern, Pa.-based Syncro Motion Corp. Syncro Motion manu- factures automatic label application machinery for “apply only” and “print and apply” applications. The acquisition enhances Loveshaw’s coding, case sealing, and case forming equipment line and combines Syncro Motion’s labeling product expertise with the financial strength of ITW.

REORGANIZATIONS

Millennium Inorganic Chemicals has announced the formation of three global business teams. This team structure will carry forward the transition from the company’s former regional operating structure to one focused globally on the three principal titanium dioxide markets (paint and coatings, plastics, and paper). In addition, the company is moving its regional hea quarters for Latin America from Rio de Janeiro to join the Millennium sales force in São Paulo.

Schenck Corp. announces the planned formation of a new wholly owned subsidiary, Schenck RoTec Inc. The plan is part of an effort to re-align Schenck’s Balancing and Diagnostic Group through two operating subsidiaries, Schenck Turner Inc. (Orion, Mich.) and Schenck Trebel Corp. (Deer Park, N.Y.). Although both subsidiaries will continue to operate at their respective locations, a common management team will run them.

Inland Paperboard and Packaging Inc. has formed the Tru-Tech Division, a new marketing and manufacturing entity in Linden, N.J. Tru-Tech uses patented technology to produce a broad range of high-strength, puncture and tear-resistant laminated materials currently used in papers, envelopes, mailing bags, sealing tapes, building products, and other applications.

The Waterlink Separations Div., one of five formed by Waterlink last year to consolidate its 23 operating com-panies, announces that two of those companies—the NWP Division of Waterlink Technologies Inc. and Purac Engineering Inc.—have been consolidated into the Nordic Water Products Group. Sales and marketing functions for the group have moved to the Hycor facility in Lake Bluff, Ill. Operations for Great Lakes Environ-mental (Addison, Ill.) and Lanco (Grand Rapids, Mich.) continue from their existing facilities.

ICI plc has announced the formation of Uniqema, a global specialty chemicals business comprising several members of the ICI group, including ICI Lubricants, ICI Surfactants, Mona Industries, Solaveil, and Unichema International. Uniqema will provide a broad portfolio of specialty chemical product solutions. To be headquartered in London, Uniqema will operate from 33 sites around the world. American headquarters will be located in Wilmington, Del.

TECHNOLOGY

Appleton Mills, Appleton, Wis., has been awarded a patent for an automated method of measuring the moisture in press and dryer felts. The method uses microwaves--which are less susceptible to errors caused by chemicals in the fabric--to increase accuracy.

APPA Systems Inc. has received two new patents on its proprietary ISO-torq rotating consistency transmitter. The first, “Sealing and Flow Inducing Hub Assembly,” is for a self-cleaning sealing hub assembly that prevents abrasive filler materials from collecting around the external seal. The second, “Plug Flow Converting Pipeline and Method,” describes a method for creating plug flow measuring conditions to accurately measure lower pulp consistencies than other technologies allow.

JOINT VENTURES

Cytec Industries Inc., West Paterson, N.J., and Vinings Industries Inc., Atlanta Ga., have announced a new marketing alliance that addresses specialty chemical requirements for the recycled deinking sector. The combination of Cytec’s water soluble polymer technology and Vinings’ expertise in deinking surfactants and biocides, defoamers, and colloidal silica will greatly support the deinking sector.

Naperville, Ill.-based Nalco Chemical Company and High Point Chemical Corp. of High Point, N.C., have announced the formation of a North American strategic alliance to provide a broader range of specialty chemical products, services, and systems to the pulp and paper industry. Nalco will market and service High Point Chemical’s deinking technology, and both companies will support each other in the areas of manufacturing, applied technology, research and marketing.

Under a grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Advanced Technology Program, Osmonics Inc. and Cargill Inc. will jointly investigate industrial applications of solvent-resistant membranes. The grant will enable the companies to investigate whether membrane systems can be successful in harsh, solvent-based environments. Cargill is an international marketer, processor, and distributor of industrial products. Osmonics is a manufacturer and marketer of high- technology water purification, fluid handling, and other related equipment.

Texpack has formed a joint venture between its Conitex textile paper cone division and Sonoco Products Co. The partnership, to be named Conitex Sonoco LLC, will combine textile cone operations in Gastonia, N.C., and Hartsville, S.C., as well as operations in England, Spain, Indonesia, Taiwan, Mexico, Colombia, and Greece, and open end tube operations in Cherryville, N.C. and Long Shoals, N.C. Conitex will contribute its three paper mills, located in Contoocook, N.H., Spain, and Indonesia to the joint venture.

AWARDS

A team of IBM researchers respon-sible for developing a decision support system used in IBM’s Papermill Scheduling supply chain management solution has won the Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Excellence in Operations Research Practice. The prize was awarded by the Institute for Operations Re- search and the Manage-ment Sciences (INFORMS) at its national meeting in Seattle, Wash.

MARKETING/LICENSING

Crompton & Knowles Colors Inc. (CKCI) and Tri-Tex Company Inc. announce their cooperation in marketing liquid direct dyes to the paper industry in eastern Canada. Tri-Tex will represent CKCI in the sales and service of Intrabond liquid direct dyes to paper industry accounts in Ont., Que., N.B., N.S., and P.E.I. In addition, Tri-Tex will take over existing sales and service of CKCI basic, acid, and direct powder dyes, pigment dispersions, and paper chemicals to these accounts.

Thermo Black Clawson Inc. has named its sister company, AES Equipos y Sistemas of Guadalajara, Jalisco, as its new representative in Mexico. The Mexico-based company now represents all of Thermo Black Clawson Inc.’s products and processes for paper machine approach flow systems and all types of recycling systems.

LITIGATION

A jury in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona has awarded Honey-well a verdict of $1 million. Honeywell had claimed that Foxboro infringed a U.S. patent held by Honeywell pertaining to the operation of “intelligent” pressure measurement devices. Foxboro had been selling pressure transmitters whose electronics were automatically adjusted to compensate for the adverse effects of temperature.

PRICING

Citing cost increases that can no longer be offset by other measures, Degussa AG has increased prices for precipitated silica and silicates by 3% to 8%.