>

MERGERS/ACQUISITIONS

Metso Corp.’s automation and control technology business area, Neles Automation, has agreed to acquire StoneL Corp., a supplier of valve monitoring and communications solutions in Minnesota. Metso is also making an offer to buy the stock of Svedala, a supplier of products and services for rock and mineral processes. Metso’s plan is to combine its rock and mineral processing business group, Nordberg, with Svedala.

Andritz AG has initially bought 50% of the Ahlstrom Machinery Group. Ahlstrom Machinery Group’s future company name will be Andritz-Ahlstrom Corp. Both Andritz and the seller have options whose exercise would make Andritz the sole owner of Ahlstrom Machinery Group.

The Kùsters Organization has acquired complete ownership of the former joint venture with Beloit Corp., the Kùsters-Beloit LLC in the USA, and Kùsters Beloit GmbH in Krefeld, Germany. All open orders that are presently booked with the Kùsters-Beloit organization will be handled and completed by the Paper & Rolls Div. at Eduard Kùsters Machine Co. in Krefeld, Germany, and Kùsters Paper Machinery Corp. in Spartanburg, S.C.

Paperloop.com, an online paper industry marketplace, has reached an agreement in principle to acquire Fibre Management Co., a waste paper trading company and developer of fully integrated fiber procurement, brokerage, and logistics operating systems.

Imerys has signed an agreement with the U.S. group Praxair for the acquisition of 100% of Quimbarra, a Latin American producer of ground (GCC) and precipitated (PCC) calcium carbonate. Quimbarra operates 15 plants in Latin America (seven in Brazil, five in Argentina, three in Mexico) and owns high-quality minerals reserves. Quimbarra sales amount to 220,000 tons of PCC and 150,000 tons of GCC.

E.&M. Lamort has acquired Cyclotech, a cleaner systems supplier with a list of referenced systems with a daily capacity of 1,200 tpd. The equipment completes the Lamort-Black Clawson stock preparation range.

Kemira has agreed to acquire Krems Chemie’s paper chemicals and Neste’s share of CN-Paper Chemicals. In addition to this, Kemira Chemicals acquires the paper size business of Finnish Chemec.

Thermo Electron Corp. has completed its previously announced merger with ThermoRetec Corp.

PSDI, provider of solutions for streamlining the supply chain for maintenance, repair, and operations materials, has signed an agreement to acquire the Maximo reseller business unit of MIPS Information, Productivity, and Systems Ltd., a provider of computer technology and software systems in Brazil.

 

JOINT VENTURES

Endress+Hauser International Holding AG and Neles Automation have announced their intention to form an alliance for joint technology development and sales activities. The two companies intend to sign a global sales agreement for worldwide project deliveries. A new joint venture company will be established for the sales and services of both companies’ field system solutions in Finland. Also, a joint technology unit will be established for the development of new technologies and advanced field system solutions.

SAPMarkets, the SAP subsidiary that delivers mySAP.com marketplaces, will work with Commerce One on a next-generation e-business marketplace solution. The to-be-named marketplace suite will offer companies one-stop shopping for the entire range of e-business marketplace services. In addition, SAP and Intellution have formed a joint venture to co-develop and market an Object Link Embedded interface for an Object Process Control interface. This will enable the sharing of plant floor data within mySAP.com and any OPC-compliant server without the need for custom programming or additional application software, resulting in faster development and deployment of multi-vendor plant floor e-business solutions.

Andersen Consulting, a management and technology consulting firm, and TradeAccess Inc., a supplier of B2B e-commerce negotiation technology, have announced the formation of a global strategic alliance designed to help clients substantially reduce the process costs associated with Web-enabled commerce.

Paperloop.com and the pulp and paper unit of ABB have announced an alliance to jointly develop Web-based solutions for the global pulp and paper industry. The companies aim to create technical information resources and customer applications, and to collaborate on B2B transactions in the industry. This agreement expands ABB’s industrial information technology offering to pulp and paper companies. The alliance creates a new category of Web portal: Information and Solutions Marketplace. Jointly developed content and applications will drive traffic to both ABB and paperloop.com portals. Jointly developed efforts will include: news, database, and technical information; consulting; and ASP software.

Siemens and Ivara have formed a joint venture. Siemens will license, implement, and support Ivara’s EAM systems and CMMS software and services. Siemens will also integrate the Ivara products as a plant maintenance management system (PMMS) into the Siemens Industrial Framework, a vendor-independent strategy for flexible and configurable integration of manufacturing and business data.

Ariba and MatrixOne have formed an alliance to provide B2B marketplaces and exchanges with an integrated, Web-based, product-development collaboration and e-commerce environment. They plan to integrate the eMatrix software solution with the open Ariba B2B Commerce Platform, including the Ariba Marketplace solution.

Neles Automation has formed a partnership with IndX. A newly released product from Neles that will be used for implementing that solution, insight@WEB, uses technology developed by IndX. It will provide customizable user access to operational and corporate information via a standard Web interface. In addition, Neles Automation and The Dow Chemical Co. have signed a multi-year global purchasing agreement that will allow Dow or its affiliates to obtain control valves and related products manufactured by Neles Automation at standard prices and terms, anywhere in the world.

The Fieldbus Foundation and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) have signed a partnership agreement to establish a Foundation fieldbus training and demonstration facility on the SAIT’s campus in Calgary, Alta., Canada.

 

LITIGATION

Honeywell has filed suit against ABB Industrial Automation in the Northern District of California alleging patent infringement. The patent relates to technology used in Honeywell sheet scanning devices.

The Court of Appeal in The Hague, Bohus, Sweden, specializing in patent cases, has rendered a dispute between the Akzo Nobel company, Eka Chemicals, and Nalco Chemical Co. concerning Eka’s Compozil patents. The Court of Appeal states that Nalco is infringing Eka’s European Compozil patent by offering and supplying Nalco 8692 to papermills for papermaking according to this patent. The Court of Appeal ruled that the product Nalco 8692 should be considered as a colloidal silica sol within the meaning of Eka’s European compozil patent and granted a preliminary injunction. In the judgement, the Court furthermore rejected Nalco’s allegation that Eka’s patent is invalid.

 

OPENINGS/CLOSINGS

ABB Automation has opened the first of three global factory certified centers of excellence for industrial repair services in Columbus, Ohio. The other two centers will be located in Europe and Asia.

Birmingham, Ala.-based Motion Industries has opened new branches in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Anderson, Cal.

Ground breaking has begun at Netzsch Inc., Lionville, Penn., for a new grinding laboratory.

Rimtec Corp. has multiplied its space for manufacturing and warehousing servo couplings and clamps with its move into a 12,000 ft² facility in Addison, Ill.

 

MARKETING/LICENSING

The BetzDearborn and Pulp and Paper Divisions of Hercules and Vivendi Water have extended their North America alliance to all other regions of the world. The companies will cooperate to sell Vivendi Water’s industrial outsourcing and equipment capabilities and Hercules’ water and process treatment chemicals.

GLI International, Milwaukee, Wis., and Manning Environmental, Georgetown, Tex., have entered into a joint venture. GLI International produces online analytical instrumentation serving the industrial and municipal water and wastewater markets. Manning Environmental makes water/wastewater samplers that also serve the industrial and municipal water and wastewater markets. Under the terms of the agreement, GLI International has exclusive worldwide rights to manufacture, market, and distribute the new GLI/Manning line of water/wastewater samplers. Manning Environmental will continue to perform product research and development engineering in accordance with this agreement, and license them exclusively to GLI International.

Elementis Specialties has announced the appointment of TMC Materials as its distributor for the New England states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Connecticut.

Actio Corp. has announced a strategic marketing relationship with Clifton Park, N.Y.-based InteGreyted Consultants LLC, an HMK Enterprises Co. Under the terms of the agreement, InteGreyted will market Actio’s MSDS Vault MSDS management service through its network of environment health and safety consultants.

 

EXPANSIONS/MODERNIZATIONS

Falk has opened its 42,000 ft² newly remodeled facility in New Berlin, Wis. The building houses a 35,000 ft² repair and rebuild shop, the field service group, and a 7,000 ft² office that includes classroom space for the company’s Falk School, a four-day course intended for Falk gear drive users.

Adhesives Research Inc. has announced the expansion of its research and development (R&D) facility located in Glen Rock, Pa. The expansion to 23,700 ft² from 13,000 ft² is a result of steady growth of the company and increasing demand for custom research to develop innovative pressure-sensitive adhesive-based technologies.

 

EXPANSIONS/MODERNIZATIONS

NEW COMPANIES

HY Systems has launched irista, a new software company to design and market the company’s leading supply chain event management software and client services. Irista will also expand the reach of its products through the introduction of its Application Service Provider (ASP) hosting services.

 

REORGANIZATION

Valmet Converting has decided to integrate more fully the operations of the Valmet Atlas-Winders production unit in Heywood, England, with other divisions of the group. This unit was formerly known as AHM (Atlas Hurley Moate Ltd.) and this decision is intended to strengthen Valmet’s position in the converting industry. Future production of existing product lines will be transferred to other Valmet Converting locations. The Heywood production facility will be closed later this year.

 

TECHNOLOGY

TradeAccess Inc., a pioneer of B2B e-commerce negotiation technology, has received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a soon-to-issue patent covering business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce negotiation processes. This is the first of a series of patents applied for by TradeAccess relating to the company’s invention of a negotiation software system designed to meet the needs of global businesses for negotiated e-commerce processes.

 

PRICING

The Dow Chemical Co. is increasing the off-list selling price for all grades of caustic soda sold in the U.S. by $50.00/dry short ton, basic 76% Na2O. The increase is effective immediately to all spot customers, or as contract terms permit.

Air Products Polymers LLC, an affiliate of Air Products and Chemicals Inc., increased prices of its vinyl acetate-ethylene, vinyl-acrylic, polyvinyl acetate homopolymer, polyvinyl acetate copolymer, and ethylene-vinyl chloride emulsions sold to all markets in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico by 3 cents/wet lb. The company sites continued significant increases in costs of virtually all raw materials as the cause of this increase.

Imerys has increased prices by 3% to 5% for kaolin and ground calcium carbonates. The company cites spiraling energy costs and higher operational labor costs as the reason for the increase.

Millenium Inorganic Chemicals has announced a price increase for Tiona titanium dioxide products sold in North America. Prices will increase 4 cents/lb in the U.S. and 7 cents/lb in Canada.

Huntsman Tioxide has increased titanium dioxide prices to U.S. customers by 4 cents/lb.

 

CERTIFICATIONS/AWARDS

Motion Industries received the 1999 Supplier of the Year award from General Motors Corp. during ceremonies in Munich, Germany. The award, in its eighth consecutive year, is given annually to GM’s best global supplier in recognition of superior performance during the previous year. Motion Industries also received the 1999 Premier Supplier Award at Bethlehem Steel Corp.’s premier supplier celebration held in Bethlehem, Pa. This was the third annual event, and Motion has received the award every year.

 

NAME CHANGES

Valmet Hydraulics Oy, a company in Metso Corp.’s machinery business area, has been renamed Santasalo Hydraulics Oy, as the unit is functionally a part of the Santasalo group, which specializes in gears and components. Santasalo Hydraulics develops and supplies equipment, solutions, and maintenance services for hydrostatic power transmission, mainly for mobile work machines.