Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

US: Foam Systems has opened a new spray foam insulation plant at Norwalk in Connecticut. The producer claims it is the only such producer in New England. The company produces products including Thermoseal Spray Foam Insulation, Igloo Foam Insulation and others. It plans to open other plants across the US and provide private label services to other spray foam brands and to anyone who would like a private label spray foam insulation system.

“With the ever-changing environment in the spray foam industry given all the mergers and acquisitions, the only way to survive in the future is to open manufacturing locations across the US. We are fully committed to this effort and have multiple manufacturing facilities across the US under consideration” said Richard Ettinger, General Manager of Foam Systems.

US: Installed Building Products has purchased Advanced Fiber Technology (AFT) for an undisclosed value. Founded in 1988 and located in Bucyrus, Ohio, AFT manufactures cellulose, asphalt, and industrial fibres. The company sells its products to distributors and installers predominately in the Midwest and Northeastern US.

“AFT provides us with an opportunity to vertically integrate our cellulose insulation supply in certain markets which we believe will have an immediate and favourable impact on our business and financial results. Cellulose is an attractive alternative to fibreglass in a variety of insulation applications,” said Jeff Edwards, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Installed Building Products.

US: Owens Corning has launched a formaldehyde-free perimeter fire containment system product in North America. The offering uses Thermafiber Firespan and Safing mineral wool insulation products to deliver fire resistance performance to help commercial architects, specifiers and contractors. The system is available for specification now and will be on sale later in 2018.

“As a pioneer in fire safety, we know the perimeter in a commercial structure is one of the most complex areas where fire can spread and where building professionals face high-stakes design scenarios,” said Carmelo Carrubba, Owens Corning’s insulation strategic marketing vice president.

Owens Corning says that Thermafiber mineral wool insulation products have been installed in eight of the 20 tallest buildings in the world including the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai, UAE. The insulation producer is also promoting the sustainability credentials of its product through its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) credits for specific commercial and residential applications and its certification for a minimum 70% recycled content by the ICC-ES.

US: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved final amendments to its R-Value rule for domestic insulation products following a two-year review period. The changes are intended to reduce the regulation’s burden, clarify its requirements, and make it easier for the FTC to take action against deceptive R-value claims for non-insulation products.

The R-value rule originally came into effect in 1979. It requires home insulation manufacturers, professional installers, new home sellers, and retailers to provide R-value information, based on the results of standard tests, to help inform consumers. An insulation product’s ‘R-value’ represents the product’s ability to restrict heat flow and thus reduce energy costs.

US: The Reflective Insulation Manufacturers Association International (RIMA-I) has recognised the service of four directors who will retire from its board at the end of 2018. Peter Highfill of LL Flex, Mike Boulding of Pro-Echo Marketing, Veronica Ataya of Celplast Metallized Products and Lynn Walters of Kemper System America were each presented with plaques by president Doug Kinninger at the association’s bi-annual membership meeting that took place in Washington, DC in late October 2018.

US: Weaker market conditions have reduced Owens Corning’s expected growth in the third quarter of 2018. The building materials company’s net sales rose by 11% year-on-year to US$5.33bn in the first nine months of 2018 from US$4.78bn in the same period in 2017. Its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) increased by 1.5% to US$596m from US$587m. For its insulation business the company said that it had reduced its expected EBIT growth for the year due to weaker market expectations across different regions and products.

“Weaker than expected market conditions across all three businesses, which impacted third-quarter results, are expected to continue during the fourth-quarter. As a result, we have lowered our 2018 outlook and now expect adjusted EBIT to be in line with last year,” said chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Mike Thaman.

US: Owens Corning has presented Premier Tech with an award for Innovative Supplier of the Year – 2018 at its Annual Global Supplier Recognition Day in Toledo, Ohio that took place in late September 2018. The award recognises the engineering team’s contribution to developing high-performance, scalable automated packaging equipment that will allow Owens Corning to boost performance and meet growing workforce challenges.

Premier Tech’s Industrial Equipment Group is a supplier of industrial scalable packaging solutions and it says it is the largest robotic integrator in North America’s packaging industry. It is supported by a team of over 1700 people in 17 countries that serve clients in around 60 countries.

US: Germany’s Covestro plans to spend Euro1.5bn on building a new methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) plant at Baytown in Texas. The new plant will have a production capacity of 0.5Mt/yr and production is expected to start in 2024. The investment at the existing site in Baytown is the largest single investment in the history of the company. It will replace the 90,000t/yr MDI unit at the site.

“Demand for innovative MDI materials will continue to grow for the foreseeable future and likewise promises attractive capacity utilisation rates. We have already announced a significant increase in capital expenditures, now it’s time to put it into action”, said Markus Steilemann, chief executive officer (CEO) of Covestro. He added that the investment would strengthen the company’s ‘leading position’ in polyurethanes.

Covestro is also running a global investment programme in MDI production capacity, including plans to double its MDI production at Brunsbuettel, Germany to 0.4Mt/yr from 0.2Mt/yr by the second half of 2019. Other parts of this initiative include the continuation and expansion of plants in Tarragona in Spain, Caojing in China and Antwerp in Belgium.

US: Knauf Insulation has celebrated its 40th anniversary in the US. ‘Knauftoberfest’ featured German-themed music, costumes, foods and beers, according to the Shelbyville News newspaper. The German company has its US headquarters in Shelbyville and it started local operations in 1978. At present Knauf operates multiple facilities in the US and it employs around 1900 workers.

US: Demilec has been awarded the 2018 Polyurethane Innovation Award at Polyurethanes Technical Conference in Atlanta by the Center for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI) of the American Chemistry Council (ACC). It won for its Heatlok HFO product, a two component, closed cell, spray applied, rigid polyurethane foam system. Other finalists included ICL-IP America, for its VeriQuelR100 phosphorus-based, reactive flame retardant product, and SWD Urethane, for its Quik-Shield 108YM open-cell spray polyurethane foam (SPF) insulation product.