Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

US: A fire was reported at an Owens Corning insulation warehouse in Newark, Ohio on 14 August 2013. According to the Newark Advocate, a fire broke out in the building materials producer's No. 77 warehouse containing bales of insulation.

Chuck Hartlage, senior communications leader at Owens Corning, confirmed that 30 employees were working in the building at the time and left the site safely. Production in the pipe insulation and mineral wool insulation plants was unaffected. Loading the operation in the main warehouse resumed on the same day. No cause for the fire has been found.

US: Johns Manville (JM) has earned a significant rebate from Energizing Indiana, Richmond Power & Light (RP&L) and the Indiana Municipal Power Agency (IMPA) for energy-efficiency improvements to its Richmond Insulation Systems facility in Indiana.

Through its participation in Energizing Indiana's Commercial & Industrial Prescriptive Rebate Programme, JM received a US$68,554 rebate for implementing energy-efficient lighting improvements designed to help the facility reduce its energy usage and promote cost savings. The rebate is the largest issued thus far to any of IMPA's 59 member communities involved in the Energizing Indiana programme. The retrofit project cut the facility's lighting energy consumption by approximately 80% and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 1800t/yr of carbon dioxide, over 9t/yr of sulfur dioxide, and approximately 2.25t/yr of nitrogen oxide. 



Zane Carpenter, JM's manager for Energy Engineering, said that the project is a good example of JM's commitment to sustainability, saying, "This retrofit project provides a reduction in energy usage that helps the utility curtail the need to add capacity to the grid. It helps reduce greenhouse gas emission derived from electricity production. It helps the community by injecting money into the economy and putting people to work, including the lighting designers, manufacturers and local contractors. It also helps the business maintain a healthy bottom line by reducing overall operating costs. It's really a win for the company, the community, the utility and the environment."

Russia: Penoplex has started its eighth insulation materials plant at Novomoskovsk, Russia, at a cost of over Euro11.4m. The plant has a production capacity of up to 0.3Mm² expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulating foam. The company produces about 2.5Mm²/yr of thermal insulation material. It manufactures extruded materials, such as products for heat insulation and water-proofing, The Russian-based insulation producer has a total of 50 distributors across Russia.

US: Owens Corning has reported a rise in adjusted earnings of 5% to US$69m in the second quarter of 2013 compared to US$67m in the same period of 2012.

The company's consolidated net sales fell slightly to US$1.35bn from US$1.39bn. The building materials manufacturer's adjusted earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) improved by 6% to US$124m in the second quarter of 2013 from US$17m in the same period in 2012. Also of note in the quarter, in June 2013 Owens Corning acquired Thermafiber, a mineral wool insulation manufacturer.

"We are pleased with our progress in the second quarter and the first half of 2013, with strong margin performance in our Roofing business, price increases and operating leverage in Insulation and improved performance in Composites," said chairman and chief executive officer Mike Thaman.

In its outlook the company expected profitability to improve in 2013 compared to 2012 due to company action, an improving US housing market and moderate global growth. The company expects stronger insulation volumes in the second-half of 2013 driven by residential construction, high capacity utilisation and improved pricing.

Denmark: Danish insulations materials producer Rockwool International has agreed to acquire BASF Wall Systems, which is owned by the BASF Group. The group's German subsidiary Deutsche Rockwool will acquire all of the German external façade insulation producer including a factory in Marktredwitz and the HECK MultiTherm and Rajasil brands.

"This is a major leap forward for the Rockwool Group's strategy of offering customers more complete solutions consisting not only of insulation but also all the other necessary elements of a total facade system such as paint, render, etc. The BASF Wall Systems business is in this respect a great asset," said division managing director of the Rockwool Group's Europe division, Henrik Frank Nielsen. He added that purchase enhances the group's façade strategy and gives it a 'significant' foothold in the German External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems (ETICS) market.

Rockwool declined to comment on the value of the deal, saying that the deal was too small to have any impact on the buyer's valuation. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2013. BASF Wall Systems had a turnover of Euro68m in 2012 and it had 190 employees.