Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

North America: Sales of thermoplatic polyurethane (TPU) has increased year-on-on year in the six months to 30 June 2019 by 4.0%. The proportion of domestically produced TPU exported fell by 38.3%.

Data from the American Chemistry Council and Vault Consulting indicate American demand responding well to TPU’s tensile strength and grease resitance, even as polyurethanes lose out to substitutes in the Asian and European insulation sectors.

Ireland: Kingspan’s revenue rose by 12% year-on-year to Euro2.24bn in the first half of 2019 from Euro2.01bn in the same period in 2018. Its profit grew by 18% to Euro173m from Euro147m. Sales of its panel and boards products increased but panel sales growth was faster, supported by most territories with the exception of the Middle East.

“We have delivered a record first half with revenue growth in all our business units and a strong trading profit performance. We continue to expand our global production footprint with new facilities under construction in the US, Brazil and Sweden. The near-term outlook is solid although the political uncertainty in the UK, weakness in Serling, and weaker German economy are amongst risks we are monitoring closely,” said Gene Murtagh, the chief executive of Kingspan.

The building materials company is close to completing a new insulation panel plant at Modesto, California in the US. A new panel plant is also being considered in Pennsylvania, US and a new panel plant in Cambuí, Brazil is expected to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2019. A new board plant in Sweden is scheduled to start production in mid-2020.

US: The North American Insulation Manufacturers Association (NAIMA) has awarded R-Value Certification to Johns Manville’s fiberglass batt and narrow roll insulation products. NAIMA’s R-Value Certification program is a voluntary program that allows manufacturers to certify that the R-values for their products comply with the thermal performance requirements of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Home Insulation Rule. The have been tested by an independent, third party laboratory and meet the thermal performance required by the FTC. As per the FTC requirements, materials are tested using a standardised test method designed by ASTM International, an organisation that establishes internationally recognised test methods and standards.

US: Knauf Insulation North America and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) have announced an investment of around US$35m at Knauf’s fibre glass inslation plant at Albion in Michigan. The upgrade is expected to convert and restart an idled production line, increasing production capacity by more than 30% and adding 34 new full-time jobs. It will use recycled bottle glass recovered through the state of Michigan’s Bottle Deposit Law as a raw material. The project is expected to be completed in late 2020.

“Keeping pace with the growing demand in the upper Midwest for quality loose-fill insulation products will be made possible through the expansion of our plant here in Albion,” said Kevin Keen, plant manager at Albion.

The Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) has approved a US$200,000 Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant in support of the project. The MSF also approved a 100%, 15-year State Essential Services Act exemption valued at US$780,000.

US: Kingspan Insulated Panels has appointed Quincy McBride as its director of marketing for North America. He will be based out of Kingspan's DeLand headquarters in Florida.

Previously, McBride served as marketing communications manager at Morris Group International. He also worked as a marketing communications manager at Proactive Management Consulting, event sales manager at InterContinental Hotels Group and as an account executive at Pearson.