Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

US: Owens Corning has appointed Adrienne D Elsner to its board of directors. Elsner joined Kellogg Company in August 2015. Prior to joining Kellogg Company, she served more than 20 years at Kraft Foods, including Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. Her experience also includes sales roles at Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. Elsner has served on the Board of Directors of the Ad Council as well as the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. She holds a bachelor's degree in Marketing and Entrepreneurial Studies from the University of Arizona and a MBA in Marketing and Finance from the University of Chicago.

China: Luyang Energy-Saving Materials plans to spend US$19m on a new mineral wool production line. The upgrade will increase its production capacity to 80,000t/yr from 50,000t/yr, according to Reuters.

UK: Celotex has found errors in a safety test for its RS5000 polyisocyanurate foam (PIR) insulation board product that was used as part of the rainscreen cladding system in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower. As part of a review of the product the company has determined that there were differences between the system as tested for BS 8414:2 and the description of that system in the report of the test. The BS 8414:2 safety test was originally conducted prior to the RS5000 product being launched.

The insulation producer is exploring whether any safety issues arise from the differences in the test. It says it has notified the relevant bodies and is contacting its customers.

“It is a matter of real regret for us that this issue has arisen: we fully recognise its potential seriousness and that it will give rise to concern. We are working hard to arrange the further testing as quickly as possible and we will make a further announcement once the results of that testing are available,” said Celotex in a statement.

Celotex suspended supply of RS5000 PIR insulation board in June 2017 following a fire at Grenfell Tower in London that killed 71 people.

UK: SIG has suspended a ‘number of individuals’ from its staff following the discovery of an intentional effort to overstate the company’s profit in 2016. The discovery followed allegations by a whistle-blower concerning financial irregularities whereby the group’s profit was overstated by up to Euro4.2m in 2016. The affected financial statements will be restated following an audit by Deloitte and KPMG.

According to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, the discrepancies relate to work carried out in 2016 under previous chief executive officer (CEO) Stuart Mitchell. He resigned in November 2016 by ‘mutual agreement’. The group’s former finance director, Doug Robertson, retired in early 2017.

US: Germany’s BASF plans to start building a methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) synthesis unit at its Verbund plant in Geismar, Louisiana in the second quarter of 2018. Planning and engineering for the new unit started in 2016 and were recently completed. The upgrade is expected to double the company’s MDI production capacity to nearly 0.6Mt/yr from 0.3Mt/yr. The investment is planned to support the growth of BASF’s North American business.