Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

US: Cal Dooley, the president and chief executive officer of the American Chemistry Council (ACC), has warned that a proposed Chinese response to US-imposed tariffs on imports of Chinese steel and aluminium could have negative implications for US exports of products including polyethylene.

“China is one of the US chemical industry’s most important trading partners, importing 11%, or US$3.2bn, of all US plastic resins in 2017. We are particularly concerned that 40% of the products to which China has assigned new tariffs are chemicals, including polyethylene, PVC, polycarbonates, acrylates, and others,” said Dooley in a statement. He added that nearly US$185bn in new chemical factories, expansions and restarts of facilities around the US are predicated on current tariff schedules, and market shifts caused by tariff increases may convince investors to do business elsewhere. He ‘strongly’ urged the US and China to reach an agreement.

US: Owens Corning has appointed Marcio Sandri as President, Composites with effect from 25 May 2018. Sandri will report to chairman and chief executive officer Mike Thaman. He succeeds Arnaud Genis who has decided to retire.

Sandri currently serves as Vice President, Global Strategy and Operations for the company’s Composites business. Prior to this role, he was Vice President and Managing Director of Glass Reinforcements, encompassing core glass fibre production, technical fabrics and specialty glass within the Composites business. He also had enterprise-wide responsibility for operations and supply chain activity. Since joining Owens Corning in 2000, Sandri had several commercial roles with responsibility for the US, Latin America, Canada, and Asia Pacific. Before Owens Corning, he worked at Dow Chemical in Latin America and the US.

Sandri holds a degree in chemical engineering from the Federal University of Parana and studied business administration at the University of São Paulo, Brazil.

Italy: Ursa has launched a new extruded polystyrene (XPS) panel product called Ursa Maior. The insulation producer says that the product, Ursa Maior S27P, is the first and only extruded polystyrene thermal insulation panel that combines a thermal conductivity rate of 0.027W/mK with high compressive strength of 300kPa. Other features include water resistance and resilience to freeze and thaw cycles. It is being produced at Ursa’s Bondeno plant.

Romania: Saint-Gobain Isover is upgrading its Ploiesti mineral wool plant. A modernisation and extension project of its stone wool production line is scheduled to start operation in the second half of 2019. The upgrade will increase the plant’s production capacity to 30,000t/yr and extend its range of products for the Romanian market and neighbouring countries.

Saint-Gobain Isover has run operations on its Ploiesti site since 1997, with a glass wool line currently being modernised and due to start up in July 2018, and a stone wool line.

Hungary: Belgium’s Ravago and Turkeyʼs Beşler Tekstil plant to build a Euro20.5m insulation plant at Alsózsolca. The plant will have a production capacity of 36,000t/yr, according to the Budapest Business Journal. The government is aiding the project with a contribution of just under Euro4m. Once operational the plant is expected to export third-thirds of its output internationally. The unit will also create 90 jobs.

Ravago is a Belgium plastics manufacturer with operations in over 55 countries. Beşler Tekstil is a Turkish textiles producer.