Trump Backs Off Threat of Additional Tariffs on Mexico

June 17, 2019 The Rubber Industry’s International Newspaper $99 per year. $4.50 per copy Trump backs off threat of additional tariffs on Mexico By Miles Moore throughout Mexico, giving priority to its southern Rubber & Plastics News Staff border,” the declaration said. WASHINGTON—Representatives of the auto Mexico will take “decisive action” to dismantle and auto aftermarket industries breathed a sigh human smuggling and trafficking organizations, of relief at the news that the Trump administra- according to the declaration. It also will coordinate tion had put aside its plan to levy tariffs on all with the U.S. to strengthen bilateral cooperation goods imported from Mexico. in securing their common border, it said. President Trump announced May 30 that the The U.S. will expand implementation of the exist- U.S. would place a 5 percent tariff on Mexican ing Migrant Protection Protocols, which calls for goods beginning June 10, then increase those migrants crossing into the U.S. from Mexico to be Tire Business photo by Bruce Davis tariffs by 5 percent every month to a maximum of returned to Mexico to await decisions on their asylum Steve Kiefer (left), GM senior vice president, global pur- 25 percent unless the Mexican government took claims, according to the declaration. chasing and supply chain, with Michelin CEO Florent strong actions to prevent illegal immigra- Also, the U.S. and Mexico will continue Menegaux and Eric Vinesse, executive vice president of tion to the U.S. discussions on further possible actions research and development at Michelin. “For decades, the to address illegal immigration over U.S. has suffered the the next 90 days, it said. severe and dangerous President Trump, while de- consequences of illegal claring the agreement a victo- No room for air immigration,” Trump ry in his war against illegal said in a May 30 state- immigration, reserved the ment on the White House right to impose the tariffs GM moves forward with Michelin website. “From a safe- later if he is dissatis- ty, national security, fied with Mexico’s airless tire as original equipment military, economic and progress in stem- By Bruce Davis humanitarian stand- ming the flow of im- Tire Business point, we cannot allow migrants. MONTREAL—General Motors Co. has agreed to accom- this grave disaster to Members of Con- pany Michelin on the next leg of its journey to bring a viable continue.” gress and business extended mobility solution to market. After a week of intense nego- interests alike reacted Michelin, in partnership with GM, has taken development tiations, the Mexican and U.S. with dismay to the origi- of its decade-plus old Tweel maintenance-free, non-pneumat- governments issued a joint declara- nal announcement of the ic tire/wheel system to the tion late on June 7, announcing new tariffs. A typical reaction came next level with the “Uptis” initiatives to prevent illegal immigrants from the Motor & Equipment Manufactur- prototype that the compa- from crossing into the U.S. from Mexico. ers Association, which said May 30 that tariffs on nies said could be market “Mexico will take unprecedented steps to in- Mexican goods would not create a more secure border. ready as an original equip- crease enforcement to curb irregular migration, to Instead, such tariffs “will only serve as an addi- ment fitment by 2024. include the deployment of its National Guard See Tariffs, page 26 Michelin and GM presented the next-generation airless tire/wheel concept during the Movin’On Summit for sustainable mobility, held in Montreal June 4-6. Uptis—Unique Punctureproof Tire System—is based on the fundamentals of Michelin’s Tweel tire/wheel product, Kumho, Custom Rubber fined introduced at the 2005 Detroit Auto Show, according to Eric Vinesse, Michelin executive vice president, research and development. a combined $1 million by OSHA Like the Tweel, the Uptis uses resin-reinforced fiberglass spokes as load-bearing elements. The materials, production By Miles Moore hazards; process and architecture of the Uptis spoke design is com- Rubber & Plastics News Staff • Failing to follow hazardous energy control proce- pletely new, however, Vinesse said. WASHINGTON—Kumho Tire Georgia Inc. and dures while employees perform service and mainte- The spokes are molded onto an aluminum cylinder and Custom Rubber Products L.L.C. face an aggregate of nance on machinery; the rubber tread is molded onto the circular platform that more than $1 million in fines from the U.S. Occupa- • Failing to train employees on safety control pro- attaches to the end of the spokes. This assembly is then tional Safety and Health Administration for alleged cedures; and bolted to an aluminum wheel cover/mounting plate that safety violations at their manufacturing facilities. • Failing to provide machine guarding on various contains the wheel hub. On May 22, OSHA fined Custom Rubber $132,598 pieces of equipment throughout the Macon plant. “Uptis represents progress toward Michelin’s vision for for each of four alleged willful violations at its plant Sae Joong Mold Inc. was fined $9,093 for using tomorrow’s mobility,” Vinesse said, “and also embodies our in Houston, for a total of $530,592. damaged slings and for electrical hazards at Macon. commitment to a better, sustainable mobility for all.” One day later, the agency issued citations against J-Brothers Inc. was fined $7,503 for failing to mount While GM was introduced as the development partner of Kumho for 22 alleged violations—12 serious, nine portable fire extinguishers or perform annual main- Uptis, the technology is not exclusive to the U.S. car maker, repeat and one other-than-serious—and fined the tenance on fire extinguishers. according to Michelin CEO Florent Menegaux, leaving the tire maker a total of $507,299. OSHA inspected the Macon plant Nov. 27, 2018. door open for other vehicle makers to consider it as well. In addition, OSHA fined two other companies The agency said this inspection was a follow-up initi- GM, however, was the first to express an interest and working for Kumho at Macon a total of $16,596 for ated after it failed to receive documents from Kumho therefore has a head start in the development process. an aggregate at Macon of $523,895. stating that the tire maker abated violations found Michelin and GM have entered into a joint research The citations against Kumho covered: during a 2017 inspection. agreement under which the companies intend to further • Exposing employees to fall, struck-by and burn See OSHA, page 26 See Michelin, page 26

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How technology meets success. www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 3 Parker Hannifin to close hose Lion to buy SR plant from Firestone manufacturing plant in Mo. By Miles Moore ucts made at Orange are complementary to the company’s KENNETT, Mo.—Parker Hannifin Corp.’s Rubber & Plastics News Staff current portfolio and will strengthen the company’s ability Hose Products Division will close its manu- ORANGE, Texas—Lion Elastomers L.L.C. has signed an to support the synthetic rubber industry. facturing facility based in Kennett. agreement with Firestone Polymers to purchase Firestone’s “We have had a strong professional relationship with The firm said in a WARN notice to the synthetic rubber facility in Orange for an undisclosed price. Bridgestone for decades, and we are looking forward to Missouri’s Department of Economic Develop- With this sale, Firestone Polymers, a wholly-owned maintaining this relationship while we continue to support ment that the plant will close Sept. 30. Pro- subsidiary of Bridgestone Corp., will officially exit the the customers of the Orange, Texas, facility,” said Jesse duction will be transferred to existing loca- non-tire rubber business, according to a statement from Zeringue, Lion Elastomers CEO and president. “This asset tions in the U.S. by the end of September. Bridgestone Americas. purchase will provide our company with the opportunity “This was not an easy decision to make “Though the decision to sell the Orange, Texas, plant to further diversify our business and add additional prod- given the impact it has on our team members,” was especially difficult given the plant’s long-standing uct offerings to current and new customers.” Parker said in the notice. “However, this was presence in the community, Bridgestone considered the The sale is expected to become effective June 30, subject the only viable option as the demand for the competitiveness of the market and we are confident this to regulatory approval and other closing conditions, products manufactured at the Kennett facility move will provide the best opportunity to deliver on its Bridgestone said. can no longer support the operating costs.” long-term growth potential,” Bridgestone Americas said. After the sale is completed, Firestone Polymers will The move impacts 92 full-time employ- The Orange plant manufactures polybutadiene and sty- continue to operate its manufacturing facility in Lake ees, who received written notification on rene-butadiene copolymers under the Stereon, Diene and Charles, La., and its Akron pilot plant, the company said. June 4, according to the WARN notice. Duradene brand names. The Orange purchase is Lion Elastomers’ second strate- The site produces yarn reinforced rubber Lion Elastomers will retain those brand names, accord- gic acquisition in the past two years, the company said. hose and will continue its manufacturing ing to a company spokeswoman. She declined to answer In June 2017, Lion Copolymer Services, a sister company and assembly operation until all product further questions, such as how much the acquisition will of Lion Elastomers, acquired assets of Baton Rouge, La.- lines are operational in their new locations, add to Lion Elastomers’ work force and annual production based East West Copolymer L.L.C. Parker said in an emailed statement. capacity. Lion Elastomers manufactures EPDM and SBR at its “We are grateful for our team members’ According to a Lion Elastomers news release, the prod- facilities in Geismar, La., and Port Neches, Texas. hard work and dedication, and the consolidation in no way reflects their performance,” Parker said in the email. “We are committed to easing the transition for all affected team Zeon’s Dalton named CFO of the Year members and we will be offering employ- By Jordan Vitick ment opportunities across Parker, as well as Plastics News separation packages that include severance LOUISVILLE, Ky.—LaStacia Dal- pay and outplacement support.” ton, chief financial officer of Zeon Chemicals L.P., was named Plastics Continental to add capacity News CFO of the Year at the 2019 for OTR tires at Portugal site Financial Summit, held May 20-21 in Chicago. LOUSADO, Portugal—Continental A.G. “When I sit and think about my is investing $114 million to add capacity for greatest achievement, it’s hard for me larger diameter radial earthmoving and to say because when I think of success, port materials handling tires at its 73-year- I think of it more of a people standpoint old tire plant in Lousado. and a relationship standpoint,” Dalton The investment includes funding to ex- said. “The people that I work with, pand the site’s research and development lab. that’s why I come here every day be- The new capacity will be housed in a hall cause of the people, the employees.” being built adjacent to the expansion, opened Plastics News is a sister publication in 2017 for radial agricultural tire production, of Rubber & Plastics News, however Conti said. It did not disclose the hall’s size or RPN did not judge the award. the new product lines’ capacity, but added that When Dalton first started at the production could start by the end of 2019. University of Kentucky, her original The new production is expected to add 100 plan was not in finance. She was a Plastics News photo by Michael Marcotte jobs; the plant currently employs 2,000. political science major and wanted to LaStacia Dalton (center) speaks at the Plastics News Financial Summit with go to law school. But things changed other CFO of the Year finalists. Dalton, CFO of Zeon Chemicals L.P., was INSIDE THIS EDITION course when she took an accounting named Plastics News CFO of the Year in late May. class and loved it. Dalton held an accounting internship management system; employed a new Sarbanes-Oxley Act, known as JSOX. SSP getting ready for growth with Kentucky Utilities, graduated budgeting system; implemented an ex- Dalton also has reorganized and Specialty Silicone Products is making with a bachelor’s degree in accounting pense reporting system including more-branded the company’s charity investments under its new owner to increase and worked for KU full time following bile capabilities; carried out an ac- committee, Zeon Helping Hands, which employment in preparation for projected graduation. She also graduated from counts payable automated and she leads and sponsors. A different de- growth...... Page 4 the University of Louisville with a mas- paperless invoice approval process; and partment chooses the annual charity ter’s of business administration. deployed data analytics across the for fundraising each year, and this Remco adds capabilities She worked for Ware Energy then business Microsoft Power BI. year’s organization is Shirley’s Way, went back to KU as it was merging Jason Langford, Zeon Chemicals which helps pay for necessities such as Roller Equipment Manufacturing Co. with Louisville Gas and Electric. marketing communications associ- mortgage payments, car payments, Inc. has unveiled new products that were In 2006, Dalton left to become cor- ate, nominated Dalton for rent and utility bills to those designed to enhance customers’ capabilities porate controller of Louisville-based the award. who are battling cancer. within the rubber roller market...... Page 6 Zeon Chemicals, a wholly owned sub- “She equips her managers For the year ahead, Dalton sidiary of Zeon Corp. of Tokyo that for success by exposing them said Zeon Chemicals has “a Preparing for the future produces specialty elastomers. She to top-level, organizational lot of exciting things going on became CFO in 2012. strategy, allowing them to from a training perspective.” Machinery suppliers gear up for an exciting Dalton said her responsibilities as define and execute aligned “We are putting in some future as Industry 4.0 technologies become CFO have expanded every year. In- strategies for their individual new employee development more prevalent in the rubber manufacturing formation technology came under her departments,” Langford said plans for our employees, some sector, part of our special report on rubber umbrella in 2013, human resources in the nomination submis- new leadership development machinery...... Page 10 in 2015 and purchasing in 2016. sion. “She has made many opportunities for employees, “A day in the life of LaStacia is key improvements in finan- Dalton which we are really excited DEPARTMENTS more or less doing a little bit of every- cial areas, including consoli- about. We think that is going thing,” Dalton said, adding that typi- dation and centralization of functions to be really good, (and) some new possi- cal responsibilities include looking at such as payroll, timekeeping, accounts ble system improvements later in the Calendar ...... 23 sales, checking the news and foreign payable and fixed asset accounting to year,” she said. Editorials ...... 8 currency, holding one-on-one meet- Zeon Corp. These strategic improve- With human resources now under From the web ...... 9 ings with direct reports and the exec- ments have allowed her accounting her responsibilities umbrella, Dalton Obituaries ...... 5 utive management committee, and team to streamline processes in the said, the well-being of the employees Technical notebook ...... 18 planning objectives and strategies. accounting and finance area while has become her No. 1 priority. Vol. 48, No. 23. June 17, 2019—Rubber & Plastics News During the last few years, Dalton appropriately managing resources.” “When I go to bed at night, what (ISSN 0300-6123) is published bi-weekly by Crain Communications Inc. Periodical postage paid at Akron and her team have centralized ac- Among accomplishments Langford makes me lose sleep are my employ- and at additional mailing offices. Address all subscription counting functions to the corporate lo- named include Dalton “made success- ees,” Dalton said. “I want them to correspondence to: Circulation Department, Rubber & cation, which streamlined operations ful strategic decisions regarding com- come to work every day and I want Plastics News, 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, Mich. 48207- 2912. Postmaster: Send address changes to: Rubber & and allowed for more efficient use of pany pension plans and retirement them to be here and go home at night Plastics News, Circulation Dept., 1155 Gratiot Ave., resources while lowering costs; imple- programs as well as health care bene- saying, ‘I love working at Zeon and Detroit, Mich. 48207-2912. mented a timekeeping system across fits” and led the company to compli- this is where I want to be.’ To me, that all locations; employed a performance ance with the Japanese version of the is the most important thing to me.” 4 Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 www.rubbernews.com

Schaumburg, Ill. SSP expanding work force to chase growth

By Kyle Brown The market is coming to dictate plati- Rubber & Plastics News Staff num catalysts in medical applications Almost a year after being acquired by more often, as a cleaner, non-byproduct Heico Corp., Specialty Silicone Products material, he said. Inc. is expanding its work force by at The SSP-2390 series provides a one- least seven positions. part HCR six-month shelf life, compared The new hires are a part of a push for to other products that are generally two growth during the next 6-12 months, parts to be mixed at the molder or ex- said Dominic Testo, SSP business devel- truder, Testo said. opment manager, in an interview at the “In our situation, they can have no Healthcare Elastomer Conference in steps to mixing prior, and they don’t have Schaumburg, Ill. to worry about it going bad within a cou- The silicone manufacturer is bringing ple weeks or a month,” he said. “We’re on positions in process engineering, hu- proud of that one. We’re continuing to man resources and professional procure- promote and grow that for the medical ment, and at least four in skilled labor device market.” positions, Testo said. While the company does have some “Most of our growth plans right now long-term plans to add capacity within are people-based,” Testo said. “Getting its current facility, there are no official in more engineers to keep the factory expansions planned yet, he said. Quick running, bringing in a procurement development has been partially possible person or HR person to take some of that because of investment from Heico, which from the other managers who need to itself focuses on aerospace and electron- concentrate on R&D or their teams.” RPN photo by Kyle Brown ics markets. Michael Nicastro (left) and Dominic Testo show off silicone samples at the Special- The jobs come in across markets at “A lot of questions can be answered, ty Silicone Products booth during the Healthcare Elastomer Conference. SSP, which manufactures for applica- there’s a lot of ability to have some outside tions including medical, industrial, aero- non-conductive varieties. The new ma- inquiries or leads for it per month, we’re help where people have insights to the space and defense, Testo said. As the chine will open up some ability to do now seeing about 10. It’s huge.” market on a much higher level,” he said. growth efforts continue, SSP could look R&D work while keeping customers’ or- Part of that growth comes from con- “They’ve been extremely resourceful.” at increasing the total number of avail- ders filled. The extruded products even- tinued investment in content marketing Heico also has supported SSP through able titles, as more sales and customer tually will become bonded into O-rings such as technical blogs, promoting SSP equipment purchases, such as the new service employees would be necessary. and other seals, mostly with silver and as thought leaders in the industry, he extruder for conductive silicone, he said. SSP, based in Ballston Spa, N.Y., has nickel-filled materials. said. The development also is the result But Heico has otherwise been staying 74 employees at its 55,000-sq.-ft. loca- “That market is growing rapidly be- of a naturally growing segment of the out of the way to allow the smaller team tion. cause of the increased connectivity not consumer populations. at SSP to continue to grow as it needs, Post-acquisition, SSP is focusing on just on the battlefield but in general,” “I think what you’re seeing is that the he said. About 46 percent of the team developing its aerospace and defense Testo said. “That would include 5G tel- medical device market and the aging working at SSP currently have been at niche markets, and specified certifica- com applications where it’s growing out- population just like we’re talking about the company for five years or longer. tions within those markets, where the side the military. Then within the mili- here continues to grow,” Testo said. “And “They let us run pretty autonomously,” company will be able to develop and test tary, electronic warfare is on the forefront, I think people in general on the design Testo said. “Of course, we report to corpo- in-house, Testo said. like missile defense and satellite. A lot of end of these things in medical device, rate offices, but they’re basically letting “What we’re learning with the defense these applications call for good EMI RFI blood filtration and drug filtration are the team that they acquired do what they contractor market is that the certifica- shielding.” getting smarter about what a peroxide do best and continue to grow. That’s why tions, documentation and compliance Testo said SSP completed its ISO catalyst is versus a platinum catalyst.” they bought us, they saw the potential.” are as important or more important 9001:2015 certification, and its next step than price,” he said. plans to reach its AS9100 certification. SSP’s offerings for the defense market It also plans to qualify two products for include critical applications in a niche MIL-DTL-83528, a U.S. military-level part of aerodefense and telecom segments, set of specifications. he said. The firm is focusing on investing an unspecified amount into its elec- Medical market growth tromagnetic interference or radio-fre- The firm also is further developing its quency interference shielding elastomers, medical-grade silicone offerings in the the conductive silicones used for shielding growth phase. Among those products is gaskets. the SSP-2390 series, its one-part plati- It purchased a new extruder to double num cure HCR, which has a six-month its capacity for extrusion parts for EMI shelf life, he said. It also has the capabil- RFI shielding, as SSP currently has one ity for custom pantones in low or medi- full-scale machine working on the prod- um volumes. uct, he said. The extruder uses unique “We’re continuing to grow and pro- equipment to perform specialized work mote that market,” Testo said. “If you The SSP-2390 series is a one-part platinum cure HCR that has a six-month shelf with conductive silicone, as opposed to said two years ago, you saw one or two life, and has capability for custom pantones. Views from the Healthcare Elastomer Conference

RPN photos by Kyle Brown Ken Joung and Arthur Weng of Cooper Standard Bernie Powell of PolyOne led the first set of sessions, intake a break during one of the networking periods troducing speakers and taking audience questions. Richard Faulkner staffs the Teknor Apex booth. between sessions. www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 5 Illinois files suit against AB in wake of explosion By Miles Moore the explosion at AB caused an unknown and the environment from any chemical following the event that there were nine Rubber & Plastics News Staff amount of chemicals to be released into contamination.” workers in the building at the time of WAUKEGAN, Ill.—Illinois Attorney the air, causing air pollution and also In response to the lawsuit, AB issued the explosion. Of the remaining five, General Kwame Raoul and State’s At- threatening the land and water near the a statement saying it was surprised and three were taken to local hospitals and torney Michael G. Nerheim have filed facility. The suit also alleges that con- disappointed in Raoul’s decision to sue two declined treatment, he said. suit against AB Specialty Silicones to taminants released by the explosion and the company. The workers who died warned their ensure environmental cleanup of the AB water used to extinguish the fire allowed “For nearly a month we have worked in colleagues of the pending explosion, manufacturing site in Waukegan after a chemicals to seep into storm sewers, full partnership with all regulatory, state, thus saving their lives, Waukegan Fire catastrophic explosion and fire. contaminating a nearby wetland and local and federal agencies on our shared Chief George Bridges said at the news The May 3 explosion caused extensive Osprey Lake, located one mile from the goals of securing the site, protecting the conference. More than 100 first respond- damage to the AB site and killed compa- Waukegan facility. Waukegan community and ensuring it is ers fought the blaze and aided the ny co-owners Byron Biehn, 53, and Allen “The explosion was tragic, and my safe for our employees to return to work,” workers, Bridges said. Stevens, 29, along with third-shift pro- thoughts are with the families who have AB said. “We will continue to do so regard- AB Specialty Silicones reopened May duction supervisor Jeff Cummings, 57, lost loved ones as a result,” Raoul said in less of the status of the complaint from the 13. Fire officials and the Occupational and quality control chemist Daniel a news release regarding the lawsuit. Attorney General’s office.” Safety and Health Administration are Nicklas, 24. “As the community continues to recover The explosion occurred at about 9:30 investigating the explosion as an acci- Filed May 31 in Lake County, Ill., from the trauma of this event, I have p.m. on May 3. Waukegan Fire Marshal dent. AB said it may be months before Circuit Court, the lawsuit alleges that filed this lawsuit to protect residents Steve Lenzi said in a news conference the cause is determined. Goodyear airship advocate Mickey Wittman dies at 74 By Don Detore Tire Business ST. JOSEPHS, Mich.—Michael (Mick- ey) A. Wittman, a longtime blimp advocate who worked 25 years with Goodyear Airship Operations, died on June 4. He was 74. Wittman was among those credited with beginning and popularizing aerial sports broadcasting from the blimp, now prevalent in today’s TV sportscasts. During his career with Goodyear, he directed the blimp in covering more than 2,500 live THE BEST sports events, including six Olympics, 30 World Series, 26 Super Bowls and count- less college football games. He was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2013. Wittman began working for Goodyear DELIVERY Airship Operations in 1972, then left the company for five years. He was rehired in August 1978, serving Goodyear at IN both the Houston and Akron blimp bases as well as in New York City. THE BUSINESS. Henry Inman, who had public relations responsibility for the Asia and Latin America region from 1997-2000, said he and Wittman launched blimps in Brazil and Australia, as well as one for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Austra- lia, called the Spirit of the South Pacific. “Then we launched one in Sao Paulo, and we met with TV Globo (the premiere TV network in Brazil) executives and gave them exclusive use of the Goodyear blimp for all the soccer games. … It was quite a coup thanks to Mickey and our local PR guy,” Inman said. Wittman, a graduate of the University of Miami (Fla.), was a renowned athlete, playing for the Akron Wingfoots of the National Industrial Basketball League. He ended his collegiate basketball career ranked among the school’s all-time leading scorers and rebounders, a two- This isn’t any ordinary pitch time MVP who was inducted into the Miami Sports Hall of Fame. After earn- ing his bachelor’s degree in English liter- coming your way. ature, he continued his basketball career with the Phillips 66ers and Wingfoots. Inman said once, during a long lay- Nobody provides faster or more See for yourself. Visit our website. over in Miami, Wittman took him to consistent delivery of Hi-Sil® and Silene® Check out all of our products from PPG visit the Miami campus. precipitated silica products than the team or any of our other seasoned principals. “As soon as we walked in (to the ath- of PPG and Harwick. letic office), everyone knew Mickey,” In- Then, give us the call. man said. “He was out of control with handshakes, slaps and laughter.” We always go the distance to offer you Born on Sept. 26, 1944, in Queens, quality products, dependable distribution, When the game gets tight, there’s N.Y., Wittman is survived by his wife of and superior technical support. nobody you’d rather have on the rubber. 28 years, Susan (Contreras); their daughters Alex and Colby; and a daugh- ter Paige from his first marriage with wife Shirley. Other survivors include his brother Scott; grandchildren Emerson harwick.com and Scott; and son-in-law Eric (Nasstrom). To offer condolences and share “Mick- Akron, OH 1-800-899-4412 ey stories,” visit purelycremations.org. Working together for over 75 years. Pico Rivera, CA 1-800-883-9911 Registered to ISO 9001 6 Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 www.rubbernews.com

Remco shows off hybrid automated products

By Kyle Brown the knife, and you’re able to use it for Rubber & Plastics News Staff grooving or overbuild removal,” An- Grandview, Mo.-based Roller Equip- drews said. ment Manufacturing Co. Inc. is bringing The RTK is the company’s first offer- new capabilities to the rubber roller ing for that segment, a move in an effort market with new products such as its to be a go-to company for whatever needs GY Limited Automation series. to be done for a rubber roller manufac- General Manager Mark Andrews turer, Andrews said. talked about the new offerings from “We saw it as a natural step for the Remco, which designs and manufac- limited automation or the more auto- tures extrusion and finishing systems mated machinery where they would be for strip building, at the Rubber Roller tied in seamlessly with that,” he said. Group meeting in Cincinnati. A smaller modification for its grinding The new GY LA model brings an up- machine series is the removal of bellows grade to the control system for grinding covers from linear rails, Andrews said. machines, Andrews said. In the past, Originally, the company used accordion the company has sold manual controlled covers to keep grindings off of the linear machines as well as multi-axis servo rails. But as the parts aged, the bellows controlled machines to do automated covers became a nuisance in upkeep and processes like grinding, grooving and replacement. If the covers fell apart, crowning. new parts were expensive. Instead of The new model is a “kind of hybrid Above: Remco’s new GYLA model uses a touch screen that allows settings to be the bellows covers, Remco is using machine” that has a motion controller to saved in a recipe. This particular machine was installed for a Russian customer. sealed auto lubricating ball bearings, control the position of the grinding head Below: The RTK thermal knife’s electrical enclosure. The entire unit fits on the tool which allows grindings to scrape away to automate the process, Andrews said. post assembly, so the electrical cabling requirements are minimal. in the machine’s movement. “Then rather than using servo drives “We increased our cost by putting on on the rest of the machine, we’re simply the auto lubrication and scrapers, and controlling the variable speed drives it’s kind of an offsetting thing,” Andrews over ethernet,” Andrews said. “That said. “The benefit is mostly to our cus- ethernet link allows us to simplify that tomers, because they don’t have to re- wiring and give additional control over place the bellows covers.” the various control aspects of the ma- In the company’s stripbuilding offer- chine.” ings, Remco has made several small ad- The new line has a touch screen inter- justments, Andrews said. One example face, and settings can be saved in a reci- is the addition of tape tension readouts, pe to standardize the process, Andrews which allows measurement without said. having to come into contact with the “You can call back up, the spindle’s go- tape. ing to go this speed, at this many RPM. “People would thump the tape to see It’s going to go in that direction and start how tight it was. It’s a safety issue. at this point in time,” he said. “All that’s You’re touching the tape going at 60 psi stored in a recipe so that you can just call or 150 psi, you get caught in there and it that back up and repeat it time and time doesn’t let go very easily,” he said. again.” Remco also developed what Andrews The model, which called the “rapid build system,” which is currently avail- allows operators to open up the die to able, took the name make the strip larger, meaning addi- “Limited Automa- tional capability for more volume. The tion” because it’s system is “beefed up” downstream such not fully servo-con- as at the application head, allowing it to trolled, allowing for “We feel like the limited automation ing bases cast. The company sectionaliz- use the larger strip to drive up through- the positioning of will help where you can set the parame- es them, making 1.5-meter and 3-meter put while still getting good results in the grinding head ters and just call that back up,” Andrews lengths, and joining them to match the stripbuilding applications. for the diameter, he said. “It’s not going to eliminate the op- necessary length for the machine. One “Everybody wants to improve their said. erator, somebody’s got to get the process major benefit for the customer is that throughput. Everybody wants to de- “But we’re con- Andrews started and know how to finish it and casting is very “dead” material, meaning crease the amount of time it takes to trolling speeds, feeds, handle the material after it’s been built. it absorbs vibration and stabilizes the build a product and leave more time for directions, starts, stops and so forth, But that limited automation helps that grinding machine for accuracy. building additional products,” Andrews and are able to call that back up and whole process along and takes some of A big part of the move was to save said. “You have two ways to improve save it in recipes,” Andrews said. the worry out of the potential problems.” cost, as the casting business in the U.S. your throughput. You get a bigger ex- The GY LA brings some automation has struggled, and offshoring became truder or you allow more material to capabilities without the cost of a full- Customer benefits necessary for the process, he said. As come out of a smaller extruder in the blown system, tying together compo- Another change to the grinder system the fabrication of the bases was becom- same amount of time. That’s the direc- nents used in a “normal” manually oper- that has gotten positive response from ing exorbitantly expensive, Remco tion we went with for that and felt like it ated machine, but with the benefit of an customers is a change to the tailstock, wanted to avoid passing that growing would be beneficial to our customers.” “executive” that can talk to and direct he said. While the tailstock used to be cost on to customers. Remco also added some limited auto- those other drives, Andrews said. mounted on a flat and a V-way like a “We had to offshore the casting aspect mation to its stripbuilder platform, with “You get the functionality of automa- conventional lathe, Remco now mounts of it. While we don’t necessarily enjoy programmable logic controller motor- tion, so it’s kind of a win-win situation the tailstock on the same linear ball that part of it, that was just the reality ized functions and recipe storage of the for our customer,” Andrews said. rails as the grinder carriage. of manufacturing,” Andrews said. build parameters, including tempera- The information the GY LA creates in “By moving the tailstock, it does not The savings for Remco has been “sig- ture, motor speed and direction, An- its use could be collectible data, but cus- introduce taper into the system. Even nificant,” taking close to about 50 per- drews said. tomers so far haven’t requested the ca- with the best V-way system, you might cent out of the process cost, he said. The company has seen a big increase pability to harness it, he said. get a few thousandths of taper, but when “It was necessary. It’s hard to compete in business in the first six months of “We’ve talked to customers about it’s on the same rail as the grind areas, if your machines cost more than you 2019, so much so that it’s almost been a whether they want those metrics, and we it maintains that,” Andrews said. “It would sell them for,” Andrews said. struggle to keep up, he said. As some get kind of a tepid response,” Andrews makes a big difference for an operator, sectors ebb and flow in demand, the pe- said. “Most people don’t have the infra- because you don’t have to take a test Other products troleum industry segment has been structure to maintain that information.” grind and then offset the tailstock man- Remco also developed the RTK, a growing recently. Another benefit of the addition of lim- ually, and then take another grind. It’s a thermal knife used for grooving, over- Beginning in the latter part of last ited automation is that it can make it time saver, which means it saves money.” build and removal, he said. The RTK year, interest and quotations picked up, easier to maintain quality and stan- Remco’s grinders also have bucked includes digital controls, which ties back and Remco currently is booked through dards across operators, Andrews said. another design trend in its new grinding to the limited automation processes. June with more orders in the pipeline. An expert operator’s experience is use- bases, he said. In the past, grinding “So you can not only put in a grinder Comparatively, the previous year was ful, but can mean some difficulty in bases have been manufactured out of speed, but you can put in a knife power more of a break-even year, when Remco transitioning to a newly purchased ma- fabricated metal, but within the last two setting and be able to call that up. And it used the slow market to focus on new chine or to training a new operator. years, Remco has started having grind- automatically sets the heat setting on product development. www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 7 Trinseo acquires Dow’s latex assets in Germany By Miles Moore cant interest from a number of tire seo’s SSBR technology, the company has a work force reduction. Rubber & Plastics News Staff manufacturers. suffered sales and profit declines in its Yarkadas said the company made the BERWYN, Pa.—Trinseo S.A.’s acqui- “SSBR is one of the most strategic synthetic rubber segment. adjustment at the end of 2018, involving sition of Dow Chemical Co.’s German product lines in our portfolio,” he said. The company’s SR sales fell 16 percent “a few percentage points” of workers latex assets indicates the company’s in- Functionalized SSBR is a major focus in the first quarter of 2019, to $125 mil- correlating to the maintenance, ware- terest in both expansion and product of Trinseo in meeting the requirements lion, because of lower SSBR sales, house and laboratory segments. innovation, according to Trinseo execu- of high-performance tire manufactur- Trinseo said in its first-quarter finan- “If you’re a company in the chemical tives. ers, according to Yarkadas. cial report. industry, you have to look at costs,” he However, the company is not yet ready “We have to have chemical functional- Weaker demand in the tire and auto- said. Meanwhile, the HP tire market to discuss those plans. ization of SSBR,” he said. motive markets hurt sales, as did nega- continues to enjoy a growth rate in the Trinseo said May 2 it had signed a defin- Processability and optimal function- tive currency factors, according to the high single digits. itive agreement to alization of tread rubber are all-import- report. “We’re not seeing 12 percent average acquire Dow’s latex ant for the HP market, and requirements Earnings in that sector dropped 65.4 growth, but 7 or 8 percent,” he said. production facilities vary from customer to customer and tire percent year-to-year, to just under $9 Trinseo will continue to look at opera- and related infra- to tire, Yarkadas said. million, Trinseo said. tional costs in determining employment structure at Rhein- “Non-functionalized SSBR doesn’t get Trinseo announced in January that at the company, according to Yarkadas. munster, Germany. you there,” he said. the tire market slowdown had forced it “Right now, our focus is on innovation,” Trinseo said it However, despite advances in Trin- to take cost-cutting measures, including he said. expected to close the deal in the second half of 2019, subject to custom- ary closing conditions and regulato- Yarkadas ry approval from the European Union. The price of the transaction is about $44.7 million in the form of assumed pension liabilities for the approximately 114 employees expected to transfer from Dow to Trinseo, the company said. In a news release, Frank Bozich, Trinseo president and CEO, said the acquisition at Rheinmunster is directly related to the company’s growth strategy in latex binders, especially in the ad- hesives and construction industries. “Taking full control of these advan- taged manufacturing assets will allow Trinseo to produce a wider variety of products, invest capital for technology upgrades, and optimize operations for the mix of products and chemistries most needed by our customers,” Bozich said in a statement. Hayati Yarkadas, Trinseo senior vice president and business president, performance materials, said in the news release the Rheinmunster site is well-situated for future expansion, because Rheinmunster already is the home of Trinseo’s research and development center for latex binders. A Trinseo spokeswoman said it was too soon to discuss any possible expansions or further acquisitions, except to repeat that the Rheinmunster acquisition will provide Trinseo the opportunity for further expansion once the deal is finalized. For Trinseo to acquire a Dow operation is in some ways a turn of the circle, because Trinseo was once Styron L.L.C., the styrenics business of Dow. Dow sold Styron to Bain Capital L.L.C. in 2010 for $1.6 billion, and the company changed its name to Trinseo the following year. The Trinseo spokeswoman declined comment when asked whether there would be any more acquisitions from Dow, or any continuing connections between the two companies. Trinseo has seen some major changes in the past year, particularly the ap- pointment of Bozich, former CEO of specialty chemical manufacturer SI Group, as its new president and CEO in March 2019. Bozich replaced Chris Pappas, who retired after serving in those positions since 2010. The company also has introduced some important new products, such as a new grade of multi-functionalized solution SBR, Sprintan 918S, which it unveiled during the Tire Technology Expo in Hanover, Germany, in March. Sprintan 918S, Trinseo said, is ideal for use in high-performance tires on sport-utility vehicles and light trucks. In a telephone interview, Yarkadas said Sprintan 918S has piqued signifi- 8 Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 www.rubbernews.com Opinion

Industry 4.0 Vol. 48 No. 23 Brennan Lafferty, V.P./group publisher David E. Zielasko, Publisher, vice president (330-836-9180)

EDITORIAL STAFF gaining traction Bruce Meyer, Editor (330-865-6124) Chris Sweeney, News editor (330-865-6188) in rubber industry Miles D. Moore, Senior Washington reporter (703-256-9275) ndustry 4.0 is a concept that started in Europe and to date Erin Pustay Beaven, Online content editor (330-865-6106) still has seen its widest acceptance there. Quickly, though, Kyle Brown, Reporter various aspects of the smart factory are beginning to take (330-865-6115) I Michael McCrady, Art director shape and be implemented elsewhere around the globe. (330-865-6148) One need look no closer than what makers of various A speaker from MonTech said at HF’s International Mix- John Dick, Technical editor rubber and tire related machinery are starting to do. And ing Seminar that companies in the U.S. and elsewhere are ([email protected]) it wasn’t that long ago that automation was something that investing billions toward artificial intelligence develop- Keith E. Crain, Editorial director those in rubber industry struggled to make a viable option ment. By 2020 he said about 1.7 million industrial robots INTERNET in the sector. That’s far from the case anymore. will be introduced into the global marketplace. Countries Mark McCarron, Digital coordinator HF Group is investing significantly to increase its pres- such as Germany, Japan and South Korea are investing so (330-865-6123) ence in automation, most notably through its acquisition these technologies can work in small plants all the way up SALES STAFF of Mesabi Control Engineering Ltd., a Minnesota-based Brent Weaver, Sales manager to the large global factories. (330-865-6119) provider of automation systems and software. The head of China will be in the fray, hoping to pass the U.S. as the Peter McNeil, Display advertising sales repre- Mesabi said automation is one of the fastest growing seg- most innovative nation by 2049, with Industry 4.0 as one of sentative (330-865-6109) ments in the rubber industry. Brooke Stender, Classified advertising sales the main tools to achieve that. representative (330-865-6117) Troester is looking at automation in a number of its pro- Many of these innovations have a ways to go. It’s one Lori DiFrancesco, Sales and conference coordi- cesses, including a system to scan the inside of the tread af- thing to prove a technology in a laboratory setting, and nator (330-865-6121) ter it has passed the extrusion head to see that the various Sarah Arnold, Marketing and events manager quite another in a full-scale manufacturing setting. But if (330-865-6169) components are all properly aligned. And Bartell is working successful, the technology will enable firms to collect much Patrick Cannon, Group sales director on an integrated bead inspection system that would lever- more data. The trick will be to figure out how to best use (313-446-1625) age Industry 4.0 attributes to give tire makers a technology this to improve processes, boost quality and help increase RUBBER DIRECTORY & BUYERS GUIDE that would allow close to 100 percent of beads to be inspect- profitability. Sally Dietz, Assistant events manager/editorial ed, compared with the current rate of 10 percent. In manufacturing, isn’t that the ultimate win-win? coordinator (330-865-6112)

IT/PRODUCTION STAFF VIEWPOINT Scott Merryweather, Media services manager Anthony DiPonio, Chief information officer

AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Jennifer Mosley, Group director/Audience devel- Auto industry surrounded by chaos opment (312-649-5312) EXECUTIVE OFFICES 2291 Riverfront Pkwy, Suite 1000, Cuyahoga By Keith Crain to all be on the same side, at least for a short time. Falls, Ohio 44221. Phone: 330-836-9180; Edito- The briefly proposed merger had the French, the Italians rial fax, 330-836-2831; Sales, administration fax: hile I have taken some time off, getting back to and the Americans all taking everything in with a very 330-836-1005 fighting trim, I have been fascinated by the chaos high degree of interest and trying to figure out whether it Diana Clance, Office coordinator Wthat seems to be surrounding the automobile indus- would suit their interests. (330-836-9180) try these days. One of the reasons their interests couldn’t align was that Trying to figure out the good guys and the bad guys at Nis- Nissan didn’t seem to like the new role that might have san, after the long and painful incarceration of Carlos Ghosn, been assigned to them in a new and improved alliance. The we still have to look forward to an even longer trial in the trouble is that there are so many players, it wasn’t clear most nasty environment. what role Nissan would have liked to play. Rubber & Plastics News is published bi-weekly by Crain Communications Inc. But even before all the confusion about I am not sure anyone has seen such a confused situation Subscriptions: U.S., one year $99; two years, Nissan has been even understood, along dealing with all these very different personalities. If that is $178. Group rates, $79 each for five or more comes Fiat Chrysler, proposing a new not enough to confuse the players, then getting the U.S. gov- copies. Air mail and first class delivery to U.S., U.S. possessions, Mexico and Canada, $164; the merger. But a marriage with Nissan’s long- ernment involved can only add to the confusion. Middle East and Europe, $219; all other regions, time partner Renault would not necessar- Before we hope to sort out all the players, I am not sure that $293. For surface delivery to Canada, $138 (including GST); Mexico and all other foreign ily be made in heaven—or here on earth. anyone knows all the answers. countries, $140. Single copy, $4.50. The offer was withdrawn, but the idea de- It is going to take quite a while before the players can Rubber Directory & Buyers Guide, $89 per copy fended, so it could come back around. plus $6 for first class postage and handling in the come up with a solution that will satisfy most, if not all, of U.S. and Canada. Four weeks’ notice required for And if that is not stirring the pot enough them. And there is still one huge obstacle to overcome, and change of address. GST #136760444. these days, then we should not forget what is that is the thousands of automobile dealers in the U.S. and Printed in the U.S. For new subscriptions and change of address, going on with NAFTA, particularly in Mexico where the pot around the world that will be at the mercy of these compa- write: Audience Development Department, seems to continue to boil too close to the point of overflowing. nies that must decide for everyone else. Rubber & Plastics News, 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, Mich. 48207-2912; call 1-877-320- If you happen to have anything to do with imports or ex- With tariffs as well as any potential merger, it will be in- 1726 or e-mail customerservice-rpn@crain. ports or are trying to figure out all this information about teresting to see how they all deal with these new challenges. com for customer service. For subscription tariffs and cars, then there is a very good chance that your Sergio is gone as is Carlos, so it will be all new players. information and delivery concerns please email [email protected] or call 877-320- head is swimming. We wish them all well. 1726 (in the U.S. and Canada) or 313-446-0450 What makes it even more confusing is that you will be (all other locations) Reprints: Lauren Melesio, 212-210-0707; able to find a lot of Democrats lined up with a bunch of Re- Keith Crain is chairman of Crain Communications Inc., e-mail, [email protected]. publicans—and for this particular scrimmage they seem which publishes Rubber & Plastics News. Website: http://www.rubbernews.com

CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC ONLINE QUOTE OF THE WEEK Keith E. Crain Mary Kay Crain Chairman Vice chairman “He was a highly respected mem- KC Crain Chris Crain Check out our redesigned website at rubbernews.com President Senior executive ber of the board of management. vice president WACKY WORLD OF RUBBER: June 1 is a day that will be remembered by Lexie Crain rubber duck racing fans. Chris Sweeney explains in his latest blog. ... He was one of the driving forces Armstrong Robert Recchia behind the success story of the HF Secretary Chief financial officer PHOTO GALLERY: The first Healthcare Elastomers Conference, hosted by G.D. Crain Jr. Gertrude R. Crain RPN, was a success. Take a look at some of the sights online. Mixing Group.” Founder (1885-1973) Chairman (1911-1996) Other online content: —Ian Wilson, vice president of sales and marketing STORIES • VIDEOS • PHOTOS • NEWS • BLOGS • NEWSLETTERS at HF, on the retirement of co-CEO Andreas Limper. www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 9 From The Web Michelin names Garcin The center will be completed later in Schoch will continue in the roles of penhaver as its director of sales for the 2019. In the meantime, MGS is consoli- chairman and CEO of the company. Americas region. chairman of N.A. subsidiary dating its Illinois operations into the Chemours Co.—Promoted Mark New- Orion Engineered Carbons S.A.—Made GREENVILLE, S.C.—Michelin has Germantown facility. The company cur- man to the newly created role of chief oper- three changes to its executive manage- promoted Alexis Garcin, a 17-year Mi- rently has two sites in northern Illinois: ating officer. He had previously served as ment team. Carlos Quinones was chelin veteran, to chairman and presi- Antioch and Libertyville. Both are about the firm’s chief financial offi- named senior vice president dent of Michelin North America Inc. He 70 miles from Germantown. cer. The firm said that Sa- To keep up with the of global operations; Pedro succeeds Scott Clark, who recently was Illinois employees will be offered posi- meer Ralhan has been pro- daily pulse of the Riveros will serve as senior promoted to group executive vice presi- tions within the Germantown operations. moted to the position of senior industry, visit www. vice president and general dent responsible for the global passenger vice president, chief financial rubbernews.com. manager of the firm’s Ameri- car and light truck business, motor- On the move officer and treasurer. He pre- cas region; and Patrick Tut- sports and experiences. viously had served as vice tle was appointed senior vice Garcin has been senior vice president of AirBoss of America Corp.—Named president of business finance and treasur- president, global human resources. Addi- Michelin’s global long-distance transpor- Chris Bitsakakis to president, and he er, joining the company in 2014. tionally, Claudine Mollenkopf, senior tation business line since 2018. From will continue to serve as chief operating ChemSpec Ltd.—Named Elizabeth vice president of specialty carbon blacks, 2011-17, he was global strategic marketing officer of the company. Lisa Swartz- Gadowski as CASE sales manager to sup- will be leaving the company to pursue director for the truck and bus division. man, the previous president, was pro- port its adhesive and coating product lines. other business interests. The firm said In his new position, Garcin will be re- moted to vice chair of AirBoss. Gren Dymax Corp.—Appointed Dave Kop- her role will be reassigned within Orion. sponsible for all key customer-facing functions of Michelin North America, including sales and marketing, quality, technical development and supply chain units. He will relocate to Greenville, home of Michelin’s North American headquarters, from Cler- mont-Ferrand, France. During his 17 years with Michelin, the French native has held leadership roles in marketing, sales, distribution and other commercial functions for units in Europe and at the global level, Michelin said. Before joining Michelin, Garcin worked for Bosch Group. Concurrent with his promotion by Mi- chelin, Garcin joins the board of the U.S. A machine for every purpose Tire Manufacturers Association. Clark, head of Michelin North Ameri- ca since December 2017, was named to Michelin Group’s executive committee in March by incoming CEO Florent Me- negaux, along with eight other senior managers. Among his new duties is oversight of the Americas region. He succeeded the retiring Pete Selleck as the top North American executive. He had been the firm’s executive vice president and chief operating officer of its passenger- and light-truck tire unit since 2007. U.S. tariffs drive Kenda to With a large range of model types and clamping systems together with an extensive range of options, relocate China production we can guarantee to supply exactly the machine type to t your application. CHANGHUA, Taiwan—Amid U.S. tariff angst, Kenda Rubber Industrial Co. Ltd. is transferring some of its tire production from China factories to other Asian areas. C600.web “Kenda has many tire manufacturing Smart control systems Industry 4.0 Controller facilities in Asia, we can offer productions from different factories to cover demands Our MAPLAN engineers developed a new control unit from customers in a different part of the generation based on high-performance, usability world,” Chairman Jimmy Yang said. The company will supply its tires from and intuitive operation combined with state-of-the-art “wherever it fits to meet our goal of of- technology. fering the best service and quality products to customers,” Yang said. It combines a large touch display with fully scalable user Chinese production of U.S. orders is interface, full web functionality based on HTML5 and a modern, worth about $65 million annually, ac- clearly-arranged design. cording to reporting in May by China Rubber, a biweekly affiliated to the Intelligent operating options like our cycle con gurator and China Rubber Industry Association. the freely programmable button elds make the control unit Kenda’s China production for U.S. orders of passenger and SUV tires will be especially simple and ecient. moved to Kenda’s second Vietnam plant once a $48 million expansion project there is finished, the company said. MGS to move Illinois sites into new Wisconsin facility GERMANTOWN, Wis.—MGS Mfg. Group Inc., a Germantown, Wis.-based custom injection molder and tool maker, is investing $20 million at its headquar- MAchinery + PLANning Inc. ters site and closing two Illinois opera- 1655 Lancaster Road tions as it focuses more on capabilities South Elgin - IL 60177 - USA and clean room capacity for customers in the health care market. T +1 630 924 0100 A new 13,000-sq.-ft. Class 8 clean [email protected] room will house 20 injection molding machines with press tonnage from 160- 650 tons, automated assembly cells and auxiliary equipment. 10 Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 www.rubbernews.com SPECIAL REPORT Rubber Machinery HF divests extrusion unit to Troester By Chris Sweeney other machinery. Existing HF extrusion the other hand, has had a strong focus in of the deal. Rubber & Plastics News Staff orders and projects will be completed in the East, especially in China, with Euro- The Troester rubber business divi- HANOVER, Germany—Troester GmbH close cooperation with Troester, accord- pean and American customers. sion’s remaining facilities are in Ha- & Co. K.G. has acquired the extrusion ing to HF. The deal brings Troester a leading po- nover, Germany; Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; technology business of the HF Tire Tech “Troester has always been a world sition in nearly all global markets, and Shanghai in addition to a coopera- Group. leading manufacturer of extrusion equip- Schmidt said. tion with Tekfab Engineers—an In- In a deal completed May 1, Troester ment for the rubber industry,” Troester “HF has been a very strong player on the dia-based manufacturer of downstream said it will maintain the extrusion busi- Managing Partner Peter Schmidt said in market for extrusion equipment for de- equipment. ness unit’s location in Hamburg, Germa- an email. “While HF has decided to decades,” he said. “Through their strong in- “This will enable us in the future to of- ny, and all employees have transferred cline from this business and to focus on stalled basis all over the world we really fer a wider range of locally produced with the business. HF said the move was other fields of equipment for the tire in- now have a couple of new costumers which downstream equipment for the Indian driven by its customers asking for com- dustry, it was in our interest to further we did not have before. Particularly in India market,” Schmidt said. “Our product plete lines and turnkey solutions for rub- concentrate and grow in the rubber ex- the customer basis of HF has been stronger range covers the full range of applications ber extrusion, and Troester ensures that trusion business.” than ours.” of extrusion in the rubber industry. A the extrusion business can develop suc- Troester said the move will open up new HF’s business consists of 26 employ- very strong focus is on all applications cessfully in its field of expertise. opportunities for the firm in the interna- ees, all located in the Hamburg facility used in the tire industry. In addition we HF, on the other hand, will be able to tional market. Schmidt said the HF extru- and consisting of sales, service, engi- also produce extrusion equipment for focus on its mixing equipment, tire sion business has been very strong in the neering and project management. Schmidt profile and hose equipment and also spe- building machines, curing presses and India and American markets. Troester, on said no manufacturing activities are part cial applications like silicone extruders.” Data, analytics drive industry toward Manufacturing 4.0 By Chris Sweeney gy through artificial intelligence, hard- For instance: A manufacturer would Rubber & Plastics News Staff ware automation and software automa- take a machine and tell it to successfully LAWRENCE, Kan.—The manufac- tion to give birth to the smart factory.” drink a glass of water. The machine, turing sector could very quickly start to Bagan said that smart manufacturing with no knowledge, then has to figure look like something out of a science fic- is the cornerstone of the fourth industri- out how to pick up the glass, move it to tion movie: an array of robots making al revolution, which combines automa- the appropriate spot, tilt the glass with- decisions independently of humans. tion and robotics with the introduction out spilling or dropping it, consume the Though, hopefully, without the Arma- of artificial intelligence, data technolo- liquid and return the glass to its original geddon parts. gies and cloud computing. point without damage. Automation and machine learning are The idea is to take all the manufactur- “The desire for perfecting a process both increasing significantly throughout ing principles developed since the 1700s, has not stopped,” Bagan said. “It has be- manufacturing. Spencer Bagan, national or the first industrial revolution, through come leaner, more sustainable and more sales and marketing manager at Mon- the 2000s and multiply them by 100, then efficient ever since the birth of the factory Tech, outlined how those concepts evolv- in five years multiply that by 1,000. With system. Most of us are here today to see ing in tandem could one day give way to artificial intelligence tied to hardware what’s new, so we know this process of the smart factory, a fully automated and software automation, those kinds of perfection is not stopping and it won’t manufacturing operation, at HF Mixing speeds are possible, he said. stop because the competition in the world Group’s International Mixing Seminar The goal of Manufacturing 4.0 is to is getting tougher.” held recently in Lawrence. essentially have the factory run itself, Companies and countries already are “It’s a really exciting time for us,” Ba- but that requires deep data mining— committing billions toward Manufac- RPN photo by Chris Sweeney gan said. “I find myself in lockstep with both supervised and unsupervised—so turing 4.0. Bagan said the U.S. alone Spencer Bagan, national sales and mar- many other tech leaders in the industry machines can evolve independently. Ba- invested $3 billion toward artificial in- keting manager at MonTech, delivers a in that we are on the verge of another in- gan said this process defines a starting telligence development. He did not have presentation on how automation, ana- dustrial revolution. And that revolution point and a goal, the hardware then fig- a global figure, but estimated that it lytics and data mining are all driving the is the adaptation of automation technolo- ures it out in between. was “much higher than $3 billion.” industry toward smart factories at the International Mixing Seminar, hosted by the HF Mixing Group in Lawrence, Kan. He added that labor productivity is set to increase up to 40 percent as more automation is introduced into manufacturing sites, and by 2020 about 1.7 million industrial robots will be introduced into the global marketplace. Germany, Japan and South Korea are all pushing millions of dollars in the development and scalability of these technologies so it can work with the small factory all the way up to the big global players. Bagan said South Korea already has the largest densi- ty of robots to humans in manufacturing, estimating it to be about a one to 10 ratio. “South Korea has a very admirable goal,” Bagan said. “They want 30,000 smart manufacturing facilities operational by 2030.” China is probably the most ambitious. Bagan said it aspires to use Manufactur- ing 4.0 to become one of the strongest and innovation nations. He added that the most innovative manufacturing nations are divided into three tiers—the U.S. in the first; Germany and Japan in the second; and the United Kingdom, France, South Korea and China in the third. Bagan said China’s goal is to move into the second tier by 2025 and lead it by 2035. By 2049, it aims to be in the same tier as the U.S. “There are a lot of countries pushing these initiatives because they know if they don’t do this they’re going to fall behind,” Bagan said. www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 11 SPECIAL REPORT Rubber Machinery Preparing for an exciting future HF invests to capitalize on automation, smart factories

By Chris Sweeney weighing, storage, feeding and dosing of Rubber & Plastics News Staff raw materials and liquids that are tai- LAWRENCE, Kan.—The rubber in- lored to system requirements. dustry, and manufacturing as a whole, is “They offer full solutions from full chem- evolving. HF Mixing Group wants to ical systems to liquid injection for poly- make sure it’s prepared. mers,” Wilson said of B&K. “We will invest The machinery maker has set a target further into B&K. A new building is of 25 percent growth through 2023. Ian planned to increase the floor space by 165 Wilson, the firm’s vice president of sales percent and also increase employment to RPN photos by Chris Sweeney focus on increasing the revenue to comple- and marketing and member of HF’s Ian Wilson, vice president of sales and marketing and member of HF’s board of ment our systems strategy by 2023.” board of management, said that it will management, addresses the crowd at the International Mixing Seminar, hosted by It also acquired Mesabi Control Engi- need to invest to have the appropriate HF in Lawrence, Kan. capacity levels in production, engineer- neering Ltd., a Minnesota-based providing and field service. er of automation systems and software, work being published in about 180 publica- efforts as its co-CEO when the company “If there is one consistency in our in- areas that Wilson said are critical to tions. He’s the author and editor of several aligned and streamlined its global manu- dustry, I would say it’s the change,” Peter HF’s growth plans. books and is a past recipient of the Erich facturing footprint. Scholz, vice president of sales and mar- “We’re very happy with Mesabi,” Wil- Conrad Medal of the German Rubber As- “I think everybody probably knows keting in North America and site direc- son said. “We think this is a big step sociation. Dr. Limper and his experiences,” Wilson tor for HF’s facility in Topeka, Kan., forward for HF in North America in giv- Limper has served as a longtime profes- said. “He was a highly respected mem- said at HF’s International Mixing Semi- ing automation support to the North sor at Aachen University, where he spe- ber of the board of management and has nar, held recently in Lawrence. Scholz American market.” cializes in tire production, rubber mixing, been with the HF Mixing Group since said the event drew 184 attendees. HF intends to double the size of the rubber extrusion and thermoplastics. its formation in 2010. He was one of the “It changes almost all the time, either company, from about $5 million to about HF said he was instrumental during driving forces behind the success story by rubber product or equipment chang- $12.5 million in revenue. Employment also the group’s restructuring and rebranding of the HF Mixing Group.” es. The latest what we see right now is is projected to nearly double to about 30 by with the automotive industry moving 2023. Mesabi will move into a new facility toward electric and autonomous vehi- in Oakdale, Minn., doubling the square cles. But there are others: Manufactur- footage compared to its previous site. Chemists' ing 4.0, data mining, the automation pro- Mesabi President John Beaudoin said cess, cybersecurity and more preventive at the seminar that automation is one of Nightmare Dream and corrective actions.” the fastest-growing segments in the HF estimated that in 2017 there were rubber industry. However, it requires a about 300 batch mixers procured from lot of investment, which is what made the market. Wilson said the firm pro- HF such a strong fit for the firm. Mesabi jects that number to reach 600 by 2050 also was taking more global projects, and that currently it holds about 50 and the global presence of HF will make percent of the market share. that easier to handle. Capacity needs to be increased signifi- “Joining the group, the focus has always cantly to meet these future industry re- been the customer, that’s always been No. quirements, Wilson said. Growth in auto- 1 for us,” Beaudoin said. “We always try to mation and continued interest in tandem build long-term relationships with them. mixing will be driven by complexities in It’s important that the goals of the cus- Wear automotive. tomer are taken into consideration.” “Tire sizes are getting more complicat- Tear ed and rim sizes are increasing,” Wilson New leadership said. “Customers are looking at more HF also realigned its management team Temperature different tire sizes for specific car brands, in the wake of Andreas Limper, who served which is increasing the complexity. Elec- as co-CEO of the company along with Chemical tric vehicles are placing further demands Mark Meulbroek, retiring on April 30. Compatibility Environment on the compound as well because of a low Meulbroek at that time took over as HF bearing capacity increase and the accel- Mixing’s sole CEO and HF said Limper Production eration run means further reduction in will continue with the firm as a consultant. Processes rolling resistance is required.” As of 2016, when he was honored with ITEC’s Harold Herzlich Distinguished Significant investments Technology Medal, Limper held about 35 Reliability HF is already getting started on the patents on rubber and processing with his investment front as the firm has been very busy in the past 18 months. Enhancing a performance Varamix is a dream single- Recently, the firm added another ser- polymer compound starts solution technology. One vice facility in Thailand to complement with organizing a myriad of solution, but not one-size-fits- its activity in Malaysia. Its new facility in concerns that range from all. This customizable Aramid India was established to serve primarily balancing physical properties to blend fine tunes your physical the country’s growing tire industry. It maintaining ease of mixing. Until properties to respond to almost also will consolidate its Freudenberg lo- recently, dealing with these was every concern. cations under one roof with a new build- a nightmare, accepting trade- ing set to open in 2021. Wilson said the From miles in space to well operation is currently fragmented be- offs due to interaction of some below the ocean floor, Varamix cause of all the different historical sites. elements. delivers the performance you and HF has been busy on the acquisition That was before we created your customers demand while front, too. In 2017, the firm entered into Varamix®. Varamix is a employing Chemistry with a a joint venture with B&K, a Germa- 100% fiber blend that is so Conscience. Sweet dreams. ny-based material handling company. revolutionary it is now protected The deal increased the level of compe- 330-773-6654 tency in upstream material handling by two U.S. patents. equipment, Wilson said. The move al- Peter Scholz, vice president of sales lowed HF to further expand its product and marketing in North America and www.finitefiber.com portfolio and have access to B&K’s up- site director for HF’s Topeka, Kan., facil- stream equipment and plant engineer- ity, opens the International Mixing Sem- Innovating Fiber Technology Daily ing resources. The venture focuses on inar, hosted by HF in Lawrence, Kan. 12 Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 www.rubbernews.com SPECIAL REPORT Rubber Machinery Troester looks to bring new tech to tire industry By Bruce Meyer efit of the X-ray detection system is to Rubber & Plastics News Staff protect the equipment and the tooling, as HANOVER, Germany—Troester GmbH well as the product. & Co. K.G. is comfortable focusing on its Once the product comes out of the ex- expertise of making extruding and calen- trusion head, it has to be conveyed, cooled, dering equipment for numerous applica- measured and have other steps performed tions in the tire and rubber industry. depending on customer requirement, he But the Hanover-based firm also is said. Then the user has to wind it all up. working to bring in new technology to the “With automation, if you’re bringing in table, particularly relating to automation, five to 10 tons (of material) per hour, you while also adapting some know-how from want to have automation to get five tons its X-Compound GmbH unit that is used out again,” Jung said. in plastics over to the rubber side of the Troester has a lead in this area, he said, business, according to company execu- with automatic loading and unloading sys- tives speaking at the recent Tire Technol- tems in the market for some time. “This ogy Expo in Germany. RPN photo by Bruce Meyer part can be automated according to cus- Troester has two main divisions, one fo- From left, Stefan Boettcher, Karsten Jung and Zachary Boaz show off the X-Com- tomer needs or wishes,” he added. cusing on machinery for tire and rubber uses, pound machinery that was part of the Troester display during the recent Tire Tech- and the other producing cable machinery, nology Expo in Hanover, Germany. The machinery firm is looking to adapt the Closer look at tread said Karsten Jung, director of the Rubber X-Compound technology, currently used in plastics, for use in tire production. Another development the machinery Machinery Division. Those businesses gener- supplier is looking to bring to market is ate about $125 million in annual revenues—70 industry in the mid term, as implement- the extrusion head. its TreadScan system, which follows from percent of that from the tire and rubber ing such a process in the short term to an “If you look to an extrusion line that is requests not only from their tire maker unit—with the X-Compound subsidiary, a industry as conservative as the rubber easily 120 meters long and has several customers, but also from the next step supplier of continuous kneaders, accounting industry isn’t feasible. He said Troester operators usually, our focus is to auto- down the line, the vehicle makers. for another roughly $30 million, he said. looks for the X-Compound technology to mate the feeding area,” he said. “Tire manufacturers are audited on a reg- On the tire side of Troester’s business, be applicable more in final mixing, rather The machinery firm has two possibili- ular basis,” said Stefan Boettcher, the firm’s it makes machines to extrude such com- than in the masterbatch. ties here. One is its FeedScan system, tire industry sales director. “Their focus is ponents as treads, sidewalls, apexes and “This machine is the best mixer you which works like an X-ray system at the on ensuring manufacturing quality in every innerliners for tire lines ranging from bi- can have compared to an intermesh mix- airport. The device can detect not only step. You don’t just look at the finished tire cycle tires to off-the-road tires, along with er, and this machine has a much higher metal but also plastics and gives a precise and say it is good enough for the assembly everything in between. mixing capacity,” Jung said. X and Y coordinate, allowing any contam- line. They start in the mixing room and go to “We can make turnkey lines in all sizes It’s easy to control the temperature and inant to be removed without interrupting the extruding line, which is where we are.” and dimensions,” Jung said. “Troester is to control the process throughout each the feeding slab, according to Jung. For example, he said a typical passenger small enough to be flexible and big stage, he added. Troester has presented “Usually when you detect something, it tire has four to six compounds arranged enough to do major projects.” the concept to its customers and have in- involves cutting the feedslab and you against each other. From the outside, you can Troester employs about 600 people stalled it for a trial application. have to re-feed it,” he said. “With this unit easily measure the overall dimension, and worldwide, with roughly 485 in Hanover, “We are starting with customers to re- you are able to detect the contaminated judge the shape and weight. “But for the per- along with an additional 35 at X-Com- ally test their compounds and we invite section and only take a part of it out, and formance of the tire and the tread, it’s import- pound. The company officials said they them to send compounds to us, and we the rest you keep running.” ant that inside the tread the components are see potential to adapting X-Compound’s will process them—either with or without Jung said Troester is ready to deliver aligned to each other according to the tire technology into use for tires and rubber. them—and send it back to them so they the systems, but it’s a question of cost. design,” he said. “Extrusion and calendering “We have different thoughts and ideas can analyze it, and compare it to their Because it is an X-ray system, it is cost-in- are the only continuous running processes. on how to bridge the gap between plastics existing mixing,” Jung said. tensive, adding that the “ballpark figure” All the rest are batch or single piece. It means processing equipment and bringing this is about $340,000. there is no easy way to make an entire check into the world of rubber, specifically into Move to automation In addition, Troester has invented an on the quality of your product.” tires,” said Zachary Boaz, CEO and pres- Troester also is stepping up its game in automatic slab feeding unit. With the old Now, it is necessary to cut a piece and ident of Troester Machinery Ltd., the automation, with such technology as an technology, an operator had to cut pieces analyze it optically offline to make sure firm’s U.S. subsidiary. Jung said the plan automatic feeding system and a system to of the material out, and then re-feed it the alignment and distribution are good, is to bring the technology into the rubber handle the extrudate after it comes out of through the extruder. Jung said one ben- according to Boettcher. He added that there are different approaches to handle the problem on the market. Troester is in the industrializa- tion phase currently with one of its customers and is close to finalization with the upgraded process. Its new technology, he said, is one that needs tested in a real production site. “We don’t need it under laboratory conditions,” Boettcher said. “The operator needs to be able to handle this. The technicians and the customer’s quality people need to sign off and say this is good enough.” Troester sees high interest for such a COMPRESSION PRESS device in the market, driven partially by car makers that demand alignment of the layers in accordance with the specifications. During testing, Boettcher said they found out the process engineers, mixing experts and extrusion experts liked the TreadScan because they were able to have a much closer look at the components. “You can see in real time how these layers are behaving,” he said. “Even in a very stable process, everybody assumes HORIZONTAL INJECTION PRESS up to now there is some movement in the layers interacting with each other.” VERTICAL INJECTION PRESS The tire maker customer that currently WITH HORIZONTAL FEED is testing and using it will have exclusivi- ty on the technology for a certain time period, Jung said, before it is available to PREFORMER other customers. (PRECISION RUBBER SLICER) Non-tire upgrades Troester is working on improving its machinery that has self-centering extru- See Troester, page 14

14 Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 www.rubbernews.com SPECIAL REPORT Rubber Machinery Bartell shows off latest technology By Bruce Meyer tell believes the BeadPro has properties The robotics is a portion of it, along with Rubber & Plastics News Staff that differentiates it from the competition. the success of our bead view inspection HANOVER, Germany—Bartell Ma- Bartell’s integrated feed inspection system (launched in 2016).” chinery Systems L.L.C. came to the re- concept is so new it hasn’t been named yet, There was much positive sentiment at cent Tire Technology Expo in Hanover according to Lawlor, although internally the Tire Technology Expo toward the in- ready to showcase two aspects of its core it’s been referred to unofficially as the novation, he said. “The customers see the technology. BEAM System, standing for Bartell’s En- need for it. There is a desire for it and a One was a re-launched, re-branded ver- hanced Automated Measurement System. desire from everywhere from legacy older sion of its top line single wire bead “What we’re looking at is how do we factories to new factories,” Lawlor said. winding system, while the other was a make the process simpler, leveraging The next step will be internal qualifi- brand new integrated feed inspection some of the Industry 4.0 attributes like cation testing, mostly with the inspec- concept that still requires some develop- robotics and intelligence, and really ele- tion system but also some development ment before being launched into the vate the bead of the manufacturing testing. And there’s likely to be changes market, according to Shawn Lawlor, component,” he said. as the inspection concept evolves, the Bartell’s director of marketing and new What the system is engineered to do, Bartell official said. business development. the Bartell executive said, is transfer “The concept delivered to the show The re-branding offering is being beads robotically from the winder to an may not be the realization of the actual dubbed as the BeadPro, which Lawlor inspection station, and then to either a product that will be delivered to custom- said basically is a top level consolidation cart or carousel. ers,” he said. “We have to make it practi- of all of the firm’s best innovations bun- “We’re trying to provide the tire man- cal, and we have to make sure it meets dled into one bead winding system. ufacturers the ability to have visibility the customers’ expectations as an in- “Over the years in cooperation with into their production much more than stalled unit in the factory.” our customers and partners we’ve been they do today,” he said. One item that must be considered along able to develop different aspects of the Today, tire makers perform some vari- the way is whether customers see it add- machine that have improved efficiency, ety of batch inspection, he said, and it’s ing value in the factory, something Lawlor performance and quality,” he said. “What generally a very manual process. “Some- said can’t really be proven until it’s been we’ve done is bundle that into one opera- one has to physically take a bead, put it tested in a large-scale installation. tional system, making it the best of all on a physical measurement tool of some “If we can help them see that vision worlds.” sort or a camera system,” Lawlor said. and apply it, then they can get a positive RPN photo by Bruce Meyer Lawlor said the improvements com- “This would robotically transfer that. return on their investment, an improved Bartell President Patrick Morocco (left) bined to give customers gains in produc- “The ability to do close to 100 percent quality of the bead, an improved process and Shawn Lawlor, director of market- tivity of 10-12 percent. inspection on all beads coming off pro- cycle and, in the end, improved tires and ing and new business development, at Some of the improvements are new duction lines is in the near future.” working toward improved profitability the recent Tire Technology Expo in Ha- within the past 20 months and specifi- He estimated less than 10 percent of for manufacturers,” he said. nover, Germany. cally have focused on productivity in- beads are inspected now. When a change- Another consideration is how to make creases and quality control, using the over is made, the manufacturer may do a proper use of the new types of data that what the customer needs in their envi- operator interface of the system. Bartell, quality check on the first batch, but it would be collected in such an updated in- ronment,” Lawlor said. based in Rome, N.Y., has created more nowhere near approaches the ability of spection system. One of the challenges He said Bartell believes there is no attributes of the bead winding system Bartell’s concept system to inspect a here, Lawlor added, is there is no stan- technology similar to this that it has that are recipe driven and programma- majority of them. dardization across the industry on what seen in the bead component sector. Com- ble through the interface panels. For Bartell, Lawlor said it’s a direct the methodology is to analyze data. Bartell mercialization of the system is expected “We’re removing some of the manual op- extension of its bead winding technolo- can help guide customers based on its ex- closer to the end of 2019 or into 2020, erator functions during production runs,” gies and leveraging that with some of perience, but some tire producers may according to Lawlor. he said. “It makes for a more consistent the firm’s new innovations. want to capture data a bit differently based Bartell is part of the Heico Companies process and a consistent quality product.” “We’ve been talking with our customers on their own downstream processes and L.L.C., which also owns Steelastic Co. The BeadPro already is in production, and various partners and we’ve continued how that influences their manufacturing. Bartell’s production, design and devel- Lawlor said, with deliveries of the system to see a need for those types of solutions,” “It does make the development more opment work is done in Rome, and it also ongoing throughout the year. He added he said. “We’re continuing to grow our ca- challenging, but that’s where we have to has aftermarket support and service lo- there are other manufacturers with sys- pabilities and programming and line inte- be open to and flexible in how we develop cations in the United Kingdom and Chi- tems in the bead winding space, but Bar- gration, and taken that and leveraged it. these products, and ultimately deliver na. It employs 165 worldwide. Troester Continued from page 12 sion heads for production of hose and tubing, Jung said. It is technology that started with its cable industry unit, Current practice calls for an operator, without an X-ray system, to cut and measure by hand. Troester’s technology, allows for more precision. “With an X-ray system, you are getting online information on how concentric the 1. VT inserts, invented by Boschert, available in material is,” he said. And if the hose or tub- square, diamond, and triangle for most sizes. ing goes off-centered, the system automati- 1. 4. cally adjusts it within four to five meters. 2. Rubber Finger Guard. Automatic crosshead technology has been on the market for several years. Jung 3. In Foot or Flange Mount. said the next level is to have a straight extruder to adjust automatically as well. 4. With or without drive shaft; special drive shafts “We invented a system that does not need on request. We inventory ﬁve different sizes of high forces and resists the possibility of a Boschert safety chucks in Classic and VT. straight extrusion head and a crosshead,” Jung said. “We are now able to develop a 3. dual crosshead. That means X-ray systems are detecting both layers. We are extruding two layers in one head, and the one head is adjusting both layers independently.” This automatic centering crosshead has been sold to two customers, and 2. should be delivered in the near future. Boaz said once such a system is installed into a process, the return on investment comes fairly quickly, depending on the spec runs and cost of materials. www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 15 SPECIAL REPORT Rubber Machinery Engel sees troubling signs of auto slowdown By Shahrzad Pourriahi ity, the company added. automotive sector. Steger said the new structure has ac- Plastics News Europe Particularly in Asia, the market share For the current fiscal year, the compa- celerated decision-making processes. SCHWERTBERG, Austria—Injection held by electric vehicles is continuing to ny expects further growth in the medi- “The regional presidents take full re- molding machinery maker Engel Holding increase substantially, the machinery cal, packaging, and telecommunications sponsibility for sales in their region and GmbH has seen its sales rise 6 percent to maker noted. With its own center for and electronics (teletronics) markets in act as the local contacts for the subsid- $1.8 billion for its fiscal year that ended lightweight composite technologies, En- Asia, the latter bolstered by rising de- iaries and representative offices, which March 31, but it warned of a global slow- gel has seen increasing demand for its mand for camera lenses and LSR pro- prevents delays caused by time differ- down in its biggest end market. lightweight structures globally, and in cessing for smartphone seals. ences,” he said. The company said in a news release China. This includes a growing number The company claims that its all-elec- Engel also announced that it had al- that it had noticed a worldwide decline in of organomelt projects with Chinese tric and tie-barless E-motion TL injec- most completed its 2020 investment pro- production since last summer. firms, Willmeroth said. tion molding machines, developed for gram, which involved pumping $416.9 “It is difficult to gauge the impacts the teletronics segment, have had million into capacity expansions and up- of punitive tariffs and sanctions, success in establishing themselves grades across all its sites. Brexit and the debate around regu- “Asia and the German-speaking in Asia. As part of this, the machinery maker latory limits and bans on diesel, countries in Europe have been Having introduced a new business recently completed the expansion of its which has resulted globally in feel- unit structure in Asia last year, En- headquarters facilities in Schwertberg. ings of uncertainty and a reluctance the primary factors behind our gel says it was able to attract new The project involved expanding the to buy,” Engel said in a statement. customers in the medical and pack- assembly area, adding a new customer In China, the automotive slow- new sales growth.” aging sectors during the fiscal year center and building a large technology down accounted for “a significant Christoph Steger just closed. center. share of the decrease” in economic “We’ve been able to build up our The expansion is intended to increase growth, according to Gero Willmeroth, The Engel organomelt process makes specialist knowledge on the local level Engel’s competitiveness and meet the in- president for East Asia and Oceania at it possible to form fiber-reinforced, here in Asia, especially in industries creasing demand by customers for con- Engel. semi-finished products with a thermo- with highly specific needs and extremely sulting services, particularly in the con- “Overall, we’re expecting a sideways plastic matrix in an integrated and fully rigorous standards,” Willmeroth added. text of the digital revolution, Steger said. movement for Asia for the current fiscal automated process, as well as function- In the fall of 2018, Engel grouped its 30 Engel also is enlarging the technology year,” Willmeroth said. alizing these products through injection subsidiaries and more than 60 representa- center at its production plant in St Val- Europe remains Engel’s largest over- molding. tive offices in seven regions around the entin, Austria, where it manufactures all sales region, accounting for 54 per- According to Engel, demand for the world, run by regional presidents. At that large-scale machinery. cent of sales. Asia accounted for 21 per- process has been growing heavily since time, the company appointed Willmeroth Construction work at the plant will be cent and the Americas the other 24 large-scale application began last year, as the president for East Asia and Oceania. completed next year. percent. thanks to its high processing efficiency “Asia and the German-speaking coun- and a “consistent thermoplastic ap- tries in Europe have been the primary proach,” which make the composite com- factors behind our new sales growth,” said ponents easier to recycle at the end of Christoph Steger, chief sales officer of the their lives. Schwertberg-based machinery maker. In addition to composite technologies, Despite the decline, the automotive Engel said it is pursuing solutions to re- sector still represents some important place glass with polymer materials to drivers of growth such as electric mobil- reduce weight, for instance in glazing. The company also has witnessed growth in the lighting sector, with liquid “We’ve been able to silicone rubber increasingly being used build up our specialist as a lens material. Engel has developed technology to manufacture LED head- knowledge on the light lenses from LSR in an automated local level here in Asia, process that requires no reworking. In terms of markets, Engel sees grow- especially in industries ing demand in Vietnam, driven by the with highly specific needs and extremely rigorous standards.” Gero Willmeroth

Engel’s technology center for lightweight composites at St. Valentin, Austria. The company says it is seeing increased demand for machines used to make lighter parts used in the automotive industry. 16 Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 www.rubbernews.com www.rubbernews.com SPECIAL REPORT Rubber Machinery SPECIAL REPORT

decline in capacity utilization in the tire manufacturing industry in that country, Machinery sales drop slightly, industry optimistic we do not expect this situation to change in the coming year.” European Rubber Journal jostling for top position over recent years. This metric usually throws up signifi- upgrading of existing equipment as part At Marangoni Meccanica, new com- Given the market pressures that HF Group emerged as the clear leader, cant variations from year to year, but our of brownfield projects, simultaneously mercial director Luca Bonollo said “busi- emerged during 2018, international trade helped by 15.5 percent year-on-year 2019 study mostly indicated only minor with greenfield projects, which we ex- ness is now going well disputes, a cooldown in some tire markets growth in sales of tire and rubber ma- changes—slight improvements in ratings pect to subside in the coming years.” especially in Europe and Brexit among them, the international chinery to $462.3 million for 2018. for Western Europe, Central/Eastern Eu- Pelmar added that it also foresees “ma- and India. The (gen- tire and rubber machinery sector deliv- This helped put some distance between rope, North America and China. jor closures of plants in China, and several eral) trend has been ered a solid performance in 2018. HF and closest rival VMI, which grew An exception, though, was India, new projects in North America and India.” improving since early Figures from the 39 companies that sales by 1.8 percent to $402.5 million. which was identified as one of the stron- All of the above trends “will have an last year and has re- completed the survey both this year and At another major contender, Mesnac, gest-growing market regions by 62 per- impact on rubber machinery production, mained strong.” last year show a sales total of $4.08 billion, sales of tire and rubber machinery grew cent of respondents—up from 46 percent sales and building,” the Israeli group Looking forward, just 0.8 percent lower than a year ago. by 6 percent to $274.1 million, CRMA in last year’s survey. further said in its statement. however, Bonollo ex- On the other hand, 2018 brought an figures show. Mesnac itself reported 1 Survey ratings for the fastest growing Pelmar went on to note increased de- pects some market abrupt halt to the previous year’s bounce- percent year-on-year sales growth for industry-market sector, likewise, came mand for specialized machinery and sys- contraction from the back, when a similar like-for-like com- the group as a whole, to $402.5 million. in more-or-less unchanged this year, tems for improving working conditions middle of this year— parison in the survey recorded a 15.5 Another noteworthy performer was with steady showings by the tire, auto- and reducing emissions, as well as for au- reflecting a decline in percent year-on-year increase in sales. Tokyo-based Kobe Steel, which deliv- motive parts, general rubber goods and tomated weighing and feeding systems. the tire market during the final quarter Sales for the 13 Chinese machinery ered growth of more than 5 percent to engineered products sectors. In its 2018 annual report, VMI parent of 2018. makers that supplied figures for both sur- $206 million despite challenges in its group TKH reported higher earnings and “It is a question of our customers’ mar- veys indicated a 12.3 percent year-on-year most important market China. Manufacturers’ view profitability despite a “continued high kets, which went down in the final quarter growth in combined turnover to $1.09 bil- Feedback from leading machinery proportion of engineering for clients of 2018. So I believe that investment for lion. This compared to growth of 19 percent Business trends suppliers—both in interviews and writ- among the top-five tire manufacturers.” this year will go slightly down,” he said. recorded in our survey last year. Amid all the current woes besetting the ten comments supplied for this year’s Indeed, the Dutch group added that There remains, however, some high- Interestingly, though, data provided by global economy, business-confidence rat- survey—reflect different degrees of un- the share of the top five tire makers in growth markets for tire and rubber ma- the Chinese Rubber Machinery Associa- ings among survey respondents matched certainty and optimism about the cur- VMI’s order intake increased further chinery suppliers. tion also estimated total sales of Chinese those of last year, with plans for expan- rent direction of travel of their markets. last year. “Overall business looks good currently rubber machinery at $1.4 billion in 2018, sion, acquisition and plant investments For its part, Pelmar Engineering said However, TKH reported order intake and for the next year in India,” said about 24 percent higher than a year ago. again running at high levels. the market “now increasingly requires in China “at a low level and given the M.K. Suresh, joint general manager and Asked to identify the fastest growing head, marketing, customer service and Table toppers geographic market regions, there was a testing at Larsen & There was a more settled look to the large degree of consistency between re- Principal rubber machinery makers worldwide (sales in million US dollars) Toubro. ranking by sales of the major tire and rub- spondents’ replies across the 2019 and Overseas, L&T is ber machinery manufacturers after some 2018 surveys. Company Sales Growth Sales Growth Sales 2018 2018-17 2017 2017-16 2016 not seeing new investments—except 1 HF Group 462.3 +15.5% 400.2 +5.2% 422.1 in the OTR seg- VMI Group BV 402.5 +1.8% 395.5 +19.2% 331.9 ment—but expects a Mesnac Co. Ltd2 274.1 +6.0% 258.5 +58.4% 163.2 pick-up over the next Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd3 210.0 +5.0% 200.0 0.0% 200.0 two years, according to the machinery Kobe Steel, Group4 206.0 +5.1% 196.0 +2/1 192.0 company manager. 2 Dalian R & P Machinery Co., Ltd 152.6 +32.9% 114.8 +13.7% 101.0 “The Indian tire LWB Steinl GmbH & Co. KG 148.4 +5.1% 141.3 +18.2% 119.5 industry has been in- Troester GmbH & Co. KG 141.5 +4.4% 135.6 +2.2% 132.7 vesting in a number of greenfield and Klöckner DESMA Elastomertechnik GmbH3 140.0 +6.0% 132.0 +13.2% 116.6 brownfield projects, catering to all the 2 tire segments,” Suresh added in an inter- Safe-run Machinery Co. Ltd 131.9 -5.0% 138.2 +11.5% 124.0 view at the 2019 Tire Technology Expo. Comerio Ercole6 88.0 +4.6% 84.1 +7.1% 78.5 “We expect this growth and invest- Tianjin Saixiang Technology Co. Ltd2 81.1 +5.5% 76.9 +16.2% 66.2 ment to pan out in the next financial Herbert Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG 80.5 +14.7% 70.2 +19.1% 66.4 year as well,” Suresh said. Much of the tire sector investment is Pelmar Engineering Ltd 80.5 +22.9% 65.5 +26.0% 52.0 being driven by India’s fast-growing Larsen & Toubro 75.0 +25.0% 60.0 +8.3% 55.0 passenger car industry, which currently Cimcorp5 74.6 +1.0% 74.0 +30.0% 57.1 produces about 3.5 million cars per year. Uzer Makina VE Kalip Sanayi 71.3 +46.7% 48.6 +14.1% 42.6 “The recent quarter did see a bit of (a Zeppelin Systems GmbH7 (rubber business estimate) 70.0 5.0% 66.4 0.0% 66.4 decline in) growth in the passenger car 8 segment,” Suresh said. “Hopefully this REP International 69.0 +10.9% 62.2 +12.5% 55.3 is just a temporary phenomenon.” Doublestar Mechanical Ltd2 56.3 -44.6% 101.5 +25.8% 80.7 After some years of decline, he added Rodolfo Comerio 55.7 +14.4% 48.7 +13.5% 42.9 that India’s commercial vehicle market Maplan3 53.5 +5.0% 50.9 +2.2% 49.8 is delivering growth Guilin Rubber Machinery Factory2 53.4 -18.2% 65.3 +1.6% 64.3 as high as 25 percent this year—albeit from 2 Sino-Rubber Machinery Co. Ltd 53.3 -33.6% 80.3 +1.0% 79.3 a relatively low base. Guilin Rubber R & D Institute2 51.6 -3.7% 53.6 +24.1% 43.2 There also is a lot of Beijing Wanxiang Co. Ltd2 45.9 -25.4% 61.5 -75.7% 35.0 investment in new pro- Yiyang R & P Machinery Group Co. Ltd2 45.5 -35.2% 70.1 -24.7% 93.1 duction of two-wheeler tires, for which India is Konstrukta-TireTech, a.s. 33.3 +15.6% 28.8 n/a n/a the world’s largest Marangoni Meccanica Spa 32.2 -53.0% 68.0 +293.1% 17.3 market at about 16 French Oil Mill Machinery Co.9 29.0 n/a 29.0 n/a 25.0 million units/year. Sichuan Yaxi R&P Machinery Co. Ltd2 23.5 -9.3% 21.5 +5.9% 20.3 Beijing Jingye Mechanical Equipment Co., Ltd2 22.8 -14.3% 26.6 -27.3% 36.6 Wuxi Suanxiang R & P Machinery2 22.1 +3.3% 21.4 +10.3% 19.4 4Jet Technologies GmbH 19.6 +2.1% 19.2 n/a n/a Calemard Spoolex 18.4 +5.0% 20.3 +34.4% 15.1 Z-Laser Optoelektronik GmbH 15.5 +11.5% 13.9 +25.2% 11.1 Gislotica 3 6.0 +5.0% 5.7 -13.6% 6.6 Carter Brothers 4.6 0.0% 4.6 n/a 8.9 Gillard Cutting 4.0 +14.3% 3.5 +9.4% 3.2 Sinoarp Tires Equipment Technology 2 n/a n/a 40.4 +80.4% 22.4 Shaoxing Jingcheng R & P Machinery 2 n/a n/a n/a n/a 15.1

All euro conversions €1 = $1.15, based on average rate during 2018. 5: Estimate for Cimcorp tire industry division. 1: HF Group covers Harburg – Freudenberger AG, Farrel Ltd and Pomini Rubber & Plastic. 6: Comerio Ercole pre-final balance sheet figure. 2: Figures provided by the Chinese Rubber Machinery Association (CRMA) using curren- 7: Zeppelin Systems rubber business estimate. cy conversion $1 = RMB6.75; Mesnac figures for tire and rubber machinery sales only. 8: REP International estimate. 3: ERJ estimate. 9: French Oil Mill Machinery figure based on estimated sales-range supplied. 4: Kobe Steel estimated for fiscal year to March 31, 2019. www.rubbernews.com www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 17 Rubber Machinery SPECIAL REPORT Rubber Machinery

decline in capacity utilization in the tire At Kobe Steel, consolidated sales of manufacturing industry in that country, rubber machinery edged up to $206 mil- Machinery sales drop slightly, industry optimistic we do not expect this situation to change lion in 2018, from $196 million the previ- in the coming year.” ous year. upgrading of existing equipment as part At Marangoni Meccanica, new com- “Frankly we expected a bigger in- of brownfield projects, simultaneously mercial director Luca Bonollo said “busi- crease,” said Naoaki Kimura, area gen- with greenfield projects, which we ex- ness is now going well eral manager for Kobe Steel Group. pect to subside in the coming years.” especially in Europe Last year, he said, passenger car tire Pelmar added that it also foresees “ma- and India. The (gen- sales in China fell by 4.1 percent, while jor closures of plants in China, and several eral) trend has been truck/bus tire sales increased 5.1 per- new projects in North America and India.” improving since early cent. This resulted in an overall decline All of the above trends “will have an last year and has re- of 2.8 percent in that market. impact on rubber machinery production, mained strong.” “Demand for truck/bus tires related sales and building,” the Israeli group Looking forward, machines was OK, or above our expecta- further said in its statement. however, Bonollo ex- tions, but one year ago we expected Pelmar went on to note increased de- pects some market more,” the Kobe Steel manager said. mand for specialized machinery and sys- contraction from the Kimura also said increased invest- tems for improving working conditions middle of this year— Bonollo ment by some Japanese tire makers, and reducing emissions, as well as for au- reflecting a decline in Bridgestone and Yokohama in particu- tomated weighing and feeding systems. the tire market during the final quarter lar, in part to strengthen their position In its 2018 annual report, VMI parent of 2018. in the Chinese OE market. group TKH reported higher earnings and “It is a question of our customers’ mar- Annual production at Uzer Makina profitability despite a “continued high kets, which went down in the final quarter has increased from 60-70 presses in in India and Europe,” the Rodolfo Comer- are still very active,” he noted. “And we proportion of engineering for clients of 2018. So I believe that investment for 2017 to 150 presses in 2018, reported io manager said. have projects in the U.S., which we are among the top-five tire manufacturers.” this year will go slightly down,” he said. marketing and business development “My prediction is that 2019 will be a working on right now.” Indeed, the Dutch group added that There remains, however, some high- engineer Mehmet Akın Kilic. (strong) year for Rodolfo,” said Fedele, And while he said recent trade dis- the share of the top five tire makers in growth markets for tire and rubber ma- “This year, we are fully booked and we pointing in particular to demand for the putes had impacted business in China, VMI’s order intake increased further chinery suppliers. are taking orders for 2020,” he said. company’s newly patented, high-accura- companies there are mostly expanding last year. “Overall business looks good currently “The market is still growing with the cy calendering technology. elsewhere in Southeast Asia countries, However, TKH reported order intake and for the next year in India,” said big players now investing.” Things may be slowing down in some including Vietnam and Thailand. in China “at a low level and given the M.K. Suresh, joint general manager and For example, Kilic said Indian tire markets but are picking up in several On the other hand, Kapper said: “I head, marketing, customer service and makers “are investing a lot and looking others, Paul Kapper, sales director for keep hearing that Europe is slowing. testing at Larsen & to build new plants to increase capacity. RJS Corp., said in an interview at the There is a lot of uncertainty.” Principal rubber machinery makers worldwide (sales in million US dollars) Toubro. “Other customers are also investing, 2019 Tire Technology Expo. Asked about technology trends, the RJS Overseas, L&T is probably due to the Chinese situation “So there are some markets—for ex- executive said “what everyone is looking Company Sales Growth Sales Growth Sales ample Southeast Asia and India—that for now is automation and robotics.” 2018 2018-17 2017 2017-16 2016 not seeing new in- and tariffs. I think tire makers are try- vestments—except ing to expand capacity in other areas, 1 HF Group 462.3 +15.5% 400.2 +5.2% 422.1 in the OTR seg- including Europe.” VMI Group BV 402.5 +1.8% 395.5 +19.2% 331.9 ment—but expects a Uzer Makina, he added, also is follow- Mesnac Co. Ltd2 274.1 +6.0% 258.5 +58.4% 163.2 pick-up over the next ing major new tire plant projects in Ser- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd3 210.0 +5.0% 200.0 0.0% 200.0 two years, according bia, Saudi Arabia and Algeria. to the machinery Nicola Fedele, international sales and Kobe Steel, Group4 206.0 +5.1% 196.0 +2/1 192.0 company manager. marketing manager RUBBER IN MOTION Dalian R & P Machinery Co., Ltd2 152.6 +32.9% 114.8 +13.7% 101.0 “The Indian tire Suresh at Rodolfo Comerio, LWB Steinl GmbH & Co. KG 148.4 +5.1% 141.3 +18.2% 119.5 industry has been in- gave an upbeat as- Troester GmbH & Co. KG 141.5 +4.4% 135.6 +2.2% 132.7 vesting in a number of greenfield and sessment for the rub- Klöckner DESMA Elastomertechnik GmbH3 140.0 +6.0% 132.0 +13.2% 116.6 brownfield projects, catering to all the ber machinery side of tire segments,” Suresh added in an inter- the business—the Safe-run Machinery Co. Ltd2 131.9 -5.0% 138.2 +11.5% 124.0 DESIGNED TO PERFORM view at the 2019 Tire Technology Expo. company also sup- DESIGNED TO EXCEED Comerio Ercole6 88.0 +4.6% 84.1 +7.1% 78.5 “We expect this growth and invest- plies the PVC and Tianjin Saixiang Technology Co. Ltd2 81.1 +5.5% 76.9 +16.2% 66.2 ment to pan out in the next financial flooring industries. The Lean Choice for Your Simple Processes Herbert Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG 80.5 +14.7% 70.2 +19.1% 66.4 year as well,” Suresh said. “2018 started a Much of the tire sector investment is little bit slow but at Uncompromised Performance Pelmar Engineering Ltd 80.5 +22.9% 65.5 +26.0% 52.0 Equipped with being driven by India’s fast-growing the end of the year Fedele for a Leading Edge Process a REP patented Larsen & Toubro 75.0 +25.0% 60.0 +8.3% 55.0 passenger car industry, which currently the market went up Cimcorp5 74.6 +1.0% 74.0 +30.0% 57.1 produces about 3.5 million cars per year. very, very rapidly,” Fedele said. ”Then at injection unit, an Uzer Makina VE Kalip Sanayi 71.3 +46.7% 48.6 +14.1% 42.6 “The recent quarter did see a bit of (a the beginning of 2019 we finalized many G10 Extended intuitive and user- Zeppelin Systems GmbH7 (rubber business estimate) 70.0 5.0% 66.4 0.0% 66.4 decline in) growth in the passenger car contracts.” machines are friendly 17’’ color Regarding the Chinese market, he 8 segment,” Suresh said. “Hopefully this presses best suited touch-screen and a REP International 69.0 +10.9% 62.2 +12.5% 55.3 is just a temporary phenomenon.” said that at the start of 2018, tire mak- 2 to leading edge powerful process- Doublestar Mechanical Ltd 56.3 -44.6% 101.5 +25.8% 80.7 ers there were not ready to buy new After some years of decline, he added processes Rodolfo Comerio 55.7 +14.4% 48.7 +13.5% 42.9 that India’s commercial vehicle market machines as they already had invested control, bearing CE-certification, G10 • The 3-step closing unit combines Maplan3 53.5 +5.0% 50.9 +2.2% 49.8 is delivering growth heavily in previous years. Core presses are intended for customers “But now doors are opening, and we both performance and rugged Guilin Rubber Machinery Factory2 53.4 -18.2% 65.3 +1.6% 64.3 as high as 25 percent who want uncomplicated solutions. this year—albeit from finalized projects at the start of this design Sino-Rubber Machinery Co. Ltd2 53.3 -33.6% 80.3 +1.0% 79.3 a relatively low base. year in China as well as • Improved ergonomics Guilin Rubber R & D Institute2 51.6 -3.7% 53.6 +24.1% 43.2 There also is a lot of • Embedded intelligent technologies CMX1 160T - CMX2 250T Beijing Wanxiang Co. Ltd2 45.9 -25.4% 61.5 -75.7% 35.0 investment in new pro- • Energy-related efficiency (Compact-Multi-Station Machine) Yiyang R & P Machinery Group Co. Ltd2 45.5 -35.2% 70.1 -24.7% 93.1 duction of two-wheeler tires, for which India is Konstrukta-TireTech, a.s. 33.3 +15.6% 28.8 n/a n/a the world’s largest • The CMS in Marangoni Meccanica Spa 32.2 -53.0% 68.0 +293.1% 17.3 market at about 16 RT9 G10 design, French Oil Mill Machinery Co.9 29.0 n/a 29.0 n/a 25.0 million units/year. • Synchronous Sichuan Yaxi R&P Machinery Co. Ltd2 23.5 -9.3% 21.5 +5.9% 20.3 The RT9 range is injection, curing Beijing Jingye Mechanical Equipment Co., Ltd2 22.8 -14.3% 26.6 -27.3% 36.6 the perfect balance and demolding Wuxi Suanxiang R & P Machinery2 22.1 +3.3% 21.4 +10.3% 19.4 for emerging markets, for optimal 4Jet Technologies GmbH 19.6 +2.1% 19.2 n/a n/a associating the REP productivity. Calemard Spoolex 18.4 +5.0% 20.3 +34.4% 15.1 injection unit process Low space Z-Laser Optoelektronik GmbH 15.5 +11.5% 13.9 +25.2% 11.1 quality to a Tung Yu requirement, ergonomic design Gislotica 3 6.0 +5.0% 5.7 -13.6% 6.6 produced frame. and flexibility! Carter Brothers 4.6 0.0% 4.6 n/a 8.9 Gillard Cutting 4.0 +14.3% 3.5 +9.4% 3.2 Sinoarp Tires Equipment Technology 2 n/a n/a 40.4 +80.4% 22.4 www.repinjection.com Shaoxing Jingcheng R & P Machinery 2 n/a n/a n/a n/a 15.1 FRANCE - REP international: USA - REP Corporation: 5: Estimate for Cimcorp tire industry division. Tel.: +33 (0) 4 72 21 53 53 Tel.: +1 847 697 7210 6: Comerio Ercole pre-final balance sheet figure. Fax: +33 (0) 4 72 51 22 35 Fax: +1 847 697 6829 7: Zeppelin Systems rubber business estimate. 8: REP International estimate. New curing press from HF, who was the clear leader [email protected] [email protected] RUBBER IN MOTION 9: French Oil Mill Machinery figure based on estimated sales-range supplied. in this year’s rankings. 18 Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 www.rubbernews.com SPECIAL REPORT Rubber Machinery How dry ice cleaning can extend life of rubber molds By Steve Wilson Cold Jet L.L.C. The author From those that make them to those Executive Summary who use them, molds should last for as For injection and compression rubber molders there is a great demand to in- Steve Wilson is the global business long as they were designed. A lot of work crease the productivity of equipment and the quality of parts, while maintaining unit director for plastics, rubber and goes into striving toward that goal— healthy margins. This can be a balancing act between using the most effective composites for Cold Jet L.L.C. good design, proper metallurgy selec- technology while working within a shrinking budget. As a former plastics business tion, configuration, coatings, etc., but The mold is the heart of the molding process and it is reported that 60-70 per- owner he has more than 35 years of cleaning is another way mold users can cent of all mold maintenance is mold cleaning. Therefore, effective mold cleaning experience in get as much out of them as possible. is necessary to minimize machine downtime and improve production efficiencies. injection and This paper will demonstrate that clean- Dry ice cleaning is non-abrasive, protecting the dimensions on parting lines compression ing tooling with dry ice is a safe, effective and sealing surfaces of the mold. It is effective at keeping cavities and vents molding, ex- and non-abrasive way to clean common clean of mold release buildup, cured rubber residues and out-gassing. trusion, blow injection molds. It will provide molders All of these can quickly be removed to prevent a variety of molding problems: molding, ther- burn, sticking parts, short shots, plate-out, contamination, blemishes and flash. moforming TECHNICAL NOTEBOOK Dry ice cleaning reduces cleaning times up to 75 percent. Dry ice does not create and rotation- Edited by John Dick any secondary waste—it simply phases to its natural gas state upon impact. al molding. He Now molds can be cleaned with a method assisting in corporate TPM, 6S, and began his ca- with five reasons to utilize mold cleaning: Zero Landfill, along with 5S, OEE and Kaizen initiatives. reer at Mila- Extend the asset life of the tool, improve Dry ice cleaning systems can play a significant role in helping companies cron’s plastics quality, increase productivity, lower costs support organizational quality, service and productivity goals, meet industry machinery di- Wilson and improve environmental quality. and government regulations, and increase profitability. vision, serving First, to extend the asset life of tool- This paper discusses the advantages of dry ice cleaning as a replacement for sol- in manufacturing, product line man- ing. Today, high-dollar and often com- vent and mechanical cleaning for the removal of contaminants from molds, which agement and a variety of sales/mar- plex molds are run and maintained in can mean the difference between mediocre performance and high-profit productivity. keting roles. varying degrees of skilled molding shops Wilson is a published author and a and tool rooms. Some of the cleaning cleaning, which can be abrasive and, over done with regard to non-abrasiveness of frequent speaker at industry events. methods still being utilized can contrib- time, contribute to mold wear. With regard dry ice mold cleaning. One such study He holds a bachelor’s degree in busi- ute to tool wear. to traditional mold cleaning, Tom Mendel comes from Kettering University (for- ness administration from Cedarville The most commonly used methods for of Performance Plastics, a molder in Cin- merly GMI) in Flint, Mich. They recorded University and a master’s in busi- cleaning plastic injection molds have been cinnati said: “To clean it is to destroy it.”1 the following methodology and test vari- ness administration from Xavier around for years, and involve manual ToolingDocs/MoldTrax said that ables for a dry ice cleaning study regard- University. there are four known contributors to See Cleaning, page 19 mold wear that can shorten the asset life of a mold (Fig. 1). The method a Fig. 1: Charting mold wear, ToolingDocs, Ashland, Ohio. molder chooses to clean the mold can contribute to mold wear.2 Fig. 2 shows a very common method for cleaning molds. The contaminants are trapped in the rag and can lead to premature mold wear. Guill Series 500 crosshead Mold cleaning remains a critical com- with (MAGS) Mechanically ponent of producing quality products. Assisted Gum Space Both the Sun Micro-Systems & Structur- al Defects Manual and Fimmtech Stan- dardizing Validations—Common Defects in Injection Molding say that dirty cavities or clogged vents can lead to a variety of molding problems: Burn, sticking parts, short shots, plate-out, contamination, blemishes, flash and actual mold damage. Fig. 3 shows actual mold damage that can occur when vents are not properly and routinely cleaned. When air is trapped inside the mold cavity, it begins to jet or diesel. The result, excessive heat and mold damage. Here at Guill, we are proud to introduce Mold cleaning is postponed for a variety of reasons. Traditional manual meth- the NEW 500 Series rubber and ods cause extended downtime because silicone crosshead with MAGS gum the process is burdensome; mold geome- space adjustment. The 500 Series is tries are often complex complicating the designed specifically for the flow manual cleaning process; the mold can characteristics and unique processing be hot; it often involves the use of chemi- challenges of elastomeric compounds. cals containing volatile organic chemi- Fig. 2: Traditional cleaning method. cals, which employees don’t like using Mechanically Assisted Gum Space and leave a residue that can cause fur- Adjustment (MAGS) ther cleaning issues, wipes, media which Removable Water-Cooled can be abrasive, and brushes. Body Sleeve As noted, 60-70 percent of the time spent on mold maintenance is mold Hardware-Free cleaning. Because mold cleaning is often Center-Stage concentricity postponed, those mold cleans don’t come adjustment system at convenient times. According to Tooling- Docs/MoldTrax, unscheduled mold stops We welcome your call or visit add up to five times the cost of a scheduled www.guill.com downtime and is the single most prevalent and costly reason for not achieving efficiency goals. However, with cleaning methods that not only prematurely wear out the mold, but are slower and less efficient because they are burdensome, manufacturers could clean their molds more often, faster, 10 Pike Street, West Warwick, RI 02893 cheaper and in a non-abrasive, sustain- 401-838-7600 able, environmentally responsible manner. Email: [email protected] Bill Conley Studies have been done and are being www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 19 SPECIAL REPORT Rubber Machinery

was tested for 30 seconds and 60 seconds the green lines shows blasted area.”4 elevated temperatures often observe hot durations for all variables. Materials The university testing concluded the molds clean faster and easier. The thermal Cleaning were subjected to both full sized pellets, following: “The sample had no noticeable effect contributes more to the process the shaved pellets, or shaved block. Vari- damage after blasting with shape block hotter the substrate, the larger the Delta T Continued from page 18 ables that remained constant are the ice at a distance of one inch, angle of 90 between the dry ice and the contaminant, ing various metal mold substrates: following: air pressure at 75 psi, dry ice degrees and for either 30-second or 60-sec- the faster the mold cleaning process works. “Materials were tested with the Wand flow rate at maximum level (Level 6).”3 ond durations.”5 A similar study was conducted by at an angle of 90 degrees and 45 degrees Using such cleaning methodology or Studies by Rozemarijn van der Molen, James Snide, to measure any thermal from the sample surface, each angle was techniques and test variables, the metal Ineke Joosten, Tonny Beentjes and Luc stress during dry ice cleaning. This tested at 1 inch and 3 inches from the samples would be subjected to the worst- Megens, have also shown that cleaning study showed that the temperature de- surface of the sample, and each material case scenarios for dry ice cleaning. Effec- with dry ice does not damage most indus- crease occurs on the surface only, so that tive dry ice mold cleaning always involves trial substrates, because the particles are there is no chance of thermal stress oc- Fig. 3: Mold damage, trapped air (dirty vent). the fastest possible traverse rate while relatively soft.6 The hardness of dry pellets curring to the substrate metal.9 maintaining an effective clean. Typical was found to be 1.5-2.0 Mohs, which is soft To illustrate this principle, an experi- dry ice cleaning does not involve station- compared to other forms of blast media ment was performed where thermocou- ary cleaning in one spot as tested. (Fig. 5).7 The dry ice particles have little ples were embedded into a steel sub- Quoting from the university study: hardness and are therefore non-abrasive strate at varying depths (flush with the “The picture (Fig. 4) shows a picture of to any substrate harder than dry ice. surface to 2 mm deep) (Fig. 6). the blasted and un-blasted area of the die A common question from rubber mold- In Snide’s study, a dry ice particle stream steel. Die steel after blasting for 60 sec- ers examining the dry ice cleaning process was constantly swept across the test onds at a distance of 1 inch. Right side of is, will the thermal effect of the dry ice specimen for 30 seconds (a relatively long cleaning process impart a thermal stress time for this process) and the thermocou- Fig. 4: Kettering university study, be- on the mold during cleaning? It has been ple recorded the changing temperatures fore/after. proven that this thermal effect of dry ice at the various depths. As shown in Fig. cleaning does not damage the tool. 7, the surface-mounted thermocouple Mark Krieg showed that the contribu- recorded a temperature drop each time the tion of the thermal effect is minimal to- particle stream passed directly upon it ward the overall cleaning effect. On an (50°C in about five seconds). ambient mold substrate, the thermal ef- In contrast, the thermocouples em- fect is contributing about 10 percent of the bedded at various depths in the sub- cleaning. However, this contribution can strate recorded a slow gradual drop in be as high as 50 percent when blasting on temperature corresponding to the over- an object at a temperature of 500°C.8 all test plate temperature drop. The ther- The result, molders running molds at See Cleaning, page 20

Fig. 5: Mohs hardness scale for minerals. Fig. 8: Core: before/after. Surface: before/after.

Fig. 6: Temperature response of thermocouples placed at various depths in the substrate.

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less than those encountered during nor- yield point of steel in the hardened con- tooling and all the spray turns to a gas.”17 mal heat treat.13 dition. Again, these thermal stresses Secondly, improve quality. One of the Cleaning He went on to note in his study, the would be far less than those encountered reasons molded parts are scrapped is be- thermal stress due to a temperature differ- during normal heat treatment, where cause mold cleaning is postponed. Rubber Continued from page 19 ential can be estimated using the following the temperature differentials would ex- molds are hot and it’s not normally a pleas- mocouple 2 mm deep only dropped 10°C equation where “sy” is stress (psi), “DT” is ceed 500°F / 260°C.”14 ant job using traditional methods. Howev- after 30 seconds. This curve illustrates temperature gradient (°F), “a” is coefficient Snide concluded that “even at high er, if molders could simply roll a machine that the thermal effect occurs only at of expansion and “g” is Poisson’s Ratio. impact velocities and direct ‘head-on’ up to the press and clean the mold while it’s the surface where the contaminate is impact angles, the kinetic effect of solid still in the machine and at operating tem- bonded to the mold substrate and has no CO2 particles is minimal when compared peratures, the process would be much easi- detrimental effect on the mold.10 to other media (grit, sand, PMB, etc.). er. Figs. 9-12 demonstrates how easy using Snide also conducted tests on the ther- This is due to the relative lack of hard- a dry ice cleaning machine can be. mal effect of dry ice cleaning in the rubber ness of the dry ice particles and the al- The dry ice sublimates upon impact, industry, a thermoset application, where most instantaneous phase change to a leaving no residues on the mold that could the molds are hot. In this study the mold- gas on impact, which effectively provides be transferred onto the next few molded ers were operating at more than 149°C an almost nonexistent coefficient of res- parts. The end result is a better clean, (300°F) and were cleaned with 78.3°C dry titution in the impact equation. thus improving quality. ice particles. He said “the temperature Because dry ice blasting is considered The third reason to celebrate is the im- differences between the hot mold and cold non-abrasive and relies on the thermal provement in productivity. Most rubber dry ice will not cause cracking.”11 effect discussed above, the process may be molds using traditional cleaning methods He said there are two reasons for this applied to a wide range of materials with- are cleaned as follows: Stop production, phenomenon. First, this thermal effect out damage. Soft metals such as brass, cool mold, possible disassemble, trans- rapidly disappears on impact when the Where the temperature differential beryllium, and aluminum cladding can be port, mask/shield, clean, dispose of waste, dry ice strikes the contaminant. Upon will be 135°F/57.2°C (Fig. 7), he said dry ice cleaned for the removal of coatings unmask, inspect, transport, assemble, impact, the dry ice sublimates, another “this temperature gradient leads to a or contaminates without creating surface reheat and test. aspect of dry ice cleaning. Volumetrical- low tensile stress of 30,240 psi/2,085 stresses (pinging, pitting or roughness).”15 With dry ice cleaning there is only the ly, dry ice will expand around 800 times bar. Even if the mold temperature was Another independent study drew a need to stop production, clean the mold, its size during sublimation, blowing the brought down to the temperature of the similar conclusion. The picture in Fig. 8 test and go back into production. The contaminant off the mold from the inside ice (an unrealistic extreme), the tem- is the micrographic examination of the end result is hours of saved downtime. out. At that moment, the thermal prop- perature gradient would be -109°F to metallurgical structure of Martensitic The fourth reason is very akin to the erty of dry ice is gone.12 350°F, which gives 459°F/ 2,237.2°C, for Stainless Steel (440°C) after dry ice third. Dry ice cleaning is faster and saves As seen in Fig. 7, the temperature which the corresponding tensile stress cleaning. Noted was the unaltered car- labor costs. The cost of downtime and the gradient occurs at the surface. Second, is 102,800 psi/7,088 bar. bon particles at the core and at the sur- subsequent loss of production is immense. the thermal stresses involved are much This calculated stress is below the face, before and after dry ice cleaning.16 In addition, the cost of the dry ice media Studies have concluded that dry ice is often less expensive than the chemicals Fig. 9: In-press mold cleaning with dry ice. cleaning is an effective, non-abrasive way used with traditional cleaning methods. to clean injection molds without wearing Katy Wolf of the Institute for Research away the asset life of a mold. Some tool and Technical Assistance published a re- builders already prefer to have their molds port in 2013 called “Alternative Low-VOC cleaned with the dry ice cleaning process, Release Agents and Mold Cleaners for In- especially those who manufacture ex- dustrial Molding.” The report was prepared tremely high tolerance molds for the liquid for the South Coast Air Quality Manage- silicone rubber molding segment, such as ment District of the EPA Region IX. The M.R. Mold and Roembke Manufacturing. report showed the ‘Annualized Cost Com- Others, who coat molds with DLCs, parison of All Cleaning Options’ they re- like Oerlikon Balzers USA, also recom- viewed. Hexane aerosol cleaning came in mend the use of dry ice cleaning for at $56,174 while dry ice blasting (system cleaning coated mold components for the purchase and labor) came in at $6,198. safe removal of off-gasses without causing The fifth reason to celebrate is the damage. They said in their presentations elimination of cleaning rags, soaked with that “there is no wear or damage to the chemicals, making their way into local landfills. Many companies, seeking zero Fig. 10: Close-up of cleaning process. landfill initiatives, pursue dry ice cleaning for this reason alone. Couple this with the improved worker safety by elimi- nating chemicals containing VOCs, dry ice cleaning is a reason to celebrate. LARGE-CAPACITY References 1. Performance Plastics, Cincinnati. 2. Charting Mold Wear, ToolingDocs/MoldTRAX Ash- land, Ohio. 3. Kettering University, Dry Ice Blasting Technology, 2014. WALK-IN OVENS 4. Kettering University, Dry Ice Blasting Technology, 2014. 5. Kettering University, Dry Ice Blasting Technology, 2014. 6. Dry Ice Blasting for the Conservation Cleaning of Metals, Rozemarijn van der Molen, Ineke Joosten, Ton- Fig. 11: Before: off-gasses clog vent. ny Beentjes and Luc Megens. 7. Turner, R., Abrasive Cleaning: an overview, Select- ed Papers from a Series of Conference organized by the Metal Section of UKIC 1999-2000, ed. H. Moody, Metals Section Press of the United Kingdom Institute for Con- servation, London (2002). 8. Krieg, Mark, Analyse der Effekte beim Trockeneis- strahlen. 9. CO2 Pellet Cleaning—A preliminary Evaluation, Materi- als & Process Associates Inc. (Oct. 12, 1992), Snide, James. 10. CO2 Pellet Cleaning—A preliminary Evaluation, Materials & Process Associates Inc. (Oct. 12, 1992), Snide, James. 11. CO2 Pellet Cleaning—A preliminary Evaluation, Materials & Process Associates Inc. (Oct. 12, 1992), Snide, James. 12. CO2 Pellet Cleaning—A preliminary Evaluation, Fig. 12: After: cleaned cavity and vent. Materials & Process Associates Inc. (Oct. 12, 1992), Standard sizes to 786 cu. ft. Snide, James. 13. CO2 Pellet Cleaning—A preliminary Evaluation, Special sizes to your specs Gas & Electric models Materials & Process Associates Inc. (Oct. 12, 1992), Choice of air flow patterns Temps to 1200ºF Snide, James. 14. CO2 Pellet Cleaning—A preliminary Evaluation, www.grievecorp.com 847-546-8225 Materials & Process Associates Inc. (Oct. 12, 1992), Snide, James. 15. CO2 Pellet Cleaning—A preliminary Evaluation, Materials & Process Associates Inc. (Oct. 12, 1992), Snide, James. 16. Independent study conducted by a molder using dry ice cleaning. 17. Diamond-Like Carbon & PVD Coatings for Plastic Molding, Sulzer Metco, Corbett, Don. www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 21 SPECIAL REPORT Rubber Machinery Innovation drives advances in technology By Patrick Raleigh significantly improve quality and pro- European Rubber Journal ductivity in the mixing of silica-rich tire As might be expected in the emerging compounds. era of Industry 4.0, tire and rubber “Customers worldwide have finished equipment manufacturers are reporting evaluations and are moving to the com- increasing demand for enhanced auto- mercial stage,” said Yasuhiro Kameda, mation, data-acquisition and connectivi- mixing process engineer at the To- ty features on their machines. kyo-based company. But there also is a continuing push for “Finally, we have started to get good engineering-led innovations that in- orders for this rotor technology,” he said. crease the accuracy, efficiency, function- “It took time, but since last year, we ality and reliability of calenders, mixers, have become confident in (market de- presses and tire-building machines. mand for) the 5THR rotor.” The latter trend is evident in HF Tire Target customers include companies Technology’s new “Curemaster” presses operating tangential mixers in their for truck tires, which respond to factories, said Naoaki Kimura, area tire-maker demands for enhanced flexi- general manager with the Kobe Steel bility, precision and cost savings. Group. “We have taken the traditional me- “As a solution to improve silica mixing chanical design for a curing press and in tangential mixers, we propose our ro- shifted it to a hydraulic concept,” said tor,” Kimura said. “Tire majors have Kevin Rolfe, vice president of sales at given certificates to 5THR, so this is al- HF TireTech Group. ready a solution, including for existing The Curemaster is configured to pro- factories.” vide larger diameter capabilities within Also on the engineering front, Rodolfo the space required by a traditional press Comerio is reporting growing demand design, Rolfe said. for its patented “sliding friction-free” In terms of flexibility, conventional system and “GAP system” technologies, presses typically have double cavities Marangoni is focused on automation and machine customization. which it claims deliver the highest avail- that can only cure the same tire in the able accuracy in the market. same mold in those cavities, said Stefan Cycle time is 30 percent faster because applied all around so you get complete The technology ensures that in the Bahlke, lead engineer at HF TireTech of the mechanical movements used to uniformity and minimized wear,” said See Innovation, page 22 Group. load and unload the tires, the HF offi- the HF lead engineer. “Our new machine is independent cials further claimed. The Curemaster, Consistency is becoming a big issue from the left cavity to the right cavity. they added, consumes a third less ener- with truck tires, for example, getting So you can cure totally different prod- gy than a traditional machine. bigger and sidewalls getting thinner, ucts in the two cavities,” Bahlke said. “Unlike the old mechanical presses Rolfe said. Such flexibility is needed as the “tick- which tilt backwards, consuming a lot of “Tires are changing, and they will ets” are getting smaller in tire factories, energy, here there is a curing chamber change even more if you look at trends in line with orders from their customers, sitting on the machine with the mold such as E-mobility. This machine gives Rolfe said. inside,” Rolfe said. the flexibility to react to that,” Rolfe The design, he added, also responds to Further energy savings are achieved said. an increase in the variety of tires now as the mold is enclosed in an insulating being required by the market. chamber, as opposed to the open designs Hybrid technology Bahlke added that, unlike with tradi- of conventional mechanical machines. Kobe Steel Ltd., meanwhile, is report- tional machines, if a problem arises in Bahlke said the problem of bending on ing market inroads for a hybrid mixing one press it can be stopped for mainte- traditional double-cavity machine with technology, which combines the features nance while the other is still running. a connecting beam over time causes of tangential and intermeshing mixing. That ensures you don’t lose 100 percent both wear and non-uniformity. This is based on the Japanese compa- of production. “With the new design, the pressure is ny’s 5THR rotor, which is designed to 22 Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 www.rubbernews.com SPECIAL REPORT Rubber Machinery Arburg breaks ground on German assembly plant

By Audrey LaForest Arburg officials development, said in a statement. Plastics News at the ground- Arburg first disclosed plans for the new assembly LOSSBURG, Germany—Machinery maker Arburg breaking for Hall plant in April 2018 as part of a “large two-digit-million GmbH & Co. K.G. has started construction on a new 23, its new as- euro” investment in the expansion of its Lossburg head- assembly plant for the production of its large Allrounder sembly plant for quarters facilities. injection molding machines and other turnkey systems. large injection In 2016, it opened another assembly plant, Hall 22, for The assembly plant, dubbed Hall 23, will be located molding presses the production of its injection molding machines. That fa- at Arburg’s central production site and headquarters in based in Loss- cility is close to reaching capacity, the company stated, cit- Lossburg, and is expected to be completed in the second burg, Germany. ing continuous growth during the years for injection mold- half of 2020. Construction is ing machines with clamping forces up to 650 metric tons. The building will have about 305,000 square feet of expected to be “We are one of the world market leaders and continue to usable floor space for production and administration, complete in 2020. manufacture our high-quality machines for plastics pro- with 39,800 square feet for technical operations. cessing, which our customers then use around the globe, Arburg held a groundbreaking ceremony at the Loss- of rapid progress since 2007: customer center, assembly with great success exclusively in Lossburg,” Hehl said. burg site in May, where it said the project amounts to hall, parking structure, exhibition logistics hall, train- With the expansion efforts, Arburg projects that its an investment of “tens of millions of euros.” ing center and now a new assembly hall,” Michael Hehl, central production site in Lossburg will grow 17 percent “In terms of building activity, we have been in a state Arburg’s managing partner who is responsible for plant to about 2.15 million square feet by 2020.

on the steel. With our technology the error.” plants anywhere in the world. process is completely stable,” he said. Customers also come to Marangoni “One of our main markets, for exam- Innovation for tailor-made machines. “So we pro- ple, is China, which is eight hours ahead Automation levels vide a machine layout that is compliant of Italy, so we have to work 24 hours to Continued from page 21 Recent developments at Marangoni with the specifications of our customers, support companies there,” the CEO said. shifting of the specialist calender rolls, Meccanica have included an automated, rather than them having to adapt their “This service is very much appreciat- which laminate the rubber with fabric first-stage tire-building machinery of- processes to our machine,” Bonollo said. ed by customers: the possibility to be on and steel layers, there is no friction in fering different levels of automation to “For us it is much more than just a their site when they need our presence,” the positioning. deal with demanding cycle time and question of integration. We really cus- he added. “We are at an accuracy of ±1 microns,” process specifications. tomize our machines to fit the needs of Tire companies, according to Comerio, said Nicola Fedele, international sales According to Marangoni, end users our customers.” are becoming increasingly open to re- and marketing manager. “This is the can achieve “fine-grained control of the Flexibility is important in the agricul- mote support services: “At the beginning best in the market, because of the new process, without compromising on the ture and OTR tire sectors served by it was a little bit closed as a new concept technology concept in the frame of the complexity of the tire designs that can Marangoni, the commercial director but it is now happening more and more. calender and the bearing (module).” be manufactured.” said. “Remote control is quite easy via the According to Fedele, Rodolfo supplied An automatic finger ply-down and “We can cover a very wide range of internet but to do it properly is not easy four machines with the new technology bead setting with pneumatic or mecha- tires, from 20 inches to 32 inches with- and has required a big investment to last year and has already supplied three tronic controls, means “even the most out any tooling changes,” he said. “It is a deliver complete control also on the cus- orders in 2019. complex designs can be realized,” the question of software, recipe and the ma- tomer side.” The attraction for tire makers, he company said. chine, which can adapt the process at Trends toward Industry 4.0 and digi- said, is that with higher accuracy they “The key point for us is to have ma- the press of a button. This is something tal manufacturing in the tire manufac- save money in terms of rubber consump- chines where the quality of the tires is that is really requested by customers.” turing sector are also a focus for tire tion, reduced scrap and efficient use of not depending on the operator,” said For M.K. Suresh, joint general man- press and mold manufacturer Uzer materials. Luca Bonollo, newly appointed commer- ager and head of marketing, customer Makina. Moreover, all tire industry customers cial director of Marangoni Meccanica service and testing with Larsen & Tou- The Turkish company is collaborating want to reduce the thickness of the ma- S.p.A. bro Ltd, tire makers are concentrating with Fineline around applying an RFID terials to have lighter tires, according to “We offer machines where the key on reducing cycle time and increasing mold management system for new the Rodolfo manager. point is quality because the rest, like product variety. molds,” said Mehmet Akin Kilic, market- “With a standard calender, of course, speed and flexibility, must come (as The resulting increase in mold-change ing and business development engineer. you can reduce the thickness, but you standard),” he added. “So machines that frequency is a big challenge because any Tire molds normally have eight or get stability issues with the fabric and are well-automated to eliminate human mold-change time is non-value-added more segments, so a tag is put on each time, he said. segment as well as a chip for the con- “We are working to provide a reliable tainer, Kilic said. solution for quick mold change both for “Using an RFID scanner you can scan the mechanical and hydraulic curing the segments to ensure they are the cor- press to cut downtime.” rect ones, if the sequence is right, if the TOUGH QUESTIONS, SPECIAL Reducing customers’ investment costs segments belong to a particular contain- is another focus for L&T, which has de- er,” he said. “This is often a big problem veloped a compact, floor-mounted curing because if the segments are incorrect you APPLICATIONS, TIGHT DEADLINES? press for PCR tires. The deck height is end up with a lot of scrap tires.” short, and it can be mounted on the floor The RFID system includes a mold-lo- CALL RENKERT OIL. instead of a pit, which helps reduce cap- cation option that can help find contain- ital expenditures, Suresh said. ers in the warehouse within seconds. “Another area, which is still in an “The technology reduces time wasted early stage for us, is machine compliance searching for segments and containers,” Count on expert consulting, creative for Industry 4.0. This is a focus area for Kilic said. solutions and quality oils o ered at us and we are working closely with our He added that it provides information, competitive prices. Plus, our multiple customers and suppliers on this front,” for example, about how many times the terminals translate to quick delivery. the L&T manager said. mold has been used so that maintenance Likewise, Riccardo Comerio, CEO of is done before it becomes unusable. Why choose oils from Renkert? calender manufacturer Comerio Ercole, In another high-tech move, Uzer Maki- highlighted demand “not just to supply a na has shelved plans to start in-house ✓ Clear, water white process oils with machine but also to provide a 360-de- production of cast tire molds, opting in- viscosities up to 1500 SUS @ 100F gree service for engineering to machin- stead to move into 3D printing technology. “We saw that this technology is grow- ✓ ery supply.” Excellent compatibility with The 200 employee Italian company, he ing so fast and decided not to push the rubber polymers said, already is leveraging Industry 4.0 casting so much.” ✓ Low volatility technology to deliver improvements in Uzer Makina has yet to buy any 3D productivity and process reliability for machines, but Kilic said it will “probably ✓ Low UVs customers. invest this year and adapt it into our “For example, very recently we opened technology for winter tires.” a new department for remote support On the engineering front, Uzer Maki- Contact us today for an expert assessment of your oil application. and maintenance of our machinery na is developing a compact floating col- 1 (800) 423-6457 www.RenkertOil.com around the world,” Comerio said. umn-type press for truck tire production With a staff of six people, the depart- that is easy to maintain and use, and ment means Comerio is now in a position less heavy than conventionally used de- Authorized distributor for Chevron Process Oils to provide 24/7 support, including pre- signs. “This is a another goal for 2019,” dictive maintenance capabilities to tire the company engineer said. www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 23 Calendar Rubber groups Trade/technical associations Bourbon Trail Elastomer Group: Technical meet- IN COMING WEEKS ACS Rubber Division: International Elastomer ing, July 11, venue TBD, Cincinnati; Technical meet- Conference, featuring Rubber Expo, 196th Technical ing, Oct. 18, venue TBD, Louisville, Ky. (www.bour- Meeting & Education Symposium, Oct. 9-11, Hunting- bontrailelastomergroup.org) Southern Rubber Group: Summer Bourbon Trail Elastomer Group: Tech- ton Convention Center, Cleveland. (330-595-5531; www.rubber.org) Chicago Rubber Group: Chicago Golf Outing, July technical meeting ...... June 24 nical meeting ...... July 11 18, Village Links, Glen Ellyn, Ill.; Wisconsin Golf Association for Rubber Products Manufacturers: Outing, Aug. 14, Hawk’s View Golf Club, Lake Geneva, Environmental, Health and Safety Summit, July 17-18, Wis.; Fall technical meeting, Sept. 19, TopGolf, Wood Silicone Elastomers/TPE U.S. Sum- ARPM: Environmental, Health and Columbus, Ohio. (317-863-4072; www.arpminc.org) Dale, Ill. (www.chicagorubbergroup.org) mit 2019 ...... June 25 Safety Summit ...... July 17 Center for Automotive Research: CAR Manage- Detroit Rubber Group: Golf outing, July 16, Bay ment Briefing Seminars featuring topics impacting the Pointe Golf Club, Bloomfield Township, Mich.; Board automotive industry, Aug. 5-8, Grand Traverse Resort, meeting, July 29, venue TBD; Board meeting, Sept. 16, 11-13, Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, Calif. 8th scrap tire conference co-sponsored by the U.S. Tire Traverse City, Mich. (Lisa Hart, 734-929-0465. lhart@ venue TBD; Fall technical symposium, Nov. 20, venue (www.mdmwest.mddionline.com) Manufacturers Association, Dec. 4-5, Hyatt Regency, cargroup.org; www.cargroup.org) TBD; Holiday board meeting, Dec. 2, venue TBD. (Jim Greenville, S.C. (www.stref.org) Eddy, [email protected]; www.rubber.org) Polyurethanes Technical Conference: Bringing to- NIBA-The Belting Association: Annual convention, gether industry leaders to discuss and learn about inno- Silicone Elastomers/Thermoplastic Elastomers Sept. 18-21, Gaylord National Resort & Convention Energy Polymer Group: Educational symposium, Sept. vations and applications for polyurethane, Oct. 7-9, U.S. Summit 2019: Co-located conference on silicone Center, Washington. (www.niba.org) 17-18, Tremont House, Galveston, Texas; Fall technical Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center, Orlando, and TPEs organized by Smithers-Rapra, June 25-27, meeting, Sept. 19, Tremont House, Galveston, Texas; Fla. (http://polyurethane.americanchemistry.com) Crowne Plaza Cleveland at Playhouse Square, Cleve- Tire Society: 38th annual meeting and conference on Winter technical meeting, Jan. 16, Mariott Town Place, land. (Brienne Alves, 330-762-7441, balves@smithers. tire science and technology, Sept. 10-11, Hilton Inn, Sugar Land, Texas. (www.energypolymergroup.org) Scrap Tire Research and Education Foundation: com; www.elastomer-forum.com) Fairlawn, Ohio. (www.tiresociety.org)

Fort Wayne Rubber & Plastics Group: Technical meetings, Sept. 12 and Dec. 5, Ceruti’s, Fort Wayne, Ind. (www.fwrpg.org)

Los Angeles Rubber Group: Board meeting, Aug. 7, Vip Rubber Co Inc., La Habra, Calif.; Golf tournament, The World’s No. 1 Trade Fair Aug. 12, Alta Vista Country Club, Placentia, Calif.; Board meeting and technical conference, Oct. 2, Phoe- for Plastics and Rubber nix Club, Anaheim, Calif. (www.tlargi.org)

Mexico Rubber Group: Courses on July 25, Aug. 29, Oct. 17 and Nov. 21, Rubber Chamber Auditorium; 55 year an- niversary breakfast, Concamin Ballroom, Sept. 27; End of year luncheon, Dec. 5, Concamin Ballroom. (52-55- 55666199; 52-55-55352266; Francisco Martha cnih1@ prodigy.net.mx; Miguel Bernal [email protected]; Jose Gazano [email protected]; www.cnih.com.mx)

Michigan Rubber Group: Fishing outing, July 26, Grand Haven, Mich.; Technical meeting, Sept. 11, TBD, Frankenmuth, Mich.; Technical meeting, Nov. 6, University Club at Michigan State, East Lansing, Mich. (Keith Korthals, 989-435-7400, kakorthals@ laursilicone.com, www.michiganrubbergroup.com)

Mid-Atlantic Rubber & Plastics Group: Fall technical meeting, Sept. 12, American Additive Manufac- turing, Philadelphia. (Bruce Rhoades brhoades@ gtweed.com; www.marpg.org)

New England Rubber Group: Golf outing, Aug. 6, Blackstone National Golf Club, Sutton, Mass.; Fall technical meeting or plant tour, Nov. 12, TBD. (www.nerpg.com)

Ohio Rubber Group: Golf outing, Aug. 26, Silver Lake Country Club, Silver Lake, Ohio; Technical meeting, Sept. 24, Hilton Garden Inn, Twinsburg, Ohio. (www.ohiorubbergroup.org)

Southern Rubber Group: Summer technical meeting, June 24, The King and Prince, St. Simons Island, Ga. (www.southernrubbergroup.org) Home of Twin Cities Rubber Group: Golf outing, Aug. 1, Willingers Golf Club, Northfield, Minn.; Technical meetings, Sept. 19, Nov. 21, Holiday Inn Arbor Lakes, Maple Grove, Minn. ([email protected]; www.twincitiesrubbergroup.org) Innovation. K 2019 Seminars/conferences Chem Show: Focus on key issues facing today’s chemical processing market, Oct. 22-24, Javits Center, New York. (Steve Levine, [email protected]; www. chemshow.com)

Hose Manufacturers’ Conference: Symposium for the rubber hose manufacturing industry, Nov. 12-13, Sher- aton Suites, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, organized by Rubber & Plastics News, Beaver Manufacturing and Continental ContiTech. ([email protected]; www.rubbernews.com/ conferences) iLearn Innovation Institute: A division of Ace Products & Consulting L.L.C., all courses held at Ace Products in Ravenna, Ohio; Applied rubber technology, Aug. 6-7. (Christie Robinson, 330-577-4088, christie. [email protected]) Whether circular economy, digitalization, Industry 4.0,

ITEC in Focus: Green Tire: Biennial event spot- lightweight construction, mobility, additive manufacturing, lighting green tires and their impact on the tire industry, Sept. 25-26, Sheraton Suites, Cuyahoga Falls, new materials or other future-oriented issues of the worldwide Ohio, organized by Rubber & Plastics News. (bweaver@ crain.com; www.rubbernews.com/conferences) plastics and rubber industry: You will experience innovative ITEC: Tire Manufacturing: Biennial event spotlight- ing the tire industry, Sept. 15-17, 2020, John S. Knight solutions at K 2019. The fascinating forum for innovations and Center, Akron, organized by Rubber & Plastics News. ([email protected]; www.rubbernews.com/conferences) investments. The industry’s most important business platform. International Latex Conference: Exploring new Approximately 3,200 international exhibitors offer you the applications, changing market dynamics and industry trends, organized by Rubber & Plastics News and Ak- ron Dispersions, Aug. 6-7, Hilton Inn, Fairlawn, Ohio. latest in research and development. Welcome! ([email protected]; www.rubbernews/conferences)

K 2019: Trade fair for plastics and rubber held every www.k-online.com/ticketing three years, Oct. 16-23, Messe Duesseldorf, Duessel- dorf, Germany. (www.k-online.com)

Latin American & Caribbean Tyre & Latin Auto Parts Expo: Joint conference for the tire and automotive parts industries, July 24-26, Amador Convention Center, Panama City, Panama. (786-293-5186; info@ LatinTyreExpo.com; www.LatinTyreExpo.com)

MD&M West: Medical design and manufacturing expo featuring suppliers to the medical industry, Feb. For show information: Messe Düsseldorf North America Tel. (312) 781-5180 _ [email protected] www.mdna.com For hotel and travel arrangements: TTI Travel, Inc. Tel. (866) 674-3476 _ [email protected] 24 Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 www.rubbernews.com

Brooke Stender Classified Sales Manager Phone: 330-865-6117 Email: [email protected] Classifieds Visit our website at: www.rubbernews.com CUSTOM MANUFACTURING HELP WANTED HELP YOUR BUSINESS GROW IN 2019

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CUSTOM FABRIC TREATERS AND FINISHERS EQUIPMENT FOR SALE Don’t Miss Your Chance to Advertise in These Upcoming Issues July 1 July 15 RFL Treatments for Nitrile, Neoprene and North American Rankings Wire and Cable Vinyl Pyridine on Cotton or Nylon Fabric with 2019 Mid-Year Review Focus Issue Release Treatments for Leaders and Separators Closes: June 19 Closes: July 3 Contact Maxine Terlop, 216-883-7585 or email: [email protected] July 29 August 12 www.jjwhite.com Latex Chemicals and Additives Focus Issue Focus Issue Closes: July 17 Closes: July 31 CURLING VALVES FOR SALE August 26 September 9 Autoclaves-Electric: 8’ x 10’ • Seals and Gaskets 34th Annual DURBIN INDUSTRIAL VALVE 10’ x 10’ • 5’ x 20’ • 5’ X 10’ Innovation Through Flow LAB Presses, 12 tons & 25 Focus Issue Global Tire Report tons Press, 36” x 36” Closes: August 14 Closes: August 28 Synergy Series Intelligent Valves are electric, 314 tons non-pneumatic, servomotor-actuated TECH FIRST MACHINERY, INC. September 23 October 7 industrial valves that provide improved PH: (704) 552-0046 speed, accuracy and reliability. E-Mail: [email protected] LSR International Report Issue Elastomers Conference Closes: September 11 Closes: September 25 Contact Brooke Stender 330-865-6117 For more information visit www.durbinvalve.com or [email protected]

The Rubber Industry’s SOURCE for Molding Equipment & Supplies Visit our web site at: MMoldMART www.rubbernews.com COMPRESS PRESSES HYDRAULIC PRESSES MOLD RELEASES BUILD AWARENESS Transfer With frequency in Molding Custom Molding Solutions Presses 937-773-3420 Rubber & Plastics News www.frenchoil.com and Rubbernews.com wabashmpi.com [email protected] Call about our New Advertiser discount program that maximize your exposure! EMPCO PRESSES ERIE MILL & PRESS CO., INC. CALL 330-865-6117 • EMAIL [email protected] 814-454-1581 RUBBER MOLDS [email protected] Transfer & Compression [email protected] www.EMPCO-INC.com Mold Mart MAXIMIZES your exposure with print Brooke 330-865-6117 est. 1961 Exciting new opportunity Stender [email protected] ads and online posting on RubberNews.com www.straton.com/molds Increase your Help wanted ads visibility by being featured in our Most Read Call or email for introductory special rates: Stories of the Past Week newsletter. For more information contact Brooke Stender 33 0 -8 6 5 - 6117 [email protected] Visit us at: rubbernews.com tel: 330-865-6117 or [email protected] www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 25 Tariffs make China weary of investing in U.S. By Steve Toloken But with those U.S. products now facing tariffs in Plastics News China, his company is no longer buying from the U.S. GUANGZHOU, China—The escalating trade conflict directly and is looking domestically and elsewhere for between the U.S. and China was prompting some plas- new suppliers. tics investors to hit the pause button, with Chinese In spite of the difficulties, though, he said his small compounder Top Polymer Enterprise among them. company, which employs about 150 in two factories in The uncertainty around tariffs was causing the Liyang, China, remains committed to its U.S. investment. It sees China-based firm to delay a $15 million investment in its a strong business case for the U.S. factory, in part to be first factory in the U.S., near Atlanta, as both its supply closer to decision makers in multinational firms, he said. chains and profits were taking a hit from rising tariffs. Other material suppliers at the show also were hav- “Right now, the environment is difficult for everyone, ing to manage tariffs and hoping they would end. although at the moment it’s the worst case scenario,” But for some specialty products going between the President Marcus Tsong said in an interview at the two countries, it’s not possible to shift production and company’s booth at Chinaplas, which ran May 21-24 in the company risks losing business, said Martin Pavlik, Guangzhou and drew an estimated 180,000 attendees. director of business development. Tsong said his company remains firmly committed to “What you lose is competitiveness in price because moving ahead on its U.S. investment and hopes to there are local producers in Asia or producers in Europe complete it in early 2020. Original plans called for the that are not affected,” he said. “Although we have a lot factory to open this month. of products that are benchmarks in the industry, it’s all But the back and forth over relations between the two Chinese firms are looking at investments with a cau- about the cost. countries has slowed the company’s planning. Tsong’s cau- tious eye thanks to the escalating trade conflict be- “We don’t see right now an erosion of sales because tion echoed others at the fair, which with 3,500 exhibiting tween the U.S. and China. we are putting a lot of different efforts in place but how firms ranks as one of the world’s two largest plastics shows. long we will be able to hold, is a question of time,” he U.S. extrusion equipment maker Davis-Standard change that the “U.S.-initiated” trade fight “has weak- added in an interview at the company’s booth. L.L.C., for example, said tariffs are causing its custom- ened investors’ confidence.” A regional executive in Dow’s packaging and specialty ers in China to put their orders for machines from the Chinaplas organizer Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd. plastics business said the company has been able in gen- company’s U.S. factories on hold. noted that China’s output of plastic products increased eral to manage the tariff impacts in his unit by shifting He said U.S.-built Davis-Standard machines being by only 1.1 percent in 2018, influenced by a volatile sourcing around among its global production base. exported to China will face much higher tariffs start- market and tougher environmental policies on industry. Bambang Candra, Dow’s Singapore-based commer- ing June 1, because they’re in a block of goods targeted Chinese equipment maker Cosmos Machinery Enter- cial vice president of packaging and specialty plastics in Beijing’s response to President Trump’s recent deci- prises Ltd. said it too has felt the impact of trade tensions. for Asia-Pacific, said it is still seeing healthy 10-20 sion to raise tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on Business slowed in the second half of 2018, and the percent annual demand growth for their plastics in $200 billion in Chinese exports. last few weeks of tariffs and counter-tariffs trade issues packaging products in China. For Davis-Standard, China’s tariffs on those U.S. further hurt sentiment, said Stephen Wong, executive “When you’re talking about packaging, we believe machines will rise from 5 percent to 25 percent. vice chairman of the Hong Kong-based firm. the fundamental demand is still there,” Candra said. “We have got customers (in China) now putting their “In the machinery field, it’s not the actual impact on The U.S. plastics materials industry has argued investment plans for machinery from the U.S. on hold,” us but the uncertainty that will make people nervous strongly against tariffs by either country, with its lob- he said. “We’ve already had that happen. They’ve not about future investment,” he said. bying organizations like the American Chemistry canceled orders. There’s a wait-and-see thing.” Council saying they harm U.S. exports to China, now One Chinese executive said the escalating tariffs in Escalating tariffs the world’s largest plastics market. the last few weeks—a reversal of the sense that a deal Like Davis-Standard, compounder Top Polymer faces ACC said in early May that the tariffs are starting to between the governments was at hand—seemed to stop escalating tariffs. damage the industry’s supply chain and hurt the com- what had been a recovery in plastics machinery mar- The maker of thermoplastic copolyesters and styrenic petitiveness of the U.S. petrochemical industry. kets in China in March and April. block compounds will now face 25 percent tariffs on some of But companies in other parts of the U.S. plastics in- Richard Yan, CEO of Chinese injection machine maker its shipments from China to the U.S., up from 10 percent. dustry have welcomed tariffs on items such as plastic Yizumi Precision Machinery Co. Ltd., said plastics indus- To keep its market volumes up ahead of building its packaging and vinyl flooring, saying that they face un- try customers had ramped up purchasing in April in antic- new factory in Georgia, the company is shipping mate- fair competition from China. Tariff advocates say Chi- ipation of a deal between Washington and Beijing. rials from China, paying the higher tariffs and seeing na’s industrial policies boost its industry, and they say “Now the situation has changed and customers are its margins take a big hit. tariffs will mean more jobs in their U.S. factories. hesitating. It’s a matter of confidence,” Yan said. “Peo- “We have to have some volume ready before the plant While the mood at the trade show was generally ple are now back to waiting and seeing.” is ready,” Tsong said. “We have to tolerate a loss.” against tariffs and trade conflicts, the mood within the But he argued that the tariffs also are hurting U.S. larger U.S. industry is more split. Challenging conditions plastics makers. That may be in part because the U.S. runs an annual Last year was a more challenging year in China’s Tsong said that’s because Top Polymer has been im- deficit of about $11.5 billion with China’s plastics in- industry. For example, the country’s largest plastics porting significant supplies of raw materials from U.S. dustry, with deficits in plastic products, machinery and machinery maker, Haitian International Holdings plastics firms, including Kraton Corp. and Dow Inc., to molds. Only the resin sector has a surplus with China, Ltd., told its shareholders in the Hong Kong stock ex- make its materials. reaching $2.7 billion in 2017.

Company Name Web address/Email Phone# Page Company Name Web address/Email Phone# Page Boschert LLC www.boschertllc.com 251-602-0008 14 Polymer Machinery Co. www.polymermachineryco.com 330-633-5734 12 [email protected] [email protected] Ergon, Inc. www.ergonnsa.com 601-933-3148 28 Precision Control www.pcscontrols.com 952-949-9009 16 [email protected] System, Inc. [email protected] FACTS, Inc. www.facts-inc.com 330-928-2332 10 Reliable Rubber www.reliable-machinery.com 201-865-1073 7 Finite Fiber www.finitefiber.com 330-773-6654 11 Machinery [email protected] [email protected] Renkert Oil, LLC www.renkertoil.com 415-408-3706 22 French Oil Mill www.frenchoil.com 937-773-3420 15 [email protected] Machinery [email protected] REP Corp. www.repinjection.com 847-697-7210 17 Guill Tool www.guill.com 401-828-7600 18 [email protected] [email protected] Harwick Standard www.harwick.com 330-798-9300 5 Safe-Run Machinery www.safe-run.ca 86 21 5268 13 (Sizhou) Co., LTD. [email protected] Distribution Corporation [email protected] 800-899-4412 6700 HF Rubber Machinery, Inc. www.hf-mixinggroup.com/en/ 785-235-2336 21 Sanyu USA, Inc. www.sanyuusa.com 419-897-9262 10 [email protected] [email protected] Kobelco Stewart www.ksbi.com 330-655-3111 21 Starrett www.starrett.com 978-248-3189 19 Bolling, Inc. [email protected] [email protected] Maplan Maschinen U. www.maplan.at 43-2630-357- 9 The Grieve Corp. www.grievecorp.com 847-546-8225 20 Techn. Anlagen [email protected] 06-0 [email protected] Messe Dusseldorf www.mdna.com 312-781-5185 23 VMI Group www.vmi-group.com 330-929-0815 2 [email protected] [email protected] A reader service from to Rubber Industry Advertisers 26 Rubber & Plastics News • June 17, 2019 www.rubbernews.com Michelin Continued from page 1 develop and validate the Uptis prototype with the goal of introducing Uptis on passenger models as early as 2024. Michelin and GM have been testing the prototype on vehicles such as the Chevrolet Bolt EV and disclosed that they intend to initiate real-world testing of Uptis on a test fleet of Bolt EV vehicles in Michigan. The companies have been granted permission to test vehicles with the Uptis tire/wheel on public roads in South Caro- lina and have applied for permission in Michigan, as well as in a number of other A look at the Uptis deforming. Uptis is based off of Michelin’s Tweel. states such as California, Georgia and North Carolina, a spokesman said. Per- than a comparable pneumatic tire/wheel Tweel factory in South Carolina. Proto- successful 3D printing of rubber, howev- mission is necessary since Uptis is not assembly, but using an airless tire/wheel type versions are being built in South er, Vinesse said. yet considered a legal road-going product. product eliminates the need for a spare, Carolina, but once production ready, Mi- This is not Michelin’s first attempt to “General Motors is excited about the resulting in a net weight improvement. chelin intends to build/assemble them at bring a distinctly different technology possibilities that Uptis presents, and we The Uptis differs from the Tweel in its plant in Chennai, India. to market with an OE customer. In 2005 are thrilled to collaborate with Michelin that the Tweel is ideal for high-load, low- it worked with American Honda Motor on this breakthrough technology,” Steve speed uses—such as on lawn-care or Advancing its vision Co. to bring the Pax non-standard tire/ Kiefer, GM senior vice president, global smaller materials-handling platforms— Michelin said the Uptis prototype rep- wheel run-flat system to market on purchasing and supply chain, said at the whereas Uptis is being designed to deliv- resents a major advancement toward Honda’s Odyssey minivan, only to dis- product’s launch at Movin’On. “Uptis is er performance indistinguishable from a achieving its Vision Concept, which de- continue it three years later because of an ideal fit for propelling the automotive comparable pneumatic tire, according to buted at the 2017 Movin’On Summit. The customer dissatisfaction. industry into the future and a great ex- Michelin spokesmen. Vision Concept introduced four key pillars The companies later settled a class-ac- ample of how our customers benefit Michelin will be able to control ride of innovation: airless, connected, 3D-print- tion consumer lawsuit pertaining to the when we collaborate and innovate with quality, handling performance and ed and 100 percent sustainable (entirely Pax system. our supplier partners.” load-bearing by varying the height, ar- renewable or biosourced materials). chitecture and/or stiffness of the spokes, “Uptis demonstrates that Michelin’s vi- No maintenance Vinesse said in a separate interview with sion for a future of sustainable mobility is From GM’s perspective, Uptis rep- North American trade media attending clearly an achievable dream,” Michelin resents a maintenance-free product that the Movin’On event. CEO Florent Menegaux said. offers the prospect of essentially no tire/ The road-going product likely will in- “Through work with strategic wheel-related breakdowns. clude sensors molded into the spokes to partners like GM, who share our Kiefer said GM likely would introduce provide feedback and to alert the driver ambitions for transforming mobili- the product on a limited basis, targeting in the unlikely event of a spoke failure, ty, we can seize the future today.” electric vehicles and fleets initially, which company spokesmen added. Vinesse stressed that devel- also could lead to development work on The Uptis shown at Movin’On on a oping a product like Uptis could autonomous vehicles. Chevy Bolt EV was designated a size help Michelin generate “ex- GM eventually foresees airless tire/wheel 215/45N17, where N represents non-pneu- traordinary” environmental composites as compatible with its full range matic. Eventually the industry will have savings by cutting into the ap- of passenger vehicles, Kiefer said, declining to come up with accepted sizing nomencla- proximately 200 million tires to comment on the extent of GM’s exclusivi- ture and roadworthiness testing protocols worldwide that are scrapped ty with Michelin on this product. for non-pneumatics, a spokesman said. prematurely every year as a re- According to Michelin, the airless aspect Michelin has tested the Uptis proto- sult of punctures, damage from of the Uptis means drivers of passenger type in both extreme heat and cold envi- road hazards or improper air vehicles feel safer on the road and opera- ronments and determined neither affects pressure that causes uneven wear. tors of passenger vehicle fleets will mini- the concept’s performance. On the con- Vinesse also acknowledged an mize downtime and improve efficiency. trary, the spokesman said it offers consid- airless tire/wheel product like Up- In addition, society at large should see erable advantages in extreme heat condi- tis could lead to a resurgence in re- benefits from “extraordinary” environ- tions because there’s no risk of drivers treading of consumer tires, al- mental savings through reduced use of running their tires underinflated, which though retreading in this sense Aluminum wheel raw materials for replacement tire or almost always leads to premature failure. likely would involve 3D print- assembly spare tire production. The new design, in development for ing—or “recharging”—of new Composite rubber and proprietary Designed with renowned car Vinesse said the Uptis tire/wheel as- much of the past decade, means the Uptis treads. innovative high-strength resin manufacturers for passenger sembly weighs about 5 percent more won’t be built/assembled in Michelin’s Michelin has not yet achieved embedded berglass car performance

According to the OSHA website, the SVEP “concentrates resources on inspecting employ- The Auto Care Association OSHA ers who have demonstrated indifference to and the Alliance of Automobile Continued from page 1 their OSH Act obligations by willful, repeated, Tariffs Manufacturers also were pleased Three days later, OSHA conducted an in- or failure-to-abate violations.” Continued from page 1 with the administration’s re- spection at Custom Rubber’s Houston facility. In a statement, Kumho said it will work tional tax on the American peo- versal on tariffs. All four of the violations the inspectors found with OSHA to resolve safety issues at Macon, ple by increasing the cost of “U.S. companies benefit from there, the agency said, were repeats of those although it disagrees with the opinions of the goods and putting jobs and in- having largely duty-free access they found in November 2014, after a Custom OSHA inspector. vestment in the U.S. at risk,” to Mexico’s labor market for Rubber employee was seriously injured. “Both Kumho Tire and OSHA have common MEMA said. certain important steps along The alleged violations at Custom Rubber interests such as providing a safe workplace free Motor vehicle parts trade be- the supply chain,” said Bill involved lack of machine guarding to protect of recognized hazards and unsafe behaviors,” tween the U.S. and Mexico to- Hanvey, ACA CEO and presi- employees from hazards such as rotating the tire maker said. “The leadership team at taled $165 billion in 2018, equiv- dent. “A new tariff would have parts, flying chips and sparks. Kumho Tire Georgia is committed to providing alent to $452 million per day, resulted in higher prices for U.S. The machines involved were the No. 7 Sum- its team members with such a workplace.” according to the association. consumers and job losses for mit lathe, the No. 5 Mauser & Co. lathe, the No. Officials of Custom Rubber declined com- On June 7, MEMA issued a U.S. businesses.” 6 Summit lathe and the No. 10 LeBlond lathe, ment on the OSHA citations. statement applauding Trump’s David Schwietert, interim according to the OSHA citation. Custom Rubber has been in operation since decision not to impose the tariffs. president and CEO of the Alli- OSHA gave Custom Rubber the highest 1961. According to its website, it is one of the “We are pleased that he heard ance, commented along similar fines allowed under law, the agency said. largest custom molders of thermoset plastic the motor vehicle parts supplier lines. The agency gave Custom Rubber until June products in North America, manufacturing industry, which represents the “Any barrier to the flow of 11 and Kumho until June 19 to correct the al- elastomer, phenolic and thermoset plastic prod- largest sector of manufactur- commerce across the U.S.-Mex- leged violations. Both companies have the usual ucts for the oil field and industrial markets. ing jobs in the U.S.,” the associ- ico border would have a cascad- choices of paying the fines, requesting an infor- The company has more than 80,000 square feet ation said. ing effect—harming U.S. con- mal conference with the OSHA area director, or of manufacturing space on its 10-acre site, it said. “MEMA and its member com- sumers, threatening American contesting the citations before the independent Paris-based FDS Group acquired Custom panies urge Congress and the jobs and investment, and cur- Occupational Safety and Health Review Com- Rubber in January 2013, making it part of the administration to redouble its tailing the economic progress mission. Flexitallic Group. Flexitallic is a world leader in efforts to address immigration that the administration is After the latest inspection, OSHA placed high-value static sealing products, and main- and the crisis at our border with working to reignite,” Schwiet- Kumho in the Severe Violation Enforcement tains a major market position in sealing devices Mexico,” it said. ert said. Program. The agency said Custom Rubber has used in the oil and gas industry’s upstream and been in the SVEP since 2014. downstream operations, Custom Rubber said.

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