Apollo Tyres has appointed Hizmy Hassen to the newly created position of Chief Digital Officer. He will be based out of the company’s London office, and will be responsible for leading the strategy and operations of Apollo Tyres’ digital journey, including responsibility for Information Technology. Hizmy Hassen will be reporting to Neeraj Kanwar, Vice Chairman and MD, Apollo Tyres Ltd.

Chandra Asri Petrochemical (CAP) and Royal Vopak have signed a letter of intent (LoI) to set up a joint venture company for collaboration in the industrial infrastructure business in Cilegon, Banten Province, Indonesia. As part of the LoI, the two companies will explore storage opportunities in supply networks to help grow existing petrochemical value chains and lay the foundation for an expanded industrial cluster in Cilegon.

China National Chemical Engineering & Construction Corp. Seven Ltd. has awarded a project management services contract to Pesco for Baltic Chemical Co.'s (BCC) gas chemical complex being built in Russia.

Dr. Johannes Kilian is the new Head of Process Technologies at Engel Austria. Following the retirement of Prof. Dr. Georg Steinbichler, Engel has reorganised its development department and is now focusing even more strongly on process technology. Products and solutions for increasing process capability, such as the smart assistance systems of the iQ product family, but also innovative services, have been bundled in the Process Technologies department under the responsibility of Johannes Kilian.

Dr. Barry Arkles has been appointed the Chief Executive Officer of Gelest Inc. effective 12 October 2020. Barry Arkles is also the Chairman of the Board of Gelest, the company he co-founded in 1991. On 1 October 2020 Gelest was acquired by Mitsubishi Chemical America (MCA), Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation. Barry Arkles’ appointment follows the resignation of Ken Gayer as CEO of Gelest.

Abu Qir Fertilizers announced that it is going ahead with feasibility studies to set up a USD 2.6 billion methanol factory in Ain Sokhna. The factory is expected to be constructed over a 1.6 million sq m plot of land within the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), and would be 70 % funded through loans. The project would be implemented over two phases, with the USD 1.6 billion first phase providing an ammonia and methanol capacity of 400,000 t/y and 1 million t/y, respectively.

Hennecke-OMS announced that it has signed a new contract with Ballytherm UK Ltd. for the supply of a high-speed lamination line to produce polyisocyanurate panels with flexible facings. According to the manufacturer, the line has a speed of 45 m/min, with future potential of up to 70 m/min.

With HEY! TALKS online talk-shows, KraussMaffei will this year provide compact information on novelties in plastics processing. Six half-hour talk rounds will take place from 20 – 22 October 2020. The themes will range from digitalisation in service and production, innovations in injection moulding, extrusion and reaction process machinery, to solutions that promote the circular economy, plastics recycling and recompounding.

The Heilbronn-based German company L. Brüggemann GmbH & Co. KG announced the commissioning of a new production plant for polymer additives. The company said it has invested EUR 25 million in the new facility in accordance with Industry 4.0 standards.

The European Coatings Show (ECS), a leading trade fair of the international coatings industry, has been postponed. Instead of holding ECS 2021 in March next year as planned, Vincentz Network, the organizer of ECS, and NürnbergMesse have rescheduled it for 14 – 16 September 2021 because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the associated travel restrictions.