Peter Donnelly has been appointed as new President of Cancarb Limited, a subsidiary of Tokai Carbon. He succeeds Ken Tate, who has elected to retire as of 30 September 2019. Tate will remain in an advisory capacity through to 31 December 2019. Donnelly has worked in various roles at Cancarb over the past 24 years including most recently as VP, Marketing, and prior to that as Director, Quality and Development.

The specialist exhibitions and conferences organiser Smarter Shows announced that Foam Expo Europe 2019, Europe’s largest trade fair dedicated to the technical foam industry, expanded its scope this year to welcome more participants from related sectors and recorded a significant increase in attendee numbers. Running in parallel with the event, Composites Europe, organised by Reed Exhibitions, offered synergies for the joint application industries such as automotive, aviation, the construction sector and the sports and leisure industry.

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company and Sailun Vietnam Co., Ltd. recently celebrated production of a first tire at ACTR, their new joint venture (JV) facility located near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Cooper owns 35 percent of ACTR, which will produce truck and bus radial (TBR) tires for global markets. The ceremonial first tire was the centerpiece of a special event held at the facility on November 18 to celebrate construction of the plant. The plant is expected to be operational and producing tires on a commercial level by early 2020. At full capacity, production is expected to be approximately 2 million tires annually.

The rubber industry is expected to contribute MYR 41 billion in 2020 from MYR 40 billion estimated for this year, driven mainly by the downstream sector including rubber glove, according to Minister of Primary Industries Teresa Kok. She said it was in line with rubber glove industry projection that export revenue would likely hit MYR 20.68 billion in 2020 from the MYR 18.2 billion expected in 2019. On this note, she urged the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) as custodian of the industry to continue commercialising its research and development (R&D) projects to boost the income of the country, while benefiting smallholders.

At K 2019, Wittmann Battenfeld exhibited its injection moulding technologies, processes and applications under the motto “Enjoy Innovation”. Two of the applications presented by the Austrian machine manufacturer from Kottingbrunn were on the subject of elastomer processing. One of the application technology focal points at K 2019 was silicone injection moulding. A TPE application was also on display.

Indonesia’s Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita has offered South Korea's conglomerate SK Group to invest in Indonesia’s petrochemical industry. "We are optimistic that they would invest in the petrochemical industry, as Indonesia continues to have huge imports of petrochemical products," Kartasasmita stated in Seoul on Wednesday (20 November 2019).

The Plastics Industry Association (Plastics) announced that it has officially kicked off the march to NPE2021: The Plastics Show. Scheduled for 17 – 21 May 2021 at the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) in Orlando, FL, USA, NPE2021 is expected to draw more than 55,000 attendees from more than 20,000 companies representing more than USD 100 billion in purchasing power.

Japan's Asahi Chemical has assured Indonesian Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita of its commitment to build a IDR 1.3 trillion plant in Indonesia when he met with the company's board of directors in Tokyo Monday (18 November 2019). “Asahi Chemical will expand (its business) by building the seventh unit of its plants in Cilegon at a cost of IDR 1.3 trillion," Kartasasmita said following a meeting with representatives of eight Japanese companies. Asahi Chemical will produce 200,000 t/y of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the minister said.

Trinseo, a global materials solutions provider and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders and synthetic rubber, has completed the acquisition of latex production facilities and related infrastructure at Rheinmunster, Germany, from Dow in October 2019. The transaction includes full ownership and operational control of both latex production facilities at Rheinmunster, as well as site infrastructure and services contracts, and approximately 108 employees who have transferred from Dow to Trinseo.

Technology company and tire manufacturer Continental has opened its new tire plant near Clinton, Mississippi, USA in October 2019. The new plant is located on a 1 000-acre greenfield site in Clinton, close to Jackson, the capital of Mississippi. Continental expects to employ 2 500 people when the plant reaches full capacity in the next decade. The plant will produce large truck and bus tires for the U.S. market. Production is set to begin in early 2020.