Ceramic and glass business news of the week for October 12, 2020

PLANTS, CENTERS, AND FACILITIES

Germany’s first 3D printed residential building

For the first time in Germany, a residential building has come out of a printer. The two-story detached house, which consists of three-shelled walls filled with insulating compound, was produced by a 3D concrete printer installed on site.

Stoelzle to boost production at French perfume and cosmetics glass plant

Perfumery and cosmetics glass manufacturer Stoelzle Masnières Parfumerie plans to boost production at its plant by investing €20 million in a furnace rebuild at the facility in the Hauts de France region, northern France. The investment will include a fifth production line to better fulfill customer demands for high end perfumes and cosmetic items.

Virgin Hyperloop selects West Virginia to test its futuristic transport system

Virgin Hyperloop One announced its plan to build a $500 million certification center in West Virginia to serve as a locus for testing, developing, and validating the technology that underpins the still-theoretical hyperloop system.

ACQUISITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS

Şişecam signs the largest merger in the history of Turkish capital markets

Şişecam, a global player in the glass industry, successfully completed the largest merger ever registered in the Turkish capital markets. Şişecam Vice Chairman and CEO Ahmet Kırman said the company simplified its legal entity and shareholding structure and consolidated all its activities under one entity to further enhance its global competitive position.

Generac accelerates energy technology capabilities with Enbala Power Networks acquisition

Generac Holdings Inc. announced the signing of an agreement to acquire Enbala Power Networks Inc., a leading distributed energy resources technology company. The deal solidifies Generac’s position as a market leader in Smart Grid 2.0 technologies and opens opportunities for Generac as a grid services provider.

Berlin Packaging expands in northern Europe with acquisition of Vinkova

Berlin Packaging, a hybrid packaging supplier, acquired Vinkova B.V., a Netherlands-based glass packaging supplier with expertise in food and beverage verticals. This transaction, which marks Berlin’s eighth acquisition in Europe since 2016, strengthens the company’s glass offering in northern Europe.

French lubricant group Condat acquires Kemno

French lubricant group Condat has acquired Italy-based Kemno, a company that specializes in neat and soluble coolants. The acquisition will allow Kemno to expand, backed by an international and stable group, and Condat can strengthen its diversification strategy in Italy, particularly in the fastener and machining industry.

DWK Life Sciences Partners with VMIC

DWK Life Sciences has entered a supply chain agreement with the Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre in the U.K. that will see the company provide primary packaging—in the form of borosilicate pharmaceutical glass vials—to the organization.

Collaboration between US, Netherlands focuses on hydrogen technology

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy’s Directorate General for Climate and Energy issued a statement of intent to collaborate on collecting, analyzing, and sharing information on hydrogen production and infrastructure technologies. 

MRF, Calix collaborate to produce advanced ceramics

A recent Materials Research Furnaces newsletter details MRF’s collaboration with ceramic supplies company Calix Ceramic Solutions and outlines some of the silicon carbide products offered by Calix.

Looking Glass Factory expands reach into R&D labs with holographic Kitware integrations

For R&D professionals working in the scientific and medical fields who are looking for ways to visualize, communicate, and comprehend their work in 3D, Looking Glass Factory has now integrated its immersive holographic displays with two software applications from one of the providers in open source R&D software, Kitware: ParaView and 3D Slicer.

OTHER STORIES

Webinar: Numerical simulations help analyze soldier block corrosion, glass furnace lifetime

The next free Glass International webinar on how numerical simulations help analyze soldier block corrosion and glass furnace lifetime takes place Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 10–11 a.m. ET.

Workshop: Software tools from atomistics to phase diagrams

The Materials Genome Foundation is holding a free virtual workshop on November 10 and 11 that will give a detailed introduction to computational thermodynamic software based on atomistic simulations (pyiron) and the CALPHAD method (pycalphad and ESPEI). Application deadline is Oct. 21, 2020.

Wilson Hardness Days: From hardness testing fundamentals to DiaMet Software

Buehler is hosting Wilson Hardness Days on Nov. 4–5, 2020. This virtual educational program includes two half days of an immersion into hardness testing, calibration, the latest on hardness testers, and DiaMet Software.

Peltsman Corporation in Minnesota is for sale

Michael Peltsman of Peltsman Corporation is retiring and offers Peltsman Corporation and its assets for sale. The company designs and manufactures low pressure molding machines and mixers, which have been sold to 25 countries. Please send inquiries to mp@pelcor.com.

SINTX Technologies makes progress toward mask fabric with silicon nitride

SINTX Technologies announced progress toward the manufacture of a “catch-and-kill” mask that will inactivate respiratory viruses. They successfully dispersed and embedded silicon nitride particles into nonwoven and woven fabric fibers. Optimization of this process, fabric safety and efficacy testing, and manufacturing scale-up are the next steps.

FDA confirms 510(k) eligibility for biotech company A.D.A.M.

The FDA has confirmed A.D.A.M.’s 510(k) clearance eligibility for their 3D-printed bioceramic and modified biopolymer bone implants. A.D.A.M. is a 3D-bioprinting company headquartered in Connecticut.

US government announces investment in British rare earth specialist

The U.S. government has invested $25 million in TechMet, a mining group based in London, U.K. The investment in TechMet will reportedly help fund the development of a mine in Brazil set to produce nickel and cobalt.

MARKET TRENDS

IMFORMED: Industrial waste resources will become the new normal

In an interview with Interceram, IMFORMED director Mike O’Driscoll discusses where he sees the refractory materials industry heading in the coming years, particularly in terms of Europe.

US wind and solar installation are smashing records, but the trend may not last

An E&E News article looks at the current renewable energy boom in the United States but cautions that challenges such as the end of key tax incentives could slow development.

NEW PRODUCTS

Vitro Architectural Glass updates Glass Design handbook

Vitro Architectural Glass updated its Glass Design Handbook, a pocket-size resource for architects to use when drafting or reviewing glass specifications for building projects. The eight-page booklet, which debuted in 2017, highlights the eight factors specifiers and design professionals must consider during the glass design and specification processes.

MAMBO, the world’s first 3D-printed fiberglass boat

Moi Composites, a tech start-up that 3D prints custom products using advanced composite materials, unveiled a 3D-printed fiberglass boat called MAMBO at the Genoa Boat Show 2020. MAMBO represents the first ever real functional boat to be 3D printed in continuous fiberglass thermoset material.

Double planetary mixing, weighing, and discharging system

The ROSS double planetary mixer comes with an optional weighing system for quick and precise measurements throughout the batching procedure. The integrated turnkey system consists of a mixer, weighing scale, and discharge system on mobile benches that can dock to each other and to transfer carts of the same height.

New mixed rare earth carbonate

Pensana Rare Earths, based in London, U.K., produced a neodymium-praseodymium-rich mixed rare earth carbonate from recent test work being undertaken at a Perth, Australia-based lab using material from Pensana’s Longonjo rare earth project in Angola.