Ceramic and glass business news of the week for March 2, 2020

PLANTS, CENTERS, AND FACILITIES

Anchor Glass opens $50 million production facility expansion

Anchor Glass officially opened its $50 million production facility expansion, made possible due to the ReCharge New York Initiative, which supports Southern Tier businesses in working toward greater energy efficiency, while creating jobs and focusing on capital investments. The expansion includes state-of-the-art emissions equipment.

IVC lights fifth furnace at Piedras Negras plant

Mexican container glass manufacturer Industria Vidriera de Coahuila inaugurated the fifth furnace at its Piedras Negras plant. It has increased the total capacity of the facility to 2200 tonnes per day and approximately 9.5 million bottles a day.

Orion Engineered Carbons officially opens new technical service applications lab in N.J.

Orion Engineered Carbons S.A., a worldwide supplier of specialty and high-performance Carbon Black, officially opened its new technical service applications laboratory in New Jersey, U.S. The new facility will initially serve coatings and ink customers, as well as drive innovation to advance carbon black technology.

ACQUISITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS

Investment group acquires Teichmann

An investment group led by the owner of a global construction company acquired Henry F. Teichmann, a U.S.-headquartered global process engineering and contracting firm dedicated to serving the glass industry. There will be no changes to the leadership, project, or support teams at Teichmann.

Geomega, Jobmaster Magnet Canada Inc. agree to rare-earth magnet recycling

As part of the agreement to increase rare-earth magnet recycling in Canada and abroad, Geomega and Jobmaster Magnets will put in place a collection and recycling program with end users and traditional recyclers to return scrap magnets to either Geomega or Jobmaster Magnets to be ultimately recycled using Geomega’s process to produce rare earths.

RACV partners with Enphase to boost its rooftop PV offering

The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV), looking to expand its reach in the Australian rooftop photovoltaic sector, partnered with U.S. microinverter maker Enphase Energy to cater to consumer demand for safe, flexible, and quality products in the residential and commercial PV market segments.

NGK Spark Plug, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems to manufacture fuel cell stacks

NGK Spark Plug Co., Ltd. and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd. announced the establishment of CECYLLS Co., Ltd., a joint venture company, which concluded an agreement in July 2019 to establish the joint venture to manufacture and sell cylindrical cell stacks as the power generating elements used in solid oxide fuel cells.

US Concrete acquires Coram Materials and announces full year results

US Concrete acquired Coram Materials for a purchase price of $142 million while also announcing its full year and fourth quarter 2019 results. William J. Sandbrook, chairman of US Concrete, says the acquisition expands the company’s East Coast aggregates portfolio.

Forschungszentrum Jülich, Frontiers develop world’s largest pure open-access framework

Forschungszentrum Jülich and Frontiers signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a pilot project letting researchers publish in Frontiers’ journals through a simplified publishing process with university libraries managing publication costs centrally. The MOU is a step to finalizing a National Open Access Publishing Framework between Germany and Frontiers.

OTHER STORIES

Exentis Group demonstrates industrialization of its 3D screen printing technology

Exentis Group AG, located in Switzerland, demonstrated its 3D Mass Customization tech during the recent opening of its new 1,200 m² customer innovation center. The technology offers rapid series production of millions of components, in either metal- or ceramic-based materials, using a screen-printing process followed by a final sintering stage.

LightPath Technologies enters into supply agreement for IR thermal sensing program

LightPath Technologies, Inc., a global manufacturer, distributor, and integrator of optical and infrared components and high-level assemblies, won a $1.14 million purchase order for 2.7mm focal length thermal imaging lens assemblies from a well-known technology integrator and original equipment manufacturer in East Asia and its partnership in the EU.

Lynas gets three-year license renewal to operate in Malaysia

Lynas Corp received a three-year extension to its license to operate in Malaysia, ending 18 months of turmoil that had threatened its existence. The extension is subject to conditions that include not importing materials carrying low-level radioactive waste into Malaysia by July 2023.

L&L ships floor standing electric forging and tempering furnace

L&L Special Furnace Co. Inc., shipped a floor standing forging furnace for use in hot forming of medial implant parts along with a floor standing tempering furnace to a manufacturer of medical implant components located in the Northeastern United States. The furnace, an L&L model FWE422, is heated to 1,800°F. The tempering furnace is an L&L model XLE3636.

PCA launches ‘Shaped by Concrete’ educational campaign

The Portland Cement Association launched an educational campaign to increase awareness of the sustainability, resiliency, and durability of concrete made with cement. PCA says the campaign will focus on meeting sustainable development goals, decreasing costs from natural disasters, and assisting societal challenges, such as U.S. housing crisis.

MARKET TRENDS

What needs to change before folding phones become something everyone wants

Folding phones are fun, but they are expensive and there is not a big benefit to the design. A recent CNBC article outlines some of the challenges that must be overcome before folding phones hit the mainstream, including becoming more affordable, thinner, and more durable.

NEW PRODUCTS

Multilayer ceramic capacitor in 008004 inch size

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. developed GRM011R60J104M, the world’s first multilayer ceramic capacitor to feature maximum capacitance of 0.1 µF in 008004 inch size (0.25 mm × 0.125 mm). Mass production of this new product is scheduled to begin in 2020.

Resin8, a plastics-derived aggregate

Fizzano Brothers Concrete Products teamed with Center for Regenerative Design & Collaboration to demonstrate the engineering properties and commercial potential of Resin8, a fine aggregate derived from post-consumer plastic waste, in a concrete masonry unit installation at the Braskem America Innovation and Technology Center in Pittsburgh.

Vertua, a net-zero ready-mixed concrete

CEMEX is launching Vertua, the U.K.’s first ready mixed concrete that is a CarbonNeutral product. The Vertua low carbon concrete range features a variety of bespoke concrete mix designs and includes the Vertua ultra zero option, which achieves a 70% reduction in embodied carbon emissions.

Custom-built 20,000-gallon heated storage vessel

A supplier of specialty mixing equipment, Ross also manufactures ancillary storage tanks, pressure vessels, and reactors up to 100,000 gal at its Ross Engineering fabrication plant. They recently completed a vessel with a full holding capacity of 20,000 gal, measuring 10 ft, 6 in. OD x 30 ft long.