SUPPLIER NEWS

Pulp & Paper, Jan 2005

REPORTS FROM THE SUPPLIER SECTOR

EXPANSIONS

Norfolk Southern Corp. will spend million this year for capital improvements to its railroad operations and subsidiaries. The spending includes $671 million for roadway projects and $225 million for equipment, which will include 52 locomotives, the upgrade of existing locomotives, the certification and building of 300 multilevel automobile racks, and the purchase of 317 bi-level racks.

Deublin Co. announced the establishment of its new company, Deublin Steam Systems LLC, in Buford, Ga., which provides steam system and dryer section optimization services. The new company allows Deublin to provide comprehensive services from equipment supply, system design and integration, installation, diagnostics, and trouble shooting.

Sun Chemical has formed Sun Chemical Security, a new global business unit that will provide products used to print packages, documents, and currency that incorporate security measures.

ORDERS AND DELIVERIES

Weyerhaeuser has reached an agreement with Eaton Corp. for it to perform electrical are flash surveys at Weyerhaeuser's industrial facilities as part of an employee safety pilot program. Results from the survey will be used to develop a list of personal protection equipment required to meet the National Fire Protection Association standards. Each electrical cabinet will then be labeled with this equipment information to ensure the health and safety of the workers.

ABB has received a $48-million robotics contract from the United States Postal Service (USPS) to help it increase the efficiency of the mail service. ABB will supply turnkey robotics containerization systems to assist LISPS mail processing facilities in handling several million pieces of mail each day.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Coldwater Group has acquired Appleton international Inc. The company will operate under the name Coldwater-Appleton and will distribute both companies' products through their international manufacturing and distribution network. The former Appleton facility in Kimberly, Wis., will continue to operate, as well as Coldwater's facilities in Oxford, Ala.; Atlanta, Ga.; and China. The acquisition makes Coldwater-Appleton the largest supplier of suction seals and drainage foils in the world.

Körber AG's acquisition of Winkler Dunnebier (W D) has been approved under the EU Merger Regulation by the European Commission.

Can-Am Machinery has purchased the former Blue Water Fiber deink plant in Port Huron, Mich.

JOINT VENTURES

Invensys has chosen ExperTune's PlantTriage performance monitoring system for its new process control loop management services. The goal is for the two companies to help customers maximize the performance of their installed automation assets.

LABOR

Workers at DuPont's Edge Moor facility near Wilmington, Del., voted to remain members of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE). The union faced down a challenge started by members who wanted to decertify PACE as the legal bargaining agent and create their own independent union. This is the eighth election PACE has won over DuPont.

PRICING

Degussa has increased prices for all grades of hydrogen peroxide in North America by $0.05/lb.

BASF has raised prices in the U.S. and Canada on all butonal high solids styrene butadiene latex products by $0.05/dry Ib and on all acrylic and styrene-acrylic latex products by $0.05/wet Ib.

Nexen Chemicals has increased sodium chlorate prices by $30/ton in the U.S. and C$20/tonne in Canada and has increased the price of liquid chlorine by $20/ton in the U.S. and C$30/tonne in Canada.

Air Products Polymers L.P. has increased prices on acrylic-based polymers by 20% per wet Ib.

Eka Chemicals, a business unit of Akzo Nobel, has announced a price increase of $30/ton in the U.S. and C$20/tonne in Canada for sodium chlorate.

RohmNova has announced price increases for coating latices. Polyco vinyl acetate, Sunbond vinyl acetate, Polyco vinyl acrylic, Rhoplex styrene acrylic, and Rhoplex acrylic polymers have been increased by $0.04/wet Ib; GenFlo styrene butadiene and GenCryl styrene butadiene acrylonitrile have been increased by $0,06/dry Ib; Ropaque hollow-sphere pigments have been increased by $0.10/dry Ib; and Acume dispersants, Tamol dispersants, and Rhoplex rheology modifiers have been increased by $0.03/wet Ib.

DuPont Titanium Technologies has announced a price increase of $0.06/lb in North America for titanium dioxide grades.

The Dow Chemical Co. has increased the price of its emulsion polymer products, including styrene/butadiene latex, styrene acrylate latex, and solid plastic pigment products, by $0.04/lb in the U.S. and Canada. Styrene-based hollow plastic pigments have increased $0.10/lb.

ONLINE

The American Filtration & Separations Society (AFS) has created a monthly newsletter circulated via email to those on the AFS email list with local chapter information and expanded educational resources.

The Fieldbus Foundation has introduced User's Corner (part of Fieldbus Forums), a web-based interface to the latest Foundation field-bus end user stories, successes and references. User's Corner allows the end user community to gain knowledge from their counterparts and exchange Foundation technology experiences and installation stories and discuss benefits and savings.