Degussa's Coatings & Colorants Business Unit announced a reorganization of its Resins Business Line, an action the company said more closely aligns the product line with strategic market needs.
BASF said it has "largely completed" the first phase of a two-phase restructuring program for its operations in North America, with a second phase currently under way.
BASF Coatings and DuPont Performance Coatings received 2004 Automotive News PACE (Premier Automotive Suppliers' Contribution to Excellence) Awards for technology developments related to automotive-coatings materials and application processes.
PPG Industries Inc. and Kansai Paint of Japan announced the signing of a non-binding memorandum of understanding and said they have entered into negotiations aimed at the launch of an alliance that would target the global automotive OEM market.
Recent conferences in Europe provided assessments of advances in coatings for plastics and materials designed for use in the growing ink-jet market, with a varied lineup of industry experts addressing various aspects of technological and market developments.
Lord Corp. announced an expansion of the company's Automotive Solutions site in Wixom, MI, with the construction of a 19,020-square-foot facility that houses the operation's automotive sales office and a 7,736-square-foot formulation and testing laboratory, automotive aftermarket training classroom and a garage suitable for hands-on automotive application training.
The Dow Chemical Co.'s UCAR Emulsion Systems business unit announced plans to build a new production plant at the company's Union Carbide Corp. St. Charles site in Louisiana and expand production operations in Alsip, IL, and Sarnia, Ontario.
- Lyondell Chemical Co. and Bayer MaterialScience AG formally opened a major new propylene oxide/styrene monomer manufacturing facility in Maasvlakte, The Netherlands, near Rotterdam.
The U.S. market for paint and coatings rebounded with growth of 3.9% in 2003 and will continue to expand this year, hitting an estimated total dollar value of $18.2 billion, a newly issued industry study estimates.