The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) has developed a new initiative to identify technologies that are making an impact across the industry. Technologies that Could Change the Way You Manufacture is a member-driven program to discover and showcase new and emerging technologies that are making a difference in manufacturing.

Enthone Inc., a business unit of Cookson Electronics, has signed a worldwide exclusive licensing agreement with TECSEN SA, Brussels, Belgium, for catalytic inks. Under the terms of the agreement, Enthone will gain exclusive worldwide rights to manufacture, market and sell catalytic ink technologies used in a range of applications, including phone cards, RFID, printed flexible circuits, plated shielding and decorative plating on plastics.

Atlantic Powder Coating, Stevensville, MD, has formed a joint venture with Xiom Systems, West Babylon, NY, to provide mobile polymer powder coating services to the marine industry throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Akzo Nobel Coatings, Inc., has selected Hudson, Ohio, the previous site of The Flood Co., as headquarters for Decorative Coatings U.S.A. Nils van der Plas has been appointed as general manager and will be responsible for the management of Flood® Wood Care products, Sikkens Wood Finishes, and Synteko® Floor Finishes.

PPG Industries has acquired certain assets of Coatings Resource Corporation (CRC), Huntington Beach, CA. Terms were not disclosed. In a separate move, PPG has entered a worldwide, multi-year exclusive partnership agreement with Agion Technologies to develop, manufacture, and jointly market PPG’s coatings for use on laptop computers.

Brightly colored, light-stable decorative skins made of polyurethane can now be produced directly in a reaction injection molding (RIM) process developed by Bayer MaterialScience AG and Faurecia. Working together, the two companies optimized the manufacturing process and an aliphatic polyurethane system to enable production of a high-quality decorative skin in a pre-production mold.

Dry lube - it sounds like an oxymoron but that's just what it is. A way to enhance stamping performance without adding lubrication, and subsequently, without the post cleaning often necessary. Today's new dry coating products and state-of-the-art application methods are bringing new results for stampers and metal formers.

Deacom President Jay Deakins, founder of the DEACOM Integrated Accounting and Enterprise Software System, will help coatings manufacturers learn how to streamline their complex business processes for maximum efficiency at the 28th Biennial Western Coatings Societies Symposium and Show at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, NV.

Bjorn Tranebo was recently promoted to General Manager of the Wheelabrator Group Burlington Technology Center. Prior to this appointment, Tranebo was the Operations Manager at the Burlington facility.

Michelman has appointed Laurie Thomas to the position of vice president of supply chain. Effective October 1, 2007, Thomas’ responsibilities include sourcing and purchasing raw materials, managing inventory, manufacturing and operations, as well as overseeing global customer support functions.