The Valspar Corp. has earned recognition as a Partner-level supplier for 2006 and was also named Enterprise Supplier of the Year in the John Deere Achieving Excellence program. The Partner-level status is Deere & Company's highest supplier rating.

The Industrial Heating Equipment Association’s (IHEA) annual Combustion Seminar, the IHEA Fall Business Conference and the IRED Division’s one-day seminar on Infrared Heating Processes will be held November 5-7, 2007, to coincide with the Global Heat Treat Summit sponsored by Industrial Heating magazine and MTI on November 8-9.

The Coatings for Plastics Symposium, June 13-15 in Chicago, IL, will explore emerging trends in the coatings for plastics industry and will define the technologies that will have a significant impact on the industry’s future.

Effective June 1, 2007, Dow will increase its price for all pure and polymeric methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) by $0.05/lb. This price adjustment applies to all polyurethane market segments and end-use applications in the U.S. and Canada.

General Motors (GM) will modify the paint shop at its Toluca, Mexico, assembly plant later this year with a three-coat, one-bake painting process from DuPont Automotive OEM Coatings known as “3-Wet.” The technology is designed to reduce facility operating costs and provide environmental benefits.

Shercon, Inc. will move its offices from 10425 Slusher Drive, Santa Fe Springs, CA, to 6262 Katella Ave., Cypress CA, on July 9, 2007. According to the company, the move stems from several years of unprecedented growth and the increased demand for Shercon masking and OEM molded rubber products throughout the country and internationally.

BASF AG received the 2007 European Coatings Award for its new AQAGloss dispersion-based binder for high-gloss water-based coatings. Paints based on the binder can meet stringent environmental standards (specifically EU Directive 2004/42/EC and emissions tests based on the guidelines of Germany’s Committee for Health-Related Evaluation of Building Products - AgBB).

David Weisman, L.L.C.: The Fast Response Electric Infrared Boost Oven System is designed to boost the temperatures of liquid or powder coatings on small, medium and large three-dimensional products prior to entering a hot air/convection oven.

Covalence Adhesives Corrosion Protection Group: Polyken 4000 PCS is a new cold-applied primerless coating system for the corrosion protection of joints, fittings and specialty piping.

Clariant Pigments & Additives Division: Licocene® PP 1502 fine grain is a new additive designed to improve the adhesion of silicon-based products on powder coatings. In addition, it reportedly is slip-resistant and thus improves the handling of powder-coated products.