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Best in Automotive Innovation: Body Exterior Category
The Automotive Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) has unveiled the finalists for its 52nd annual Automotive Innovation Awards. The Body Exterior category features four worthy entries from GM, electric vehicle maker Nio, Hyundai, and Rivian, whose entry is profiled below.
Category: Body Exterior
Thermoplastic Split-gate
This is the world’s first all-thermoplastic split-gate rear-closure system, which is delivered to the assembly line as a ready-to-install module. The complex, deep-draw (>80 mm) design offers improved perceived quality at lower mass, NVH, and cost versus metal constructions and is offered in a two-tone execution.
By commonizing grades between the liftgate and benchgate and focusing on sustainability, parts were reduced from nine to three with the use of just two materials injection molded long fiber thermoplastic PP and thermoplastic polyolefin elastomer. The center high-mount stop lamp and taillamps were carried over from the pickup model.
All of the finalists in the Aftermarket category are featured in this slide show.
Dow Reports 26% YoY Decline in Packaging, Specialty Plastics Segment
Dow’s packaging and specialty plastics segment saw a 26% decline in net sales versus a year ago, according to the company’s third-quarter earnings report released Tuesday.
The company reported net sales in that segment at $5.5 billion, down from $7.3 billion in 3Q 2022. Local prices fell by 20%, added the company, “driven by lower polyethylene and olefin prices in all regions, primarily due to lower global energy costs.”
Further, segment volume declined 7% year over year, with PE demand “more than offset by lower merchant volume in the Hydrocarbons & Energy business.” Net sales decreased 8% on a sequential basis, hindered by declines in olefin and aromatic merchant sales and lower PE prices.Dow noted that “higher polyethylene demand in all regions was more than offset by the impact of lower energy costs on local prices. Sequentially, net sales decreased as higher demand for industrial, consumer, and flexible food packaging partly offset polyethylene price declines, primarily in EMEAI (Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India).”
Companywide, net sales fell 24% to $10.7 billion.
"With our continued focus on operational and financial discipline, we are navigating challenging market dynamics and expect to further benefit from rising oil prices that favor our cost-advantaged asset footprint," said Dow Chairman and CEO Jim Fitterling. "By 2030, our Decarbonize and Grow and Transform the Waste strategies are expected to deliver more than $3 billion in underlying earnings, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by five million metric tons, and commercialize 3 million metric tons of circular and renewable solutions annually."
Raumedic Expands Biopharma Tubing Line, Launches New Brand
Medical tubing supplier Raumedic has expanded its portfolio of biopharmaceutical fluid-processing products and launched a new biocompatible tubing brand. The company also announced that it is adding an ISO Class 7 cleanroom to its global headquarters in Helmbrechts, Germany.
Raumedic has been an exclusive supplier to a key solutions provider in the biopharmaceutical and life sciences sector for more than a decade. It is now leveraging its more than 70 years of polymer processing expertise to offer its product range directly to the broader market, the company said in its announcement.
Nina Kaiser, head of pharma at Raumedic, explained that the expertise and capabilities within the company informed the decision to service the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries directly. “When it comes to polymer tubing, Raumedic is one of only a handful of global companies sophisticated enough to fulfill the strenuous regulatory demands for extruded biopharma tubing. But our capabilities actually go beyond this,” added Kaiser.
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Medical tubing supplier Raumedic has expanded its portfolio of biopharmaceutical fluid-processing products and launched a new biocompatible tubing brand. The company also announced that it is adding an ISO Class 7 cleanroom to its global headquarters in Helmbrechts, Germany.
Raumedic has been an exclusive supplier to a key solutions provider in the biopharmaceutical and life sciences sector for more than a decade. It is now leveraging its more than 70 years of polymer processing expertise to offer its product range directly to the broader market, the company said in its announcement.
Nina Kaiser, head of pharma at Raumedic, explained that the expertise and capabilities within the company informed the decision to service the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries directly. “When it comes to polymer tubing, Raumedic is one of only a handful of global companies sophisticated enough to fulfill the strenuous regulatory demands for extruded biopharma tubing. But our capabilities actually go beyond this,” added Kaiser.
In addition to extrusion, Raumedic offers molding and assembly services across five global production sites, including at its North American headquarters in Mills River, NC, established in 2016. “Raumedic has set out to become a true one-stop-shop for polymeric product solutions for pharma and biopharma fluid-processing products,” stressed Kaiser.
The product portfolio encompasses a broad selection of biocompatible fluid-processing tubing in various materials, including silicone, thermoplastic elastomers, FEP, and PVC, as well as polycarbonate-based tubing connectors.
As part of its outreach to the pharma and biopharma industries, Raumedic has also unveiled the registered brand names for three of its most popular biocompatible tubing products:
Tubing is in stock in standard dimensions; customer-specific dimensions are available on request.
Spartech’s Eric Lattanner Receives Lifetime Achievement Award from SPE Thermoforming Division
Eric Lattanner, business development manager of Spartech, has earned the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Thermoforming Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE).
Lattanner, a frequent recipient of Spartech’s Salesperson of the Year and Circle of Champions awards, was honored at SPE’s Thermoforming Awards Dinner in Cleveland on Oct. 25.
A fixture in the thermoforming community for four decades, Lattanner began his career as a customer service representative for the Royalite Division of Uniroyal in 1978 upon graduating from Mount Union College (now the University of Mount Union) in Alliance, OH. He has remained with Royalite his entire career, through multiple corporate acquisitions and spinoffs and in multiple management roles in several states.
The many high-profile customers and products he has worked with include:
• Seats for Bombardier light-rail passenger cars;
• components for General Electric locomotives;
• Overhead luggage compartments and wall and window panels for Boeing and other aircraft manufacturers;
• Royalex plastic sheet for every major canoe manufacturer and for Walt Disney World to produce canoes for water rides.
He has also supported every SPE Thermoforming Division conference since the first one, held in 1992, and has supported several SPE European Thermoforming Division events in person.
“For his entire career, Eric has consistently ensured that customers’ requirements were met for existing products and customers’ wishes for new products were reviewed and coordinated with stakeholders all along the supply chain — from the end user to the thermoformer, as well as all key departments within his company,” according to a statement from SPE. “Eric always made sure his company provided complete cooperation with customers when it came to product development and product service. He was pivotal in communicating and coordinating requirements with R&D, production planning, and every facet of manufacturing. He also made sure that customers were able to properly use extruded sheet products and solve any forming problems that might occur."