BUSINESS

www.reinforcedplastics.com 9REINFORCEDplastics NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

EVONIK AND SECAR form joint

venture for automotive and aviation

composites

EUROPEAN COMPANIES Evonik

Industries and SECAR Technol-

ogie have established a joint

venture called LiteCon Advanced

Composite Products to focus on

the mass production of

composite components for the

automotive and aviation indus-

tries.

Evonik, headquartered in

Germany, manufactures the

ROHACELL® structural foam core

material, which is used in

composite sandwich structures

used in aircraft, sports cars, wind

turbine blades, X-ray tables for

medical applications, and in

sports equipment.

“LiteCon unites our polymer

expertise with SECAR’s prowess

in composite development and

manufacturing, so that our

customers can use these

synergies to their greatest

possible advantage,” says

Gregor Hetzke, president of

Evonik’s Performance Polymers

Business Unit.

SECAR, of Austria, is a manufac-

turer of carbon fi bre reinforced

plastic components for the

automotive, aviation and medical

industries. The joint venture is

headquartered in Hönigsberg,

Austria. Evonik owns 49% of the

shares and SECAR 51%. Dr Arnim

Kraatz of Evonik Industries

AG and Karl Heinz Semlitsch

of SECAR Technologie GmbH

are the company’s managing

directors.

Evonik Industries;

www.evonik.com

SECAR; www.secar.at

Axson acquires Cass PolymersAXSON HAS ACQUIRED CASS

Polymers of Michigan Inc,

strengthening its position in high

performance polymer formula-

tions for the tooling, prototyping,

structural adhesive and

composite markets.

AXSON, headquarted in France,

specialises in high performance

polymer formulation for a variety

of markets. It has three business

units – AXSON Technologies,

AXSON Coatings and AXSON

REVOCOAT. CASS Polymers,

headquartered in Oklahoma City,

is a collection of companies that

specialise in formulation and

distribution of high performance

adhesives and coatings.

“The agreement with CASS

Polymers gives us one of the

most complete product off erings

in the tooling, adhesives and

composites industries. The

combined products, sales and

R&D organisations, as well as

distribution network, greatly

improve our market position in

North America,” says Charles

Churet, president of Axson.

CASS Polymers will be integrated

into Axson US Inc and Axson Tech-

nologies will manage the acquired

business and brands, which include

Tool Chemical Composites (TCC),

ADTECH Plastic Systems, ADTECH

Marine Systems, and SPARTITE. The

acquisition strengthens Axson

Technologies’ focus on providing

high performance polymer formu-

lations to the tooling, prototyping,

structural adhesive and composite

markets. Axson will continue to

off er the Tool Chemical Compos-

ites (TCC), ADTECH, ADTECH

Marine and Spartite lines which

include well known products

such as Model Plank®, Pattern

Plank®, Die Plank®, Fixture Plank®,

ProBuild and other ADTECH

Marine products. The current

Axson Technologies product line

also includes Prolab, Lab 850, SC

Modeling Paste, Adekit Adhe-

sives, PX Series prototyping

urethanes, APF Series polyester

putties and the Wood & Stone

Company products.

“Although Axson and CASS have

been competitors for many years,

our management teams have

been working together for several

months to develop a structure to

accelerate combined growth and

market presence for our broad

product off erings,” says CASS Poly-

mers President Doug Frans.

“This action tightens the focus of

CASS Polymers on our speciality

adhesives, coatings and linings

businesses and places our

ADTECH Plastic Systems and Tool

Chemical Composites products

in very good hands.”

Axson; www.axson.com

Huntington Ingalls closes Gulfport

composites centre

HUNTINGDON INGALLS Industries

(HII) has announced the closure

of its composites centre in Gulf-

port, Mississippi, following the US

Navy’s declining use of composite

products from the facility.

“This is a diffi cult but necessary

decision,” says Mike Petters, presi-

dent and CEO of HII, a builder of

ships for the US Navy and Coast

Guard and provider of after-market

services for military ships worldwide.

“Due to the reduction in the

Zumwalt-class (DDG 1000) ship

construction and the recent US

Navy decision to use steel prod-

ucts on Lyndon B. Johnson

(DDG 1002), there is both

limited and declining Navy use

for composite products from the

Gulfport Facility.”

“We are working closely with our

Navy customer to effi ciently

complete our composite work on

Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001)

and the mast of Portland (LPD

27) by the end of the fi rst quarter

2014,” says Irwin F. Edenzon,

president, Ingalls Shipbuilding.

Current work being performed at

Gulfport is expected to be

completed by the end of the fi rst

quarter of 2014. Closure is

expected by May 2014.

“Ingalls Shipbuilding continues to

perform well in building the

composite products for the

Zumwalt-class (DDG 1000)

programme and has demon-

strated considerable learning

curve improvements,” reports

Irwin F. Edenzon, HII corporate

vice president and president of

Ingalls Shipbuilding.

Huntingdon Ingalls Industries;

www.huntingdoningalls.com

RP0613_Business News 9 01-11-2013 09:34:52