FPD Highlights - March 2007

SPI Activities in Support of FPD

SPI opposes union bill's elimination of employee secret ballot process . . . On March 1, by a vote of 241-185, the House of Representatives passed "The Employee Free Choice Act," H.R. 800. Introduced on February 5, 2007, by Representative George Miller (D-CA) and 233 cosponsors, this bill would allow the National Labor Relations Board (NRLB) to certify a union in a company without the benefit of an employee vote utilizing the secret ballot method. SPI opposes this legislation because it significantly alters the current fair processes in union recognition elections by changing the current federally supervised secret ballot organizing process with a system called "card check," which allows for union representation when a majority of employees sign an authorization card. Eliminating the secret-ballot in a union election would deprive employees of the ability to make their own private decision concerning whether or not they want to be represented by a union. If enacted into law, this legislation would also eliminate federal supervision, and union organizers would only need to obtain the authorization cards.

SPI's Alliance of Plastics Processors to launch new medical products section . . . On February 15, 2007, SPI's Alliance of Plastics Processors (APP) announced the launch of a new Medical Products Section representing material suppliers, molders, machinery companies, moldmakers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) across the plastics industry spectrum that are involved in the medical products field. This new group will provide a professional forum for companies as they navigate and keep pace in a market poised to dynamically expand over the next decade. "From blood bags and examination gloves to glucose meters and heart valves, vinyl, polyurethane and other plastics have traditionally been the healthcare industry's materials of choice," said SPI President William R. Carteaux. The new section's objectives are to help companies grow their business in the medical products field by promoting the beneficial uses of plastics throughout the medical products industry, monitoring new technologies used in medical products, keeping abreast of the latest international trade issues impacting this sector, helping companies locate medical product grant opportunities worldwide and providing a networking forum for customers, suppliers and allied associations and societies. For more information, contact Karen Miles at 202/974-5247.

FPD Activities

SPRING 2007 CONFERENCE will be held at the Hyatt Tamaya Resort in Santa Ana Pueblo, NM (near Albuquerque) March 25-27, 2007. Dan Loffa, AGC Chemicals Americas, and Kenneth Koziel, Saint-Gobain, are the conference co-chairs. Planned presentation topics include: Quality Environmental/Risk Management (Joseph Caprio, Saint Gobain), International Trade Issues (Eugenia Ross, SPI), Marketing/Internal Performance (Dr. Milton Bergstein), SPI Issues and Goals (Bill Carteaux, SPI), and more.

You will not want to miss our keynote speaker - Patrick Moore, one of the original founders of Greenpeace. Dr. Moore has since left the organization and in recent years, has been focused on the promotion of sustainability and consensus building among competing concerns. Please visit the FPD Spring Conference website for registration and further details on the program.

FALL 2007 CONFERENCE is planned for The Venetian in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sept. 23-25, 2007. Please save these dates. The Conference Chairmen are Tim Grattan, Daikin, and Dave Ely, Chromatics Inc.

SOCIETAL VALUE OF FLUOROPOLYMERS - A subcommittee is being led by Bruce Nesbitt, to develop awareness of the societal values of fluoropolymers. The subcommittee members are Evan Laganis, AGC Chemicals, and Dick Rockosi, Arkema. A Societal Values Powerpoint Presentation has been placed on the FPD website.

MEMBERSHIP SUBCOMMITTEE Another subcommittee, led by Robert Smith, Dupont, was formed to reach out to the industry for additional members. Other subcommittee members include Al Damico (FPD Chairman), Richard Baillie (Membership Chairman), Terence Neville, Mike Patterson, and Eric Walsh.

WEB CONTENT TASK GROUP was recently formed as well, and will coordinate with SPI staff to enhance our existing FPD website. SPI has made major advances in this area recently and FPD is excited by the opportunity to incorporate the functionality of these advances into our web presence. We plan to improve our site dramatically during the next twelve months, adding new content that is relevant to our existing membership.

MONTHLY FPD HIGHLIGHTS - Please include E. Robert (Bob) Hill on your press release list at eben_hill@msn.com, so we can note your company and staff accomplishments and honors.

WINTER 2007 ISSUE OF FLUORONEWS has been posted in full color. Check it out on this web site.

FLUOROGUIDE - We did full updates of FluoroGuide and the related Section and Member tables in early March 2007. We are doing updates of the section and membership tables every month, if needed to keep them current.

FPD WEB SITE HITS continue to increase steadily, and reached 548k hits, up from 508k hits in the prior quarter, and about 2.2 million hits annualized. We continue to add a steady stream of new content to our web site, and are now posting post-conference summaries, including the conference program, a list of attendees, and more.

FPD Section Activities

FPD Section activities continue to be strongly emphasized at all of our conferences. The PFOA issue is a major issue in all sections. See this website under Conferences in early 2007 for the Section Programs for the upcoming Spring Conference near Albuquerque.

Industry Highlights

WHITFORD WORLDWIDE has just moved from its corporate home of 20 years in Frazer, PA to a far larger facility located in Elverson, PA, about 20 miles northwest of Frazer. The new factory, an unusually modern and sophisticated building, includes 210,000 square feet of usable space (Whitford's previous factory was 60,000 square feet). Whitford has made some modifications to accommodate its equipment, but the basic structure, electrical power, air conditioning, etc. were in excellent condition.

A new state-of-the art office building was constructed that has 23,000 square feet of space, more than twice that of the previous facility. The new Elverson facility offers many advantages, among them more than enough space to consolidate Whitford's sister company, Polymeric Systems, Inc. (PSI), into the site. PSI, presently located in Phoenixville, PA, will be moving in early 2007.

ARKEMA With the launch of the website www.arkema.com.cn, Arkema confirms its commitment to boosting its presence in China and on the Asian continent as a whole. To access the website and find out about Arkema's activities, industrial facilities, products, teams and vacancies in China, enter www.arkema.com.cn.

DYNEON introduces a fluoroelastomer for biodiesel applications. DyneonTM FPO 3741 Fluoroelastomer has excellent chemical resistance to rapeseed-oil methyl ester (RME) biodiesel fuel, which is commonly used in Europe. This fluoroelastomer exhibits a constant low swell level, and retains its physical properties even after 1,000 hours of RME exposure at 150ºC (302ºF). With increased global interest in reducing emissions, improving fuel efficiency, and finding alternatives to petroleum-based fuels, fatty acid methyl esters such as RME, soy methyl ester (SME) and other biodiesel variants are gaining in importance. Biodiesel fuels and new diesel technology impose increased performance requirements on the elastomers used in diesel fuel and power train systems. These requirements include improved chemical resistance at higher operating temperatures over long periods of time.

In addition to excellent biodiesel resistance at high temperatures, Dyneon FPO 3741 exhibits good permeation resistance, a property that is expected of high-fluorine fluoroelastomers when exposed to today's gasoline/alcohol fuel blends.

DAIKIN AMERICA, INC. announces the 2007 Daikin America, Inc. Minority Scholarship Program for the Decatur-Morgan County area. Daikin America, Inc. will be granting the annual scholarships in May 2007, to deserving minority college students from Morgan County. Three-thousand dollars will be awarded to each selected minority college student. The selection process will consist of applications being screened by a panel of Daikin America, Inc. employees, with finalists being interviewed by a group panel consisting of Daikin America, Inc. employees, educational system employees, and local community leaders.

SOLVAY SOLEXIS has decided to double the production capacity of an innovative, unique family of perfluoropolyether (PFPE) polymers, whose outstanding technical performance is matched by improved environmental sustainability. The production capacity for this category of products will be lifted substantially at the fluorinated polymers manufacturing plant of Solvay Solexis in Spinetta Marengo (Italy). The expansion plans include a very large capacity increase for the PFPEs sold under the Solvera® and Fluorolink® brand names, to be progressively implemented during 2008.

The Solvera® and Fluorolink® product lines are primarily implemented as water and grease repellants for grease-proof paper packaging, textiles and carpets. Solvera® was approved for food contact by Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung (BfR) in Germany and by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States. Solvay Solexis is currently developing a whole range of new applications for its Fluorolink® product line in a variety of high-end markets, including new materials, additives for polymers and high performance coatings, among others. The expanded plant will also produce hydrofluoropolyether (HFPE), which Solvay Solexis markets as high-performance heat transfer fluid with improved environmental impact, under the H-Galden® brand name.