FPD Highlights - September 2006

SPI Activities in Support of FPD

CHINA'S UNDERVALUED CURRENCY! - U.S. Manufacturers Need Relief from China's Undervalued Currency! In mid- August, SPI called on all members, their employees (and other contacts) to let elected officials know in no uncertain terms that the plastics industry demands action on the "Chinese Currency Act of 2005" (H.R. 1498). We need strong industry support to dispel the misperception among lawmakers that U.S. manufacturers do not care about this issue.

For over a decade, the Chinese government has pegged the value of China's currency - the yuan - to the U.S. dollar at an artificially low level. China continues to resist the Bush Administration's pressure to increase the value of the yuan. Meanwhile, U.S. manufacturers are experiencing plant shut-downs, lay-offs, lost business, and overall weakened financial performance due to price constraints driven by the large influx of low-priced Chinese imports into their markets. For more than a year, SPI and other groups have lobbied in favor of H.R. 1498 - which would give relief to U.S. manufacturers harmed by China's undervalued currency.

BUSINESS DEVEVELOPMENT MISSION TO INDIA ON 11/29/06 - The Commerce Department is organizing a business development mission to India later this year. The mission will start with a Business Summit in Mumbai on November 29-30, 2006. The summit will be followed by six spin-off business "matchmaking" missions to Bangalore, Calcutta, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, or New Delhi on December 4-5, 2006. Under Secretary for International Trade Frank Lavin will lead the mission with coordination by the U.S. Commercial Service in the United States and India. US companies and individuals committed to making sales and business contacts in India should consider participating in this mission.

PROTECT YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN CHINA - On September 21-22, 2006, the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) will hold a free two-day program in Boston, MA, on IPR protection in China. This seminar will provide comprehensive information on protecting and enforcing IPR in China for all companies - those seeking to enter the Chinese market, those with an established presence in China, and those that simply want to learn how to better protect themselves against IP theft. For more information, contact the PTO's Susan Tong at 571/272-9300 or susan.tong@uspto.gov.

FPD Activities

FALL 2006 CONFERENCE We hope you will join us for the Fluoropolymers Division Fall 2006 Conference as we continue to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the FPD! The conference will be held September 17-19, 2006 at the Barton Creek Resort in Austin, Texas. Mike Haley and Steve Schwartz are the co-chairpersons. The program topics include: an Issues Management Update, "Innovation in Fluoropolymer-based Products" by Dr. Sina Ebnesajjad, Successful Exit Stratagies for Business Owners, International Tax Strategies for Growing Companies, "Update on Fluorine Feedstocks for Fluoropolymers," by Ray Will of SRI, and "European REACH Update" by David Sarvadi of Keller & Heckman. Further details including the current attendee list are available on our web site.

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.

FALL 2007 CONFERENCE is planned for the Venetian in Las Vegas on Sept. 23-25, 2007. Please save these dates.

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.

FLUORONEWS SUMMER 06 ISSUE was posted on the web site at month-end July and issued in hard copy in early August. This issue includes a lead article on "Coping with Globalization." Check it out!

"COPING WITH GLOBALIZATION" lead article is included in the just issued Summer 2006 issue of FluoroNews. This article is also posted here on this web site. The article includes an overview of how companies are coping with the challenges and opportunities of globalization and how the SPI, the Department of Commerce, and the World Trade Center Association can help.

FLUOROGUIDE - We updated the FPD section and membership tables in early September, 2006, and did full updates of FluoroGuide and the related Section and Member tables in mid-June and in late January 2006. We plan to do quick updates of the section and membership tables in the future every 4-6 weeks to keep them current, and do full updates of FluoroGuide 3-4 times per year. The next full update is expected in October, 2006. Please check your company input on our website and give Bob Hill any needed further revisions at eben_hill@msn.com.

FPD WEB SITE HITS continue to increase steadily, and reached 454k hits, up from 415k hits in the prior quarter. The Safe Handling Guide update continues to be the most popular hit, followed by FluoroGuide, and the Material Suppliers Table. The Winter 2006 Issue of FluoroNews was in the fourth position.

We continue to steadily add new material to our websites. Check them out!!!

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 for the Section Programs at the upcoming Fall 2006 Conference at Barton Creek Resort.

People on the Move

DAIKIN AMERICA In keeping with the increasing demand for Daikin's Unidyne™ products, Dr. Frank Adamsky has been appointed to the Unidyne™ sales team as the Market Development Manager, responsible for the market development and sales of Unidyne™ products in the nonwoven and paper markets. Unidyne™ is a growing family of fluorochemicals designed to impart superior water, oil, and soil repellency to a wide range of textile, non-woven, carpet, and paper materials.

Graham Mac Innis has been added to the sale force as the Technical Sales Representative for the West Coast, covering both fluoropolymers and fluoroelastomers. Graham has responsibility for providing technical sales and service to a multitude of accounts, bringing with him several years of valuable experience in technical sales and an education in Chemistry.

Rick Brenneman has been added to the sale force as the Sr. Technical Sales Representative for the Midwest. Rick has been with Daikin America, headquartered in Orangeburg, NY for 14 year, specializing in developing and expanding sales opportunities for fluoropolymers, Unidyne™ products and elastomers throughout the U.S. His vast knowledge of the industry and for the technical needs of customers is a brilliant addition to the growing DAI-EL business.

Industry Highlights

COLORANT CHROMATICS With the implementation of RoHS, colorant producers had to reformulate their concentrates with more thermally stable pigments. Chromatics Inc, the US division of the Swiss-based Colorant Chromatics Group will present its newest ranges of Fluoropolymer-based heavy metal free color concentrates.

Heavy metal free colors are typically based on organic pigments, which are more sensitive to heat and shear than the traditional heavy metal pigments. The processing of these organic pigment based concentrates in fluoropolymers requires special operating attention from the cable maker. Temperature setting, processing and die design will all have an impact on the final quality of the wire. Chromatics has designed a methodology to help cable producers determine the optimum processing conditions for specific extrusion lines and types of Fluoropolymers.

DYNEON - New pilot plant resources were added at Dyneon's Decatur, Alabama, facility. The new equipment increases Dyneon's product development capabilities, enhances productivity and supports faster product development cycle times. "The Decatur pilot plant is now equipped with reactors that allow for the development and production of new polymers and products on the Decatur site," said Peter Scott, Dyneon Process Development Manager at the Decatur facility. "This extends our ability to generate samples for customer evaluation, and to respond to the continuing strong demand for new fluoropolymers and additives for the plastics processing industry." The new reactors complement existing pilot plant capabilities at Decatur, which include post polymerization processing, extrusion, and milling operations.

DYNEON, one of the world's leading fluoropolymer producers, has been re-certified as ISO 9001:2000 compliant at its US facilities after a multi-location audit by DQS USA, a global registrar in independent third party management system certification. According to Dyneon LLC Quality Manager, Susan Wheeler, DQS has recommended Dyneon's Oakdale, MN; Aston, PA; Houston, TX; and Decatur AL facilities for continued registration.

SOLVAY announced that it has signed an agreement with Zhejiang Lantian Environmental Protection Hi-Tech Co. Ltd for the creation of a joint venture for the production and supply of hydrogen fluoride (HF), an essential building block for many high-value added fluorinated products. The joint venture is scheduled to start operating in 2007, under the name Zhejiang Lansol Fluorchem Co. Ltd. The production unit, with a total annual production capacity of 20.000 tonnes, will be located in the Zhejiang Quzhou Hi-Tech Industrial Park, some 500 kilometres south-west of Shanghai. Lantian will own 70% of the joint venture, while Solvay will hold the remaining 30%.

The production of Lansol is essentially aimed at fulfilling the needs of Lantian and Solvay for their downstream activities, such as Solvay's future production facility for fluorinated chemical specialties in Onsan, South Korea, which is scheduled to start operations in 2007. Solvay has also recently announced the creation of a new world-class fluorinated polymer production unit in Changshu, China, which will be operational in the second half of 2007 and could rapidly expand by adding more products to its specialty polymer production capabilities.