Mar 17 2005
ICO Courtenay has entered into an agreement with Cyclics Corporation to be the distributor for CBT® resin for rotational moulding in New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia. ICO Courtenay is known internationally for its development of new products which expand capabilities of rotational moulding. ICO Courtentay sees potential for CBT resin in a variety of rotationally moulded products including electrical enclosures, swimming pool filter housings, spa tubs and kayaks. ICO Courtenay will also be permitted to investigate and develop markets for CBT resin in casting and powder coatings for the region. ICO Courtenay’s full scale R&D facility at their Auckland plant, the only one of its kind in the region, has also been involved in the development work with Cyclics. Additional details of the agreement where not disclosed.
Cyclics CBT resin brings engineering thermoplastic properties to rotational moulding. This will provide previously unattainable benefits to an industry reliant on polyethylene as its standard raw material. Compared to polyethylene, CBT resin shows significant improvements in strength, stiffness, hardness, temperature capabilities, and surface finish. CBT resin can be filled with various materials like fiberglass and colored quartz to extend the range of physical properties and visual effects. The ability to paint and bond parts using adhesives are also promising areas under development. All of these features will enable rotational moulders to produce high value parts for applications previously out of reach. Cyclics began production of their innovative plastic in March.
“The strength of ICO Courtenay in Southeast Asia and their leadership in developing new materials makes them a valuable alliance for Cyclics.” said John Ciovacco Head of Global Marketing for Cyclics Corporation. “This relationship also has great significance to Cyclics’ since it represents our first access to the rapidly growing Southeast Asian market.”
“CBT resin opens up many new rotational moulding opportunities in an industry that has had a limited selection of plastics,” said Dario Masutti, Managing Director of ICO Courtenay Southeast Asia. “We look forward to developing a wide variety of products based on this system.”
Cyclics first CBT resin plant, in Schwarzheide, Germany, will achieve an annual rate of over 10 million pounds in 2006. By the fourth quarter of 2005, Cyclics will announce the location of their second plant, expected to have an annual capacity of 50-100 million pounds. There has been no decision as to the new plant’s location, with a number of sites currently being considered.
Cyclics Corporation, headquartered in Schenectady, New York, U.S.A. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Cyclics Europe GmbH based in Schwarzheide, Germany, manufacture innovative plastics that offer breakthroughs in processing, making new products possible and changing the economics of existing ones. The water-like processing viscosities of Cyclics’ engineering thermoplastic products offer improvements in performance and productivity for structural composites, compounding, casting, nanocomposites, coatings and rotational moulding. Cyclics has alliances with Ahlstrom Glassfibre Oy, Alcan Composites, BASF, Davy Process Technology, Dow Automotive and The P Group.
Courtenay, founded in 1969 by John Courtenay, has grown in partnership with the rotational moulding industry in Australasia, the Pacific and South East Asia, to become today’s leader in new technology and specialty products. Acquisition of the company by ICO Inc. in 1998 provided ICO Inc. with its first foothold in Australasia. This enabled the Courtenay group of companies to continue its expansion into an enterprise with customers on five continents.
http://www.cotene.co.nz