Author: RubberWorld

As CFO of Smithers, Spitz is responsible for overseeing the global financial and legal operations, leading initiatives to improve financial efficiency and supporting Smithers strategic growth objectives.

With over twenty years of executive experience, Spitz brings a growth-oriented mindset and a wealth of expertise in financial management and strategic planning. His insights and guidance have been instrumental in various board roles, where he provided valuable financial direction.

LANXESS has equipped the first mobile plant of De Watergroep for the removal of PFAS from water with its Lewatit TP 108 DW ion exchange resin. The fully modular water treatment unit is located in the region Brussels, Belgium, and can purify up to 190,000 liters of drinking water per hour.

Since May 2024, the Belgian company De Watergroep has been operating the containerized water treatment plant on site. It will be used for at least two years, after which the plan is to switch to alternative water sources with lower PFAS levels. The objective is to permanently reduce the PFAS contamination of drinking water in Flanders to below 50 ppt and thus increase the quality of the water.

EXPOL has signed an agreement to acquire 80 percent of the shares in Piedmont Resin Supply, LLC (Piedmont) from the founder Mr. Matt Griffith and Mr. Paul Daniel. Piedmont was founded in 2013 and has grown to become one of the largest independent nylon compounders in the US. The company is an industry leader in technical nylon compounds on the US market and services a variety of customers within automotive, transportation and the furniture industries. Piedmont operates a well invested manufacturing facility in Cartersville, GA with some 60 employees and further capacity to grow

Vibracoustic has designed, developed, and tested an innovative Thermal Management Decoupling System that supports and isolates the co-located thermal technologies commonly used in next-generation battery electric vehicles. Addressing a crucial challenge in the electric vehicle industry, the system optimizes the bundling of thermal components such as Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) to save space, increase efficiency, and streamline assembly. This all-in architecture can be easily carried over in other vehicles without additional engineering. The thermal management system has proven its performance and reliability through extensive testing and benchmarking and is serial production ready.

Rubber successfully showcased its latest tire innovations at the SEMA Show 2024 in Las Vegas, with the North American debut of its WESTLAKE Gen II Truck Tires and new additions to the ARISUN PCR lineup.

In the first three quarters of 2024, the Semperit Group increased EBITDA by 11.9% to EUR 63.9 million and significantly improved earnings after tax to EUR 7.1 million, compared with EUR –26.8 million in the same period of the previous year. With revenue of EUR 506.6 million (–2.5%), the EBITDA margin increased to 12.6%, mainly due to the cost-cutting program initiated early in 2023. The EBITDA guidance for 2024 is confirmed at around EUR 80 million.

The Philadelphia Eagles and Braskem have enhanced their partnership with the launch of their new STEM education program, Tackling STEM, for the 2024-2025 academic school year. Tackling STEM is an education program that delivers free digital and hands-on interactive STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education opportunities to students in the Greater Philadelphia area with over 20 schools participating. The program is supported by Science of Sport, a nonprofit organization that teaches kids STEM through sports.

RPM International Inc. announced that TMP Convert SAS (TMPC) has been acquired to be part of its Fibergrate Structures (Fibergrate) business, which is part of RPM’s Performance Coatings Group. TMPC is based in Simandre-sur-Suran, France, and is a leading manufacturer of outdoor design and landscape products under the JOUPLAST® and OCAPE® brands. The company has annual net sales of approximately €35 million and terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Since partnering with DriverReviews in 2021, Hankook has continued to earn recognition for its diverse and innovative tire range, strengthening its reputation and giving customers greater confidence in its products, as demonstrated in this year’s results. Hankook’s awards include ‘Highly Recommended’ for the Ventus S1 evo3 SUV in the ‘Best Tires for Small & Mid-Size SUVs’ category, gaining an overall rating of 4.6 by drivers- a multi-award-winning tire which has also received the ‘Best for Value’ title in the recent 2024 What Car? Tire Test, and ‘Very Good’ rating in the 2024 auto motor und sport Tire Tests earlier this year. The Ventus S1 evo 3 was ‘Commended’ in the ‘Best Tires for Hot Hatches’ category, scoring a 4.5 review rating, and commendations were granted in two of the new 2024 categories, ‘Best Tires for Vans’ for the Vantra LT receiving a 4.3 rating, and ‘Best Tires for Pick-Up Trucks’ for the Dynapro AT2 which also has an overall review score of 4.3.