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abot Corporation announced it has attained Operation Clean Sweep® (OCS) Europe certification at its two masterbatch and compounding facilities in Pepinster and Loncin, Belgium. The company is one of the first black masterbatch manufacturers in Europe to earn this third-party certification. Achieving OCS Europe certification at these facilities is a testament to the company’s unwavering commitment to acting responsibly for the planet by implementing responsible management practices that reduce plastic waste in the environment.

The United Kingdom has long been a pivotal market for KRAIBURG TPE with numerous well-known clients and successful collaborations. However, evolving dynamics presented challenges in maintaining optimal service standards since 2020. Collaborating closely with the longstanding partner, Abbey Polymers, KRAIBURG TPE diligently addressed these challenges. In January 2024, KRAIBURG TPE UK Ltd. initiated its business and warehousing operations. With a dedicated sales office in Stafford and a strategically located warehouse in Stoke-on-Trent, it is poised to deliver customer-centric solutions and uphold its hallmark service excellence. This strategic expansion reflects KRAIBURG TPE’s unwavering commitment to meeting the evolving needs of clients and further expand the company’s presence in the UK market.

The teamwork between Pirelli and Porsche has resulted in four sporty tires for the Stuttgart manufacturer’s emblematic 911: P Zero Trofeo RS and P Zero Corsa for the Porsche 911 GT3 RS, as well as P Zero Trofeo R and P Zero Corsa for the 911 GT3. These new tires have all been specifically designed to offer safe and pleasant driving on the road as well as on the track. Among them, the P Zero Trofeo RS – the most performance-orientated product in the Pirelli range – has just been judged the best street-legal semi-slick tire for track driving by German magazine Auto Bild Sportscars, which recently compared several tires on a 911 GT3 RS.

Three-dimensional (3D) movement testing is a valuable method for validating automotive hoses, especially turbocharger and coolant hoses, for both electric vehicles (EV) and traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. 3D movement testing simulates specific real-world conditions, which allows automotive component manufacturers to better predict the performance and durability of their products while in service.

Polymer Valley Chemicals has been awarded a platinum rating from EcoVadis, the top grade possible, for 2024. The platinum rating, awarded in May, recognizes Polymer Valley Chemicals’ commitment to sound environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices, ranks Polymer Valley among the top 1% of companies across all industries and regions evaluated by Ecovadis, and improves upon their inaugural Gold rating in 2023.

Wacker Chemie AG strengthens its focus on silicone specialties in Europe with the construction of a new production site. The chemical company, together with project partners and officials representing the city and the region, broke ground symbolically in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. From the end of 2025, WACKER will produce room-temperature curing high-performance silicones and from 2028 high consistency silicone rubber in Karlovy Vary. These silicones are used in key technologies such as electromobility, health and medical care and in grid expansion. The investment volume is in the low triple-digit million-euro range. 200 new jobs will be created in the first expansion phase. With the construction of a new site for silicone specialties, the WACKER Group is once again expanding its position as a solution provider for customers in key industries.

June 24-July 22 – Webinar Series: Manufacturing Mondays – Tires
*This series began June 3 but there are five left you can attend and you’ll also have access to the recordings of the first three.

July 9-12 – Webinar Series: Static, Dynamic & Fatigue Characterization Testing

July 16 – Webinar: Rubber Manufacturing Economics

July 17 – Course: An Introduction to Continuous Vulcanization

July 25 – Webinar: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Sumitomo Rubber Industries’ new synchrotron radiation technique is capable of measuring 0.1- to 100-nanosecond motion. Combining the innovative technique with conventional processes has made it possible to measure atomic or molecular motion in a wide time domain. It has been developed using SPring-81, a large synchrotron radiation facility, for the first time. Furthermore, the use of CITIUS2, the latest two-dimensional x-ray camera, has enabled them to measure not only the timescale of a moving object but its spatial scale at the same time. They succeeded in measuring molecular chain motion in rubber in a wide time domain of 0.1 to 100 nanoseconds by applying the developed technique to rubber material

Continental and Rheinmetall have signed a letter of intent to cooperate. The aim of the agreement is to partly cover Rheinmetall’s fast-growing personnel requirements in the coming years with Continental employees affected by the transformation. Rheinmetall expects sales growth of up to 40 percent in the current fiscal year alone compared to the previous year, with correspondingly high personnel requirements in the longer term.