JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #46 - January/February 2009 - 6

COMPANIES COMPANIES Umeco acquires Industria Plastica Monregalese Umeco Plc announced on December 04, 2008 the acquisition of Industria Plastica Monregalese (IPM) from its private shareholders for a consideration of €16.8 million. IPM is a leading manufacturer and supplier of vacuum bagging films for the composite industry and other markets. The consideration will be funded from existing facilities. The acquisition of IPM provides Umeco Composites with a secure supply of a key process material, and with the opportunity to develop a wider global presence in the wind energy market. This will be achieved in a two-step approach. The first will be to increase production capacity at the IPM facility in Italy to ensure that the growing demands of customers can be fulfilled. The second will be to expand production into other regions of the world where customer needs for these products continue to grow. wwww.umeco.com BASF representatives were elected to Ciba’s Board of Directors. The election is also effective as of the settlement date. All current members of Ciba’s Board of Directors will resign as of the settlement date. The motions were approved by well over 90% of the share capital represented. As a result, further conditions of the BASF public tender offer have been fulfilled. The completion of the transaction is still subject to approval by the relevant antitrust authorities, which is expected in the first quarter of 2009. www.basf.com Boeing 787 faces new delays In November, Boeing completed destructive testing on a full-scale composite wing box of the 787 Dreamliner, the first allcomposite wing box ever built for a Boeing commercial airplane. Structural testing will continue on two full-scale 787 airframes as part of the certification process for the airplane. Finmeccanica and Russian Technologies partner to manufacture composites Finmeccanica and Russian Technologies signed a partnership agreement on November 6, 2008 for the establishment of a number of joint ventures in Russia to manufacture carbon fibre components. Finmeccanica, through its company Alenia Aeronautica, has many years of experience in composite materials, thanks also to investments in these technologies for the civil aviation sector. Alenia Aeronautica also plays a major role in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner programme, contributing a total of 26% to the innovative aircraft, which is almost entirely made of carbon fibre. www.finmeccanica.com Boeing announced on December 11, 2008 an updated schedule for its all-new 787 Dreamliner programme that moves the commercial jet's first flight into the second quarter of 2009 and first delivery into the first quarter of 2010. The new schedule reflects the impact of disruption caused by the recent machinists' strike along with the requirement to replace certain fasteners in early production airplanes. www.boeing.com Ashland buys SmartTrac technology In a move to help customers reduce costs and improve composite manufacturing quality, Ashland Performance Materials, a commercial unit of Ashland Inc., has acquired the SmartTrac impedance monitoring technology from Denverbased Signature Control Systems (SCS). With this acquisition, which was announced on December 5, 2008, Ashland becomes the exclusive provider of this technology to the global composite market. The system determines the exact moment of cure in a thermoset resin or compound. www.ashland.com Lincoln Composites selected as partner in hydrogen storage centre of excellence Hexagon Composites ASA announced on November 14, 2008 that its whollyowned subsidiary, Lincoln Composites, Inc., has been selected by the United States Department of Energy as one of the 10 partners for its new Hydrogen Storage Engineering Centre of Excellence. The virtual centre will run for approximately 5 years. It will support America’s Advanced Energy Initiative to reduce America’s dependence on foreign energy sources by changing the way cars, homes and businesses are powered. The group of partners will address the engineering issues associated with developing hydrogen storage systems so that fuel cell vehicles can meet customer expectations in terms of driving range and performance. www.hexagon.no DuPont takes aggressive action On December 4, 2008, DuPont announced further actions to address current market challenges and strengthen the company’s competitive edge in 2009, including continued focus on maximizing cash flow. It also provided earning guidance for the fourth quarter 2008 and the full year of 2009. A steep global decline in construction and motor vehicle sales and consumer spending has resulted in declining industrial production, intensified by inventory reductions across most supply chains. These conditions have precipitated a sharp downturn in demand during the fourth quarter. www.dupont.com BASF comes closer to purchasing Ciba At the Extraordinary Meeting of Shareholders of Ciba Holding AG held on December 2, 2008 in Basel, Switzerland, the voting rights and registration restrictions in the articles of association of Ciba Holding AG were removed. These changes will come into effect as of the settlement date. At the same time, three 6 jec composites magazine / No46 January-February 2009

http://www.basf.com http://www.umeco.com/ http://www.boeing.com http://www.finmeccanica.com http://www.ashland.com http://www.hexagon.no http://www.dupont.com

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #46 - January/February 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #46 - January/February 2009