Processing, June 2020

JUNE 2020 www processingmagazine com 9 put into preparing for their exhibit booths speaker presentations and networking programs that accompany Sensors Expo Conference Paul Miller CEO of Sensors Expo Conference parent company Questex said in a news release This year is the first time in 35 years the event has been forced to postpone The health and wellness of the sensors and embedded technology community and the community at large is of paramount importance The COVID 19 circumstances have made postponement unavoidable MARKETS UPDATE ACC U S chemical production down in April The American Chemistry Council ACC in late May announced that the U S Chemical Production Regional Index declined by 31 in April The April decline follows drops in both March 10 and February 04 of 2020 The ACC reported that chemical output fell across all U S regions in April with the largest drop recorded in the Gulf Coast region The COVID 19 pandemics impact on the U S economy in April along with supply chain disruptions due to the pandemic contributed to the decrease according to the ACC Compared with April 2019 U S chemical production was 53 percent lower according to the ACC the eleventh and highest consecutive month of year over year declines Chemical production was lower than a year ago in all regions with the largest declines in the Northeast Mid Atlantic and West Coast regions ACC said U S specialty chemicals markets show record decline in April The ACC also reported on May 20 a record 113 decline in U S specialty chemicals markets volumes for April The 113 drop follows a 4 drop in March None of the 28 specialty chemicals markets monitored by ACC expanded in April according to a news release The COVID 19 pandemic and the lockdown of the U S economy in April were primary factors in the decline according to the ACC According to the ACC news release overall specialty chemicals volumes were off 145 percent on a yearover year Y Y basis in April COMPANY NEWS Turkey Hill announces ice cream expansion acquires Arkansas production facility Branded ice cream and refrigerated drinks manufacturer and distributor Turkey Hill LLC announced on June 3 it acquired an Arkansas production facility from Yarnell Ice Cream According to a news release the 100000 square foot facility located in Searcy is SQF certified and expands Turkey Hills production capacity capabilities and geographic reach Turkey Hill also announced it has entered into a comanufacturing agreement whereby it will continue to produce ice cream for the Yarnell Ice Cream brand AGC Biologics acquires commercial manufacturing facility AGC Biologics a global biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization announced on June 1 the purchase of a commercial manufacturing facility in Boulder Colorado The facility formerly owned by AstraZeneca will provide AGC Biologics with additional capacity and significantly larger production scale The facility is expected to begin full scale operations by April 2021 The Colorado facility is a large scale biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility that houses two 20000 liter stainless steel mammalian cell bioreactors It also has more than twenty acres with multiple opportunities for future expansions including space for up to four more 20000 liter bioreactors In addition to this facility acquisition AGC Biologics is completing major facility expansion projects at its Seattle Copenhagen and Chiba facilities in 2020 and early 2021 ALTIVIA acquires KMCO facility in Crosby Texas ALTIVIA Oxide Chemicals LLC on June 1 announced that it has acquired KMCO and its associated chemical ethoxylation manufacturing assets in Crosby Texas According to an ALTIVIA news release the facilities located on 160 acres near Houston include 31 reaction and distillation trains with capacity for ethylene and propylene oxide reactions as well as a broad range of organic reactions including polymerization neutralization and condensation Products include surfactants lubricant additives fuel additives and a variety of ethoxylation and propoxylation based intermediates Its products service the coatings automotive fuels and lubricants and surfactant industries ALTIVIA said it is planning a 25 million process safety and control systems upgrade to the facilities and that it will start production in two new oxide reactors by the end of this year Send news and events for consideration to dgaddy@ endeavorbusinessmedia com