Page 34 - Glass Machinery Plants & Accessories no. 4/2017

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POCO GRAPHITE

POCO GRAPHITE INCREASES MANUFACTURING

CAPACITY FOR HIGH-PERFORMANCE MATERIALS

access to the by Superior Graphite, consumable electrodes
assets of the will help us to meet the for electrical discharge
facility, as well growing demands of machining, critical
as the current the high-performance components used
workforce. materials market.” in the production of
“Hi-tech President and CEO microelectronics and a
industries are of Superior Graphite, number of consumable
Entegris, Inc., a leader increasingly Edward Carney, offered products for various
in specialty chemicals reliant upon continued the following: “We industrial applications,
and advanced materials innovation in advanced believe this agreement including aerospace,
solutions for the materials to enable their provides a bright future optical, medical devices,
microelectronics and growth. As a result, for employees and the and precision printing.
other industries, has organizations are looking City of Russellville. High-performance material
announced that Poco to high-purity/high- Superior Graphite has demand is growing in a
Graphite, a wholly- performance materials been active in Russellville number of demanding
owned subsidiary that are specifically for the past 32 years, applications - from
of Entegris, Inc., is engineered for their and the employees semiconductor processing
expanding its capacity to applications to gain a and community have to rigorous, high-
produce graphite material competitive advantage,” been very supportive of temperature applications in
and specialty coatings stated Entegris Senior our efforts. We owe a jet engines. In particular,
for semiconductor Vice President of tremendous amount of market requirements are
and high-performance Specialty Chemicals and gratitude to the people increasing the need for
industrial applications by Engineered Materials, there, and are confident high-purity materials
securing the use of the Stuart Tison. “We in the expertise, creativity, essential for challenging
former small diameter continue to invest in and market development operating conditions,
graphite electrode factory research, development, opportunities Poco including those using
of Superior Graphite Co. and production of high- Graphite will bring.” extreme temperatures,
in Russellville, Arkansas. performance materials, POCO premium graphite corrosive gases, and
As part of the agreement, and we believe the facility and coatings are used challenging material
Poco Graphite will have in Russellville, owned to make precision interfaces.

VENVIDRIO national leader ordered the expropriation of Owens-Illinois
(O-I) Venezuela.
VENVIDRIO ON BRINK At that time, the company supplied more than 60% of
the national demand for glass containers for the food,
OF BANKRUPTCY pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, with 2.1 million
units per year.
Recent reports claim that Venvidrio looks to be very The expectations of the Government at the beginning of its
close to bankruptcy, due to serious problems administration were to raise those numbers up to 6 million.
regarding its operational capacity, raw material Today they do not reach a million and only manufacture
inventories and lines. glass containers for liqueurs and mayonnaise, according
Venezolana del Vidrio (Venvidrio) is reportedly on the brink to Hernán Serrano, a member of the Frente Amplios de
of bankruptcy. In fact, 90% of its operational capacity is Trabajadores of the region.
paralyzed, raw material inventories are empty and nine of the Compounding the problems is a lack of soda ash, which has
11 lines are damaged. to be imported.
The machinery of the plant located in Los Guayos, east of 600 Venvidrio workers have been dismissed, according to
Carabobo, has deteriorated since October 2010 when the the newspaper report.

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