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Maag Pump Systems Textron relocates HQ
audited Sweco’s facilities over a two-day period, reviewing inspection records, management procedures, customer service methods and interviewing management at all levels. Sweco achieved its recommendation for registration with no major findings noted. “By acquiring ISO 9001:2000 registration, it assures our customers that our manufacturing group is adhering to the highest quality standards and is committed to the improvement of its operations, and we hope to use this system as a tool for continuously improving our internal processes,” said Gary Neal, Sweco’s global quality manager. • Sweco has more than 60 years of separation technology experience, and serves the pharmaceutical, chemical, food, and paper industries. Its product line includes separation, sizing and milling equipment. Headquartered in Florence, USA, Sweco maintains manufacturing facilities in Macon, Tulsa, USA; Belgium; and Singapore, is part of a joint venture in Mexico, and is a licensee in Australia. Sweco also has over 100 service offices worldwide.
HTI RECEIVES $6.3 MILLION IN US DEFENCE BILL Hydration Technologies Inc, a start-up company based in Oregon, US, has been given access to US$6.3 million in funding after US president George Bush signed the 2005 Defence Appropriations Act. The money is available starting 1 October 2004 – the beginning of the US government fiscal year – and will allow US military units around the world to obtain HTI’s water filtration units, including
Filtration Industry Analyst
X-Packs, HydroWell Expeditions and HydroWell 24s. HTI’s president Bob Salter explained that the company’s water filtration units employ forward osmosis technology, which draws water through HTI’s proprietary membrane without water pressure or moving parts, yielding pure drink from “even the most turbid water.” Army sources reportedly indicate that this technology will reduce the logistical footprint of military units, extending their operational duration and capability in remote regions. “Forward osmosis filtration is a relatively new technology commercialised solely by HTI. It is unique to other technologies because forward osmosis works well with almost any source fluid, even if it is very muddy,” said Salter. • This isn’t the first time HTI has been in the news with its hydration products for military personnel. A recent HTI innovation allows soldiers to hydrate dried food rations with their own urine. The food pouch relies on osmosis to filter the water or urine. “When two solutions of different concentrations are separated by a semi-permeable membrane, with gaps that allow only water molecules to pass through, the water is drawn to the more concentrated side,” a HTI source explained.
POLYFUEL INVESTORS TO GIVE FURTHER FUNDS California-based PolyFuel Inc has secured a third round of funding, bringing the total investment in the five-year-old membrane technology start-up firm to approximately US$40 million. This round, worth US$18.4 million, has been led
by CDP Capital, and includes existing investors Mayfield, Ventures West, Technology Partners, Intel Capital and Chrysalix Energy, as well as new investors Conduit Ventures Ltd, KTB Ventures, Hotung Venture Partners, Yasuda Enterprise Development, and BiNEXT, a part of the Daesung Group. PolyFuel’s membrane technology is being used in pilot fuel cell development projects at OEMs and fuel cell manufacturers around the world. The proceeds from this round of financing are expected to enable the company to support its customers through their initial test-market phases and into early stages of commercial production.
ASAHI KASEI FIBERS TO MOVE OUT OF INDONESIA Chemicals and housing materials manufacturer Asahi Kasei Fibers Corp is to withdraw from manufacturing fibers in Indonesia at the end of 2004. The decision brings to an end over 30 years’ of operations by PT Indonesia Asahi Kasei, Asahi’s Indonesian subsidiary – founded in 1972. So what were the factors that lead to Asahi’s decision? In a statement, a source at Asahi explains, “the withdrawal has become unavoidable, despite every effort, as a result of the sharply deteriorating economic and business environment and conditions which have confronted operations during the past several years, and the absence of a clear prospect for substantial improvement.” In Indonesia, the years since the currency crisis of 1997 have brought fast-rising energy and labour costs. These difficulties have been compounded by sharply intensifying competition from China.
MAAG PUMP SYSTEMS TEXTRON RELOCATES HQ Maag Pump Systems Textron is moving its headquarters from Zürich to Oberglatt, Switzerland. After decades at the Zürich location, Maag Pump Systems Textron will relocate to new premises in Oberglatt, about 15 minutes outside Zürich, by the end of August 2004. The new 5200 sq m building will accommodate office and manufacturing facilities for 160 employees. “Even though our old location was deep in Maag history, we needed to upgrade our facility and this was the perfect time,” said Ueli Thürig, vice president and general manager of Textron Fluid and Power’s Polymer Systems product line.
PERKINELMER AND VIVASCIENCE DEVELOP NEW PLATFORM US PerkinElmer Inc and Germany’s Vivascience AG have entered into a collaborative agreement covering the development of bio-marker screening technology. The deal will see Vivascience’s patented membrane adsorber chromatography technology combined with PerkinElmer’s proprietary elution chemistries to create fractionation kits for proteomicsbased bio-marker analysis. This reagent platform will be incorporated into PerkinElmer’s integrated biomarker screening systems – including automated sample preparation with the MultiProbe II liquid-handling workstation and bio-marker detection with the prOTOF 2000 Maldi mass spectrometer.
3
NEWS
September 2004
HTI RECEIVES $6.3 MILLION IN US DEFENCE BILL Hydration Technologies Inc, a start-up company based in Oregon, US, has been given access to US$6.3 million in funding after US president George Bush signed the 2005 Defence Appropriations Act. The money is available starting 1 October 2004 – the beginning of the US government fiscal year – and will allow US military units around the world to obtain HTI’s water filtration units, including
Filtration Industry Analyst
X-Packs, HydroWell Expeditions and HydroWell 24s. HTI’s president Bob Salter explained that the company’s water filtration units employ forward osmosis technology, which draws water through HTI’s proprietary membrane without water pressure or moving parts, yielding pure drink from “even the most turbid water.” Army sources reportedly indicate that this technology will reduce the logistical footprint of military units, extending their operational duration and capability in remote regions. “Forward osmosis filtration is a relatively new technology commercialised solely by HTI. It is unique to other technologies because forward osmosis works well with almost any source fluid, even if it is very muddy,” said Salter. • This isn’t the first time HTI has been in the news with its hydration products for military personnel. A recent HTI innovation allows soldiers to hydrate dried food rations with their own urine. The food pouch relies on osmosis to filter the water or urine. “When two solutions of different concentrations are separated by a semi-permeable membrane, with gaps that allow only water molecules to pass through, the water is drawn to the more concentrated side,” a HTI source explained.
POLYFUEL INVESTORS TO GIVE FURTHER FUNDS California-based PolyFuel Inc has secured a third round of funding, bringing the total investment in the five-year-old membrane technology start-up firm to approximately US$40 million. This round, worth US$18.4 million, has been led
by CDP Capital, and includes existing investors Mayfield, Ventures West, Technology Partners, Intel Capital and Chrysalix Energy, as well as new investors Conduit Ventures Ltd, KTB Ventures, Hotung Venture Partners, Yasuda Enterprise Development, and BiNEXT, a part of the Daesung Group. PolyFuel’s membrane technology is being used in pilot fuel cell development projects at OEMs and fuel cell manufacturers around the world. The proceeds from this round of financing are expected to enable the company to support its customers through their initial test-market phases and into early stages of commercial production.
ASAHI KASEI FIBERS TO MOVE OUT OF INDONESIA Chemicals and housing materials manufacturer Asahi Kasei Fibers Corp is to withdraw from manufacturing fibers in Indonesia at the end of 2004. The decision brings to an end over 30 years’ of operations by PT Indonesia Asahi Kasei, Asahi’s Indonesian subsidiary – founded in 1972. So what were the factors that lead to Asahi’s decision? In a statement, a source at Asahi explains, “the withdrawal has become unavoidable, despite every effort, as a result of the sharply deteriorating economic and business environment and conditions which have confronted operations during the past several years, and the absence of a clear prospect for substantial improvement.” In Indonesia, the years since the currency crisis of 1997 have brought fast-rising energy and labour costs. These difficulties have been compounded by sharply intensifying competition from China.
MAAG PUMP SYSTEMS TEXTRON RELOCATES HQ Maag Pump Systems Textron is moving its headquarters from Zürich to Oberglatt, Switzerland. After decades at the Zürich location, Maag Pump Systems Textron will relocate to new premises in Oberglatt, about 15 minutes outside Zürich, by the end of August 2004. The new 5200 sq m building will accommodate office and manufacturing facilities for 160 employees. “Even though our old location was deep in Maag history, we needed to upgrade our facility and this was the perfect time,” said Ueli Thürig, vice president and general manager of Textron Fluid and Power’s Polymer Systems product line.
PERKINELMER AND VIVASCIENCE DEVELOP NEW PLATFORM US PerkinElmer Inc and Germany’s Vivascience AG have entered into a collaborative agreement covering the development of bio-marker screening technology. The deal will see Vivascience’s patented membrane adsorber chromatography technology combined with PerkinElmer’s proprietary elution chemistries to create fractionation kits for proteomicsbased bio-marker analysis. This reagent platform will be incorporated into PerkinElmer’s integrated biomarker screening systems – including automated sample preparation with the MultiProbe II liquid-handling workstation and bio-marker detection with the prOTOF 2000 Maldi mass spectrometer.
3
NEWS
September 2004