German semi-finished plastics manufacturer Metzeler Plastics (D-52428 Jülich; www.metzelerplastics.de), part of the British Vita group (GB-Manchester M24 2DB; www.britishvita.com), is expanding production following British Vita´s takeover of the extrusion lines of Belgium´s Crown General (B-3983 Tessenderlo) in June (PIE 13, 2003). The double screw extruder for polyolefins moved from Belgium to Germany will allow processing of fillers of all types. According to Robert Hahn, Metzeler Plastics business manager, the new extrusion line will give the company more scope to produce versatile polyolefin sheets and films to customer specifications. In February, Metzeler installed a new plant for ABS sheet.

With production capacity of 25,000 t/y, Metzeler markets sheet and film of ABS, PS and polyolefins worldwide under its trade names “Metzoplast” and “Trovidur PO”. Major clients are the leisure products and toy sectors, advertising displays, doors, luggage and containers, followed by automobiles / recreational vehicles and electronics. In 2002, the company, which is the largest individual producer of thermoplastic semi-finished products in the British Vita group, had sales of EUR 40m and 183 employees. Alongside Germany, British Vita also has semi-finished plastics production sites in Belgium, Denmark, France (3), Italy, Scotland and the US.