Newsmakers 291

Weber Marking Systems, Inc. names Dennis P. McGrath president and CEO. After joining the co. in 1972, he has held a number of positions in product management and marketing. He most recently served for 16 years as vp of marketing and sales.

R.A. Jones & Co., Inc. appoints Chris Burrows to the position of national sales manager. He joins the co. from Hycor Machine Corp., where he held the position of sales and business development manager.

Krones, Inc. makes Sean Madden a regional sales manager. With more than 20 years of experience that includes food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, he will be responsible for North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed, Inc. makes Robert Newman business manager—service and customer support.

Osio Intl., Inc. adds Bob White as a national account manager and Jenny Cavallucci as a regional sales manager. Having served as director of sales, marketing and R&D for Superior Label Systems and as division president of the tape and label engineering div. of Weber Marking Systems, White has more than 30 years of experience in printing and packaging. Cavallucci has more than 10 years of experience, including product coordination, project management and sales.

Enercon Industries Corp. makes Jim Ludwig a 3D surface treating sales manager.

Rexam selects Graham Chipchase to fill the newly created position of group director, plastic packaging. Chipchase has been a member of the board since Feb. 2003 and has served as group finance director since March '03.

Domino Printing Sciences appoints Gilles Buisson to the position of president, Domino Amjet, Inc.

Greydon, Inc. appoints Dan Prena area manager for Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana. A 30-year veteran of the packaging market, Prena has previous experience with CFS North America, Frisco, TX, and Hooper Engineering, Sarasota, FL.

Kliklok-Woodman hires Andrew Parlour and Michael Johns as sales account managers. Parlour worked previously as a product manager for Alliance Machine Systems Intl. Johns, a 17-year veteran of the packaging machinery market, counts stints with Harpak, Inc., SIG Pack Systems AG and

Klöckner Packaging Machinery amongst his experiences.

Avery Dennison names John M. Wurzburger vp and gm of its Fasson Roll North America business, Painesville, OH. He joined Avery Dennison in '88 as a sales representative and most recently was responsible for all of its South America businesses.

Ball Corp. makes John A. Hayes executive vp of Ball Packaging, Europe. Hayes retains his responsibilities as vp, corporate strategy, marketing and development, which he assumed in '03.

Fowler Products Co., a div. of Pro Mach, Inc., promotes Don Cotney to the position of president/gm. He joined the Athens, GA-based co. in '01 and served most recently as engineering/manufacturing manager.

Watlow Electric Mfg. Co. appoints Franz Fritz to the position of European marketing manager. Hershey Feldstein is named product manager for the co.'s swaged/nonswaged (SNS) product lines, and Steve Rhoads is made director of operations for the co.'s SNS operations in St. Louis and the overall facilities management for the co.'s hq.

Motoman, Inc. makes Glenn Jackson vp of global accounts, and Don Hemberg joins the co. as vp of the Advanced Systems Group.

Sharp Corp. brings on Sandra Luciano as director of marketing. She has more than 20 years of experience, specifically in pharmaceutical packaging.

Alpha Packaging promotes Dan Creston to COO, Gary Seeman to CFO and Mike Defazio to vp of manufacturing. Sean Sapienza is elevated to territory sales for St. Louis and its surrounding area, and Tim Yancey to logistics coordinator. Further promotions include Shane Jordan to the position of corporate quality assurance manager, Cory Robinson to corporate quality control manager and Ramona Gant to purchasing/inventory control coordinator. Kelly Dwyer is hired as a controller.

Sheffield Plastics, Inc. names John C. Brewer site manager of its Berlin, CT, production facility of Bayer Films Americas.

MLR Design, Inc. adds Brad Back as its president and CEO. He served most recently as executive vp, client solutions, for Publicis' Arc Worldwide.

Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. promotes five to vp: Roger Becker, vp, taxes; Jim Chou, vp and controller for the Containerboard Mill Div.; Ken Kushibab, vp and controller for the Consumer Packaging Div.; Larry Quatmann, vp and controller for the Corrugated Container Div.; and Jean Wyse, vp, enterprise process integration.

New England Extrusion, Inc. promotes Doug Russell to the position of director of purchasing.

ON THE MOVE

Precise Technology opens a new injection-molding plant in Lodz, Poland. The 37,674-sq-ft facility is scheduled to open during Q1 '06.

O-I opens a glass a new glass-manufacturing plant in Windsor, CO. Said to be the glass packaging industry's first new manufacturing plant since '82, it's the co.'s first new U.S.-based facility since '80 and will create 173 new manufacturing jobs.

Paragon Films debuts a 40,000-sq-ft manufacturing facility in Alexander County, NC. It will include a 20,000-sq-ft warehouse and a state-of-the-art production area that will be capable of producing 15 million pounds of stretch film in its first year.

Arrowhead Conveyor Corp. consolidates its the engineering and manufacturing of its air conveyor product line into its Oshkosh, WI, plant, resulting in the closing of its facility in St. Neots, U.K.

CVC Technologies, Inc. moves into a new hq and warehouse in Fontana, CA. A new, East Coast branch office opens in Sayreville, NJ. The co. also adds an office in Vicenza, Italy, as a result of its purchase of Optrel Co. of Italy.

Yaskawa Electric Corp. builds a new, 100,000-sq-ft production plant adjacent to its Kitayushu, Japan-based hq. Production is scheduled to begin in November.

Airspray, N.V. expands operations at two facilities, leasing a building near its main plant in Alkmaar, The Netherlands, and leasing additional space for its assembly operations in Pompano Beach, FL.

BUYING & SELLING

Barry-Wehmiller Cos., Inc. makes a series of acquisitions, the most recent of which being Owings Mills, MD-based Ambec, Inc. Other acquisitions include that of Edmeyer, Inc., St. Paul, MN, Paper Converting Machine Co, Green Bay, WI, and the business and assets of the Packaging Machinery Div. of Central Bottling Intl. Ltd., Yorkshire, England.

Benchmark Automation, LLC, Athens, GA, acquires the assets of Campbell Hardage, Inc. and will continue to offer Campbell Hardage automation machinery as an extension of its product line.

The Blackard Group, Inc. acquires the business operations of Palm Beach Capital Partners' Flexible Packaging Div., St. Louis.

Graham Packaging Co., L.P. purchases the assets of a Kansas City, KS-based container- manufacturing operation, located on-site with Proctor & Gamble production facilities, from Consolidated Container Co., Atlanta. The co. also acquires Industrias Innopack, S.A. de C.V. The acquisition gives the co. 100-percent ownership in three existing manufacturing plants in Mexico.

Danaher Motion acquires G&L Motion Control, Inc., Fond Du Lac, WI. The acquisition does not include any G&L machine tool cos.

ACCORDS

Kurz Transfer Products LP, Charlotte, NC, forms the Brand Protection Alliance (BPA) with six other cos. that serve the packaging and converting industries.

Fibergrations, LLC, an RFID integrator and installations co., partners with Sato Corp. to offer complete, RFID-compliant solutions. The partnership enables both parties to expand their offerings of RFID end-to-end software and hardware solutions, warehouse-management solutions and installation and integration services.

Nercon Engineering and Manufacturing, Inc. partners with KUKA Robotics Corp. to deliver expanded automation offerings to the packaging and materials markets.

The Kennedy Group agrees to a multiyear supply commitment with Alien Technology. Alien will supply large volumes of inlays and additional products for the production of The Kennedy Group's Smart Therm® labels and smart cards.

CHANGING OF THE GUARD

FKI Logistex opens a new regional office in Atlanta.

TestPak, a Whippany, NJ-based supplier of pharmaceutical contract packaging, launches a redesigned corporate identity with a refreshed co. logo and a new website design.

CELEBRATING

Silgan Containers Corp. wins its 12th consecutive Spirit of Excellence Award from Hormel Foods.

Pearson Packaging Systems wins the 2005 AGORA Award for Large Business, presented by the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Motoman, Inc. is named one of the Dayton Area's Top 100 Companies by the Dayton Business Journal, which also names Carl Traynor, senior director of marketing, one of the Dayton area's 40 Under 40 rising corporate stars. President and COO Craig S. Jennings is named DBJ's Business Executive of the Year.

HAPPENINGS

Cognex Corp. offers a series of free machine-vision seminars for manufacturing professionals. Each seminar combines a machine-vision basics tutorial with live vision-sensor demonstrations. The seminars run from August through December, in major cities throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. For more information, log onto www.cognex.com/seminar or call 800/677-2646.

Schneider Electric offers its Sensor Competency Center. The center creates ultrasonic, photoelectric and inductive proximity sensors for food and beverage, pharmaceutical and other packaging applications.

NatureWorks, LLC begins a marketing effort in The People's Republic of China.