Jeff Sparks, an avid supporter of the industrial fabrics industry, will manage the custom fabrics and general purpose fabrics segments of Herculite’s Performance and Custom Products Division—in addition to the Tent and Structures Products Division. Sparks has worked with Emigsville, Pa.-based Herculite for seven years, bringing a wealth of knowledge in product development and applications, [...]

Lisandra Torres has been promoted to logistics coordinator at Arlon Graphics LLC, a Santa Ana, Calif., manufacturer of pressure-sensitive cut vinyl, flexible substrates and print media films for digital imaging and printing industries. Torres will manage customer delivery, freight vendor and outside warehouse logistics. She served previously as Arlon’s customer service representative for Asia and [...]

Jeannette Hendrickson and Anne-Sophie Dorey increased their profiles on the marketing team at Miller Weldmaster, Navarre, Ohio, to help the company meet the growing demands of its international clientele. Both were promoted from within the Miller Weldmaster ranks. Hendrickson has a B.A. in business management from Walsh University and has worked at the company for [...]

Alexium International Group, Greer, S.C., has been successful in product development for its reactive surface treatment technology, calling for a need to build its operational headquarters. Nick Clark, chief financial officer and company secretary, has been appointed CEO to work on building Alexium in the U.S. Clark is a chartered accountant in the U.S., U.K. [...]

Michael König focuses on business planning and growth—every week. By Sigrid Tornquist “You have to know where you’re going in business. You have to have a plan,” says Michael König, president of OFPANZ, New Zealand’s branch of ATA; and owner and president of Sunshade Group NZ Ltd., incorporating Rainbow Shade Products, 0800 Sunshade and Douglas [...]

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), in conjunction with the National Transportation Product Evaluation Program, developed an audit program in March 2012 for geotextiles to ensure uniform standards for geotextiles used in transportation projects. Thrace Linq, Summerville, S.C., supplier of woven and nonwoven performance fabrics, successfully complies with the new standards [...]

Researchers at North Carolina State University are exploring ways to prevent the major shut-downs, accidents and safety risks that happen when someone, somewhere, snaps or cuts the wrong electrical wire. The elastic, self-healing wires have a commercially available polymer in which microfluidic channels are cut. The channels are filled with a liquid metal alloy of [...]

Dow Chemical Co. and Klean Industries Inc., Vancouver, B.C., Canada, have signed a three-year letter of intent to combine their proprietary technologies and expertise to provide “best in class” recycling for mixed plastic wastes. Dow staff recently toured the world’s largest plastics-to-oil recycling plant in Japan, which operates using Klean Industries intellectual property. “This is [...]

Superstar Beyoncé blasted onstage for the Super Bowl XLVII half-time performance with special effects, huge sound and pyrotechnics that many suspected had blown the circuits of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. The live performance setting designed by Tribe Inc. called for an air-powered 120-by-60-foot fabric recreation of the singer’s hair. Doron Gazit of Air [...]

Spider silk, a sticky protein combination that creates flexible threads with the tensile strength of steel, is a natural substance fascinating to material scientists, who have investigated possible applications in everything from ballistic protection to medical devices. The problem is that spiders don’t spin commercial quantities of fiber. Silkworms do, and EntoGenetics Inc. (EGI), a [...]