The U.S. is the world’s largest specialty chemicals market, estimated at $208 billion. As a subsector of this market, the coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers (CASE) markets accounted for over half, or $107 billion, in 2014.

Stringent fuel efficiency norms are compelling automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to reduce the weight of their vehicles, thus spurring the use of lightweight materials such as plastics, composites, and aluminum.

JEC Composites recently gave its JEC 2015 Jury Prize to Hyundai and chassis designer Axon Automotive (part of Far-UK Ltd.) for the Intrado hydrogen-powered crossover car.

Scott Bader recently announced it has appointed Jean-Claude Pierre as its new group CEO.

The current laminating industry mindset is to simply try anything. Many manufacturers have started to realize that creative combinations of unexpected substrates might fill untapped demand for finished products that look and feel novel, are extra sturdy, or display other desirable properties that are unattainable with standard materials.