US: Installed Building Products Inc has acquired BDI Insulation (BDI) for an aggregate purchase price of about US$36m. Funding for the acquisition is being provided by availability under the company's line of credit and cash on hand.

US: Johns Manville (JM) has announced plans to expand the capacity at its Scottsboro, Alabama, thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) plant. The state-of-the-art TPO plant was first opened in October 2008. JM will complete the expansion in April 2015, increasing its total TPO production capacity by 20%.

JM's TPO formulation has remained unchanged since its launch and has proven to be durable under real-world conditions of heat and ultra-violet (UV) exposure. "Commercial Roofers Inc began installing TPO more than 10 years ago. We have found it to be installer-friendly and energy compliant. It has a long, useful life expectancy and is cost effective. This provides great benefits for the building owner," said Scott Howard, president of Commercial Roofers Inc.

China: Zotefoams, which produces cellular material technology, has entered into a new venture with China's King Lai Group to manufacture and sell insulation products. The new venture will be called ZOTEK King Lai (ZKL).

Zotefoams and King Lai have a previous long-standing relationship for the sale of T-Tubes in China. Building on the success of T-Tubes clean-room insulation products for biotech, pharmaceutical and semiconductor plants, ZKL will offer a local supply to the market in China and a more rapid response to other markets including Asia, India and the Middle East.

ZKL is owned 51% by Zotefoams and 49% by King Lai. Manufacturing will be located in King Lai's plant in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, China. The manufacturing of products made from Zotefoams' ZOTEK foam materials is expected to begin in the second half of 2015. Sales activity in China will be the direct responsibility of ZKL, using King Lai as the exclusive distributor, while all sales to customers outside China will be the responsibility of Zotefoams Operations Ltd in Thailand.

"I am delighted to extend our relationship with King Lai. Its commitment to operational excellence and strong position in products for clean-room markets make King Lai an ideal partner to accelerate the development of our unique materials," said David Stirling, managing director of Zotefoams.

US: Johns Manville has announced that its director of marketing and single ply systems Jennifer Ford-Smith was recently appointed to the 2015 Women in Roofing (WinR) leadership team. WinR is a council of the Midwest Roofing Contractors Association (MRCA). While the MRCA serves the interests of roofing contractors and the overall industry for the US Midwest region, they are also serving as a national platform for the WinR.