Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

North America: A survey by the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association (NAIMA) shows that its members used around 1.17Mt of recycled glass to produce residential, commercial and industrial thermal and acoustical insulation in 2018. The survey included data from both US and Canadian production plants. Producers also used over 0.45Mt of recycled blast furnace slag in the production of thermal and acoustic insulation.

UK: The Insulation Manufacturers Association (IMA) has appointed Stuart Norris as its president. The association is a representative body for the rigid polyisocyanurate (PIR) and polyurethane (PUR) insulation industry in the UK.

Norris is a Senior Product Development Engineer at Portakabin where he is involved in the design and delivery of both temporary and permanent offsite building solutions across a wide range of building sectors. He holds a degree in Product Design from the University of Huddersfield. He also sits on the Technical Committee for the Modular and Portable Building Association (MPBA).

US: IQ Fibers plans to build a cellulose insulation plant at West Easton in Pennsylvania. The project will have an investment from US$5.4m and it will create 43 jobs. The company has received funding from the Department of Community and Economic Development to develop the unit.

“We are extremely proud of our facility and the highly engineered cellulose fibre products we manufacture. With the market demand for more environmentally-friendly solutions, we believe this is the right time and place to launch our company. We greatly appreciate the assistance of the Governor’s Action Team and Governor Wolf’s commitment for business growth,” said George Day, chief executive officer (CEO) of IQ Fibers.

IQ Fibers is a start-up cellulose fibre manufacturer. Its line of products includes high-quality cellulose insulation and absorbents that are sold to distributors, contract installers and end users, as well as government agencies, utility companies, and related programs.

UK: SIG’s sales for the first half of 2019 have fallen by 3.8% year-on-year due to a ‘marked deterioration’ in the level of UK construction. Its UK and Ireland like-for-like sales dropped by 12.7% while sales elsewhere in Europe grew by 3.3%.

US: Owens Corning has appointed Todd Fister as the president of its insulation division from 15 July 2019. He succeeds Julian Francis, who will become president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Beacon Roofing Supply. Fister will report directly to Brian Chambers, the president and CEO of Owens Corning.

Fister currently serves as Vice President, Global Insulation and Strategy. Prior to this role, he served as Vice President and Managing Director for European Insulation and Global Foamglas. Before joining Owens Corning in 2014, he worked in various marketing, strategy and finance positions at MeadWestvaco and Kimberly-Clark. Fister began his career at Procter & Gamble, where he served in multiple finance roles. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Miami University and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.