RichardsApex, a U.S.-based manufacturer and supplier of specialty metalworking lubricants, process coatings and cleaning compounds, announced that it has launched a wholly owned subsidiary in Singapore: RichardsApex International PE Ltd.

A press release said that the new entity will bolster the company’s ability to serve changing market needs. “As worldwide metalworking demands continue to expand and intensify, so does the commitment of RichardsApex in providing knowledgeable, experienced, and professional personnel available to manufacture, distribute, and service all metalworking markets. This strategically located subsidiary combines our growing global network, including distributors and agents, who are ready to serve the needs of our customers throughout the world.”

The Singapore subsidiary’s operations team will be managed by Vishal Handa, who joined RichardsApex in 2019. Customers can access RichardsApex products through the subsidiary, and customers are invited to review the enhanced sales and service network via the company’s website: www.richardsapex.com. RichardsApex also has a European subsidiary: RichardsApex Europe Ltd.

Erbil Copper & Cable Company for General Trading-Ltd. (Erbil Cable) reports that it has begun operations at its site, where it will produce 8-mm copper wire rod from scrap and copper wire and cable. At its website, the company notes that it is the first copper wire and cable factory in the Kurdistan region.

Per reports posted online at www.kurdistan24.net and gulanmedia.com, Erbil Cable initially became a business entity in 2020, and the project began in 2021. Construction was completed by the end of 2023, and the operations—which include the formation of Erbil Mercury and Cable Company—was inaugurated Oct. 2 by Masrour Barzani, who serves as the prime minister of the Kurdistan Region.

Barzani said that developing the industrial sector strengthens the economic infrastructure of the Kurdistan Region. He promised support for Erbil Cable’s efforts to export its products abroad. “We want the industrial sector to surpass the borders of Kurdistan.”

Per one report, Erbil Cable will provide copper wire and cable to the Kurdistan Region, Iraq and other countries in the zone. It will also provide some support and services to all large industries, contractors and businessmen in the Kurdistan Region. Erbil Cable representative Sadiq Mohammed said that Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region, has previously sent copper waste abroad for recycling and subsequent reimport. “Now, the company will undertake this process domestically.”

The project, said to cost more than $80 million, includes six factories that cover an area of ​​175,000 sq m that employs nearly 200 people, 160 of whom are local. Erbil Cable and Erbil Mercury were said to have annual production capacity of 80,000 metric tons, which includes 30,000 metric tons from recycled copper scrap.

Sweden’s Lesjӧfors Group reports that the company has finalized its previously announced acquisition of Ressorts Lacroix, a French spring manufacturer that will expand the Group’s European spring supply solutions.

A press release said that Ressorts Lacroix’s product lines serve the hydraulic, automotive, aerospace and medical sector. Lacroix has annual revenue of €6.5 million with good profitability and has 46 employees at its factory in Meung-sur-Loire in central France.

Per its website, the company, founded in 1951, is located in the center of Northern France in Meung-sur-Loire, where it has a 4,000 sq m workshop. Its products include custom-made springs, flat springs, tension springs, torsion springs and compression springs.

“Our potential is now limitless,” said Ressorts Lacroix CEO Yohan Dutheil. “Lesjӧfors, as a global parent company, enables us to access new markets. Being part of a larger corporation not only gives us greater reach, it also enables us to access sales strategies, knowledge, technologies and networks that enrich our employees and adds value to our customers.”

Lesjӧfors Group CEO Ola Tengroth said that the company was “laser focused” on acquiring Ressorts Lacroix. “We’re grateful to them for enabling us to now say we have a manufacturing plant in France, and we look forward to developing this partnership even further.”

Earlier this year, the Lesjӧfors Group opened a new manufacturing facility in Poland alongside an existing plant that is part of Alcomex, its subsidiary, which has operations in nine countries. At that time, the Lesjӧfors Group was said to have more than 50 production and technical sales offices in Europe, America and Asia, and was “actively looking to acquire more spring manufacturers.”

The Lesjöfors Group is owned by Beijer Alma, a listed company on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.

Germany’s Maschinenfabrik Niehoff GmbH & Co. KG reports that it will invest €15.5 million to expand machine production capacity for the wire and cable industry.

A press release from the OEM said that the company recently held two ground-breaking ceremonies at the company’s headquarters in Schwabach and at its branch plant at Leuterschach to mark the start of the construction work. The factory in Schwabach will be expanded by two halls—a manufacturing hall and a logistics hall—that are scheduled to go into operation in August 2025. Like the existing halls of the modern factory opened in 2015, the two new ones will also have a photovoltaic system on the roofs and use geothermal energy for heating and cooling technology.

At Leuterschach, Niehoff has acquired an additional 3,500 sq m of factory premises and will build another hall and outdoor facilities there, expanding the existing production area by 1,700 sq m for storage, assembly and testing. The release said that the owners of the family business are investing the €15.5 million not just for the additional capacity but to further their sustainability goals. Since the beginning of 2021, 100% of the electricity in both the Schwabach and the Leuterschach factories have been generated from hydropower and is therefore carbon-free.

The company attaches great importance to the long-term durability of its products and stands for the manufacture of machines featuring reliability, process stability, high productivity, energy and materials efficiency, and reduced CO2 emissions. Consequently, Niehoff is also certified by the German Environmental Auditors Board EMAS, belongs to the Blue Competence sustainability initiative of the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) and with a view to its corporate social responsibility (CSR) cooperates with the international platform for sustainability ratings EcoVadis.

Niehoff Group has a workforce of around 1,300 employees worldwide and is comprised of its headquarters, its branch plants at Leuterschach in Germany, NST in Badalona-Barcelona, Spain, and manufacturing subsidiaries in Brazil, the U.S., the Czech Republic, India, China, and Sweden, along with sales and service centers in Japan, Singapore, and Mexico.