victoria.kickham@reedbusiness.com

Goodyear Engineered Products says it's doing its part to help reduce the country's foreign oil dependency. The company introduced the first alternative fuel dispensing hose verified by Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., at last month's annual meeting of NAHAD—The Assn. for Hose & Accessories Distribution.

The hose is designed to meet the nation's growing demand for clean-burning biodiesel and E85 environmentally friendly fuels, according to Keith Collett, Goodyear's industrial hose marketing manager. Derived from natural vegetable oils, biodiesel fuel is blended with petroleum to produce a cleaner burning fuel that is sulphur free. E85 is produced from corn husk that is converted to an alcohol mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

Goodyear says its products will not degrade when exposed to new fuel blends, as other rubber products may. Instead, they are chemically compatible with biodiesel fuels and retain their physical properties after coming in contact with them.

According to the National Biodiesel Board, there are more than 1,850 U.S. distributors and retailers of biodiesel fuel. In addition, U.S. sales of the product increased from 500,000 gallons to 36 million gallons from 1999 to 2004.

"It's one of the fastest growing alternative fuels on the market," according to Collett.

For more information, visit www.goodyearindustrialproducts.com.

Industrial robot manufacturer Kuka Robotics donated $1.5 million to the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. The gift endows the Kuka Chair of Robotics, to be held by international robotics expert Dr. Henrik Christensen. The company also donated a Kuka KR 15SL stainless steel robot to be used to develop automation solutions for various industries...Machine tool distributor Ellison Technologies and manufacturer Mori Seiki announced a distribution agreement, in which Ellison will represent Mori Seiki in the Midwest. The distributor is responsible for sales and distribution of Mori Seiki equipment in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. The territory was previously covered by Mori Seiki Mid-American Sales, whose employees will now join Ellison Technologies...Machine components manufacturer J.W. Winco, Inc. has added an online shopping option to its Web site, www.jwwinco.com. The company's new eStore allows customers to check pricing on more than 18,000 parts and purchase by credit card...Bisco Industries relocated four facilities—in Colorado; New Jersey; Horsham, Pa.; and Houston. For more information, visit www.biscoind.com. Bisco is a distributor of electronic components and fasteners...

Kennametal, Inc. announced plans to sell the British assets and manufacturing operations of its Presto brands to Suncraft International Corp., for an undisclosed sum...Stock Building Supply purchased Home Lumber Co. of San Bernardino, Calif., for an undisclosed sum. Home Lumber had sales of $92.2 million in 2005, and its product lines include lumber, plywood, engineered wood products and various building supplies. Stock Building Supply is a subsidiary of Wolseley plc...Applied Industrial Technologies acquired Minnesota Bearing, Co., headquartered in Minneapolis... Airgas, Inc. acquired Byrne Specialty Gases, Inc., a Seattle-based distributor of specialty gases, related equipment and cryogenic storage systems for the life sciences sectors in the Pacific Northwest... Parker Hannifin Corp. acquired 70 percent of the shares of Japan-based Kuroda Pneumatics Ltd...Hose and accessories distributor MFC completed its acquisition of Midwest Hydraline, headquartered in Galesburg, Ill...

Mudge Fasteners, Inc., a fastener distributor in Southern California, was recognized by the Corona Chamber of Commerce as an Outstanding Distributor for 2005. The company was honored for its commitment to the city of Corona and for its leadership in the business community...Brady Corp. received a Partners in Performance award from W.W. Grainger... Distributor alliance Affiliated Distributors recognized six members for their commitment to the group and its supplier partners. General Industrial Tool & Supply, Sun Valley, Calif.; Machinery Tooling & Supply, Schaumburg, Ill.; and Tenaquip, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, were honored for achieving Greatest Overall Growth, and P&I Supply, Evansville, Ind.; Orr Safety Corp., Louisville, Ky.; and Weber Supply Co., Kitchener, Ont., were recognized for Highest Overall Participation.