Nonwovens live

PPS nonwovens launched by Asahi Kasei

The first in a planned series of nonwoven products employing super-functional polymers has been launched by Japan’s Asahi Kasei.
The company is now producing composite SMS webs of PPS  (polyphenylene sulfide) at its new new semi-commercial plant with proprietary technology in Moriyama, Shiga, Japan.
The product is based on a 2 µm (0.03 dtex) meltblown layer sandwich inside 2 dtex spunbond layers, thermobonded without the use of binders. Asahi is manufacturing this material in widths of one metre and weights of between 10-200gsm for applications in industrial filtration and other areas where high heat resistance is required.

Portland closure by Albany

Albany International will discontinue operations at its US forming fabric manufacturing facility in Portland, Tennessee.
The plant closure is the result of the continuing consolidation of customers in the US.and Canada, accelerated by the economic recession, and the need to balance the company’s paper machine clothing (PMC) manufacturing capacity in North America with anticipated paper mill demand.
Similar steps have been taken by the company over the last few years in both Europe and North America, as the global paper and paperboard industry continues to shift capacity from traditional paper markets to new emerging markets.
The 156 affected employees will be offered severance and outplacement assistance.
Transition of forming fabric manufacturing from the Portland area to other facilities in North America is expected to be completed by June 2010.

Requirements for space projects explored

An insight into the latest opportunities for technical textiles in space exploration projects will be provided at the 2009 Aerospace Symposium, to be held as part of the IFAI Expo 2009 in San Diego, California on September 23.
Among speakers at Technical Textiles Rocketing to Space will be Jinny Ferl, design engineering manager for Shuttle Spacesuit Assemblies (SSA), who will give a talk on the design of expandable/inflatable habitats to support space exploration.
Her talk will cover  the use of expandable soft structures and the many factors that must be considered when designing them, including transport and deployment, sensor integration, reconfigurability, habitability, performance in harsh environments, radiation shielding and dust mitigation.
Victor Koscheyev and Gloria Leon of the University of Minnesota will provide details on the physiologic-hygienic requirements astronaut comfort in the liquid cooling garment of the space suit and Donald Shockey of SRI International will discuss textile damage in astronaut gloves.
 Radiation shielding in advanced materials will be covered by Sheila Ann Thibeault of the NASA Langley Research Center, in a paper covering engineered polymeric materials of all forms.
“The Constellation Programme is ramping up for a return trip to the moon, and then on to Mars,” says Linda Hewes, material engineering analyst for ILC Dover and the symposium’s chair. “Join us as we look ahead in space research, designs and solutions for safe and successful completion of these more complex and challenging environments.”
The symposium is one of 20 to be staged by the Industrial Fabrics Association International  as part of the IFAI Expo 2009.

Weathering the storm at Ahlstrom

Ahlstrom achieved sales of €775 million for the first six months of 2009, compared to €932 million in the same period of 2008. The company also posted an operating loss of €1 million, compared to profit of €38.7 million, and loss before taxes was €13.9 million.
The company announced a €50 million restructuring programme at the end of April, along with new financing agreements.
“The market environment continues to be challenging and is difficult to forecast,” said president and CEO Jan Lång. “The demand for Ahlstrom products has now revived slightly but is still at a low level.”
 During the period,  the demand for Ahlstrom’s products in the automotive, construction, marine and windmill industries continued to be exceptionally weak. The Filtration business area was also burdened by a significant slowdown in the servicing of passenger and freight transport vehicles, along with the fall in new vehicle production. Market demand for food packaging and teabag materials as well as for nonwovens in medical applications, however, was close to the strong level of early 2008.
 Ahlstrom’s global employees have been reduced from 6,538 to 6,104 as a result of restructuring, mainly due the closure of its Ascoli plant in Italy. In addition, there were temporary layoffs at production sites as well as at the company’s headquarters and production was cut down in several countries.
 No major investment decisions have been made this year to date, and capital expenditure for the first six months was €41.5 million. The largest on-going investment project is the construction of a medical nonwovens plant in Gujarat, India, at a cost of €38 million. Operations at the plant should start in the first quarter of 2010.
At its Turin plant in Italy, the company also completed the conversion of a paper machine to produce new nonwoven products for wallpaper materials. The first sample batches were delivered to customers at the end of June.
 Ahlstrom announced in July that it would close down its Italian plant in Gallarate, as well as a production line in Cressa making job cuts at a third Italian plant in Carbonate. All three plants produce nonwoven wipes.

US auto market tough for Chapelthorpe

Chapelthorpe PLC, the parent company of polypropylene manufacturers Drake Fibres and Asota, reports that its businesses have shown considerable resilience in difficult trading conditions.
In its financial year to the end of June 2009, the company achieved sales of £86.2 million compared to £87.4 million for 2008. After exceptional items, an operating loss of £1.7 million was posted.
“Trading conditions in the markets served by our fibres businesses have been affected by the deepening global recession and volatile raw material prices exerting pressure on demand and margins,” said Chapelthoroe chairman Leslie Goodman. “In particular, major cutbacks in demand from the US automotive and consumer sectors have had a significant impact on the group’s underlying performance. We had already taken decisive action to cut excess manned staple fibre capacity in our US plant to minimise the effect of this fall in demand. We have also had notable success in securing new business in the filament yarn sector to help offset these losses.”
In the US, capacity has been reduced by nearly 40% and fixed costs have been cut by approximately $1 million compared to last 2008.
Mr Goodman added that the European fibres market was also extremely challenging, but the company was able to keep costs tight and maintain profitability, assisted in the UK to some degree by the weakness of Sterling.
“The fall in the price of polypropylene polymer towards the end of the 2008 calendar year was a welcome development alleviating some of the pressure on margins,” he said. “These price falls have resulted and should continue to result in a fall in sales values and working capital levels as the average selling price per tonne falls in line with the lower raw material costs.
“New production polymer capacity in the Middle East is beginning to come on stream which, subject to some stability in oil prices, should keep price levels lower than they might otherwise be.
“Nevertheless, many of the sectors which we supply are being impacted by reduced demand and we expect volumes to be lower in the first half of the next year than the previous year. Further cutbacks in US automotive demand and both General Motors and Chrysler recently seeking bankruptcy protection has created additional uncertainty for our US business. As already indicated, we have already taken action to reduce capacity and we have a much leaner operation able to cope with short-term fluctuations in demand.”
Chapelthorpe’s fibre businesses supply polypropylene fibres to markets including floorcoverings, automotive, geotextiles, technical and home furnishings.

Enka files for bankfruptcy

EP Elsterberg, the German owner of viscose fibre manufacturer Enka Group, has filed for bankruptcy, following a breakdown in negotiations with workers at its Elsterberg site in Saxony.
In February this year management of the Enka Group announced its plant to cease production of textile viscose filament yarns at the Elsterberg site and close the plant, and to  concentrate the manufacture of all textile and technical chemical fibres at its complex in Obernburg, Bavaria – a highly efficient production base for several chemical fibres producers.
The Elsterberg site was established in 1909 and had 340 employees prior to the shut down.
Enka order volumes fell significantly in 2008 and 2009 and now negotiations between  the management of EP Elsterberg and the company’s works council in respect of a social compensation plan and refinancing measures have been broken off.
As a consequence, EP Elsterberg has been legally obliged to file for insolvency due to the imminent danger of illiquidity.
The management of EP Elsterberg has expressed regret at this development, believing a much better solution for the region of Elsterberg and for the affected workforce could have been secured.
The business activities of all other Enka Group companies are unaffected and the supply of viscose filament yarns from the Obernburg plant will continue. Enka also has a production plant in Gorzow, Poland, and a joint venture in Jilin, China.

Beating the new bug

Tests by independent laboratories have proven that the formulation employed by Pal International on its disinfectant wipes is effective against Swine Flu virus.
The test against Swine Flu (Influenza A H1N1) was carried out by Blu Scientific, which is affiliated to Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) in the UK.
Blu Scientific director Dr Chris Woodall, a senior lecturer in virology at the GCU’s School of Life Sciences, has confirmed that testing carried out in 2006 ensures efficacy of the Pal formulation against this new strain/mutation of Influenza A H1N1, since while it has mutated internally, its outer shell remains the same.
“Because the Pal disinfectant solution kills by attacking and destroying the outer shell, Pal’s formulation is effective against it,” he said.
 “The latest UK government advice to limit the spread of Swine Flu is to regularly sanitize hands and disinfect all surfaces with regular human contact, including door handles, keyboards and telephones,” said Pal International’s technical manager Iain de Grey.
The wipes are available in canisters, buckets, refill bags and softpacks.
In recent years, Pal International, which is headquartered in Lutterworth, UK, has built on its success in barrier protection clothing and headwear, extending its range to include wiping products for hygiene and general cleaning requirements. Pal produces a comprehensive product range for maintenance of the very highest standards of hygiene and cleanliness. The company is well established in many industrial sectors, ranging from food manufacturing and service to healthcare, janitorial, engineering and agriculture.
Its products are marketed via a network of distributors, with small quantities of wipes available direct to UK end-users via Pal Direct.
“Pal is justifiably proud of its external accreditations for several of its wipes products,” said Mr de Grey. “Stating proof of efficacy against bacteria, viruses and micro-organisms is reassurance to users and we believe that the guarantee of effectiveness is something our customers and end-users all deserve.” 

KC to trim workforce

Kimberly-Clark is to shed 1,600 positions across its global operations before the end of 2009.
The company is currently streamlining its organisation and accelerating cost reduction programmes, particularly for sourcing and supply chain activities, and anticipates annual saving of around $150 million as a result of the measures.
“These actions, while difficult, are necessary to help us emerge from this demanding economic environment as a stronger company,” said Tom Falk, Kimberly-Clark chairman and CEO. “Through these changes we will be a more effective organisation, with faster decision-making helping to drive efficiency throughout all aspects of our operations. In addition, by increasing our cash generation, we will be in a better position to take advantage of future growth and innovation opportunities.”
Reductions in the workforce will come from all regions and business segments of Kimberly-Clark’s global operations and will primarily affect salaried and non-production jobs. The company does not plan to close any of its manufacturing facilities.

TenCate sells Geofabrics stake

Royal Ten Cate and Noel P Hunt International have reached agreement on the takeover of the TenCate 50% interest in the joint venture Geofabrics Australasia.
The takeover price of the shares amounts to A$40 million (approximately €23 million). The book profit on the sale of the 50% interest amounts to approximately € 11 million and will be incorporated in the half-year figures of TenCate.
The 50% shareholding of TenCate was acquired in 2005 through the takeover of the Austrian company Polyfelt. Noel P Hunt International was already a joint shareholder in Geofabrics Australasia.
Given the strong worldwide market position and the integration of Polyfelt into the geosynthetics activities of TenCate, the equity participation in Geofabrics Australasia, without majority control, is not seen by TenCate as strategic.
Good agreements have been reached with the company concerning the continuation of commercial cooperation, TenCate says.

Boosting the EcoCircle

Hong Kong Non-Woven Fabric Industrial (HKNW) is the first accessories company outside Japan to join Tejin’s Eco Circle cluster of companies dedicated to promoting the enhanced recyclability of garments through the use of more eco-friendly accessories.
Eco Circle is an environmentally friendly closed-loop recycling system for polyester products that employs the world’s first chemical recycling technology. Teijin established the Eco Circle Garment Accessories Association in October 2008 for the related promotion of environmentally conscious garment accessories made and marketed by Japanese manufacturers, wholesalers and trading companies. Accessories developed by the association members are made of Teijin’s Ecopet or Eco Circle fibres, the latter being a chemically recycled fibre produced from used polyester products.
HKNW develops recyclable products such as fiberfill and insulation for the apparel, outdoor and furnishings markets employing Teijin’s Ecopet polyester fibre made from recycled PET bottles.
One of the challenges of encouraging the wider adoption of the Eco Circle system, says Teijin, has been the industry’s practice of using non-recyclable accessories, such as linings, buttons and interlinings. Non-recyclable accessories cannot be put through the system, requiring time to remove them before the remaining materials can be processed.
Recyclable alternatives are therefor a key to its continued expansion, and also help to reduce the permanent disposal of garments containing materials that otherwise could be recycled. In addition, the use of accessories developed by association members will eliminate the time required to test garments for their recyclability, meaning they can be quickly registered.
The Eco Circle system chemically decomposes polyester at the molecular level and converts it into new polyester raw materials. Since its launch in 2002, Eco Circle has attracted the participation of more than 110 companies, mostly apparel and sportswear manufacturers. Overseas members continue to increase and now include major brands such as Patagonia, Swany America and Quiksilver in France.