From the Sector

• Porcher Industries presents the future of quiet and clean mobility solutions with materials that offer high-performance thermal and acoustical insulation.

The 5th Edition of the Annual Automotive Exhaust Systems Summit, to be held in Dusseldorf on November 28th-29th, will see Porcher Industries showcase the market’s most complete range of high performance thermal and acoustical insulation products.

With a key strategic thrust targeting quiet and clean mobility by developing new insulation applications, Porcher Industries’ range of textiles meet the demands and requirements of the Automotive, Aerospace and other transport sectors by delivering unsurpassed levels of thermal and acoustical management.

On display the group will showcase its Techmat®, SilcoSoft® and ThermoShield® materials – all highly functional non-woven textiles that can be found in key areas of both the hot and cold ends of vehicle exhaust systems.

Produced from 100% non-respirable fibres, these binder free non-wovens are safe to handle and can be tailored to provide application specific thermal insulation and heat shields at temperatures ranging from 650˚C to 1150˚C (1200°F to 2100°F).

Porcher Industries is able to deliver its Techmat®, SilcoSoft® and ThermoShield® materials in a wide range of formats from roll goods, flat or formed shapes through to sub-assemblies and finished parts that combine metallic layers with their insulation materials.

Porcher Industries’ thermal and acoustical insulation solutions will also be on show in Dusseldorf: technical textiles that blend chemistry and fibre processing technology to produce a powerful range of non-woven and glass mat thermoplastics (GMT) materials that can be tailored to a customer’s specific acoustical and thermal insulation requirements.

In addition, Andreas Stoeferle, Technical Support Engineer, EMEA, Porcher Industries, will present a detailed view of the group’s expertise in high performance insulations, their global reach, products and delivery formats on the opening day of the conference.

“As one of the leading manufacturers of specialist technical textiles within the Automotive sector, we have responded to demand and placed significant development time and resource into developing our range of thermal and acoustical material solutions for Automotive and Aerospace.” commented Pierre-Yves Quéfélec, Global Aerospace & Automotive BU Head.

• Performance assurance program for textiles with advanced moisture management technology

Huntsman Textile Effects has extended its HIGH IQ® performance assurance program to help mills, brands and retailers meet consumer demand for garments with durable moisture management. HIGH IQ® Cool Comfort performance program is built on the industry’s broadest and most advanced moisture management agents to deliver durable, long-lasting performance.
As consumers around the world adopt more active lifestyles and outdoor activities, the need for cool, dry and comfortable sports and athleisure wear is on an upward trend.
HIGH IQ® Cool Comfort performance program allows garments to breathe, while at the same time, transports moisture away from the body. This ensures consumers can stay cool, dry and fresh throughout. The unique technology supports accelerated evaporation, ensuring garments dry quickly for long-lasting comfort.

“Today’s consumer seeks comfort and performance in their active lifestyle. With Huntsman’s HIGH IQ® Cool Comfort performance assurance program, we offer durable moisture management so your garment remains breathable, stays cool and attains the comfort of cotton. Unique quick-dry properties created by the natural microclimate of the garment help to reduce post-exercise chill, making the effects highly suitable for sports and active wear,” said Lee Howarth, Global Marketing Manager, Huntsman Textile Effects.
Only mills that meet Huntsman’s stringent requirements earn the right to use the HIGH IQ® performance assurance hang tags as point-of-sale product branding. Updated hangtags and promotional materials are available to support mills and brands in communicating the benefits of the HIGH IQ® Cool Comfort performance assurance program.

The technology that drives the HIGH IQ® Cool Comfort program complies with the requirements of bluesign® for safe and sustainable textile production. Furthermore, fabrics produced with HIGH IQ® Cool Comfort moisture management are suitable for STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® certified textile products. The global leader in intelligent effects, Huntsman Textile Effects developed the HIGH IQ® global performance assurance program to help mills, brands and retailers produce high-performance textiles with built-in sun protection, freshness, friction protection and water repellence, in bright whites and color that lasts. The program is based on innovative dyes and effects and unparalleled technical support and application know-how from Huntsman Textile Effects to help mills improve their productivity and competitiveness.
 

Archroma, a global leader in color and specialty chemicals towards sustainable solutions, will be at ITMA to launch its latest innovations and system solutions aimed to help textile manufacturers with optimized productivity and/or value creation in their markets.

Archroma offers a wide portfolio of dyes and chemicals aiming to increase sustainability and innovation along the entire value chain, from fiber to finish.

Archroma is reputed for its continuous flow of ground-breaking innovations, such as the EarthColors®, a range of dyes made from non-edible natural waste from the agricultural and herbal industry, Inkpresso®, a digital printing system that enables ink mixing on site and on demand, Smartrepel® Hydro, a nature-friendlier protection that keeps cotton, polyester and polyamide textiles dry, the Color Atlas, a revolutionary color system comprising of a physical and online library of 4,320 new colors developed on cotton poplin.

More recently, Archroma introduced the purest indigo, Denisol® Pure Indigo, an aniline-free* synthetic pre-reduced liquid indigo launched in 2018, Appretan® NTR, a new nature-based binder for nonwovens, and Fadex® AS New, a new “super UV protector” for automotive & transportation textiles, both introduced in May 2019.

At ITMA, Archroma will present 24 solution systems and 5 innovations, and will hold “Innovation & Solutions Sessions” at its booth to present them.

The systems and innovations presented by Archroma have all been selected for their compliance with “The Archroma Way: safe, efficient, enhanced, it’s our nature”. The approach finds its origin in Archroma’s deep belief that it is possible to make the textile industry sustainable.

FONG’S EUROPE, based in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany, will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its flagship THEN brand for advanced dyeing technology with a special reception for customers and agents at ITMA 2019 in Barcelona.

The company, which has been a member of the CHTC FONG’S group since 2004, has its origins in the German city of Chemnitz, where back in 1919 Rudolf Then founded a barrel-making business which soon branched out into piece dyeing machines.

The company’s reputation for innovation began early, with the introduction of ceramic linings for dye baths, which were then made of wood, in order to avoid staining and allow easy cleaning. At the end of the 1920s, Rudolf Then was also quick to recognise the acid-resistant advantages of stainless steel for dyeing vessels.

Relocating to West Germany after World War 2, Rudolf Then ran a number of businesses in Schwäbisch Hall, eventually founding THEN in 1955 with partner Karl Kurz, who later took over the business specialising in dye vats and other textile equipment.

Throughout the 1960s and 70s, the company continued to further improve its technologies, but it was the introduction of the first THEN AIRFLOW system at ITMA 1983 in Milan which significantly boosted the company’s fortunes, representing a milestone in the development of dyeing machines.

Prior to this, the dyeing of just one kilo of fabric required around 150 litres of water and THEN’s AIRFLOW system, invented by engineer Wilhelm Christ and colleagues, drastically reduced the requirement to between just 35-40 litres. Instead of the traditional dye liquor used for hydraulic fabric transport it efficiently distributed much smaller amounts of dye liquor via aerosol. This technology has subsequently been further developed in successive machine models and has made an enormous impact on sustainable dyeing operations.

Now, as FONG’S EUROPE, the company continues to innovate, and at ITMA 2019 is showcasing the THEN SMARTFLOW TSF hydraulic high temperature dyeing machine, designed to achieve the lowest possible energy and water consumption rates available on the market for jet dyeing.

The company has a number of patents pending on the innovative new features of this machine, including the SMARTFLOW’s fabric transport design. This is based on a smart, winchless fabric transport system which eliminates the need for a loading rope, and a circular plaiter with programmable rotation speeds which provides full filling of the drop zone.

Its newly-developed nozzles and reel-less transport, in combination with smart controlled circular plaiting and variable chamber adjustment, provide even fabric treatment without entanglements and the highest loading capacity with the lowest kier volume

“Further developments, including the new THEN AIRFLOW PLUS system with a round design are in the development pipeline and will once again result in further reductions in power consumption without sacrificing performance,” says FONG’s Europe Sales Director Richard Fander. “Similar innovations are being made to our hydraulic long shape machine, the THEN SUPRATEC LTM. The ability to transport fabrics with reduced tension and without the need for a transport winch which is being introduced on all of our recent machines will allow new fabrics to be created and further increase the efficiency of textile finishing.

Fong’s Europe will be at stand D101 in Hall 2 at ITMA 2019.

Built on an island right off the Finnish capital Helsinki, the Nolla cabin represents an ecological alternative to cabin life.

This summer, living with minimal emissions will be put to the test. Neste is building a prototype of a cabin that has a minimal environmental impact in terms of both carbon dioxide emissions and concrete impact on nature. The Nolla (= zero) cabin, designed by Finnish designer Robin Falck, is located just outside Helsinki city center, on the Vallisaari island. The cabin has been built from sustainable materials and is designed for a simple lifestyle with minimal to no emissions, taking into account the surrounding nature in every respect.

Located on the idyllic island of Vallisaari in the Helsinki archipelago, the Nolla cabin encourages people to consider how modern solutions and innovations could enable sustainable cabin living. Vallisaari has been in a natural state for decades and is thus the perfect location for an urban cabin experience, located at a 20-minute boat ride away from the Helsinki market square. The ecological and mobile Nolla cabin will be in Vallisaari until the end of September, demonstrating a lifestyle that generates minimal to no emissions.

Placing the compact and mobile cabin on its private lot does not require a construction permit
and it has been designed to use building materials as effectively as possible. The cabin is the size of a small bedroom and can be assembled and transported without heavy machinery, leaving its environment nearly untouched. The Nolla cabin has been designed by Finnish designer Robin Falck, whose earlier design, Nido cabin, has been globally acknowledged.

The Nolla cabin introduces solutions, which enable minimizing cabin life emissions remarkably. The energy supply of the cabin is entirely renewable; electricity is generated by solar panels, whilst the Wallas stove, reserved for cooking and heating, runs entirely on Neste MY Renewable Diesel, made 100% from waste and residue. The Aava Lines raft operating between Helsinki city centre and Vallisaari will also run on Neste MY Renewable diesel that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90%.

“With the Nolla cabin, we want to offer visitors the possibility to experience modern cabin life in the realm of nature, with minimal emissions. An ecological lifestyle does not only require giving up unsustainable commodities, but also discovering modern, sustainable solutions that can be used instead. This has been an essential part of the design process”, says Falck.

“Finns are known for spending time at their beloved summer houses. We wanted to explore sustainable solutions that could enable cabin life with minimal emissions. Shared and circular economy, as well as new technologies and innovations have made it possible to enjoy our cabins without harming or burdening the environment. Some of the solutions that have been used at the Nolla cabin are perfectly adaptable at any cabin”, says Sirpa Tuomi, Marketing Director at Neste.

The Nolla cabin is executed in collaboration with Fortum, Wallas and Stockmann and is part of the Journey to Zero project by Neste, which explores new ideas and aims to steer the world towards a cleaner future with fewer emissions.

Exhibiting at this week’s Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) Annual Conference, Hygienically Clean Healthcare certified laundries provided nearly 200 copies of a training video guiding caregivers in improving soiled linen handling performance.

Provided on a flash drive: the 13-minute video (The Six Cs: Handling Soiled Linen in a Healthcare Environment), a quiz to immediately assess viewers’ grasp of the video’s lessons and posters to reinforce these year-round. Distributed since 2016, the video has been hailed for its value in aiding compliance with OSHA universal precautions regarding items saturated with blood, bodily fluids, harmful residue from treatments and other potentially infectious material.

The flash drive offer intrigued infection preventionists (IPs) from a single facility or those responsible for this function throughout health systems, whether acute or outpatient care environments or both. The drive also attracted the attention of other professionals who visited the Hygienically Clean exhibit, such as federal and state health officials and suppliers of products and services to the IP profession.

Distributing the flash drive is a hallmark of the Hygienically Clean program’s philosophy of addressing healthcare providers’ operational needs outside the scope of outsourced laundries’ traditional functions. Certified operators’ certification fees provide funding for creating and distributing the video and other education tools for healthcare facilities.

Visitors to the Minneapolis display who previously received the video vouched for its effectiveness. Certified laundries have individually distributed the flash drive to customers and prospects in addition to  their collective effort to provide them at previous APIC and Association for the Healthcare Environment (AHE) expos.

The video’s easy-to-follow steps improve infection control and patient care and reduce costs by addressing OSHA-required universal precautions. Employees who handle soiled linen (usually nurses and environmental services staff) must assume all human blood and potentially infectious materials they touch are infected, because they can’t be sure which patients are infected or what infections are present.

Adhering to the six Cs (cover, collect, contain, consolidate, clean, cooperate) each day prevents injury and reduces the risk of spreading of infection to co-workers, patients and residents. These positive outcomes are only achieved when workers first protect themselves.

The flash drive is available to all healthcare providers at no cost. It also contains the Hygienically Clean standard and other guidance documents for infection preventionists related to linen and uniforms. Among these documents: Handling Clean Linen in a Healthcare Environment, an 8-page guide to safeguarding through effective transportation, storage and distribution.

• Additives, pigments and masterbatches for transportation, packaging, textiles & fibers
• Support to “future-proof” medical applications
• Contributing towards more sustainable engineering plastics

Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, turns the spotlight on its increasing on-the-ground support and innovation focus for North America’s four key plastics application segments at NPE 2018 Booth S18155.

Clariant is pushing forward with plans for growth in the region by advancing R&D competencies, and increasing its manufacturing footprint and technical capabilities across its 50+ sites, 3 R&D and 6 technical innovation centers. Clariant’s innovations for the plastics industry include advanced additives, masterbatches and pigments which support the packaging sector in engaging consumers via differentiated, convenient solutions. At NPE, it will also highlight solutions for enhancing and protecting healthcare products, as well as its contribution to stronger and colorful textiles and fibers for everything from e-mobility to industrial applications.

Deepak Parikh, president of region North America, Clariant comments: “Clariant’s product innovation for the US and wider North American plastics industry embraces the region’s fastest growing end-use areas of automotive and construction. It also addresses the impact of trends driven by changing consumer lifestyle preferences and market regulations on other important segments such as packaging and healthcare.”

Transportation
Clariant brings color and protection to support the increasing use of engineering plastics and high temperture resins in automotive interiors, exteriors and under-the-hood. Halogen-free Exolit® OP 1400 provides outstanding flame retardancy to polyamide parts, enhances safety with UL 94 V0 performance down to 0.4 mm and enables the molding of complex parts with no mold deposits and blooming. Exolit OP 1400 has been awarded the Clariant EcoTain®label for outstanding sustainability and performance. At the same time, Clariant offers low-halogen controlled high-performance PV Fast® pigmentswith excellent migration and weather fastness properties to meet the high requirements of today’s transportation and automotive industry. Easy processing Renol® compounds and masterbatches for engineering and high temperature resins provide heat and light stability, and flame retardancy, while maintaining critical flow properties in parts like SMT connectors. Importantly, they are available as small lots which enables customers to purchase only what they require and contribute to a reduction in their carbon footprint.

Packaging
As US packaging manufacturers explore more consumer-friendly, lighterweight and appealing solutions, Clariant is on hand to support their functionality, sustainability-related and color desires. Clariant Pigments has an innovative cooperation with Konica Minolta and matchmycolor to enable fast, precise and efficient color matching of HDPE products, using select organic PV Fast and Graphtol® pigments that comply with FDA regulations. The ColorWorks®center in Chicago is dedicated to US brand managers and designers with teams of color design experts to create color formulations faster than ever before for bottles, caps, closures and films.

According to market reports, plastic pouches are gaining share from traditional pack types in packaged food and are mainstream in home care. To support smoother and more environmentally-compatible processing especially for film applications, Clariant offers an FDA-compliant, vegetable-based powder amide wax, Licolub® FA 1, which acts as a slip and anti-block agent. It is suitable for polyolefins and PVC.

Textiles & Fiber
At NPE 2018, Clariant puts the focus on strong and colorful textiles, carpets and industrial fibers. New AddWorks® TFB 117 offers a number of benefits to help stabilize and smoothen fiber production processes, protect color, and improve heat stability and mechanical properties of fibers. AddWorks TFB 117 ensures smooth spinnability with less filaments breakage, even at low processing temperatures and at high speed spinning up to 5,500 m/min. Clariant also offers a broad range of colorants for polypropylene, polyester, polyamide and acrylic fibers, featuring migration fastness, chemical stability, light- and weather-fastness.

Healthcare
Clariant supports risk control and regulatory compliance for medical polymer and pharmaceutical packaging solutions. Its Mevopur® color and performance masterbatches and compounds include a USP Class 6 line of compliant products and multiple global ISO, 87, 88, and 661.1 certifications ahead of the market deadline. Clariant also offers selected FDA-compliant organic pigments and polymer soluble dyes that meet purity migration fastness as well as toxicological properties for medical devices and pharmaceutical packaging.

• JEC Group pays tribute to the winners at JEC World 2018

The 2018 session of JEC World, the reference trade show organized by JEC Group, is in full swing and the focus is on innovation!
The JEC Innovation Awards ceremony, which took place on the Agora stage on Wednesday, March 7 at 5 pm, opened with a presentation by Yves Rossy, aircraft pilot and inventor of the first jet-powered wingpack. Then the jury revealed the names of the composite champions up for a JEC Innovation Award. Eleven winning innovations were chosen, out of the thirty finalists that had been previously selected from more than 100 applications from all over the world.

“JEC Group supports innovation. In 1998, it created the first award dedicated to composites, as a way to promote and reward the sector’s champions. Thanks to the work of JEC Group’s teams, the program has become an international benchmark. Each year, we receive more than a hundred applications from all over the world. Selection is now based on criteria like the level of involvement of the innovation’s partners in the value chain, the technical nature of the innovation, or its commercial applications,” explains JEC Group President & CEO Frédérique Mutel.
A new feature this year is that the jury revealed the winners during the ceremony, and the public could choose their favorite innovation before, during, and after the ceremony. So there is still time to vote! Votes are opened until Thursday March 8th, 5pm http://innovationawards.jec-world.events
Did you miss the ceremony?

11 AWARD WINNERS:
AEROSPACE APPLICATION
Winner:
AeroComposit, JSC (Russia) and its partner Solvay (United Kingdom)

• Infusion technology for an aircraft wing

The use of infusion technology to manufacture primary structural components for an aircraft wing. The technology makes it possible to create extra-long, integrated composite structures with complex aerodynamic shapes.

AEROSPACE PROCESS 
2 tied winners!
Winner: Airbus (Germany) and its partners, BMW Group (Germany), Technical University of Munich (TUM) (Germany), Neue Materialien Bayreuth GmbH (Germany), Werkzeugbau Siegfried Hofmann GmbH (Germany), BASF SE (Germany), Foldcore GmbH (Germany), Neenah Filtration (Germany) and SGL Carbon GmbH (Germany)

• Complex structural applications for MAI sandwich technology

Cost-effective production of a complex 2.5D structure made of thermoplastic composite sandwich, with very short cycle times: under 5 minutes for aerospace materials and 2.5 minutes for automotive materials.

Winner: M. Torres Diseños Industriales SAU (Spain)
Moldless process to manufacture one-piece parts
A new manufacturing process for oversized one-piece reinforced composite structures, without requiring the use of complete molds.

AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATION
Winner: Ford Werke GmbH (Germany) and its partners, Gestamp (United Kingdom), GRM Consulting (United Kingdom) and University of Warwick (United Kingdom)

• Lightweight composite automotive suspension part

Structural suspension part made of lightweight composite, using a brand-new patented process for prepreg/SMC/steel overmolding that was designed using a new computer-aided engineering (CAE) technology.

AUTOMOTIVE PROCESS
Winner: Audi AG (Germany) and its partners, Voith Composites GmbH & Co. KG (Germany), Dow Automotive (Switzerland), and Zoltek Corp. (United States)

• Series production of a rear panel module made of carbon composite

For the first time, the potential of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) is used to full advantage in series production with a new rear panel module and cost-effective production technologies.

CONSTRUCTION & INFRASTRUCTURE
Winner: Komatsu Seiren Co., Ltd. (Japan) and its partners, Kanazawa Institute of Technology (Japan) and Nagase ChemteX Corporation (Japan)

• Cabkoma cable made of CFRTP

Komatsu Seiren has developed a cable made of molded carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP), using a very cost-effective process that consists in polymerizing a thermoplastic epoxy resin in situ.

MARINE
Winner: Uljanik JSC (Croatia)

• Composite cargo decks for a vehicle carrier

On the SIEM Cicero, a vehicle carrier with a capacity of 7,000 vehicles, glass-fiber reinforced composites are used for a number of the structures for the cargo decks, thereby considerably reducing the ship’s weight, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

RAILWAY
Winner: ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. (United Kingdom) and its partners, Alstom Transport (United Kingdom), Magma Structures (United Kingdom), the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom), and the University of Huddersfield (United Kingdom)

• A bogie frame made of optimized lightweight carbon fiber

This project has developed the very first carbon-fiber bogie frame that uses a recycled material, making it possible to overcome the obstacles to a commercial adoption of this type of structure.

SPORTS & LEISURE
Winner: BMW Group (Germany) and its partners EDAG Engineering GmbH (Germany), KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH (Germany), Chr. Karl Siebenwurst GmbH & Co. KG (Germany), TUM-LCC (Germany), Automation W + R GmbH (Germany), and FHG-IGCV (Germany)

• A modular construction system for the rear swing arm suspension of a motorcycle

A modular system to produce a complex-shape swing arm suspension reinforced with carbon fiber. The system can adjust the mechanical properties on a case-by-case basis, for a competitive cost and weight compared to metal solutions.

SMART CITIES
Winner: MC Materiales Compuestos (Argentina) and its partners, Plaquimet (Argentina), Purcom (Brazil), IS Groupe - Composite Integrity (France), and G12 Innovation (Brazil)

• The Wet Core Pod composite housing module

The Wet Core Pod is a composite housing module with an industrialization potential that can facilitate the most complex, costly and difficult step in a construction project.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Winner: Cetim-Cermat (France) and its partner, CETIM (France)

• “3-in-1” line for producing recycled composites

A modular line that uses an innovative thermomechanical process to make large panels from recycled composites or plastics. The panels are then thermoformed into parts.
 

RONSE - Devan Chemicals, a Belgian-headquartered provider of finishing technologies, recently launched a new multifunctional antimicrobial brand line. The brand line consists of their well-known, but recently rebranded quat-silane antimicrobial solution, combined with extra features. This enables textile manufacturers to apply multiple functionalities via one single treatment.

BI-OME®, Devan’s recently rebranded antimicrobial solution, has been launched with interesting extra features. The speciality chemical provider has combined its antimicrobial technology with other functional finishes in its product range and now offers a variety of combinations:

• BI-OME® Quick dry combines the antimicrobial properties (for odour control) with advanced moisture management properties to promote efficient and faster evaporation to aid cooling and comfort.
• BI-OME® Stretch combines the antimicrobial solution with stretch recovery properties for better fit.
• A more revolutionary variation is BI-OME® AV, which has an antiviral activity in addition to its antimicrobial properties.
• Of course, BI-OME®, the antimicrobial solution without any extra features, remains available.

Devan’s experience with antimicrobial technology goes back a long time. More than 25 years of research led to the creation of the BI-OME® product range. Thanks to the combination of a cross-border support package (mill training, quality control, etc.) and unique product excellence (non-migrating, no use of silver), Devan’s antimicrobial technology is widely chosen across the globe.

BI-OME® is fully BPR and EPA compliant, Oekotex and Bluesign registered, can be delivered worldwide and is applicable for apparel, home textiles, bedding, transport & mobility, etc.

The Industry of the Future Alliance (AIF) has awarded Lectra with their ‘Showcase for the Industry of the Future’ label for demonstrating the criteria exemplarity, innovation and commitment. This certification is given to companies who have concretely developed a ground-breaking project to organize their production by leveraging the potential of digital.

The AIF bestowed Lectra with this distinction for its competitiveness concerning cost, quality and delivery times, all obtained thanks to a lean approach and reflection around the design of its products. Further, Lectra received the certification for its competitiveness regarding value, achieved thanks to mastering customer use from which new associated services have flowed. Since 2013, Lectra has invested €86 million in R&D, representing 9.4% of its revenues. This Investment has enabled Lectra to undergo a metamorphosis—based on methodological advances and fundamental technologies—increasing recruitment and growing competitiveness in all of its markets and geographical sectors.

With ten years’ experience in the industrial internet of things for cutting and expertise in software Solutions to automate and optimize design and product development, Lectra is in an unrivalled position to Support customers as they enter the ‘industry of the future’ era.

Pressure from certain shareholders to relocate manufacturing to China in 2005, triggered Lectra’s industrial project. Following risk analyses—the cost of transport for the European market, the turnover in qualified labor, uncertainty over patent rights and quality—Lectra decided to keep manufacturing in France. This choice was conditional on: disruptive innovation; upgrading; increased value to customers; and a rise in productivity.

The project was accompanied by a well-structured lean approach and organizational changes, which enabled Lectra to achieve the desired level of excellence in terms of productivity and competitiveness.

Some of the changes that took place thanks to this project are as follows: Growth in industrial performance due to an improvement in working conditions, with teams involved in the lean approach; Production engineers involved in creating awareness around factory constraints for a new offer as early as the design process. This co-design product/process optimizes global costs; Emphasis on product, process and logistics’ modularity with the latest possible integration of options (delayed differentiation). This enables logistics’ constraints to be taken into account as early as the engineering phase. Product modularity allows, for example, machines to be put in containers when they might otherwise require special heavy-goods transport.

Lectra’s factory improved its productivity rate by 18 points in three years, and has since maintained it at 89%. Costs have already reduced by 25% and the quality and level of service has improved. In terms of positioning, Lectra has confirmed its leadership in the high-end segment. Lectra has enriched its offer with end-to-end services and innovative, connected products whose embedded intelligence offers Smart Services, notably for predictive maintenance.