From the Sector

Monforts will take part in a VDMA textile technology trade delegation to Turkmenistan from November 21-26, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Economics.

Around 80% of Turkmenistan’s production of textiles and garments is currently exported, with a value of $350 million in 2020. This is now expected to rise to $450 million by 2023.

In addition to expanding in cotton yarns and fabrics, the country is also looking to enter other textile markets, including nonwovens, carpets and absorbent hygiene products, and negotiations are currently underway between the Turkmenistan Ministry of Textile Industry and the Korean Institute of Industrial Technologies to also commence manufacturing synthetic fibres from polymers.

In 2021, a new textile complex was opened by state-owned textile manufacturer Cotam in the city of Kaka, which is aiming to produce 3,650 tons of yarn, 12 million square metres of different types of fabrics and 1.2 million tons of finished products annually, with the creation of 1,300 new jobs.

Monforts has supplied seven complete finishing machine ranges to Turkmenistan company Cotam, as the Central Asian country looks to boost its production of cotton yarns and fabrics via an ambitious textile industry modernisation plan.

Cotam now has two separate manufacturing sites at Babadayhan and Kaka, both of which have now been equipped with Monforts technologies built at the company’s plant in St Stefan in Austria.

Cotam supplies finished fabrics to both the apparel and home textiles markets and at its Babadayhan plant is now operating two Montex stenter lines and a Monfortex sanforizing line. At its new Kaka plant, the company has also installed two Montex stenter lines, as well as a Thermex universal hotflue for continuous dyeing and curing.

“Turkmenistan celebrated 30 years of independence in 2021 and has made a giant leap forward in its progressive development,” said Monforts Managing Director Stefan Flöth. “A textile industry equipped with modern high-tech equipment has been created factories and equipped with the most advanced and high-performance equipment built and put into operation. We are extremely pleased that the Ministry of the Textile Industry of Turkmenistan chose Monforts machinery for its new textile complex in Kaka and together with the machines for Babadayhan and other recent projects we are proud to say that 15 Monforts machines are now established in the country.”

Ascend Performance Materials has purchased a majority stake in California-based Circular Polymers, a recycler of post-consumer, high-performance polymers including polyamide 6 and 66, polypropylene and polyester (PET). The deal provides Ascend with a consistent supply of high-quality PCR materials for its ReDefyne™ sustainable polyamides, launched at K 2022.

Circular Polymers, which as part of the deal is renamed Circular Polymers by Ascend, reclaims and processes post-consumer carpet via a unique technology and has redirected approximately 85 million pounds of waste from landfills into new goods since 2018.

“We are focused on helping our customers reach their sustainability goals and Circular Polymers by Ascend provides materials that offer strong performance with a considerably smaller environmental footprint, compared to other technologies like pyrolysis,” said Phil McDivitt, president and CEO of Ascend. “Since we launched ReDefyne, the demand for our circular products has been significant across all segments of our business, including automotive, consumer, electronics and high-performance fibers and textiles.”

Ascend has a sustainability strategy based on three pillars: empowering people, innovating solutions and operating without compromise. Ascend has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2030 and recently announced two new efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of its products.

• Revenues: 392.1 million euros (+50%)
• EBITDA before non-recurring items: 74.9 million euros (+73%)
• Net income: 35.4 million euros (multiplied by 2.1)
• Free cash flow before non-recurring items: 31.6 million euros

Lectra’s Board of Directors, chaired by Daniel Harari, reviewed the consolidated financial statements for the third quarter and first nine months of 2022, which have not been reviewed by the Statutory Auditors.
To facilitate the analysis of the Group’s results, the financial statements are compared to those published in 2021 and to the 2021 pro forma financial statement ("2021 Pro forma"), prepared by integrating the three acquisitions made in 2021 – Gerber Technology (“Gerber”), Neteven, and Gemini CAD Systems (“Gemini”) – as if they had been consolidated from January 1, 2021, whereas they have been consolidated since June 1, July 28 and September 27, 2021 respectively.

See attached document for full report.

Fresh Relevance announces that DC International has selected its versatile personalization platform to power personalized online experiences for its Coverstore and Leatherology brands.

DC International is a vertically integrated eCommerce company and home to two fast-growing direct-to-consumer brands: Coverstore and Leatherology. By selecting Fresh Relevance to power personalization across the website and email marketing of Coverstore and Leatherology, DC International will be providing shoppers with a more engaging and tailored online experience. The business will take advantage of the rich feature set within the Fresh Relevance platform, including product recommendations.

“We’re delighted to welcome DC International to the Fresh Relevance family and are excited to help them provide their Coverstore and Leatherology customers with a more tailored and valuable experience online,” says Mike Austin, CEO & Co-founder at Fresh Relevance.

Freudenberg Performance Materials (Freudenberg) has launched an elastic variant of its flexible superabsorbers for modern wound dressings. These superabsorbers increase the comfort level for patients as well as enabling longer wear time, thus reducing the frequency of dressing changes. Freudenberg is debuting the elastic superabsorbers at this year’s Compamed in Düsseldorf, from November 14 – 17, 2022. Further highlights at the trade fair include components for more sustainable wound care, PU foams with directly applied silicone adhesives, and an innovative hydrophilic debridement foam.

Freudenberg uses a new technology to manufacture the elastic superabsorbers. Unlike other methods, this technology does not perforate or slit the material, thus achieving a high degree of consistent elasticity. Furthermore, the technology used by Freudenberg bonds the superabsorbent fibers more uniformly with the material, thus enhancing the integrity of this layer in the wound dressing.

“Our new elastic superabsorbers demonstrate yet again how Freudenberg components help increase comfort for patients, reduce the workload for nursing staff and lower healthcare costs. Our extensive technology platform and our innovative strength are the basis for this,” Dr. Henk Randau, SVP and General Manager Global Division Healthcare at Freudenberg Performance Materials, said.

At the recent CAMX 2022 Composites and Advanced Materials Expo in Anaheim, California, The Heat Sealing Module – HSM from Zünd was recognized with an Unsurpassed Innovation Award. The HSM significantly facilitates the processing and handling of dry fiber materials with thermoplastic content. This new tool is Zünd’s answer to a demand in the composites industry for wider-spread use and easier processing of these types of materials.

The American Composites Manufacturing Association, ACMA, proclaimed the Heat Sealing Module – HSM the winner of the ACE Award for Unsurpassed Innovation in the “Manufacturing: Equipment and Tooling” category. This award is presented annually to equipment, tooling, a production aid, or software designed to improve manufacturing production, environmental sustainability, or product quality and performance in composites manufacturing.

During processing, dry fiber materials are prone to fraying along the edges. Using hot air, the HSM seals the fabric along the cut path in advance of the Zünd Power Rotary Tool – PRT cutting it. Because of this sealing process, the cut can then be performed at full speed, in any direction, and produces both higher-quality parts and greater production efficiencies.

The HSM helps create clean, sealed edges when cutting fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites. It benefits not only the cutting process itself, but other production processes downstream. Cutting this way leaves behind no loose or uncut fibers and maintains a clean cutting surface and uncontaminated production environment. At the same time, it ensures that cut parts maintain their shape, and this increased stability makes them much easier to handle, especially in fully automated production workflows.

BTMA member Sellers Textile Engineers is marking its 110th anniversary this year with the introduction of a new concept in carpet shearing, as the essential final step in ensuring tuft uniformity and ‘just new’ freshness in finished carpet rolls.

The company has for many years offered two options in the construction of its shearing cylinders – the first, namely the ‘strap-on’, incorporates spiral blades bolted to the cylinder body and the second, known as the ‘caulked-in’, includes spirals which are fixed very securely in a machined groove within the machine.

The new Sellers’ Hybrid Shearing Cylinder combines the benefits of both, resulting in an improved cut and finer finish, in addition to longer repeatable finishing and increased rigidity.

“The Hybrid Shearing Cylinder has all the advantages of the ‘strap-on’ spiral blade to provide a sharper and cleaner cut, along with enhanced rigidity which significantly lengthens the intervals between the necessary regrinding of the blade,” explains Sellers Director Neil Miller. “We currently have six Hybrid Shearing Cylinders operating in the field and the earliest, which has been installed in both No1 Head position, where the majority of the shearing operation and heaviest cut is performed, and also in No3 Head, where the sharper cutting angle has resulted in a much improved surface quality.”

Sellers shearing machines have led the field in carpet finishing for many decades, enabling the leading manufacturers to stay competitive by enabling the highest quality of finish to be achieved economically and efficiently.

The latest advanced features of these machines include a load cell tension control drive system, an automated touchscreen for easy operator control and fault diagnosis, an enhanced cleaning system including cylinder and blade separation and fully controllable pivoting beds. Further options include thickness monitoring, seam detection and metal detection systems.

“The Hybrid Shearing Cylinder will become standard on our latest machines and also be made available for retrofitting, to provide significant benefits to our existing users,” says Miller. “All of our equipment is designed, manufactured, assembled and tested at our plant in the UK, and as one of the few remaining European engineering companies to make all of our components in-house – with now over a century of accumulated know-how – flexibility in design allows our finishing solutions to be targeted to specific customers and their product requirements. Aligned to this is a lead in process control systems which ensure the accurate control, reliability and repeatability of the processing parameters on all of our machines.”

Sellers remains committed to providing complete finishing solutions for all carpet, tile and artificial grass products. Its range includes machines for tufted secondary backing, both conventional, powder and extrusion lamination, Wilton and Axminster products, artificial grass and foam lines, coating lines for bitumen, PVC, PU and other polymers, as well as shearing for all carpet products.

Ongoing developments on the company’s coating and drying lines have resulted in improved guiding and product tension control as well as dryer efficiency, reducing heat loss and optimising energy use. These include a re-design of the fan pressure boxes and impingement nozzles to increase airflow efficiency, modulating gas burners and introducing easy clean, accessible filters.

In addition, the proven dual zone system has been enhanced, giving a temperature differential of up to 80°C between top and bottom zones. Dryers can be heated by either gas or steam and operation and access have been simplified with controls via touchscreen and PLC.

An extensive range of ancillary equipment is available to provide maximum flexibility to cover product requirements, for both new processing lines and as upgrades to existing equipment.

“Carpet manufacturing is now based on well-established, tried and trusted processes and it’s rare for new innovations to be introduced into this sector,” says Jason Kent, CEO of the British Textile Machinery Association. “The new Sellers Hybrid Shearing Cylinder can provide a competitive edge for manufacturers which is currently being proven in the field. It’s one of a number of new innovations the company is planning to showcase at next year’s ITMA exhibition in Milan.”

• Stéphane Ferreira joined Carbios as Director of Operations and Executive Committee Member, on October 10, 2022.
• Frédéric Alarcon appointed Licensing Manager
• Arnaud Tillon appointed Group Marketing Director
• New areas of expertise complete the seniority of Carbios’ leadership team, following June appointments of Mathieu Berthoud as Sourcing and Public Affairs Director, Lionel Arras as Industrial Director, and Pascal Bricout as Strategy and Finance Director.
• Departure of Martin Stephan, Deputy CEO

Carbios strengthens its organization with the appointment of Stéphane Ferreira as Director of Operations. He will be in charge of the business’ global development and will steer the relationship with Carbios’ industrial and commercial partners.

Stéphane Ferreira's team will be reinforced by two new members, including:

• Frédéric Alarcon, Licensing Manager, who joined Carbios on September 5. His role is to build and deploy the process licensing model that is at the heart of Carbios’ business model;
• Arnaud Tillon, Group Marketing Director, who joined the firm on September 12. He will support the company’s development by defining and deploying the marketing strategy. He is also in charge of reinforcing the customer culture within the organization.

Martin Stephan will leave his position as Deputy CEO on October 15, 2022, after nearly six years at Carbios.

Emmanuel Ladent, Carbios’ Chief Executive Officer: "The appointment of Stéphane Ferreira as Director of Operations is excellent news for Carbios. His extensive experience in global markets will help Carbios reach a new level, by deploying the company’s proprietary technologies on a large scale. I am also very pleased with the recent arrivals of Frédéric Alarcon and Arnaud Tillon, whose respective expertise in licenses and mass-market offers will be invaluable. Lastly, on behalf of all Carbios’ teams, I want to salute and thank Martin Stephan for his continued commitment to the company’s development. His experience, expertise and skills have been key to developing partnerships which have enabled Carbios to be so close to industrial deployment and recognized as the future worldwide leader of plastics and fibers in the circular economy."

HEATHCOAT FABRICS partnered again with BRÜCKNER Textile Technologies and their sales partner ADVANCED DYEING SOLUTIONS to install a finishing line for industrial textiles. HEATHCOAT FABRICS specializes in the production of technical textiles in the fields of texturising, weaving and warp knitting as well as dyeing and finishing. The prroducts are manufactured for use in the automotive, healthcare, defence, and aerospace industries

Mrs. Regina Brückner, CEO and owner of the BRÜCKNER Group stated: "To meet the complex re-quirements of HEATHCOAT is not easy because of the great variety of technical textiles produced. Our line has to finish light as well as heavy articles, so the design, control and the whole line layout have to be flexible, functional and still easy to operate. Fortunately, the team at HEATHCOAT FABRICS is very innovative and open-minded, and together we worked hard to develop the right technology and han-dling. We are very happy that we could convince this customer, whom we appreciate very much, with the productivity of our line and of course with our technological know-how."

The direct gas heated BRÜCKNER POWER-FRAME stenter with its staggered heating source arrangement every half zone provides best available temperature consistency across the length and the width of the stenter. The unit is equipped with a low-lub, horizontally returning combined pin / clip chain and several fabric paths, especially designed for the different fabrics being processed. Together with HEATHCOAT FABRICS technologists, the BRÜCKNER design team developed a special delivery end of the stenter with different edge trimming and slitting possibilities. Depending on the kind of products, the fabrics can be batched on large diameter A-frames, wound on cardboard tubes or plaited into trolleys.

Carbios published its operating and financial results for the first half of 2022. The financial statements as of June 30, 2022 were approved by Carbios' Board of Directors.

• Project to build the world's first PET biorecycling plant, in partnership with Indorama Ventures, the world's largest manufacturer of recycled PET: Establishment in France with strong backing from national government and the Grand-Est Region
• On track to bring recycled PET from Carbios' proprietary innovation process to market by 2025
• Fully operational industrial demonstration plant and step-by-step technological validation of the scale-up of the industrial solution designed and developed by Carbios
• Launch of a textile consortium in partnership with On, Patagonia, PUMA and Salomon
• Scientific article in the prestigious Biophysical Journal
• Carbios strengthens its Governance and Management team
• Carbios enhance its financial structure, banking the €30 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB)
• Carbios Group's net cash position: €121 million at June 30, 2022

See the full report here.