From the Sector

Archroma, a global leader in color and specialty chemicals towards sustainable solutions, today announced it has acquired all remaining minority shares in M. Dohmen S.A., an international group specializing in the production of textile dyes and chemicals for the automotive, carpet and apparel sectors.
 
Since its corporate carve-out from Clariant in 2013, Archroma is set on becoming a clear industry leader in supplying innovative chemistry solutions, with the goal to make the industries it serves more sustainable. Archroma made a first move in this direction when it acquired the textile chemicals business of BASF in 2015.
 
Archroma first acquired an interest in the capital of M. Dohmen S.A. with a 49% share in 2014 followed by an additional 26% share in 2017. Now, it has completed the acquisition of the remaining 25% share of M. Dohmen S.A.
 
Archroma is already serving customers of both companies with the combined product portfolio on all markets where both companies have a presence. Archroma and M. Dohmen product portfolios ideally complement each other, especially in the area of dyes and chemicals for synthetic fibers and wool, including for the automotive sector.
 
Archroma will now be able to proceed with the full integration of the M. Dohmen organization into Archroma, which will allow its experts worldwide to better focus on serving its customers’ needs and requirements.
 
“With this final step in the acquisition of M. Dohmen”, comments Marcos Furrer, President Brand & Performance Textile Specialties and Innovation at Archroma, “customers of both companies will now have access to even more products and solutions that work in their processes and markets, supported by Archroma’s leadership towards quality, innovation and sustainability.”
 
“I am proud to hand over a company that we have built from the ground up to what it is today, a recognized specialist in automotive and technical textile dyestuff”, said Manfred Dohmen, founder of the M. Dohmen group. “In the past 4 years, we have worked hand in hand with Archroma to pass on a solid business and a solid team who is ready and excited to further support the creativity and performance required by our customers.”

India is a very important market for the German textile machinery industry, with an export of more than €255 million (+ 8 %) in 2017. Many German machinery builders have longstanding relations with Indian customers and quite a number of them also provide production plants and training centres in India. Not surprisingly, about 370 decision-makers and experts from the textile and nonwoven related industry attended the VDMA conference and B2B event called “German Technology meets Indian Textiles and Nonwovens” in Mumbai on 15-16 May 2018 (www.germantech-indiantextile.de).

According to a survey, both the event and German textile machinery engineering received the highest marks among the visitors. About 57 % of the visitors stated very good and 38 % good experience with machines and components from German suppliers. The performance and service promise as well as the high-quality standards have made German machine suppliers as most reliable partners in India and other countries. This positive result has by far not been reached by any other manufacturing nation from Europe or Asia. Asked for future processes, investments in technical textiles and/or nonwoven production seem to be the most favorite sectors in India. Around 74 % of the visitors plan to expand their production capacities with new machines and components whereas 26 % intend to replace old machinery by new machines and components. High productivity, after-sales service, end-product quality, low operating and acquisition costs are the decisive machine procurement criteria in this order. The investments plans are based on a positive business and investment outlook in India. 45 % of the visitors surveyed plan to invest more than 10 % within the next 12 months and 30 % up to 10 %. 25 % of the visitors expect a sales increase by more than 10 % for the next 12 months and 60 % anticipate a sales growth of up to 10%.

Considering this positive business climate and the high interest from the Indian industry, the 32 well-known VDMA members participated in the conference have good chances to offer the right technologies and to place new orders. The presented technology topics along the entire textile value chain will help the Indian industry to fulfill their expansion plans and to meet the challenges such as rising salary costs and shortage of labor in industrial regions. The major cutting-edge topics of the conference program were as follows:

•    Higher profits throughout the entire textile value chain
•    Energy, material, water and dyestuff savings for an environmentally friendly production
•    New applications such as technical textiles, nonwovens (e. g. hygiene products) or home textiles (e. g. terry towels)
•    Automation, industry 4.0, digital communication and smart factory solutions
•    Quality improvements e. g. with measurement and control systems
•    Lower investment costs in spinning preparation with integrated draw frames
•    New technologies to combine spinning and knitting
•    Smart textiles and added value products e. g. with embroidery machines

Whereas the event on 15-16 May 2018 focused on customers, a training session at the prestigious Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute VJTI in Mumbai on 17 May 2018 was addressed to future engineers. More than 220 textile manufacturing and mechanical engineering students followed the technical presentations. The VDMA's contribution to improve the education of future customers and partners was very much appreciated.

STAMFORD, February 26, 2018 - at JEC World 2018, taking place in Paris March 6-8, Hexcel will display an array of product innovations for customer applications in aerospace, automotive, wind energy and marine markets.
Hexcel’s banner at the exhibit hall entrance features the Airbus H160 helicopter and A350 XWB aircraft, both with carbon fiber livery to acknowledge the high Hexcel composites content in both programs. Hexcel’s reinforcements, prepregs, adhesives and honeycomb materials were selected for the H160’s composite fuselage structures and main rotor blades, contributing to the lightweight fuel-saving design and performance optimization. Airbus has loaned Hexcel an H160 BLUE EDGE blade to display on the booth.

Among the Aerospace promotions at Hexcel’s booth are carbon-reinforced 3D printed parts, made from Hexcel’s HexAM™ additive manufacturing technology that uses PEKK ultra-high performance polymers. Hexcel acquired this technology from Oxford Performance Materials in December 2017 to provide a weight-saving solution for intricate parts in highly demanding aerospace, satellite and defense applications. HexPEKK™ structures offer significant weight, cost and time-to-market reductions, replacing traditional cast or machined metallic parts with a new technology.

Aircraft engines benefit from a number of Hexcel technologies that will be promoted at JEC 2018, including HexShield™ honeycomb that provides high temperature resistance in aircraft engine nacelles. By inserting a thermally resistant material into honeycomb cells, Hexcel provides a core product with unique heat-shielding capabilities that allows for the potential re-use of material after a fire event.
Another honeycomb innovation from Hexcel is Acousti-Cap® broadband noise-reducing honeycomb that significantly improves acoustic absorption in aircraft engine nacelles. The acoustic treatment may be positioned at a consistent depth and resistance within the core, or can be placed in a pattern of varying depths and/or resistances (Multi-Degrees of Freedom and 3 Degrees Of Freedom), offering an acoustic liner that is precisely tuned to the engine operating conditions. These technologies have been tested at NASA on a full engine test rig and meet all 16 design conditions without trade-offs. An example of this technology will be on display at JEC 2018.

Rounding off the aircraft engine exhibits is a CTi fan blade for new generation lightweight turbofan engines from Rolls-Royce, manufactured from Hexcel’s HexPly® M91 high toughness and impact-resistant epoxy prepreg. Hexcel supplies HexPly® M91 as slit tape for the automated lay-up of the complex aerodynamic shape, with a constantly changing thickness across the blade length. The blade which is thinner and lighter than titanium fan blades is currently undergoing flight tests.
Hexcel’s HiTape® and HiMax™ dry carbon reinforcements that were developed for the automated lay-up of preforms for resin-infused aerospace structures will be promoted at the show. Two demonstrator parts, one made with HiMax™ and one with HiTape®, were both infused with HexFlow® RTM6 resin to demonstrate the potential benefits of an integrated design for aircraft skins, spars and stiffeners that meets OEM requirements for production rate increases and cost effectiveness.

Hexcel is also introducing its new range of HiFlow™ advanced liquid resins for aerospace structures manufactured by liquid molding technologies. Based on novel proprietary chemistry, the new resin family will enhance the performance of composites and ease processing when combined with HiTape® and HiMax™ dry carbon reinforcements. HiFlow™ HF610 is the first resin in the range.
Hexcel’s range of high performance adhesives has expanded considerably following the company’s acquisition of Structil last October. Hexcel is relaunching the acquired products under the new HexBond™ brand name at JEC World. This fast-growing range of pastes, liquid shim and film adhesives has a wide spectrum of operating temperatures and is in qualification with a large number of aerospace and industrial OEMs.
In the Planet Aerospace area at JEC, Daher and Hexcel will jointly display an aircraft spar manufactured from HexPly® M56 prepreg. Hexcel’s Neil Parker and Daher R&T Director Dominique Bailly will give a joint presentation focusing on the materials used and the benefits for the finished part. The aircraft spar was designed and manufactured by Daher using Hexcel’s HexPly® M56 prepreg, in slit tape format, that was developed for automated deposition and out-of-autoclave curing. The spar was manufactured using only the vacuum bag process and demonstrates very low porosity levels. It is currently undergoing testing and validation through CORAC funding.

Hexcel’s Automotive promotions at JEC World 2018 include a new prepreg for composite leaf springs, HexPly® M901. In contrast to steel leaf springs used for suspension on vans, trucks and SUVs, newer composite versions offer many advantages including weight savings of up to 70%, high corrosion resistance, optimized system integration and superior performance. Hexcel’s HexPly® M901 prepreg raises the bar further, reducing mold cure time below 15 minutes, a 50% reduction compared to standard industrial prepregs. HexPly® M901 provides 15% higher mechanical performance, with enhanced fatigue properties. It also operates at high temperatures, providing a Tg of up to 200°C following a post cure. Hexcel’s expertise in manufacturing heavy weight glass UD prepregs, with fiber areal weights of up to 1600gsm, allows the company to offer a highly cost-competitive solution for the rapid manufacture of these safety critical components.

Hexcel is constantly seeking ways to ensure that customers obtain the maximum benefit from composites and has recently acquired state-of-the-art simulation technology that accurately predicts how HiMax™ non-crimp fabrics will drape in a mold. Working in collaboration with Nottingham University Hexcel has created a car seat shell, for which the material selection was optimized using this new drape simulation technology. Visitors to Hexcel’s stand at JEC will see an on-screen demonstration that illustrates how the simulation tool operates, predicting process and performance and ensuring that the optimum fabric architecture is quickly identified, reducing the need for expensive trial programs.
Hexcel’s HexMC®-i 2000 carbon fiber/epoxy molding compound has been successfully used by Audi to manufacture a high-performance engine cross brace. HexMC®-i is a fast curing high-performance molding material, suitable for the series production of complex shaped parts and providing excellent mechanical properties. The Audi cross brace covers the engine, providing torsional stiffness for enhanced drive dynamics.

Hexcel’s product offering for customers in the Marine industry has expanded following the acquisition of Formax in 2016 and Structil in 2017. At JEC World, Hexcel will promote its enhanced portfolio of carbon fibers, prepregs, woven reinforcements and multiaxial fabrics for builders of racing catamarans and luxury yachts.
Marine customers have supplied a number of parts for display to illustrate their expertise in manufacturing composite structures from Hexcel materials. These include part of a Diam 24 yacht mast made by ADH Inotec from Hexcel’s HexPly® M79 fast curing, low temperature cure prepreg. ADH Inotec purchased the prepreg from Composites Distribution, a Hexcel Official Distributor that also supplied HexPly® M9.6 prepreg to Lorima for the Outremer 5X catamaran mast section on display. Part of Lorima’s 42m wing mast for a multihull racing boat made with HexPly® prepreg from Vert-Le-Petit (formerly Structil) will complete the marine display.

Hexcel’s innovations for Wind Energy include Polyspeed® pultruded laminates for load-carrying elements in wind blades. These continuous cross-section profiles, made from a polyurethane matrix reinforced with unidirectional carbon fiber, provide consistently high mechanical properties, including high stiffness, fracture toughness and shear strength, combined with low weight and durability. Visitors to Hexcel’s stand will see a 2m diameter coil of pultruded carbon laminate that contains 255m of material in a single roll. This technology offers an economical way of reinforcing large-scale composite structures such as wind turbine blades. Hexcel will also launch its surface finishing prepreg for wind turbine blades and components. This provides a tough, durable and ready-to-paint blade surface without the use of gel coat and results in faster blade manufacture, saving time in production and reducing material costs. The benefits of the new surfacing prepreg will be demonstrated via a wind blade exhibit that has been given four different treatments across the blade surface. These include a section with gel coat, a section of standard prepreg without gel coat, and a section where a fleece has been added to improve surface quality but still requires preparation before painting due to pin holes. The final section made with new HexPly® XF2P surfacing prepreg has a ready-to-paint surface, straight from the mold, without any requirement for gel coat, fleece or finishing operations.

By combining the Lectra and Kubix Lab offers, Lectra will equip fashion customers with a revolutionary platform for managing product information.

Lectra, the technological partner for companies using fabrics and leather, announces the signing of a share purchase agreement to acquire the entire capital and voting rights of the Italian company Kubix Lab.

Founded at the end of 2015, Kubix Lab has developed a cutting-edge technological offer called Link. This offer enables fashion brands to manage, from end-to-end, all product information deriving notably from multiple IT systems (ERP, PDM, PLM…), within one single application. Users can modify, enrich or add new data, while maintaining data synchronization with all IT systems. In just a few months, Link has convinced over ten high-end Italian brands of its value.

“We were particularly impressed by the relevance of the solution created by Kubix Lab,” underlines Daniel Harari, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Lectra. “By capitalizing on their knowledge of best practice, the founders of Kubix Lab knew how to develop an offer perfectly adapted to the expectations of fashion companies. Link enables all players involved in product development, manufacturing and sales to collaborate in real time, in a simple and efficient way, around exactly the same data.”

“We are delighted to join Lectra. We are convinced its leadership, global presence, strong expertise in the fashion industry and the richness of its product portfolio will enable us to develop an integrated offer with high value for all Lectra customers,” states Giampaolo Urbani, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Kubix Lab.

The founders of Kubix Lab will be in charge of developing an integrated Lectra – Link offer, which will complement - and reinforce - Lectra’s entire offer.

“Product data is at the heart of Link. We took an approach diametrically opposed to existing solutions on the market and designed an offer which is highly innovative, flexible, evolutionary and easy to use,” explains Pierluigi Beato, R&D director and co-founder of Kubix Lab. “With Lectra, we will take Link to the next level.”

The transaction involves the entire acquisition of Kubix Lab for the maximum amount of €7 million: €3 million paid when the acquisition agreement is signed; €1.3 million and €2.7 million paid respectively in 18 and 36 months’ time, providing objectives are met.

Final completion of the acquisition should take place by January 31, 2018.

These amounts will come from Lectra’s available cash, with no financing from the bank. Kubix Lab will be consolidated into Lectra’s accounts, effective from the signature of the final agreement.

  The new cutting room will expand the German car parts maker’s airbag cutting capacity in Europe. This latest collaboration between Lectra and its longtime customer builds on a mutual relationship of trust reaching back to previous ZF TRW projects in Portugal, Poland, Mexico and China. Having recently devised a worldwide airbag growth strategy, the company turned once more to Lectra to help reinforce the capacity of its European manufacturing base.
Early in 2016, Lectra unveiled the revolutionary FocusQuantum range, leading to certification of the integrated airbag cutting solution by the customer’s cutting room managers across the globe. Later that year, ZF TRW also certified Lectra’s FocusQuantum Suite cutting preparation software. The stringent process carried out by ZF TRW bore out the productivity, performance and quality of the state-of-the-art airbag cutting solution and advanced software system.

“By evaluating the solution in accordance with established practices, we were able to confirm that FocusQuantum will help satisfy the projected output of our newest facility,” notes Victor Seoane, head of Global Manufacturing Engineering for Inflatable Restraint Systems, ZF TRW. "We were impressed by the innovation that Lectra’s FocusQuantum offers, enabling us to significantly reduce our cutting cost per bag."
“With this new collaboration, Lectra demonstrates yet again the added value built into the integrated design of FocusQuantum,” states Céline Choussy Bedouet, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Lectra. "The acquisition of two FocusQuantum will enable ZF TRW to meet short-term productivity objectives while also laying the foundation for future growth.”