From the Sector

Elevate Textiles, a global provider of advanced, high quality products and mission critical textile solutions is pleased to participate in the recently launched Gerber PPE Task Force. This industry-wide effort combines resources and expertise to support manufacturing operations and brands as they increase their production or transition their operations to produce personal protective equipment in the fight against COVID-19.
Elevate’s Burlington, American & Efird (A&E), and Gütermann brands provide critical barrier fabric and thread components used in the manufacturing of lifesaving PPE products including masks, isolation gowns and other medical garments.

"The only way to be successful during this difficult situation is to join forces and support one another," said Lenny Marano, VP of Product Management & Marketing for Automation Systems at Gerber Technology. "We are proud to have a global network of partners to support PPE production so that it's more widely available."

For over 40 years, Burlington has been in the Medical business manufacturing fabrics for use in operating theaters such as surgeon’s gowns, isolation gowns, sterilization wrapper packs, drapes, scrubs and lab coats. The Maxima® collection of fabrics is useful for reusable isolation and surgical gowns and meets AAMI standards for Levels 1-4 and FDA standards.

The previously communicated targets for 2020 are unlikely to be achieved due to the COVID-19 pandemic

The Board of Management of SGL Carbon SE determined today, that the forecasted results for the fiscal year 2020 are unlikely to be achieved due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. In light of the substantial uncertainty regarding the duration and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board of Management is currently unable to provide a reliable sales revenue and earnings forecast for the current year. Consequently, the guidance for 2020 is suspended. 

The previous expectation, which guided for a slightly lower sales revenue und a recurring EBIT1 approximately 10-15% below the prior year (sales revenue 2019: €1,087m; recurring EBIT 2019: €48m), was already made conditional by the Board of Management in the management report published on March 12, 2020, that negative effects from the coronavirus were not included, as the outbreak at that time was mainly restricted to China and Italy. In the meantime, numerous other governments have introduced far-reaching measures with substantial limitations on the public and economic sectors and leading economists now forecast significant reductions in economic output in key economies. 

The Board of Management of SGL Carbon has introduced and partially already implemented comprehensive measures to reduce the cost base and to secure liquidity. These measures include the introduction of short-time work, reduction of material and indirect spend, as well as further reduction resp. postponement of capital expenditures. In addition, we are exploring further financing options independent of the capital markets, some of which are already in preparation. The Company is intensively working on identifying and mitigating potential risks. 

Perlon®, A Serafin Group company is continuing to produce its’ quality filaments at all five sites for its’ customers in the current challenging climate. Production in China has been operating again as normal since the beginning of March after having to be temporarily halted due to the spreading of COVID-19. Production is now back up to 100%.

Production in Germany at our sites in Munderkingen (Baden-Wuerttemberg), Bobingen (Bavaria) and Wald-Michelbach (Hesse) as well as in the USA is continuing to run without any constraints. Therefore all sites are working to full capacity to fulfill all our customer orders. In particular, in the paper machine clothing area is showing an increase in sales which offsets a reduced demand in other areas such as automotive.

In the current situation, the company is doing everything it can to fulfill its’ responsibility as an employer and also as a business partner. Therefore all hygiene measures at all our sites have been significantly increased so that our employees are protected as well as possible. There is hand sanitizer in every department and all of our production lines are disinfected several times a day. It has been explained to employees, what they should do in the current climate in order to minimize risk. Where possible employees are able to work from home. Perlon® has approximately 650 employees in Germany, over 80 in the USA and more than 100 in China.

High demand for monofilament for the paper industry.

The paper industry is currently experiencing a rise in demand worldwide – and Perlon® is also benefitting from this, as customers need even more high-quality monofilament and twisted yarns for the tensioning of paper machines. For the paper machine clothing field, Perlon® produced filaments are used to manufacture press fabric, which can be used either as a conveyor belt or for moisture removal on a paper production line. Due to the high mechanical strain through the presses, polyamide monofilaments or twisted yarns are therefore almost always used. Paper industry customers have increased their production recently. Whether it’s boxes to cope with the increased demand for online deliveries or paper for hygiene purposes (which everybody can identify with), there is an increased demand worldwide. The dental, hygiene and food preparation fields are also experiencing increased demand. To this end, Perlon® offers filaments for the manufacture of toothbrushes and high-quality cleaning system brushes.

Amid the rapid spread of COVID-19 around the world, DyStar’s global operations continue to adapt to the development of the situation and to mitigate potential risks or impacts across the business. While the trajectory is unknown, DyStar is guided by recommendations from the World Health Organization and the local government authorities, to proactively address situations that could possibly affect our people and customers. This is to ensure that we have effective plans and standard procedures to minimize the disruption of our global operations.

Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
As a globally operating company, each of our operating sites, manufacturing plants, offices have a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) in place to sustain our operations and the supply chains we serve. The BCP, owned by our Business Continuity Management Team, provides clear guidance for all local operations, such as Administration, Customer Services, Finance, Logistics Services, Sales and Technical Support as well as Procurement, to enable all functions to continue operating effectively to serve our customers, distributors and agents.

Emergency Response Plan (ERP)
DyStar’s manufacturing sites are also installed with an Emergency Response Procedure to cover all emergency circumstances, including the COVID-19 pandemic disease. The goal of the emergency response procedure is to mitigate the impact of such events on people and the environment, ensuring operational readiness of the site during an emergency.

As the world adjusts to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, DyStar will continue to monitor the situation very closely and will provide updates that adapt to the changing situation. We remain committed to provide our customers with excellent service and to work closely with all our partners throughout this difficult period.

Brown Wrote to President Outlining Critical Steps White House can Take Now to Address Shortage of Personal Protective Equipment

 U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) hosted a news conference call to discuss his plan for addressing the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) needed by healthcare workers on the frontline of keeping Americans healthy and safe during the coronavirus pandemic.

This weekend, Brown wrote to President Trump outlining several steps the Administration should take immediately to address the shortage and ramp up manufacturing of these critical medical supplies.

In his plan and in his letter to the President, Brown lists nine steps the Administration could take immediately, including:

1. Designate a government official who can serve as a point person responsible for coordination the acquisition and development of PPE, medical devices, and other supplies necessary to fight the coronavirus pandemic. 
2. Establish a PPE and medical device assessment and database to monitor the supply and anticipated needs for PPE, ventilators, diagnostic test kits, and other needed medical supplies to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. 
3. Publish a list of PPE, medical device, and general medical supply needs to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. 
4. Establish a hotline capable of handling significant call capacity that will provide U.S. producers centralized information about the results of the national assessment and the current need for PPE, devices, and other health care supplies. 
5. Provide immediate funding to manufacturers to purchase equipment, retool machinery, hire additional workers, and cover any other expenses needed to increase production of PPE and necessary medical devices and supplies.
6. Streamline contract and certification procedures to ensure production and delivery of materials are not delayed due to paperwork constraints.
7. Provide critical protections for workers who are making PPE, medical devices, and necessary supplies to receive a waiver from any shelter-in-place requirements to allow workers to volunteer to go to work in these critical industries. 
8. Provide purchase guarantees and delivery assistance of product to the communities and health care facilities that need the products most. 
9. Support companies that have the capacity to sterilize reusable equipment to alleviate the existing PPE shortage. 

In his plan, Brown also pointed out important legislative actions that will help ramp up production of these critical supplies, including expanding the strategic national stockpile authority, substantially increasing Defense Production Act funding and strengthening domestic preferences.

Textile innovator and specialty chemical producer Devan answers questions regarding anti-viral textile finish solutions following the growing spread of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Over the past few weeks, Devan has received a lot of questions regarding an antiviral solution for textiles against Sars-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. “Not a big surprise since we put BI-OME AV forward 3 years ago. Testing has been done in cooperation with Institut Pasteur de Lille”, says Devan CEO Sven Ghyselinck. Devan studied enveloped viruses (e.g. H1N1, Corona-types, etc.) as well as naked viruses (e.g. Rotavirus). For both virus families, BI-OME AV showed strong to excellent activity in wet state.

In the first instance, the company wants to focus on professionals who need to stay working such as policemen, logistics workers, shop employees, day-care workers, … A common complication of respiratory viral disease can be a secondary bacterial infection. Professionals could be helped with either an anti-bacterial on their facemask to reduce the chance for these secondary bacterial infections, for better hygiene and less odor build-up. On workwear, a combination of a virus spread reducing and antibacterial solution could help as these garments are typically used during long hours, are non-disposable and most likely will be washed at home.

Devan has solutions which withstand washing while keeping its performance. BI-OME as a liquid product is EU BPR, Turkish BPR and US EPA registered. Depending on the rash region, commercialising treated articles be subject to additional local registration procedures.

As a result of the global COVID-19 crisis, the Lenzing Group expects based on recent developments a negative impact on its textile sales volume. The potential impact cannot yet be reliably estimated, as it strongly depends on the duration of the crisis as well as its further effects on the global economy and textile markets. Consequently, Lenzing suspends its result forecast for 2020 as disclosed on March 12, 2020, when it expected the result for 2020 to be below the level of 2019. In order to mitigate a potentially stronger than expected decline in earnings, Lenzing has already started to implement cost saving measures across its sites globally.

Coalition of Iconic American Apparel Brands & Textile Companies Heeds Call of Nation to Produce Medical Face Masks

A coalition of iconic American apparel brands and textile companies, responding to the urgent call of the White House for medical supplies, have come together to build a supply chain virtually overnight and fast-track the manufacturing of medical face masks to help hospitals, health care workers and citizens battling the spread of the COVID-19 disease.

Parkdale Inc.-- the largest yarn spinner in the U.S. headquartered in North Carolina—helped lead the effort to build the coalition with Hanesbrands, Fruit of the Loom and six other companies to set up a manufacturing supply chain and begin ramping up production of the masks.

The coalition consists of iconic American brands such as Hanesbrands and Fruit of the Loom, often competitors in the marketplace, who are banding together for the greater good of a nation facing one if its most monumental challenges.

American Giant, Los Angeles Apparel, AST Sportswear, Sanmar, America Knits, Beverly Knits and Riegel Linen are also part of the coalition working tirelessly to respond to a national emergency in the nation’s time of need.

Dr. Peter Navarro, assistant to the President and director of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, worked with the coalition and helped expedite the production of these masks. The first face masks have been approved by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The companies expect to begin production on Monday and will make the first deliveries by mid-week.

They are dedicating their assets, resources and manufacturing capacities to create a high output of facemasks. Once fully ramped up in four to five weeks, the companies expect to produce up to 10 million facemasks per week in the United States and in Central America.

If companies are interested in dedicating resources to help the cause, please reach out to the National Council of Textile Organizations at kellis@ncto.org

NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers, including artificial and synthetic filament and fiber producers.
 

• U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 594,147 in 2018.  
• The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $76.8 billion in 2018.  
• U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $30.1 billion in 2018.  
• Capital expenditures for textile and apparel production totaled $2.0 billion in 2017, the last year for which data is available.

Rejects Importer Attempts to Remove China 301 Tariffs on Finished Products

The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), representing the full spectrum U.S. textiles from fiber through finished sewn products, issued a statement today welcoming the Trump administration’s proposals on an economic stimulus package to gird the economy against the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, but the organization urged officials to reject any attempts by importers to remove China 301 tariffs on finished products as part of any relief package.

As part of a Phase One deal with China, the administration reduced duties on finished apparel and textile products implemented on Sept.1 from 15 percent to 7.5 percent. Finished apparel, home furnishings and other made-up textile goods equate to 93.5 percent of U.S. imports from China in the sector; while fiber, yarn, and fabric imports from China only represent 6.5 percent, according to government data.

NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers, including artificial and synthetic filament and fiber producers.

• U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 594,147 in 2018.

• The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $76.8 billion in 2018.

• U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $30.1 billion in 2018.

• Capital expenditures for textile and apparel production totaled $2.0 billion in 2017, the last year for which data is available.