From the Sector

• Values from the past 30 years more relevant than ever and are reflected in recent growth

During its 30^th anniversary, the international OEKO-TEX^® Association is still seeing positive business development despite numerous global challenges. In total, OEKO-TEX^® issued more than 36,000 certificates and labels in the past financial year – an increase of 14% compared to the previous year. The STeP by OEKO-TEX^® facility certification recorded the strongest growth, almost doubling compared to 2020/2021. The number of labels and certificates issued increased from 31,696 to 36,084 between July 1st, 2021, and June 30th, 2022.

"Since OEKO-TEX^® was founded in 1992, our business practices have been aligned with our core values," says OEKO-TEX^® Secretary General Georg Dieners. “Sustainability, trust and safety build upon each other and are the basis of transparent and sustainable action. We underpin responsible action with our independent scientific methods and are valued in the industry as an effective, solution-oriented partner.” In the past financial year, this was reflected in the new Impact Calculator, with which STeP by OEKO-TEX^®-certified companies calculate their CO₂ emissions and measure their water consumption to ultimately reduce both. For OEKO-TEX^®, a sustainable future is inextricably linked to a transparent status quo. "By setting the highest standards and communicating them openly, we encourage companies and consumers to do the same," says Dieners.

To maintain trust and credibility, OEKO-TEX^® includes external perspectives. The International Advisory Board reviews proposals of the OEKO-TEX^® Working Groups and provides important impetus for continuous optimization of the standards. Additionally, a Public Stakeholder Consultation was conducted in March 2022 to gain comprehensive insights from all interest groups. These are now being integrated into the further development of the standards and services. The investments of the past financial year reflect how important quality assurance and product control are for the OEKO-TEX^® Association: Almost 40% of the total expenditure flowed into these two items.

In the meantime, the basic business continues to progress successfully. The number of STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® certificates issued in the 2021/2022 financial year exceeded 25,000 for the first time. More than 15,000 chemicals, colorants and auxiliaries were certified with ECO PASSPORT by OEKO-TEX^®.

In autumn 2022, OEKO-TEX^® will launch a certification to help companies comply with upcoming due diligence laws. With RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS by OEKO-TEX^®, OEKO-TEX^® is responding to the increasing global expectations of compliance with due diligence requirements in companies. The new standard is based on the EU proposal for due diligence, the German Due Diligence Act, which will come into force from 2023, and numerous other international legislative proposals.

Prof. Manfred Renner and Prof. Christian Doetsch will take joint leadership of the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT from August 2022. As renowned scientists, they have most recently shaped the direction of the institute as heads of the Products division and Energy division respectively, and will now follow in the footsteps of Prof. Eckhard Weidner, who has entered retirement.

This is the first time in its history that Fraunhofer UMSICHT is led by two directors. Both institute directors began their professional careers at the institute and from August they will have a joint hand in its future.

Prof. Manfred Renner holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering, specializing in process engineering and business development. Since 2006, he has held various roles at Fraunhofer UMSICHT, most recently heading up the Products division and overseeing its 126 employees and its budget of 14.8 million euros. He has set international standards through his award-winning research into a free of water tanning leather tanning process that uses compressed carbon dioxide. With the development of innovative aerogel-based insulation materials for building facades, he has made a significant contribution to environmentally friendly, circular applications in the construction industry and initiated a number of industrial projects. One of the notable technological breakthroughs made by his team was the development of a new type of fire-resistant glass, which can withstand even the most extreme heat. This won his development team the Joseph von Fraunhofer Prize in October 2020.

Alongside becoming institute director, Prof. Renner will also take over the leadership of the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Circular Plastics Economy CCPE in August 2022. In this role, he will represent the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft on a national and international level with regard to the transformation of industry and society to a circular economy. In addition, he will start his professorship in Responsible Process Engineering at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Over the course of his professorship, he will shape the systemic development of the circular economy at a corporate, regional and European level.

Prof. Christian Doetsch has worked in energy research for more than 25 years, spending most of this time at Fraunhofer UMSICHT. As head of the Energy division, he managed a team of around 145 employees and was responsible for a budget of approximately 10.4 million euros. His technological focal points are energy storage, Power-to-X technologies including hydrogen electrolysis and chemical conversion, catalysts, and energy system modeling and optimization. His overarching aim is the integration of renewable energies into a cross-sectoral, resilient energy system.

In 2015, Doetsch co-founded the award-winning start-up Volterion GmbH & Co. KG, which develops redox flow batteries. He attained high visibility on a global scale by redesigning stacks, one of the main components of redox flow batteries, an achievement for which he, his team and Volterion representatives were awarded the Joseph von Fraunhofer Prize in May 2021. The energy expert also acts as deputy spokesperson for the Fraunhofer Energy Alliance and task manager for the energy storage group at the International Energy Agency (IEA). He also co-founded the “Open District Hub e. V.,” an association that promotes the energy transition in the sector by means of energy systems integration.

Since January 2020, he has been Professor of Cross Energy Systems at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. In this role, he conducts research into ecological evaluation and resilience of cross-sectoral energy systems.

Based on the good business development in all four Business Units as well as the mostly successful passing on of increased costs for raw materials, energy and transport to customers, the Board of Management of SGL Carbon SE expects to exceed the given guidance for the fiscal year 2022. Accordingly, SGL Carbon SE is increasing its sales and earnings guidance for fiscal year 2022.

The Company expects to exceed the upper end of the stated range of its Group EBITDApre (earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation adjusted by non-recurring items and one-time effects) guidance for the fiscal year 2022 of EUR 110 - 130 million and is raising its EBITDApre guidance for 2022 to EUR 130 - 150 million. Correspondingly, EBITpre1 (earnings before interest and tax adjusted by non-recurring items and one-time effects) is now forecasted to be between EUR 70 - 90 million (previously: EUR 50 - 70 million). The sales guidance is also raised to around EUR 1.1 billion for the current fiscal year, originally expected to be at the level of the previous year (EUR 1,007.0 million).

In line with the development of earnings, the forecast for return on capital employed (ROCE) of originally 5% - 7% is raised to 7% - 9%. The expectations for free cash flow remain unaffected by the forecast increase. Free cash flow is still expected to be significantly lower in 2022 than in the previous year (previous year: EUR 111.5 million).

The new forecast for fiscal 2022 has been drawn up on the basis of the prevailing market environment and assumes no deterioration in conditions, in particular due to the war in Ukraine and its consequences for the global economy. In particular, it is assumed that sufficient electricity and gas will be available and production lines will remain in operation. The communicated medium-term targets up to 2025 remain unaffected by the forecast adjustment.

SGL Carbon will publish its 2022 half-year figures as planned on August 4, 2022.

The Trevira CS brand will be presented at Heimtextil 2022. This year the trade fair will be held as a one-time Summer Special from 21 to 24 June in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The booth will feature more than 200 fascinating, versatile, flame retardant Trevira CS fabrics.

These will be displayed in the Long Stay Apartment installation. Changing lifestyles, living and working arrangements as well as the housing shortage in countless large cities mean the Long Stay Apartment segment of the hospitality sector has experienced exponential growth, becoming ever more important. For this reason, it is the focus of this year’s Trevira CS booth. The presentation of the “Long Stay Apartment by Trevira CS” is intended to familiarise visitors – particularly interior architects, designers and furnishers – with the trendsetting, innovative uses of Trevira CS fabrics in the contract sector.

For the design of the apartment installation, the traditional Trevira CS Fabric Competition 2022 was announced at the end of 2021 and invited all customers to submit their latest Trevira CS products according to certain specifications. The winning fabrics will be announced at the trade fair and specially exhibited at the Trevira CS booth.

Director Marketing & Business Development Anke Vollenbröker: “Our exhibition gives exciting new insights into the modern concept of the Long Stay Apartment, presenting the live application of our customers’ Trevira CS innovations. An apartment designed for Long Stayers is a special challenge since it has to provide more than a hotel room or even an ordinary rental apartment: It needs to be an attractive temporary home while also offering the services and advantages of a hotel. We have made the Long Stay Apartment particularly “textile” and included submissions from all participants of our Trevira CS Fabric Competition 2022.”

OETI - Institute for Ecology, Technology and Innovation’ offers as a worldwide accredited and notified centre of excellence testing and certification services. The company specialises in textiles, leather, personal protective equipment (PPE), floor coverings and interior furnishing materials. It also assesses indoor air quality.  As a founding member of the OEKO-TEX® community (1992) and official OEKO-TEX® testing institute, OETI also comprises the entire OEKO-TEX® product portfolio.

Between its own international branches and the branches of OETI’s Swiss parent company TESTEX AG, OETI’s network of locations spans several continents. Recently, two more branches have been added in India and Bangladesh: Headquartered in Coimbatore/Tamil Nadu, OETI India is managed by Vignesh Amalraj, who has decades of experience in the textile and apparel industry for testing, inspection, certification, auditing, product safety, training and sustainability management. The second location was recently opened in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The responsible Country Manager, Mohiuddin Sheek, is an expert in the areas of testing, auditing, certification, product safety, training, consulting and business development.

Over 600 delegates from 58 countries subscribed to the latest VDMA textile machinery webinar on sustainable dyeing held on February 3rd, 2022 – a record since the monthly online series started in June 2020. The webinar, entitled ‘Resource-saving in Textile Processing – Continuous Dyeing and Washing’, involved the three companies Monforts, DyStar® and Goller.

In outlining the capabilities of Monforts Thermex hotflue lines for the Econtrol® continuous dyeing process, the company’s Textile Technologies Engineer Jonas Beisel observed that the current industry focus is very much on cleaner processes and products in accordance with the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitments of the major fashion brands, and with further regulations to be expected.

Cellulosics
Econtrol® is a continuous process for the dyeing of woven cellulosic fabrics that has already been well proven on the market, with over 150 Monforts Thermex lines already in operation at mills worldwide.

Reactive dyestuffs are fixed into the fabric in a one-step dyeing and drying process with a controlled combination of steam and air. The entire pad-dry process takes just two-to-three minutes at a temperature of between 120-130°C and a relative humidity volume of 25-30%.

Benefits
The Econtrol® pad-dry process has a number of immediate benefits. Compared to the common pad-dry-pad-steam process, no salt is used and no steamer is required for a separate fixation step.

Compared to the pad-dry-thermofix process, no urea is used and no smoke or deposits are generated, and unlike with the cold pad batch process, direct feedback of the dyeing results ensures no batching time is necessary and guarantees good reproducibility from the lab to bulk production.

Complementary services and systems
Complementing the Monforts presentation during the webinar, Bertram Seuthe, Global Business Development Manager at DyStar, outlined the importance of specific Levafix® /Remazol® reactive dyes and Dianix® disperse dyes for sustainable dyeing processes such as Econtrol®, Cadira® Continuous and CPB knit. In these processes Sera® auxiliaries are also employed for optimised wash-off results.

Guido Seiler, Area Sales Manager at Fong's Europe, also introduced the latest developments of the Goller brand for the washing process, which can reduce water consumption by between 10 to 20%, as well as reductions in both heating energy and waste generation, depending on the specific fabric construction and required shade.

• Order Intake of CHF 2 225.7 Million in Financial Year 2021
• Sales of CHF 969.2 million in financial year 2021
• Implementation of the acquisition of the three Saurer businesses on schedule
• EBIT margin of 4.5% to 5% of sales expected in financial year 2021

Due to the continuing high demand for new installations, components and services, Rieter posted an order intake of CHF 551.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. As a result, Rieter achieved a total order intake of CHF 2 225.7 million in the 2021 financial year (2020: CHF 640.2 million).

The exceptionally high order intake is broadly supported at the global level. As reported previously, this is based on a catch-up effect from the two prior years and a regional shift in demand. Rieter believes that a major reason for this shift in demand is the development of costs in China. The orders came primarily from Turkey, India, Latin America, Uzbekistan, China and Pakistan. At the end of 2021, the company had an order backlog of around CHF 1 840 million (December 31, 2020: around CHF 560 million). Despite bottlenecks in material supplies and freight capacities, sales performance up to the end of the year was better than expected. The Rieter Group closed the 2021 financial year with sales of CHF 969.2 million (2020: CHF 573.0 million).

Implementation of the Acquisition of the Three Saurer Businesses
Effective from December 1, 2021, Rieter is consolidating the components businesses Accotex and Temco acquired from Saurer. With the acquisition of Accotex (elastomer components for spinning machines) and Temco (bearing solutions for filament machines), Rieter is strengthening the market position in the components business. The figures from the two businesses have been incorporated into the results for the 2021 financial year as follows: the 2021 order intake includes CHF 2.1 million and the 2021 sales includes CHF 3.3 million. The two businesses contributed a total of around CHF 27 million to the order backlog at the end of 2021. The acquisition of Saurer’s third business (automatic winder) leads to a significant increase in the attractiveness of Rieter’s ring and compact-spinning systems and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2022. Accordingly, order intake and sales are not included in the figures for the 2021 financial year.

EBIT Margin
Rieter anticipates an EBIT margin of 4.5% to 5% of sales in the 2021 financial year (2020: -14.7%).
Rieter will publish the full annual financial statements and the 2021 Annual Report on March 9, 2022.

Order Intake by Business Group
Thanks to the company’s innovative product portfolio and global positioning, all three Business Groups benefited from the high level of demand.
The Business Group Machines & Systems posted an order intake of CHF 1 708.6 million (2020: CHF 363.9 million). The main focus of demand was on ring and compact-spinning systems.
The order intake of the Business Group Components was CHF 296.0 million, an increase of 75% compared to the previous year (2020: CHF 169.1 million). The Business Group After Sales recorded an order intake of CHF 221.1 million, 106% higher than the previous year (2020: CHF 107.2 million). The main reason for the positive order intake in both Business Groups is the continuing increased demand for spare and wear parts in spinning mills, which are operating at high capacity.

Sales by Business Group
Despite the challenges in the supply chain announced earlier, the Business Group Machines & Systems achieved sales of CHF 590.3 million, double the previous year’s figure (2020: CHF 295.8 million). Sales of the Business Group Components increased to CHF 231.5 million (2020: CHF 174.3 million). The Business Group After Sales achieved sales of CHF 147.4 million (2020: CHF 102.9 million).

Sales by Region
Sales increased in all regions, with the exception of the region Africa. The highest year-on-year growth of 148% was achieved in India, followed by North and South America (+126%) and the Asian countries (+72%), excluding China, India and Turkey.

Rieter will issue an outlook for the 2022 financial year at the Results Press Conference on March 9, 2022.

International technology group ANDRITZ has received an order from the leading Ukrainian manufacturer of household and hygiene products, Biosphere Corporation, to deliver its first complete neXline spunlace line. The ANDRITZ spunlace line will enable Biosphere to produce fabrics from 30 to 70 gsm, with an hourly output of up to 3,000 kg/hr after the second commissioning phase. Start-up is scheduled in two stages – the first one in the first quarter of 2022 and the second in early 2023, reaching full production capacity.

The high-capacity spunlace line will double the company’s current production capacity and is designed to process various types of fibers, such as polyester/viscose blends and natural fibers. It is dedicated to the production of household, medical and hygiene fabrics, such as cosmetic, disinfecting and baby wipes.

Andriy Zdesenko, founder and CEO of Biosphere Corporation, says: “Our goal is to carry on creating innovative and premium-quality products. When ANDRITZ came up with a tailor-made offer combining its cutting-edge spunlace technology with full flexibility for our future installation, we knew they were the ideal partner to support us in our business development.”

In 2019, ANDRITZ Diatec delivered a baby diaper converting line to Biosphere. With this additional order, ANDRITZ is demonstrating its strong global position as a supplier of state-of-the-art and tailor-made sustainable nonwoven solutions.

Founded in 1997, Biosphere Corporation has become the market leader in the production and distribution of household and hygiene products in the Ukraine and the CIS and a key converter player in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The company is expanding rapidly on the international market, including Africa.

The Beitlich Family Foundation, owner of the CHT Group, has appointed Elke Katz as an additional member of the Foundation's Board of Directors, which includes the function of Supervisory Board, on 1 September 2021. Elke Katz is currently CEO of ratioform Verpackungen GmbH, a company of the Haniel Group, based in Munich.

She has extensive, cross-industry experience in strategic and operational corporate management at companies such as BMW and Telefonica. She holds a degree in business engineering and has extensive know-how in customer experience management, digital business and business development.

Johan de Ruiter, Chairman of the Board of the Beitlich Family Foundation: "We aligned ourselves with the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals several years ago and defined sustainability, digitalisation and diversity as important strategic components for the CHT Group. We are therefore delighted to have gained a proven digitisation expert for our board. We are certain that Elke Katz will give us further impetus on this path so that we continue to be a leading, modern and innovative company.”

The Beitlich Family Foundation consists of 5 members, in addition to Elke Katz and Johan de Ruiter, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Götz Gresser (Vice Chairman), Dr. Antje von Dewitz and Prof. Dr. Klaus Müller.

Members of TMAS – the Swedish textile machinery association – are proving instrumental in pioneering new sustainable processes for the dyeing, finishing and decoration of textiles.

The wasteful processes involved in these manufacturing stages are only one component in the development of viable circular supply chains for textiles that are now being established in Sweden.

At the recent Conference on Sustainable Finishing of Textiles, held across three separate afternoons on September 30^th, October 1^st and October 7^th, delegates heard that Sweden will introduce extended producer responsibility (EPR) for waste textiles and clothing at the beginning of 2022, ahead of the adoption of a similar European Union-wide EPR system in 2025.

New fibers
Swedish companies are also active in the development of new fibers derived from waste clothing, building on the country’s legacy leadership in pulp and paper production.

At the Sustainable Finishing of Textiles Conference, however, it was said that all of the environmental gains made by such sustainable new fibers can potentially be cancelled out in the further processing they are subjected to – and especially in resource-intensive conventional dyeing, finishing and decoration.

TMAS members Baldwin Technology and Coloreel have both developed solutions to address this issue.

TexCoat G4
During the conference, Baldwin’s VP of Global Business Development Rick Stanford explained that his company’s TexCoat G4 non-contact spray technology significantly reduces water, chemistry and energy consumption in the finishing process. It consistently and uniformly sprays chemistry across a fabric surface and applies it only where needed, on one or both sides.

Instant coloring
Coloreel’s CEO Mattias Nordin outlined the benefits of his company’s technology which enables the high-quality and instant coloring of a textile thread on-demand and can be paired with any existing embroidery machine without modification. This enables unique effects like shades and gradient to be achieved in an embroidery for the first time.