From the Sector

In January 2024, ERCA Textile Chemical Solutions TCS was launched as an independent entity within the ERCA Group.

The decision to make ERCA TCS a separate company stems from the desire to focus exclusively on solutions for the textile industry and to build an agile entity oriented towards responsible research and production, while continuing to leverage a solid productive and financial background from ERCA S.p.A.

ERCA TCS aims to be the unique and innovative point of reference for textile companies in terms of products and services specifically designed for the needs of a sector that is currently facing challenges and opportunities related to sustainability and responsible production.

ERCA TCS bases its activity on the principles of "green chemistry" to offer the textile industry chemical solutions that make concrete the concepts of safety, performance, and circularity. Its flagship product - REVECOL® - is born from critical waste materials (used vegetable oils) and present in abundance, which through a process attentive to environmental compatibility and safety, are transformed into a line of innovative, certified, high-performance chemical auxiliaries usable by the entire textile industry.

ERCA Group has six plants in three macro-regions: Europe, Latin America, and Asia and produces chemical specialties and auxiliaries with an approach of responsible innovation. Its production covers several markets: textile, cosmetics, polyurethanes, concrete. It has a turnover of 150 million euros and employs 350 people worldwide, 100 of whom are in the sole Grassobbio plant.

Solvay awarded a scholarship to facilitate an educational alliance between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Fermi High School in Cecina. The initiative unfolded during an event held at Solvay's Rosignano site in Italy, providing a platform for students and faculty. Through this partnership, 200 Fermi High School students participated in STEM* and digital lessons from MIT's Global Teaching Labs project, emphasizing the teaching of scientific disciplines by the American university.

Beyond the scholarship award ceremony, students received a tour of Solvay's factory in Rosignano. The tour highlighted the company's dedication to safety, sustainability, and bridging the gap between academia and industry challenges. The experience illustrated the practical application of academic studies in an industrial context, showcasing Solvay's advanced control procedures, safety protocols, technological innovations, digital transformation efforts, and sustainability measures.

Discussions during the event included key sustainability topics such as water conservation, energy efficiency, waste management, and Solvay's commitment to promoting a balanced work-life culture and diversity within the workplace.

This collaboration aligns with Solvay's global Corporate Citizenship program. Through this program, Solvay supports individuals and communities, channeling efforts to tackle worldwide societal challenges through strategic investments in education, sustainability, and local community initiatives.

*STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics

Archroma proudly announced the continuation of its longstanding partnership with SANITIZED AG, marking collaborative success in the textile industry. This enduring alliance has been a cornerstone in driving innovation and setting industry standards, particularly for odor and hygiene management within the home textiles and apparel industry.

Archroma, one of the best chemical suppliers in the markets, further solidifies its position through the acquisition of Huntsman’s Textile Effects division in February 2023.

The acquisition enabled Archroma to broaden its global reach and technical expertise. Paired with our strong expertise in freshness additives, we enhance our marketing teams for joint communication, enhance the salesforce in the regions and strengthen our innovation force to drive the industry towards more sustainable solutions,” says Michael Lüthi, CEO of SANITIZED AG.

With a focus on strategic development, Archroma and SANITIZED AG aim to reinforce mills and brands in elevating their products by adding the value of freshness to their products and providing high-quality effects. This collaboration offers customers a flexible package, completed with application support through technical service and expertise, along with access to a strong product portfolio. Notably, the partners are ready to lead market trends and transformations, particularly in freshness finishes, ensuring their collective success in the dynamic landscape.

Software group Everfield has acquired the Swedish software reseller “SoCom Scandinavia AB” (SoCom Scandinavia). The previously independent reseller is now a subsidiary of German “SoCom Informationssysteme GmbH” (SoCom), which Everfield acquired early 2023. SoCom Scandinavia distributes SoCom’s ERP system for the commercial laundry industry in Scandinavia. SoCom is among Europe’s leading providers in this segment and with this acquisition is further expanding its market position in the Nordic countries.

“By acquiring SoCom Scandinavia, we have successfully completed the first so-called bolt-on acquisition for one of our portfolio companies”, says Oscar Koberling, Acquisitions Manager at Everfield. In a bolt-on acquisition, the company being purchased is integrated into an existing portfolio company. “We focus on long-term sustainable growth and work closely with the management of our portfolio companies to identify the right targets”, Koberling highlights. “With the addition of SoCom Scandinavia, SoCom can now further strengthen the sales and support in this region and thereby continue to foster growth in Scandinavia.” With its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software “TIKOS”, the German software developer SoCom from Krumbach enables laundries of any scale to achieve end-to-end process management.

SoCom Scandinavia distributes the “TIKOS” laundry software in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The company was founded in 2017 by the sole shareholder Anna Johansson, in close cooperation with the German SoCom Informationssysteme GmbH. “I myself come from the commercial laundry industry and was therefore able to convince myself of the performance and flexibility of the TIKOS software in practice”, says Anna Johansson. “Our success in the past years shows that many laundries in Scandinavia share this assessment. In the future, we will work even more closely with our German colleagues to further expand our market share in the region.”

Johansson and her team will continue to be available to customers at the existing location. “Since establishing SoCom Scandinavia, Anna and her team have already won and supported a plethora of well-known clients for our software”, emphasizes SoCom’s CEO Michael Wieser. “By integrating SoCom Scandinavia, we can streamline our processes even further. Our main goal remains to offer the best possible service to our clients.”

With its steadily growing software and service portfolio, SoCom has been operating in the laundry industry for over thirty years and is a market leader in the German-speaking region. In total, SoCom’s products are used in over 350 laundries across 17 countries.

Devan will showcase the newest additions to their R-Vital NTL Range and Thermic High Cooling technology.

R-Vital® NTL enables textile manufacturers to boost their textiles with a range of active, natural ingredients that have a positive effect on the body and mind. Elements such as Chamomile oil and Arnica Montana are absorbed by the skin and have relaxing, moisturizing or hydrating effects. The biobased content of the R-Vital well-being technology is +97%, readily biodegradable (OECD 301B).

R-Vital® NTL Regenight™: Devan and Lucas Meyer Cosmetics join forces to launch a ground-breaking technology, R-Vital NTL Regenight™, a technology which improves sleep quality and also improves nighttime skin recovery. Using an upcycled oil soluble fraction obtained from Australian Tea tree oil distillation process, Regenight™ acts through both inhalation to improve nighttime rest and through topical action to provide skin recovery.

Tested in real-life context using proven biometric technology, the dual action provided individually by Regenight™ proposes a breakthrough approach to reduce the impact of poor-quality sleep on the skin.

R-Vital® NTL Chamomile oil: Chamomile oil is known for its moisturizing and soothing properties. Additionally, this oil is believed to have antioxidant and inflammatory properties. Furthermore, chamomile oil is renowned for its calming effects and potential to reduce stress and anxiety, helping improve sleep quality.

R-Vital® NTL Warming: Engineered to deliver a gentle warmth, the R-Vital NTL Warming technology ensures a cozy and comfortable sleeping experience. This blend is a solution that infuses a sense of warmth, promoting physical and emotional well-being.

R-Vital NTL Arnica Montana: Harnessing the natural benefits of Arnica Montana, this ingredient, is celebrated for its potent healing and recovering properties.

At Heimtextil Devan will also present a new high cooling technology that provides an optimal and refreshing sleeping climate, ensuring a cool and restful night's sleep. Thermic High Cooling is based on reactive microencapsulated Phase Change Materials (PCMs). The smart heat exchange mechanism keeps the body within its comfort zone. This makes the body suffer less from night sweats, and results in a longer, healthier and more comfortable sleep with fewer awakenings. This new formulation with high cooling level and high solid content, presents around 30% more cooling than standard PCM formulations. One padding allows to achieve high cooling level (no need to run multiple applications). A Bio-based version is also available - Thermic® Bio, where the PCMs are derived from sustainable, natural sources.

The Tuscan tannery Vesta Corporation has presented to its stakeholders a report outlining its current commitment and future objectives, with a view to innovating, safeguarding and fostering high-end leather material processing.

Ever since it was founded in 1966 in Ponte a Egola, the Tuscan hub for the production of leather for vegetable tanned soles, Vesta has been a supplier and partner of haute couture and sportswear brands, from lightweight calf and half-calf leather, to heavy leathers made with hind and rump hide, for leatherware and shoes.

To draft this Report, reference was made to the “Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Standards” established by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The information in the balance sheet refers to the year 2022 (from 1 January to 31December 2022). Wherever possible, data for the previous year are included, to allow for a comparison of data over time and to assess the trend of Vesta activities. Sustainability is an objective-driven process. This means that comparing data allows for concretely measuring the company’s progress, as it pursues this accounting process year after year.

The improvement actions already implemented by Vesta involve corporate responsibility from an environmental, social and governance perspective. An example are the improved heating and processing plants (which entails the construction of a new tumbling department based on 4.0 technology). This guarantees significant energy, water and economic savings. Along with numerous corporate certifications, the company has passed the Raw Material Traceability test with a score of EXCELLENT, as well as the Carbon and Water footprint analysis.

As confirmation of its commitment to improving corporate performance levels, Vesta has been upgraded from BRONZE (2020) to GOLD in 2023, as assessed by the Leather Working Group (which measures leather manufacturers’ environmental performance for ecological production and for a systemic management of quality, environmental, safety and ethical factors).

Becoming energy-independent is a major step in the pipeline, involving the installation of a photovoltaic plant. This is complemented by the implementation of a project aimed at totally compensating its CO2 emissions for the year subject to accounting and certification. This neutrality will be achieved through the acquisition of credits deriving from projects certified by the United Nations. For example, with the construction of an important hydro-electric plant to which Vesta is contributing. With regard to production, corporate research is currently focused on developing solutions to reduce water and energy use. It is also implementing circular trends by adopting an increasing number of bio-based products, to guarantee the most sustainable end-of-life and waste management for its products.

CARBIOS, a pioneer in the development and industrialization of biological technologies to reinvent the life cycle of plastic and textiles, has received an initial payment of €1.2 million from the French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME) for the OPTI-ZYME research project, carried out in partnership with INRAE2, INSA3 and CNRS4 via the TWB5 joint service and TBI6 research units, a project co-funded by the French State as part of France 2030 operated by ADEME. With CARBIOS' aim to optimize and continuously improve its unique enzymatic PET depolymerization technology, the 4-year7 OPTI-ZYME project aims to investigate the scientific and technical levers for improving the competitiveness of the process, optimizing the necessary investments and reducing its environmental footprint.

This collaborative R&D program focuses on the technical and economic optimization of process stages, while preserving the quality of the monomers obtained. These optimizations, new developments and the exploration of innovative solutions should enhance the technology's flexibility with regards to incoming waste. Raw materials could come from different sources that are currently rarely or not recycled, notably food trays and textiles, or a mix of incoming materials. It also aims to limit input and water consumption, as well as regenerate or reduce co-products and ultimate residual waste. Finally, it seeks to support enzyme optimization to maximize the process’ economic profitability and competitiveness.

The project therefore aims to achieve an overall improvement in performance, combining efficiency, quality and environmental sustainability, to benefit the Longlaville plant which is currently under construction, and future licensed plants.

In May 2023, CARBIOS, the project leader and coordinator, announced that it had been awarded a total of €11.4M in funding by the French State as part of France 2030, operated by ADEME, including €8.2M directly for CARBIOS (€3.2M in grants and €5M in repayable advances) and €3.2M for its academic partners INRAE, INSA and CNRS (via the TWB mixed service and TBI research units). This funding, which is made up of grants and repayable advances, will be paid out in several instalments over the course of the project, including an initial instalment of 15%, equivalent to €1.2 million, received by CARBIOS on 5 December 2023. The first Monitoring Committee with ADEME for the first key stage of the project will be held in February 2024 to validate the granting of the second instalment of funding.

This project 2282D0513-A is funded by the French State as part of France 2030 operated by ADEME.

Peter Schulz will join Renewcell in the role of interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO) from 1 January 2024.

He comes from a role as CFO at Pacific Basin Shipping (publ.) in Hong Kong, a position he has held for the past six years. Peter Schulz has extensive experience as CFO from both listed and private companies for the last 10 years. Prior to that Peter Schulz spent more than 15 years, and held senior positions, in investment banking in Stockholm, London and Hong Kong, among others with Royal Bank of Canada and ABN Amro.

Lectra will now directly manage the production of its cutting equipment manufactured in China, primarily dedicated to its Asian customers. The Suzhou site, located to the west of Shanghai, will thus benefit from the standards of operational excellence already implemented by Lectra at its two other plants in Bordeaux-Cestas, France, and Tolland, USA.

Lectra's teams have over 35 years’ experience in the Asia-Pacific region, which in 2022 generated 25% of the Group's revenues.

Since the acquisition of its competitor, Gerber Technology, in 2021, Lectra had been relying on a plant belonging to Dutch group VDL Groep (VDL), to manufacture Gerber-brand multi-ply cutters and spreaders.

For its industrial activities, Lectra aimed to adopt the same standards of operational excellence in China as those currently in effect at its Bordeaux-Cestas and Tolland sites. The Group therefore created a new subsidiary, Suzhou Lectra Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., to take over from subcontractor VDL as of December 1, 2023.

Following the takeover of in-house production at the Tolland site in October 2022, the creation of the Suzhou Lectra Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd. subsidiary marks a new milestone in the deployment of Lectra's industrial excellence strategy on a global scale. The Group intends to give priority to regional industrial production, which is beneficial to the local economy.

Together with the German circular knitting machine builder Mayer & Cie., Groz-Beckert has developed the optimized Relanit sinker SNK F over the past years. Independently of this, the development of the new LCmax™ energy-saving needles took place. The focus of both developments is on efficiency, energy savings and increased process reliability.

Groz-Beckert offers interested machine builders different cooperation options to jointly develop new products or optimize existing ones. The Groz-Beckert Technology and Development Center (TEZ) provides the appropriate framework for so-called co-development projects. At the ITMA in Milan in June 2023, Groz-Beckert presented some of the successful cooperations under the motto "Innovation through cooperation". Among them were two new developments realized with Mayer & Cie. Groz-Beckert presented the two new products for the first time in Asia at ITMA Asia in November 2023.

Optimized Relanit sinker SNK F
At the end of 2018, circular knitting machine manufacturer Mayer & Cie. approached Groz-Beckert with a request to jointly develop an improved and more efficient sinker for selected machines of their Relanit family that would run more smoothly and reliably in the needle tricks. The innovative sinker has an integral spring with a spring force that is adapted to the sinker thickness. Field tests were consistently successful and confirmed the functionality and advantages of the new sinker.

Thanks to their adapted spring, the newly developed SNK F Relanit sinkers are securely guided while they are running through the cam track, resulting in a quieter operation. This increases process reliability and ensures an improved loop structure. In addition, wear on the swivel butts of the sinkers is reduced. This increases service life and makes the process more sustainable and cost-efficient.

Higher energy efficiency thanks to LCmax™
The objective second recent cooperation with Mayer & Cie. was to develop a cost-effective energy-saving needle. After considering various variants, the common choice of Mayer & Cie. and Groz-Beckert was the LCmax™ knitting machine needle with innovative, wave-shaped shank geometry. The first prototypes were extensively tested on laboratory machines at Groz-Beckert's TEZ.

The wave-shaped shank of the LCmax™ needle ensures a smaller contact area of the needle in the needle trick. This results in less friction, which reduces machine temperature and enables energy savings of up to 20 percent compared to a standard needle. This saves costs and at the same time allows operation of the machine at the maximum possible speed.

In both projects, the cooperation between Mayer & Cie. and Groz-Beckert went far beyond mere product development. In addition to Applications Engineering and Construction, the companies' Sales and Purchasing departments were also involved in a close exchange.