From the Sector

As the first composites trade show worldwide since the Covid-19-crisis, the China Composites in Shanghai (September 2 to 4, 2020) took up its activity. The show counted about 600 exhibitors and over 20 000 visitors, mostly Chinese locals, attended the exhibition.

Chinese Reach Group under the lead of its president Daniel He represented a large portfolio of European companies and their recent developments through their cooperation with Dr. Michael Effing´s AMAC/Germany, among them Airborne (NL), Textechno (D) and Conbility (D).

Daniel He describes the situation: „The Chinese market is picking up again; a price increase of 7% for glass fibers was announced right before the China Composites Show, on August 25th 2020, which was even leading to a temporary material shortage. Today, the most booming industries in China are wind energy, building and infrastructure and innovation for electric cars. Unlike the rest of the world, where the aircraft industry undergoes a deep decline, in China it takes up by 50 %, which is very promising. Furthermore, we expect half a year for a full recovery of the industry, while the China growth of 2020 is still expected to be between 2 and 4 %.“

Michael Effing replied: “Enabling the composites business between China and Europe is the aim of our cooperation with Reach and with our customers, which are active in digital automatization, testing equipment or cost optimization software. We are very happy to have been present in China through our representant Reach and are looking forward to bridge and overcome the Covid-19-crisis with our upcoming event in Germany, the Composites for Europe in Stuttgart in November and hope to be back to full global business speed at the JEC in Paris in 2021.“

Archroma, a global leader in color and specialty chemicals towards sustainable solutions, has joined hands with Liberty Textile Mill Limited (Liberty), a leading producer in healthcare textiles to produce high quality personal protective equipment (PPE).

Liberty will be benefitting from Archroma’s specialty solutions for hygiene protection, and well-established technical expertise in the area of medical textiles. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the PPEs manufactured by Liberty are aimed at easing the current shortage of PPEs for medical professionals in Pakistan.

Liberty carries over two decades of experience in medical textiles and exporting them all over the world. Its partnering with Archroma is a major step forward towards creating enhanced protection in the current crisis. With its advanced scientific knowledge and technical expertise, Archroma provides a complete set of specialty chemicals required to produce PPEs, in particular in the area of antimicrobial and barrier coatings. The project will assist in enhancing medical standards in hospitals, isolation centers and intensive care units, in Pakistan and, very soon, worldwide.

“By continuously challenging the status quo, we at Archroma are able to support our customers operating in or entering the area of medical textiles, with a holistic and expert approach to hygiene protection. With our collaboration with Liberty, we are so proud to be able to bring state-of-the art protection to health professionals and the general public,” comments Mujtaba Rahim, CEO of Archroma Pakistan.

“Liberty has a presence of more than five decades with high achieving accolades. Our processing units are fully equipped with latest equipment complying with international standards. We take this new partnership with Archroma as a start of building a strong relationship in the area of medical textiles. The COVID-19 pandemic has given a wake-up call to work extensively towards enhancing healthcare facilities. We are looking forward to new innovations in producing top-class PPEs,” adds Taimoor Mukaty, Director of Liberty Textile Mills Limited.

• Si-Quat by AFFIX Labs is a versatile anti-viral surface treatment that has been scientifically proven to last for months on any surface or textile while effectively killing the COVID-19 pathogen upon contact.
   

Helsinki - Leading chemical binding expert AFFIX Labs has harnessed its global experience in disease prevention to create the first long-lasting surface treatment proven to kill COVID-19. Si-Quat combines a safe and well-established disinfectant and a proprietary chemical binding technique, so that the active ingredient can kill viruses, including SARS-COV-2. Testing at Portugal’s Biochemistry Institute at the University of Lisbon proves that Si-Quat effectively kills the COVID-19 pathogens that it comes into contact with.

“Tragedies have unfolded across the globe, affecting different countries at varying degrees. The second waves of COVID-19 are just appearing on the horizon. This long-lasting surface treatment is a viable, accessible solution across cultures. By killing the COVID-19 pathogen on surfaces before it can infect people, the Si-Quat solution is a game changer. It can provide increased security and peace of mind to your communities, as well as your customers,” says Tom Sam, CEO of AFFIX Labs.

Si-Quat has been tested to kill 99.99% of microbes within minutes, while still being fully safe to touch. Proven to be effective for about a month on frequently touched surfaces, it is the longest lasting anti-viral surface treatment available to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The product is non-corrosive, free from silver salts and heavy metal nanoparticles, and perfectly safe to touch.

Several major agencies around the globe have already accepted quaternary ammonium, the main ingredient in the surface coating, to be an effective surface treatment against the novel coronavirus, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Environmental Protection Agency, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and the European Chemical Agency (ECHA).

Si-Quat was invented in January 2020 by the AFFIX Labs’ Repeltec development team to specifically help combat the COVID-19 outbreak. The product is based on the trusted and safe disinfectant quaternary ammonium, which is chemically bound to align silane quaternary ammonium molecules (silane quats) in a highly effective manner. Positively charged nitrogen particles then actively attract viruses and bacteria, penetrating the membranes and killing them within minutes.

Rigorous testing has shown Si-Quat to adhere to almost any surface, performing as the most durable surface treatment commercially available. Due to its incredibly strong layer, the solution only wears down on surfaces after thousands of touches or multiple cleaning cycles. This means that on heavily used surfaces, such as door handles and counters, Si-Quat will be effective for about a month. On rarely touched surfaces like walls, it has the potential to protect for years. Since the product is incredibly easy to apply, technicians require minimal training and only basic protection. They simply have to brush or spray Si-Quat onto the surface and allow it to dry for 6 hours.

“Other sanitising solutions require reapplication to every surface several times daily, interrupting business operations. This results in additional costs and disruptions at a time when many companies are already struggling,” Sam explains. “By combining proven efficacy, safety and long durability, Si-Quat is emerging as an important weapon in the battle against the spread of COVID-19.”

AFFIX Labs has begun to roll out the distribution of Si-Quat across the globe, with new regions being serviced every week. It is currently looking for distribution partners in local markets.

The project leading to the development of Si-Quat included funding from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, a body of the European Union, under the Horizon 2020 Framework for Research and Innovation.

• Members of TMAS – the Swedish textile machinery association – have adopted a range of new strategies in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, aimed at assisting manufacturers of textiles and apparel to adjust to a new normal, as Europe and other regions emerge cautiously from lockdown.

“Many European companies have been forced into testing new working methods and looking at what it’s possible to do remotely, and how to exploit automation to the full, in order to become more flexible,” says TMAS Secretary General Therese Premler-Andersson. “Others have been taking risks where they see opportunies and there’s a new sense of solidarity among companies.

“It’s extremely encouraging, for example, that over five hundred European companies from across our supply chain are reported to have responded to the shortages of facemasks and PPE – protective personal equipment – by converting parts of their sites or investing in new equipment.”

New supply chains

Amongst them are TMAS members of the ACG Group, who quickly established a dedicated new nonwovens fabric converting and single-use garment making-up plant to supply to the Swedish health authorities. From a standing start in March, this is now producing 1.8 million square metres of converted fabric and turning it into 692,000 finished medical garments each month.

“In 2020 so far, we have seen new value chains being created and a certain amount of permanent reshoring is now inevitable,” says Premler-Andersson. “This is being backed by the new funding announced in the European Union’s Next Generation EU plan, with €750 billion marked for helping industry recover. As the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has stressed, “green and digital” transitions hold the key to Europe’s future prosperity and resilience, and TMAS members have new solutions to assist in both areas.”

Remote working

Automated solutions have opened up many possibilities for remote working during the pandemic. Texo AB, for example, the specialist in wide-width weaving looms for the paper industry, was able to successfully complete the build and delivery of a major multi-container order between April and May.

“Our new Remote Guidance software now makes it possible for us to carry out some of the commissioning and troubleshooting of such new lines remotely, which has been helpful” says Texo AB President Anders Svensson.

Svegea of Sweden, which has spent the past few months developing its new CR-210 fabric relaxation machine for knitted fabrics, has also successfully set up and installed a number of machines remotely, which the company has never attempted before.

“The pandemic has definitely led to some inventive solutions for us and with international travel currently not possible, we are finding better methods of digital communication and collaboration all the time,” says Svegea managing director Hakan Steene.

Eric Norling, Vice President of the Precision Application business of Baldwin Technology, believes the pandemic may have a more permanent impact on global travel.

“We have now proven that e-meetings and virtual collaboration tools are effective,” he says. “Baldwin implemented a home office work regime from April with only production personnel and R&D researchers at the workplace. These past few months have shown that we can be just as effective and do not need to travel for physical meetings to the same extent that was previously thought to be necessary.”

Pär Hedman, Sales and Marketing Manager for IRO AB, however, believes such advances can only go so far at the moment.

“Video conferences have taken a big leap forward, especially in development projects, and this method of communication is here to stay, but it will never completely replace personal meetings,” he says. “And textile fabrics need to be touched, examined and accepted by the senses, which is impossible to do via digital media today. The coming haptic internet, however, may well even change that too.”

Social distancing

The many garment factories now equipped with Eton Systems UPS work stations – designed to save considerable costs through automation – have meanwhile benefited from the unintentional social distancing they automatically provide compared to factories with conventional banks of sewing machines.

“These companies have been able to continue operating throughout the pandemic due to the spaced nature of our automated plant configurations,” says Eton Systems Business Development Manager Roger Ryrlén. “The UPS system has been established for some time, but planned spacing has proved an accidental plus for our customers – with improved productivity.”

“Innovations from TMAS member companies have been coming thick and fast recently due to their advanced know-how in automation concepts,” Premler-Andersson concludes.  “If anything, the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic have only accelerated these initiatives by obliging our members to take new approaches.”

FFP2 and mouth-nose protective masks for children are also being manufactured in Wiener Neudorf

The company “Hygiene Austria LP GmbH”, recently founded by Lenzing AG and Palmers Textil AG, has once again called attention to itself. Following the successful launch of the production of mouth-nose protective masks in Austria, Hygiene Austria commenced manufacturing FFP2 masks and mouth-nose protective masks for children.
For the first time, Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz personally took a closer look at production operations within the context of a visit to the facility this Tuesday morning. The Austrian Chancellor visited the  Austrian company Hygiene Austria together with Federal Minister of Labor, Family and Youth Christine Aschbacher.

Staggered in terms of timing and with varying magnitude, the global spread of coronavirus is impacting the development of the regional economies in the core markets of the Manmade Fibers segment of the Swiss Oerlikon Group.
The sales markets for manmade fiber systems and equipment have been primarily located in China, India and Turkey for many years now. Together, these markets – above all China – make up the lion’s share of the project landscape at Oerlikon Manmade Fibers. And this is paying positive dividends at the moment. Because the production facilities of the major manmade fiber manufacturers in
China have been systematically fired up again over the past few weeks, with capacity utilization increasing consistently.

Going against the flow
The Segment CEO, Georg Stausberg explains the reason: “Long before the coronavirus situation developed, the major manmade fiber manufacturers in China had decided to reverse-integrate their production chains to include petrochemicals in order to expand their portfolios with targeted investments, to reduce their dependence on a ,single product’, to optimize their costs and ultimately to acquire greater control over margins in a global volume business”.
Similar processes and decisions – albeit not on the same scale as in China – have also
been detected at the large manmade fiber manufacturers in India and Turkey. Even though businesses in India and Turkey are presently still temporarily severely impacted by the coronavirus situation, their long-term commitment cannot however be questioned, as the company-internally-agreed plans will be systematically implemented moving forward.

Long-term investments of global market players
All this has recently resulted in increased demand for spinning and texturing systems – just like those supplied by total solutions provider Oerlikon Manmade Fibers with its
Oerlikon Barmag, Oerlikon Neumag and Oerlikon Nonwoven product brands.
“The investments in petrochemical systems are based on long-term strategic considerations and are resulting – even during the coronavirus pandemic – neither in short- and medium-term economic dips, nor in changed customer behavior. (...)”, states Segment-CEO Georg Stausberg.
As a result of Oerlikon Manmade Fibers delving into the digital age years ago, the segment has experienced the intensive and short-term benefit from all the measures, in part also in its processing of customer projects.

The corona pandemic has a significant impact on the global economy and thus also on the global automotive industry. The temporary plant closures at almost all customers in all regions will result in a revenue decline at Autoneum in the current year, the extent of which cannot yet be estimated.

In addition to the ongoing cost-saving programs, Autoneum has therefore decided on a comprehensive set of measures to further increase the flexibility of personnel and material expenses. This includes staff adjustments, e.g. by reducing the number of temporary employees in plants. In addition, short-time work at the Swiss sites, the Group’s headquarters in Winterthur and at the Sevelen plant (canton of Sankt Gallen), as well as short-time work in some other European countries and temporary closures of production facilities in various regions in line with those of customers are being implemented. With these measures, Autoneum is at the same time making its contribution to protecting the workforce, breaking chains of infection and containing the spread of this pandemic.

Despite the above-mentioned countermeasures and in light of the advancing spread of the coronavirus, Autoneum does not expect to achieve its targets for the business year 2020. Due to the considerable uncertainties regarding the course and duration of the pandemic, no updated outlook is provided for 2020 for the time being.