From the Sector

Emphasis on Process, Third-party Validation and Outcome-based Testing

Ventura Uniform Services of Kenner, Louisiana has had their certification renewed for Hygienically Clean Healthcare, reflecting their commitment to best management practices (BMPs) in laundering as verified by on-site inspection and their capability to produce hygienically clean textiles as quantified by ongoing microbial testing.

The laundry was first certified in 2014. Recertification confirms the organization’s continuing dedication to infection prevention, compliance with recognized industry standards and processing healthcare textiles using BMPs as described in its quality assurance documentation, a focal point for Hygienically Clean inspectors’ evaluation. The independent, third-party inspection must also confirm essential evidence that:

• Employees are properly trained and protected
• Managers understand regulatory requirements
• OSHA-compliant
• Physical plant operates effectively

To achieve certification initially, laundries pass three rounds of outcome-based microbial testing, indicating that their processes are producing Hygienically Clean Healthcare textiles and diminished presence of yeast, mold and harmful bacteria. They also must pass a facility inspection. To maintain their certification, they must pass quarterly testing to ensure that as laundry conditions change, such as water quality, textile fabric composition and wash chemistry, laundered product quality is consistently maintained. Re-inspection occurs every two to three years.

This process eliminates subjectivity by focusing on outcomes and results that verify textiles cleaned in these facilities meet appropriate hygienically clean standards and BMPs for hospitals, surgery centers, medical offices, nursing homes and other medical facilities.

Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification acknowledges laundries’ effectiveness in protecting healthcare operations by verifying quality control procedures in linen, uniform and facility services operations related to the handling of textiles containing blood and other potentially infectious materials.

Certified laundries use processes, chemicals and BMPs acknowledged by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, American National Standards Institute and others. Introduced in 2012, Hygienically Clean Healthcare brought to North America the international cleanliness standards for healthcare linens and garments used worldwide by the Certification Association for Professional Textile Services and the European Committee for Standardization.

Objective experts in epidemiology, infection control, nursing and other healthcare professions work with Hygienically Clean launderers to ensure the certification continues to enforce the highest standards for producing clean healthcare textiles.

“Congratulations to Ventura Uniform Services on their recertification,” said Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. “This achievement proves their ongoing commitment to infection prevention and that their laundry takes every step possible to prevent human illness.”

Funds advised by Alpina Capital Partners LLP ("Alpina", "Alpina Partners") and private Investor Jan Verdenhalven sold all shares in Dolan Holding GmbH and Dolan GmbH ("Dolan") to Dralon GmbH ("Dralon"), a leading producer of raw white acrylic fiber headquartered in Dormagen, Germany. Dolan is based in Kelheim, Germany and is a specialty chemicals business mainly focusing on spun-dyed acrylic fiber for outdoor textiles. The parties agreed not to disclose the terms of the transaction.

Florian Strehle, a Partner with Alpina comments on the latest exit of the pan-European technology investment firm: "After successfully exiting European Carbon Fiber GmbH to Solvay in November 2017 the trade sale of Dolan to Dralon is the second exit to a strategic acquirer for Alpina within seven months. We would like to thank Luis Puncernau, Managing Director and CEO of Dolan and the entire management team as well as our co-investor Jan Verdenhalven for the support and the very positive development of the company during the past three years. Dralon and Dolan is a perfect match."

Jan Verdenhalven, investor and former Managing Director of Dolan Holding GmbH adds: "Dralon is the ideal new owner for Dolan, its employees and customers. The businesses complement each other perfectly. We are confident that this transaction will significantly strengthen the combined acrylic fiber business activities."

Stefan Braun, Managing Director and CEO of Dralon explains: "It is a consistent move for Dralon to strengthen its position as a leading supplier of acrylic fiber. The geographical proximity, the expertise and know-how of Dolan and its employees in addition to the highquality products and distinctive customer services convinced us to acquire Dolan. The product ranges complement each other perfectly without any overlap. Going forward we will further develop Dolan and leverage its potential."

California Linen Services of Pasadena, Calif. has been recertified Clean Green, reflecting the company’s dedication to standards for operational efficiency and sustainability. The certification quantifies linen, uniform and facility services’ environmentally friendly performance by confirming an operation launders within TRSA-designated water and energy use thresholds; and verifies use of best management practices (BMPs) in line with the ASTM International environmental laundering standard.
 
California Linen Service’s customers can be assured their reusable healthcare textiles are washed, dried and finished with processes that maximize sustainability and reduce greenhouse emissions. Clean Green certified operations demonstrate significant commitment to conservation and green operations through these BMPs:

• Recovering heat from drained hot water and heat dispersed from the process of warming water
• Recapturing drained water from rinses for reuse
• Using environmentally friendly detergents
• Removing solids and liquids from wastewater
• Solar energy and energy-efficient lighting
• Recycling programs
• Re-routing trucks to save vehicle fuel
• Spill prevention plans

California Linen Service earned the Clean Green certification initially in 2015. The designation is valid for three years at a time. TRSA inspects laundry facilities seeking certification and approves documentation of their water and energy use and BMP deployment through production reports they submit to auditors during the inspections. TRSA’s certification management protocol includes auditor training by the association’s inspection program administrator.
Clean Green aligns with the ASTM International standard, Guide for Sustainable Laundry Practices, which recognizes key criteria for the certification as universal indicators of maximum sustainability in commercial laundry work. ASTM’s review of TRSA BMPs verified these as the most effective and practical techniques for a laundry to achieve green objectives.
TRSA members prompted development of the standard, which was vetted in the sustainability subcommittee of the ASTM Committee on Textiles. Top technical experts, scientists and environmental professionals from outside the linen, uniform and facility services industry reviewed the BMPs. ASTM is the global leader in developing and delivering voluntary consensus standards unparalleled in building consumer confidence in product and service quality.
 
“I applaud California Linen Services for their ongoing sustainability efforts and maintaining the highest standards in their production and delivery operations,” said Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. “Meeting all the criteria for certification is not easy, but the company is committed to industry-leading processes and technologies.”

• “Fashion Goes Digital” takes the Lead in Fashion Technology
• Customers get Industry 4.0-ready as Lectra unveiled latest product offerings and shared insights at annual fashion VIP event

Lectra, the technological partner for companies using fabrics and leather, put theory into practice at its recent fashion event by unveiling their latest 4.0 Cutting Room to more than 100 privileged industry professionals.

“Fashion Goes Digital” drew industry stakeholders and market experts from 20 countries, who gathered at Lectra’s International Advanced Technology Center (IATC) in Bordeaux-Cestas, France, to examine the real-life application of digitalization in fashion.

While the topic of digitalization served as a backdrop for the event, there was a recurring theme at the forefront: fashion companies need Industry 4.0 technology and support in order to be more precise in meeting the evolving needs of their digitally savvy consumers.
Nick Chiarelli, Client Partner of Foresight Factory, shed light on new business opportunities for fashion, Nora Kühner, founder of Nora Kühner Fashion Design Consulting, used her designer perspective to decode the digital future of product development, and Fabrizio Fantini, founder of Evo Pricing, showed participants how machine learning could help fashion companies predict consumer demand and avoid waste.

“While speaking about the future challenges and trends in fashion and luxury, the trend now is to use analytics to drive the entire production process,” highlighted Stephen Taylor, Principal Director of Kurt Salmon.

Waruna Tennakoon, General Manager of Group Cutting, Brandix, and Ajith Perera General Manager of Mathliya Plant, MAS Kreeda, also shared their Lectra customer experience. Based in Sri Lanka, both companies have established themselves as the country’s largest apparel exporters, with Brandix specializing in producing intimate and activewear, and MAS Kreeda in sportswear.

“Thanks to the digital revolution, consumers are now more specific in their demands. This will cause a shift in mass manufacturing where there will be smaller-volume orders coming in at a faster rate. As a result, manufacturing models have to be more agile in the immediate future,” explained Ajith Perera, “I am happy to see that Lectra is already spearheading this change by providing us with the necessary technology to help us meet market demand.”

There was no better time to put digitalization into context than during “Fashion Goes Digital”.
VIP guests got a sneak preview of the brand new, fully automated cutting room solution for fashion and apparel. Lectra’s Cutting Room 4.0 is an embodiment of Lectra’s commitment to empowering its customers with the best solutions to thrive in this new digital era. This avant-garde technology leverages industry 4.0 principles to provide greater agility, throughput, cost efficiency and in particular scalability in order to respond seamlessly to small batches orders and shorter lead times.

Jean-Yves Collet, CEO of Treize Roches Couture, a high-end French womenswear manufacturer, provided a testimonial on why his company chose to be one of the first to adopt this new solution. He explained how Lectra’s latest technology would help Treize Roches speed up their artisanal production process to bring products faster to market.

“When we discussed the possibility of a made-to-order production project, we could really foresee the benefits both in terms of quality and productivity. Industry 4.0 solutions do not yet exist in garment manufacturing. This is why we have decided to develop an Industry 4.0 cutting room. This will allow us, in the preparatory stages to automate the processes as much as possible and improve quality, productivity and training time.”

“We have unveiled our strategy last year where we have identified Industry 4.0 and digitalization as our key drivers. Our goal for this event is to show that we are, indeed, living and breathing Industry 4.0 and we do have what it takes to help our customers succeed in this era. Our latest cutting room 4.0 shows that we are not just talking about the future of fashion anymore, we are living in it right now as we speak,” concluded Céline Choussy Bedouet, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Lectra.

Archroma, a global leader in color and specialty chemicals, and Montega S.r.l., Italy, (Montega) announce a collaboration aimed at supporting the fast-growing garment and apparel industry in Pakistan, particularly in the denim segment. The joint efforts will focus on fostering excellence in the finishing of textile garments.

Montega has decades of rich experience in developing the latest fashion trends with its high standard chemical treatments. For garments and fabrics, they offer solutions in finishing effects, enzymatic products, bio-polishing, bio-finishing and specialty products for indigo dyes, proteinaceous fibers such as wool and silk, and garment washing and/ laundry. All applications are geared toward environmental sustainability.

Archroma offers a wide range of brand and textile specialty chemicals that caters to the local industry in Pakistan for both its internal and export markets. The company’s expert team provides innovative solutions to its customers, tailored to their individual requirements.

Archroma will now represent Montega in marketing their products in Pakistan. The collaboration between the two firms will provide a unique synergy of combined expertise, reliability and commitment to environmental sustainability, especially toward the reduction of water usage and the emission of greenhouse gases during textile finishing processes. The design studio at the Archroma Center of Excellence in Pakistan will work extensively with Montega’s M-Lab Garment University in Riccione, Italy, to deliver solutions based on the latest trends and fashion effects, backed by world-class technical support.

Mujtaba Rahim, CEO of Archroma Pakistan, comments: “We, at Archroma, believe in continuous improvement and challenging the status quo to make our industry sustainable. We have dedicated ourselves to bringing innovation in our product lines and to closely partnering with like-minded organizations to build industrial rapport. Through this initiative of joining hands with Montega, we will be able to share latest R&D developments with the textile industry in Pakistan, and help grow Pakistan’s contribution in the global textile arena.”

• Oerlikon integrates automation solutions for largescale plants in technology portfolio

Remscheid, Germany / Pfäffikon, Schwyz, Switzerland - Oerlikon announced today that it has acquired Germany-based AC-Automation GmbH & Co. KG, an engineering company specializing in large-scale plant automation solutions for the textile and packaging industries. The two companies have been partnering since the early 1980s. The integration of AC-Automation in Oerlikon expands the market-leading technology portfolio of its Manmade Fibers Segment. It also marks a milestone in Oerlikon’s ongoing quest to offer innovative, fully automated and digitally networked Industry solutions in the manmade fiber industry.

The 60 employees at AC-Automation’s Bernkastel-Kues and Augsburg locations will become part of Oerlikon’s Manmade Fibers Segment, which includes the leading brands Oerlikon Barmag and Oerlikon Neumag. The move will expand the Segment’s business model, adding another key core component to its current offering of production plants and technology solutions from melt to yarn, fibers, andnonwovens. Ultimately, Oerlikon will be able to offer customers a total solution from a single source, including automation logistics for packaging, high-bay storage, and other areas, which complement its current market-leading spinning and process technologies for the textile industry.

"We see our expanded overall offering as an Industry solution, reflecting the future of an even more efficient, digitized and profitable chemical fiber industry, especially for large-scale plants with daily production capacity of several hundred tons of polyester, nylon, polypropylene, or other manmade fibers,” explains Georg Stausberg, CEO of the Manmade Fibers Segment. Manmade fiber producers from China — the world’s most important market, generating more than 70 % of worldwide manmade fiber production — as well as companies from other fast-growing markets such as India, Turkey and the USA are also relying on automated and networked Industry total solutions.

"The acquisition and integration of AC-Automation’s automation solutions will provide new opportunities for our manmade fiber business. It enables the Segment to increasingly position itself as an Industry solution provider in combination with our own digitization solutions,” says Oerlikon Group CEO Dr. Roland Fischer. “As a leading provider of advanced materials, surface solutions and materials processing including the engineering and production of polymer plants, this acquisition marks another milestone in Oerlikon’s strategy to strengthen its businesses and thus sustain profitable growth.”

"After such a long partnership, we are excited to be able to benefit even more in the future as part of a global player in the textile industry. Our market access will further improve with the help of the Oerlikon
Group's sales and service network. For my employees, I am very pleased to be able to bring them into an international Group, in which there would be new opportunities and perspectives for them personally,”
said Rolf Gänz, AC-Automation’s Managing Director.

• JEC World 2018, closes its doors on March 8 with a record increase in attendance resuming 3 days of vibrant networking and knowledge sharing.

The event confirms its leading position of JEC Group as number one organization for the promotion and development of the composites industry. Indeed the show welcomed more than 1,300 exhibitors from every continents and counted 42,445 professional visits from 115 countries. “The ability of JEC Group to gather the whole composites Industry under one roof over 3 days lies in the fact that we always initiate new precursory programs to the service of composites professionals.” says Ms. Frédérique Mutel, JEC Group President & CEO. “This year we initiated new programs, for instance the Composite Challenge allowing 10 PhD students to pitch their thesis in front of the industry, thus facilitating connections between students and industrialists. In the same spirit, we increased in power our Start Up Booster and Innovation Award Programs to accelerate relations between young or innovative companies with investors or established enterprises. We also introduced one new planet called “Make it Real” along with the Aero, Auto and Construction planets. In this planet, we could discover astonishing futuristic products for example the Aeromobil, a flying car that would revolutionize urban transportation in the near future,“ she adds. “We launched our new Book on Natural Fibers: Flax and Hemp. We had strong communications on Composites Environmental Input and Recycling.”

The event was the first event to promote and host the new “French Fab”, a French government initiative to internationally promote the French Industry and Manufacture. Also, JEC World welcomed the French Secretary of State to the Minister of Economy and Finance Ms. Delphine Gény-Stephann, visit that demonstrates the growing role of composites in the industry.

Inspiring Keynotes to foster composites disruption

Dirk Ahlborn,CEO of Hyperloop opened the Startup Booster ceremony by supporting the spirit of ingenuity in the Industry. Dayton Horvath, industry expert and consultant in additive manufacturing presented his vision of how to apply artificial intelligence to composite Materials and Manufacturing. Finally, Yves Rossy, the “jetman” using the latest carbon-fiber wings for flight introduced the JEC Innovation awards ceremony, motivating the audience to pursue their dreams and explaining how composites could made his dreams come true.

The "Public Choice” Awards Winners

A first at the show this year was the introduction of the public votes to elect their favorite projects among two JEC programs promoting innovation. “The goal to create the “public choice awards” was to involve and embark our community to make their innovation loud. Our vision at JEC is to demonstrate and to make understand towards a broader scope the vast range of possibilities that composite materials offer.”
comments Ms. Anne-Manuèle Hébert, Director for JEC World and European Events for JEC Group.

Public Choice Award for Startup  Booster: Inca-Fiber (Germany) with 62.36% of the 2,221 votes
Public Choice Award for JEC Innovation Awards: Infusion technology for an aircraft wing by AeroComposit JSC (Russia) gaining 20.96% of the 4,126 votes.

• Lectra – ESCP Europe ‘Fashion & Technology’ Chair round-table event hears panelists emphasize the need for fashion companies to embrace Industry 4.0.

Paris, February 27, 2018 – Lectra, the technological partner for companies using fabrics and leather, the French business school ESCP Europe and their joint ‘Fashion & Technology’ Chair explored the impact of Industry 4.0 on fashion’s value chain during a recent insightful round table discussion at ESCP Europe’s London campus.
For the participants Robert Diamond, Founder and CEO, Fernbrook Partners; Dan Hartley, Global Head of Digital Commerce, AllSaints; Laëtitia Hugé, Vice-President, Product Marketing, Lectra; Pierre Mercier, Senior Partner and Managing Director, Boston Consulting Group; and Evelthon Vassilou, CEO, Alison Hayes, there was consensus. Industry 4.0 represents unparalleled opportunities to take the fashion industry forward.

From brand to manufacturer, panelists from across the value chain emphasized the necessity for the industry to embrace the alliance between man and machines to leverage massive benefits, from quicker decision-making to cost-reduction.
Exploring the advantages of Industry 4.0 technology, Evelthon Vassilou commented: “Interpreting the data of what is, and isn’t, selling should help to speed up decisions. You can react very quickly across the entire supply chain, and either stop producing something unsuccessful or ramp up production if successful. Data and data analytics is not sufficient, to succeed this also requires a high degree of trust and integration between retailers and suppliers.”

“It’s about using technology to deliver continuous improvement in everyday business,” said Robert Diamond. “People are not good at making a large volume of repeatable decisions with many different data inputs”. Identifying where machines, and where people, bring value is an important part of embracing Industry 4.0. “If the business decision, or the outcome of the resolution tomorrow, is pretty much the same as what happened yesterday, then there is a chance for machine learning to help improve the situation.”
For Pierre Mercier, technology propelled by Industry 4.0 is disrupting former sources of competitive advantage, “forcing companies to rethink how they want to compete in their respective industries, and how to use data to compete differently. The common denominator in the fashion ecosystem is that everyone is facing the opportunity for a step change and need to figure out where to double down and accelerate their transformation.”

“Agility and flexibility are increasingly important for fashion players. Cutting-edge technology is supporting the fashion industry as it steps into the 4.0 era, ensuring businesses have the right solutions in their own ecosystems, to effectively harness the right data to make the right decisions,” stated Laëtitia Hugé.

At UK fashion brand AllSaints, valuable data harnessed from the net promoter score is paramount for their business. “We take customer feedback very seriously and we use it as a framework for our internal roadmap - from a tech and development point of view, through to design and fit, the customer is at the heart of everything we do,” stated Dan Hartley. In addition, he underlined that using technology across communications “will be huge going forward for AllSaints. From supply chain to store teams, we aim to use a cloud-based system that works within our own eco-system, complementing our agile model.”
The round table was moderated by the co-director of Lectra-ESCP Europe ‘Fashion and Technology’ Chair Valérie Moatti.
 

On Febuary 20, 2018 – Hexcel congratulated Airbus on delivering the first A350-1000 to Qatar Airways earlier today, following successful FAA and EASA Type Certification on November 21.
Hexcel is a major supplier of advanced materials for the A350 XWB program, and composite materials make a significant contribution to the weight savings, performance and fuel efficiency of both aircraft in the family, the A350-900 and the A350-1000. This stretched version of the aircraft is 7 meters longer than the A350-900, carries an additional 40 seats, and offers similar unrivalled comfort and efficiency. Both versions are powered by latest generation Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines.

Hexcel’s HexPly® M21E/IMA carbon fiber/epoxy prepreg is used to manufacture all composite primary structures of the aircraft, including the fuselage panels, keel beam, wing and empennage. The lower wing cover is the biggest single civil aviation part ever made from carbon fiber and spans 32 meters long.

A further advancement is the introduction of CFRP in other structural components such as the pylon upper spar and door surround. For the first time on an Airbus aircraft, Hexcel’s HexMC® carbon fiber/epoxy molding compound has also been used for the A350-1000 fuselage crutches.

“I send my congratulations to Airbus on delivering the first A350-1000 to Qatar Airways,” said Nick Stanage, Hexcel Chairman, CEO and President. “Hexcel is proud to be a partner-supplier to Airbus and to have Hexcel carbon fiber and composite materials incorporated into so many structural parts in the A350 XWB family.”

Loop Linen has earned the Hygienically Clean Food Service designation, reflecting their commitment to best management practices (BMPs) in laundering as verified by on-site inspection and their capability to produce hygienically clean textiles as quantified by ongoing microbial testing. Loop Linen is a fourth-generation family-owned linen and uniform service company located in New Orleans suburb of Westwego.

The certification confirms the laundry’s dedication to compliance and processing linens and garments using BMPs as described in its quality assurance documentation, the focal point for Hygienically Clean inspectors’ evaluation of critical control points (CCPs) that minimize risk. The independent, third-party inspection must confirm essential evidence that:
•             Employees are properly trained and protected
•             Managers understand legal requirements
•             OSHA-compliant
•             Physical plant operates effectively

In addition, Loop Linen’s facility passed three rounds of outcome-based microbial testing, indicating that their processes are producing Hygienically Clean garments and linens and diminished presence of harmful bacteria. To maintain their certification, laundry plants must pass quarterly testing to ensure that as laundry conditions change, such as water quality, textile fabric composition and wash chemistry, laundered product quality is consistently maintained.

This process eliminates subjectivity by focusing on outcomes and results that verify textiles cleaned in these facilities meet appropriate hygienically clean standards and BMPs for full- and limited-service restaurants and other food service operations.

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) practices are examined in the Hygienically Clean Food Safety inspection process, evaluating the plant’s techniques for:
•             Conducting hazard analysis
•             Determining CCPs, monitoring their control, correcting them if not under control
•             Validating and verifying HACCP system effectiveness
•             Documenting and record-keeping to show ongoing conformance

Inspections also evaluate practices relevant to handling and processing textile products used in food manufacturing/processing establishments for adherence to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) directives. Introduced in January 2016, Hygienically Clean Food Service brought to linen and uniform service laundering in North America the international cleanliness standards used worldwide by the Certification Association for Professional Textile Services and the European Committee for Standardization.

“Congratulations to Loop Linen on their certification,” said Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. “This achievement proves their dedication to building their customers’ confidence that their laundry takes every step possible to prevent human illness.”