Issue
71:
4th quarter 2007
Product Overview
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Global technical textiles business update, 4th quarter 2007 |
19 pages,
published in Issue 71, 4th quarter 2007
Report price:
Euro 395.00;
US$ 520.00
|
The fourth quarter of 2007 was a busy period for the global technical textile sector. Acquisitions included the takeover of French rival Abrium by Netherlands-based Intersafe Holding, a supplier of personal protection equipment (PPE). In Germany, warp knitting, warp preparation and weaving machinery specialist Karl Mayer has taken over Sucker-Müller, which builds machinery for preparing warps used in weaving. In the Netherlands, Oranjewoud and TenCate Thiolon will take over Edel Grass, a supplier of synthetic turf for hockey, tennis and football. In the USA, Performance Fibers Holdings will acquire Invista’s North American tyre cord and industrial polyester filament businesses.
Business news includes the announcement that Dyneema HB26—a unidirectional (UD) bullet-resistant composite—will be used by Composix in the USA to make hard ballistic armour panels for about 1,000 US Army combat vehicles. In China, Enka nylon airbag yarns are now being made by a joint venture between Polyamide High Performance and China ShenMa. In Europe, the European Synthetic Turf Organisation (ESTO) has been launched by 15 leading synthetic turf producers: Bonar Yarns & Fabrics, Desso Sports Systems, Domo Sports & Leisure Grass, Edel Grass, FieldTurf Tarkett, Greenfields, Lano Sports, Limonta Sport, Mondo Tufting, Poligras Ibérica, Polytan Sportstättenbau, Saltex, Ten Cate Thiolon, Tessiture Pietro Radici, and TigerTurf. Meanwhile, Oerlikon Neumag will add a meltblown line and a second spunbond beam at its Spunbond Solution Center in Germany.
Investments include a new facility at AGY (formerly Advanced Glassfiber Yarns) in the USA for producing S-2 Glass fibre reinforcements for the defence and aerospace markets. Ahlstrom in Finland will build a new nonwovens plant in India, will double its capacity for making speciality glass fibre reinforcements in the USA and will increase its capacity for making industrial nonwovens in Italy. South Korea-based Hyosung will invest US$100 mn in a new elastane (spandex) facility in Vietnam. Lenzing will expand its production of Tencel fibre in Austria, while Toho Tenax America—a subsidiary of Teijin—will invest US$23 mn in carbon fibre manufacturing. In the UK, SmartLife Technology has been granted £500,000 (US$1 mn) to develop its HealthVest, which has sensors to monitor vital health signs.
Recent market forecasts predict fast growth between 2007 and 2012 in biodegradable polymers globally and in smart and interactive textiles in the USA.
New products announced include DuraWipe XTRA heavy-duty industrial cleaning wipes from Chicopee, and a range of activewear apparel fabrics containing Coolmax and Tencel from Advansa and Lenzing.
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an editorial think-piece on a topical issue from an industry expert