Cotton Outlook’s Supply And Demand Forecast Continues To Imply Lower World Ending Stocks In 2015-16

BIRKENHEAD, United Kingdom — August 20, 2015 — Cotton Outlook’s latest forecast of world production and consumption in the 2015-16 season suggests a reduction of 584,000 metric tons in world stocks, with the biggest fall in China.

The world production figure is reduced by 292,000 metric tons. An increase for India was more than offset by large reductions for the United States and Brazil. Consumption is also lower, mainly owing to a downward adjustment for India.

For 2014-15, the net addition to world stocks has been lowered very modestly, to 1,899,000 metric tons,
resulting from a reduction to global output which was not quite offset by lower consumption.
 


Posted August 25, 2015

Source: Cotton Outlook
 

First ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award Finalists Revealed: Award Winners To Be Unveiled At ITMA 2015 Gala Dinner

France — August 25, 2015 – CEMATEX, the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers, is pleased to announce that six finalists have been shortlisted from some 30 entries for its first ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award. Three of the finalists are vying for the ITMA Industry Excellence Award while the remaining three are competing for the ITMA Research & Innovation (R&I) Excellence Award.

Industry Excellence Award
The Award recognises textile and garment manufacturers who have leveraged on technological innovations to advance business sustainability that benefit people, planet and profit. After much deliberation, the judges have picked the following three finalists who have worked closely with ITMA 2015 exhibitors to introduce innovative solutions to their production process or products:
 

Berto Industria Tessile S.r.l., Italy
Berto Industria Tessile, a leading vertically integrated manufacturer of denim products, was quick to recognise the economic and ecological advantages of the Matex® Eco Applicator range by ITMA exhibitor Monforts. They were the pioneer in adopting Monforts’ innovative technology, which enabled them to significantly reduce the amount of liquid needed in finishing denim fabrics, leading to energy savings and a huge reduction in waste water produced.
Gebrüder Otto GmbH & Co. KG, Germany
Gebrüder Otto, one of the leading yarn manufacturers in Europe, implemented Mayer & Cie.’s spinitsystems® to produce single jersey fabric using up to 35 per cent less energy compared to the conventional process. As a spinning mill, Gebrüder Otto produces the roving bobbins which are processed on the Spinit machines.
 
Levi Strauss & Co., United States
Levi Strauss & Co., one of the world’s largest brand name apparel companies and a global leader in jeanswear, has started preliminary development work in their Plock facility in Poland using the NoStone® garment washing technology. Tonello’s NoStone technology provides Levi Strauss & Co. an important first step to solving an industry challenge to make denim finishing more sustainable, cost-effective and efficient.
 

Mr Charles Beauduin, who sits on the Industry Excellence Award judging panel and is also President of CEMATEX, said: “We thank ITMA 2015 exhibitors for supporting this award. What differentiates this award from other industry recognition is that we celebrate the successful collaboration between technology providers and industry users, which ultimately benefits consumers.

“Necessity is the mother of invention, and the synergies from both parties working together towards a common goal will bring about more innovative solutions that will positively impact the environment and the business bottom line.”

R&I Excellence Award – Masters
The three finalists for the award are:

  • Jan Vincent Jordan, Institut Für Textiltechnik, RWTH Aachen University — Master’s Thesis: ‘Development & Assembly of a Test Bench for the Analysis of Magnetic Weft Insertion’
  • Jenifer Schneidereit, Hochschule Niederrhein — Master’s Thesis: ‘Sustainable Water Use in Textile Wet Processing: Development of a List of Improvement Measures for a Self-Assessment Tool for Factories’
  • Moniruddoza Ashir, Institute of Textile Machinery and High Performance Material Technology, TU Dresden — Master’s Thesis: ‘Development of Hybrid Woven Structures for Lightweight Applications’

The winners of the ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award will be announced at the ITMA 2015 Gala Dinner held at the La Pelota in Milan on November 12. The winner of the Industry Excellence Award will receive a cash prize of 10,000 euros and a trophy, among other rewards. A cash prize of 4,000 euros will be given to the winner of the R&I Excellence Award.

CEMATEX has launched ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award as part of its ongoing efforts to encourage and recognise outstanding industry members and post-graduate students for their contributions to the sustainable development of the global textile and garment industry.

ITMA 2015 will be held at the Fiera Milano Rho November 12-19, 2015. It showcases end-to-end solutions for the entire textile and garment making chain. The exhibition has a gross size of over 200,000 square metres. To date, more than 1,500 exhibitors from 47 economies have signed up to take part in the exhibition. Visitors can purchase their ITMA 2015 badge online before October 15, 2015 to enjoy early-bird rates.

Posted August 25, 2015

Source: ITMA
 

The Rupp Report: Rollercoaster Chinese Currency

For decades the saying was: “If the United States has a cough, the world has pneumonia.” These times are over, definitely. Today, the saying is more like “If China lifts an eyebrow, the world is in trouble.”
 
This saying also holds true for the global textile machinery industry. Taking the increasing importance of the Asian markets into consideration, in 2001 the first ITMA Asia took place in Singapore and was a perfectly organized event. After the second event in 2005 — again held in Singapore — China took over, literally. The Middle Kingdom became such a power that it convinced the European Textile Machinery Manufacturers Association (CEMATEX) to organize an ITMA Asia every two years in, of course, China. This despite an annual Shanghaitex (See “The Rupp Report: Shanghaitex: Too Much Or Not Enough?”), and at a much lower overall quality than in Singapore, for whatever reason. However, in many discussions and interviews with the leading European textile machinery manufacturers, it was declared that sales to China are generating more than 50 percent of total turnover.
 
Good Start In 2015
Usually, the Rupp Report doesn’t comment any type of political influences or trends, for example. However, something unexpected happened that no one in the international economy, including the global textile machinery industry, anticipated.
 
Some governments recorded the growth of the Chinese economy in the first quarter of 2015 to be “only” 7 percent; indeed proof of a solid economy. In this figure, the growth of energy intensive and polluting products decreased, while on the other hand, services increased and are today the driving force of the Chinese economy. Also the domestic market is growing, as the government predicted some time ago. Domestic retail trade grew over the past year by 10.8 percent, not forgetting the Internet sales — this sector increased by more than 40 percent
 
Unexpected Move From China
Last Tuesday, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) “reformed the exchange rate mechanism to better reflect market development in the exchange rate of the Chinese renminbi (RMB) against the U.S. dollar.” The move surprised the market and prompted the lowest valuation of the RMB since October 2012. The central parity rate of the RMB against the U.S. dollar weakened by 1,136 basis points on Tuesday and further dropped 1,008 basis points on Wednesday.
 
Though, the PBoC declared on Wednesday after the sharp decline that, “the central bank is fully capable of stabilizing the exchange rate through direct intervention in the foreign exchange market to avoid herd mentality leading to irrational movements of the rate.”
 
With this move, China is somewhat emancipating itself from the United States. The reason for this is because the RMB is strongly pegged to the U.S. dollar, which provoked the Chinese currency to act heavily in view of a strong U.S. currency in recent months. In fact, the effective exchange rate against its major trading partners of China in the second quarter 2015 compared to the same period last year is 14 percent higher. But let’s start at the beginning …
 
How It Works
The central parity rate of the RMB against the U.S. Dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market participants before the opening of the market and also refers to the closing rate on the previous day, in conjunction with supply and demand and the movement of major currencies.
 
After the first reduction, China’s central bank stated that it will continue to be active, but only in case of extreme volatility in the currency market. The next day, China’s central bank intervened with $20 billion in order to stabilize the exchange rate of the RMB against the dollar — officially — without expecting a further weakening of the RMB. China’s central bank sits on a lot of money and its foreign exchange reserves are estimated around $3651 billion.
 
However, the rollercoaster moved again. On Thursday, the RMB lost against the dollar. The official website of the Chinese government stated: “The Chinese currency continued its sharp fall for a third consecutive day on Thursday (August 13) after the central bank reformed the exchange rate formation system.” The central parity rate of the RMB weakened by 704 basis points, or 1.1 percent, to 6.401 against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System. The central bank fixed the exchange rate on Thursday with RMB 6.4010 per dollar with the possibility to fluctuate during the day ± 2 percent.
 
Positive Feedback
Both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) rated this move to be positive. Officially, the RMB is indeed linked to a basket of currencies, but de facto it is dominant with a share of more than 90 percent on the U.S. dollar.
 
The developments in China currently worry entrepreneurs and investors very much. A lot of questions remained unanswered: Is China’s economic growth coming to an abrupt end and a major driver of the global economy will standstill? What is the outcome of the strong slump on the Chinese stock market? And finally, could the way under the recently initiated reform of the exchange rate lead to an anticipated currency war from China?
 
The Way To Normality
Calming fears was a message from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In an article published on Friday evening countries report, the IMF stated that the recent incidents were mainly normalization. The IMF said the slowdown in economic growth would be merely a development towards a new normality with a matured national economy and the slump in the Chinese stock market is nothing more than a correction, analysts said. The IMF sees that the stock market neither emanates any systemic risk or that the price correction would have an impact on the economic growth of the country.
 
Midweek, the IMF welcomed on Friday evening once again the reform of the exchange rate fixing. The PBoC announced earlier this week that in the future they would take into account also the closing price of the previous day in the determination of the exchange rate. This would expose the RMB market forces in a more prominent way and the exchange rate has a larger fluctuation potential. This would be a significant step towards a flexible exchange rate policy, says the IMF. This position could be reached by China in two to three years, which would be of enormous importance for the country. One must know that China, because of its permanent opening, is increasingly dependent on an independent monetary policy, which is not possible with fixed exchange rates and capital controls.
 
Currency Basket Of Special Drawing Rights
Experts say with the chosen path, the central bank has opted for a market-oriented solution, which should be regarded as a further argument for the inclusion of the RMB in the basket of Special Drawing Rights (SDR). China’s government is located, despite this devaluation, in a comfortable situation. SDR is a kind of global currency, whose exchange rate is leveled and interlinked with the U.S. dollar, the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.
 
Theoretically, the RMB can now gain or lose 2 percent in value every day. This would result in a variation of around 10 percent per week, so that one could speak in a certain way of a floating exchange rate. The IMF, however, is now standing by to see how accurately the PBoC will carry out the announced currency reform and how the daily rate will actually set daily.
 
Hidden Export Promotion?
The RMB has lost 2.9 percent this week against the U.S. dollar. Because this will cheapen Chinese products for buyers from abroad, in some parts of the world or competitors suspect that China is operating a hidden monetary policy through export promotion or is even trying to instigate a currency war. However, in previous years, the RMB had strongly increased in value against the U.S. dollar. At the moment, not many people know if the rollercoaster for the RMB will continue. Time will tell, and the global textile machinery community is hoping that the rollercoaster will soon stop.

August 18, 2015

Business & Financial: Fiber Costs Move Lower

By Robert S. Reichard, Economics Editor

More good news for textile mill and apparel manufacturers: The current absence of cotton and man-made fiber cost pressure is likely to persist for at least another year. To be sure, any new slippages in these key industry cost inputs are not likely to be quite as impressive as those noted over the past 12 months, a time when cotton and man-made tags dropped by more than 10 percent and 3 percent respectively. On the other hand, there is still no indication that these quotes will reverse course — even with anticipated modest increases in global demand. Right now, TW editors are calling for about a 3-percent increase in world consumption of cotton, with a similar gain anticipated for key man-made constructions. Zeroing in on man-mades, TW’s hold-the-price-line optimism is based on a combination of two factors — more-than-ample capacity and relatively unchanged petroleum feedstock costs — factors that should almost certainly put a ceiling on any new price-boosting attempts. Note, too, that even in the case of viscose and acrylics, where supply and demand are in better balance, price have softened a bit in recent months. In any event, TW sees another, though fractional, overall decline in man-made fiber quotes possible over the next 12 months. Incidentally, this man-made cost easiness is nothing new — with quotes remaining relatively soft for three years now. Equally noteworthy: Over the past few decades, the average annual man-made increase of less than 1 percent has remained far under the nation’s general inflation rate.

A Weak Cotton Market, Too
As indicated above, it’s much the same when it comes to cotton. And once again, top-heavy global supplies are playing a major role. Indeed, the sharp price decline over the past year can easily be explained by looking at world cotton inventory levels. At the end of the current marketing year, for example, world cotton holdings should total nearly 110 million bales — a jump of 8-percent above the previous year’s level. That’s more than double the level reported back in 2010 when the natural fiber was in short supply. Equally significant, the widely monitored global stock/use ratio is expected to reach a peak of 99 percent — the equivalent of nearly a full year’s supply. And once again, this will be well above the already high 94-percent reading estimated for last year. To be sure, preliminary estimates for the upcoming 2015-16 marketing year do suggest a small inventory decline. But as Cary, N.C.-based Cotton Incorporated recently put it: The stock estimate for next year would still be quite high by historical standards — high enough to rule out any price rise. Finally, combine these still weak cotton quotes with the aforementioned man-made price softness, and aggregate raw material outlays — by far the industry’s biggest expense — continue to fall. At last report, for example, materials were accounting for about 50 percent of the sales dollar on the mill level and roughly 43 percent of the comparable apparel maker’s dollar — percentages that are far under the peaks of just a few years ago.

A Look At Other Costs
Payrolls, the second biggest industry cost drain, do not seem to be signaling any problems either. And for good reason: In the textile mill sector, 2015 pay rates are up only a few percentage points — a very modest increase that is being offset by continuing productivity gains. And it’s pretty much the same upbeat picture when it comes to domestic clothing manufacturers. More importantly, recently inked pay pacts suggest that the same pattern will persist for at least another year. As in the case of fibers, the impact here can probably best be appreciated by looking at labor as a percent of the sales dollar. And here, too, the numbers are encouraging, indicating no significant cost pressure over the past few years. Even more impressive: The mills’ combined labor and material production expenses, again expressed as a percent of the sales dollar, are estimated to have dropped to near 67 percent. That’s far below the 85-percent-plus peak of a few years back. Nor do any of the industry’s other expense items appear to be presenting any problems. Transportation bills, for one, have remained relatively unchanged over recent years. Ditto inventory carrying charges — thanks to low inventory levels and near-zero interest rates. Moreover, add in fairly solid demand, and it’s easy to see why industry earnings have risen rather dramatically over recent years, with further improvement anticipated over the next 12 months.

August 18, 2015

PA Group: Phifer-JUST MES Case Study

In 1952, J. Reese Phifer established Phifer Inc. in Tuscaloosa, Ala., as a weaver of aluminum insect screening with two main goals — to excel in quality and service. Today, the company is the world’s largest producer of aluminum and fiberglass insect screening products. Throughout the years, the company’s weaving expertise has broadened and expanded to include a wide variety of innovative woven sun control fabrics for windows, designed fabrics for outdoor furniture applications, as well as drawn wire products. Phifer also manufactures woven products for specialty markets including pet care, filtration, contract furniture, wall covering, automotive, ventilation, reinforcement, awning, and marine. Manufacturing and corporate offices are located in Tuscaloosa with warehousing/offices in California, Italy, India, and Asia. Phifer exports all products worldwide and has a full international sales and traffic staff.
 
Phifer’s Proprietary Software Grows Beyond Manageability
In 2003, Phifer implemented a Tier I Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform in order to handle the company’s growth and complexity. To bridge the divide between the ERP and manufacturing operations, a Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) group was created within the IT department. The MES group developed a proprietary specifications database in which they could store product specs for materials sourcing and the machine settings required for production.
 
Over time, the proprietary application grew well beyond its intended use, becoming extremely difficult to maintain. Individual areas within the company’s manufacturing operations responsible for metal, fiberglass, and specialty products each operated independently and established separate business processes and data management methods. Personal notes and spreadsheets from machine operators often never made it into the system. Reporting and data accessibility became labor intensive with requests being submitted to the MES group from each department within the company. Product specification changes had to be manually entered by IT one at a time across the database and any data needing to be synced to or from the ERP also required IT involvement.
 
These symptoms, common for growing manufacturing enterprises, prompted Phifer CIO William Cork to explore a new MES solution. “We were either going to overhaul it in-house or we were going to purchase a piece of software,” Cork said. Chattanooga, Tenn.-based PA Group USA was invited to demonstrate the capabilities of its JUST MES suite, consisting of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Planning and Scheduling, and Monitoring components. “We did a cost-benefit analysis of developing in-house versus going with PA Group, and after an extensive vetting process we decided to go with PA Group. There was not another solution on the market that could do what PA Group could do.”
 
A Commitment To Lean Manufacturing And Standardization
Phifer formed a committee of key stakeholders to come together with a consulting team from PA Group and create a vision for what a new MES solution would look like. A crucial requirement was the capability to deliver a system that would support Phifer’s commitment to a lean manufacturing model. PA Group provided an initial analysis of the current system and then built a prototype with the software programs and modules that would form the complete MES solution – JUST PLM, JUST Planning with modules for weaving, beaming, and yarn production, and JUST Monitoring for weaving looms and beaming machines.
 
The solution implementation posed a significant challenge due to the complexity of Phifer’s operations within the three separate manufacturing divisions for metal screening, fiberglass screening, and specialty products. “There are three divisions at Phifer that each have a different way of working, and even sub-divisions inside of those divisions with different ways of working,” said PA Group Project Manager Carlo Cranchi. “There are eight different kinds of planning logic inside the system that makes the scheduling system very complex, and a lot of people that needed to be trained on the system.”
 
After a successful implementation of the JUST suite in the metal screening division, Phifer employees immediately began to realize major efficiency improvements in the handling and movement of data. The MES and ERP systems are now completely linked. Getting material data from production to IT to front office used to require a change request and tedious spreadsheet conversions, and has now been replaced by a one-click sync process. Mass changes to spec data had not previously been possible, but now through the JUST PLM system, these changes are executed with ease. “The old system was kind of geared more toward what we do, and not as much as to how we can use the data we are collecting to make us better,” said Phifer Director of Product Data Management Laura Jackson.“ I think with the JUST suite that we have now, we have the opportunity to do that — to take us to the next level when it comes to manufacturing excellence.”
 
Kaizen Methodology Supported By MES Platform
When it comes to manufacturing excellence, Phifer has adopted the kaizen methodology of improving all functions of the business while involving all employees. “We really use the Managing for Daily Improvement (MDI) methodology extensively throughout the factory floor,” Cork said. “Every product line has a daily MDI walk where they go from process to process reviewing their performance metrics and taking action when we do not meet our metrics.” PA Group’s JUST Monitoring system has been a major contributing force to these daily kaizen events. Large flat-screen monitors are positioned in highly-visible areas, highlighting division-wide performance metrics. PCs are stationed within individual machine groupings offering the ability to go back and view historical production data for each machine right from the shop floor. Each machine has a Human Machine Interface (HMI) that allows machine operators and other personnel to interact directly with the system.
 
For Phifer, visibility has long been an issue that frustrated the company’s key stakeholders. Enabling data accessibility through user-generated reports and templates is a core function of JUST MES. Phifer uses bulletin boards stationed throughout the production facility to post reports from the MES that are reviewed during each MDI walk-thru. “There’s a program within the monitoring called Stops Trace, and I really like that program because you can print out on one piece of paper how a weave room did for the previous 24 hours and quickly tell the story of what happened,” Cork added. “One of my favorite things is that consistently you’re able to get any information out of the system. All throughout the JUST suite you have export to excel so you are able to get that data out and do any sort of manipulation.”
 
Prior to implementing JUST Scheduling, Phifer was using three different home-grown scheduling software programs for weaving, as well as separate applications for yarn production and beaming. “Every scheduler did something completely different than the person working next door to them,” Cork said. The new MES platform has enabled Phifer to standardize on a universal set of tools and processes. The advanced planning capabilities of JUST Scheduling have also given the Phifer planning team greater insight felt upstream in yarn production. “When they schedule their looms, the system will automatically explode the BOM so that they can see their yarn requirements going out very, very far into the future,” Cork stated. “It gives them the ability to see what yarn they need to be making two or three months from now and if they are going to have the necessary capacity during peak seasons to achieve that.”
 
A Stronger Outlook On The Future
JUST MES is offering Phifer immediate benefits, as well as opening the door to future possibilities. The new software is enabling users to generate their own reports and templates without the need to involve programmers while also providing the preventative maintenance staff with better insight into potential machine issues, helping Phifer to operate smarter. Looking to the future, Cork believes they are providing the necessary tools for a younger workforce that will want to have the ability to solve problems on the fly. Laura Jackson sees a workforce that better understands the manufacturing processes in play and a system that will enable users to drive innovation. “Innovation is whenever you realize you have some technology that will help you get to that next level that you didn’t think you would ever be able to get to,” Jackson said.
 
Modern manufacturing companies have an immense challenge in collecting and managing the vast amount of data that can be used to drive innovation and success. The JUST MES solution from PA Group has brought in a level of data sophistication and standardization that Phifer can use to establish a foundation for the future. “They have a more stable solution than in the past and a more standard solution than in the past,” stated PA Group’s Cranchi. “Data migration used to take a lot of time for Phifer because the data was not well structured in the old system. Now the data is structured in a standard way. Before, every division worked in a different way. Right now, all the divisions work in a common way with the same documentation in production and a standardization in the work they are doing.”
 
Phifer Values The Expertise of PA Group
One very important aspect of the JUST PES project for both Phifer and PA Group has been the fit between the consulting team and the company’s employees. “When it comes to any project like this … the critical component to it is the people,” said Cork. “It’s the people who are going to be implementing it and the working relationship that the two organizations have.”
 
 August 18, 2015
 

Huntsman Textile Effects Launches 210 New Color Formulations With Pantone

SINGAPORE — August 18, 2015 — Huntsman Textile Effects today introduced 210 new dye formulations for textiles with color development from Pantone. The collaboration between the global leader in textile dyes and the worldwide authority on color aims to help the textile industry efficiently produce eco-friendly fashion, home furnishings and interior design products.
 
The new dye formulations extend the PANTONE FASHION, HOME + INTERIORS Textile Color System® and deliver exceptional color accuracy, production efficiency and product performance. Based on Huntsman Textile Effects’ award-winning groundbreaking range of AVITERA® SE reactive dyes, the new formulations enable designers and brands to select on-trend colors that meet their performance specifications and environmental responsibilities.
 
Using this color system, designers, brands and mills can speed the time from inspiration to production while consistently delivering high-quality products to achieve the highest level of light-, wet- and chlorine-fastness. Textiles dyed with these new formulations also conform to the most stringent international industry standards and are free of para-chloro-aniline (PCA) and other regulated chemicals.
 
The 210 dye formulations launched by Huntsman Textile Effects today addresses evolving consumers’ tastes and significant market needs. These include shades with pale, medium, dark, intense dark and brilliant shades, and even deep black.
 
The poly-reactive AVITERA SE dyes ensure accurate dyeing and rapid and very high exhaustion rate for cotton and other cellulosic fibers and their blends. They help mills enhance Right-First-Time performance and improve productivity by 25 percent or more. At the same time, they provide a significantly better environmental footprint than any conventional dyeing and washing-off process or current best available technology. With AVITERA SE dyes, water and energy consumption along with carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions can be reduced by half.

Posted August 18, 2015

Source: Huntsman Textile Effects
 

People

Nish Thakrar was named market manager for United Kingdom-based Porvair Filtration Group.

Mark Chrisman has joined Beachwood, Ohio-based Omnova Solutions as global vice president, sales and commercial excellence, for the Performance Chemicals business unit.

Jeff An has joined Gerber Technology, Tolland, Conn., as director of Professional Services for China.

Wichita, Kan.-based Invista has named Erdal Merttürk technical account manager for the Middle East brand support team for the Cordura® brand.

Scott Butler has been named vice president of operations for the Jones Family of Companies, Humboldt, Tenn. In his new role, Butler will oversee operations for all the Jones companies including Jones Companies Ltd. and Jones Fiber Products Inc.

Germany-based Sympatex Technologies GmbH has hired Derek Spingler as vice president for North America.

Switzerland-based SSM Schärer Schweiter Mettler AG has promoted Steven Lin to sales director China.

Pirjo Patala has been named Project Portfolio manager, convenience, and a member of the global research and development team at Finland-based Suominen Corp.

AmeriPride Services Inc., Minnetonka, Minn., has named Sam Hooks general manager of its Florence, Ky.-based branch.

Pittsburgh-based American Textile Co. has named Peter Marsalis senior vice president of human resources.

The Germany-based Hohenstein Institute recently restructured its management framework. Former departmental directors Dr. Stefan Droste, Florian Girmond, Dirk Höfer and Dr. Andreas Schmidt are now managing directors with responsibility for Hohenstein Laboratories GmbH & Co. KG and the Hohenstein Textile Testing Institute GmbH & Co. KG. Armin Keicher, head of finance and administration, as well as Jörg Diekmann, head of sales, now are authorized signatories — Keicher for all the individual Hohenstein companies, and Diekmann for foreign branches of the Hohenstein Institute. Stefan Mecheels will continue as the sole executive partner of the Research Institute — Forschungsinstitut Hoehenstein Prof. Dr. Jürgen Mecheels GmbH & Co. KG (Holding) — and managing director of the other two corporate entities — Hohenstein Institut für Textilinnovation gGmbH and Hohenstein Academy e.V.

August 18, 2015

Yarn Market: Ring-Spun Continues To Be In Short Supply

By Jim Phillips, Yarn Market Editor

Yarn sales in the United States remained strong through mid-August, with ring-spun cotton in particularly high demand.

“Positions in ring-spun yarns are hard to come by,” said one yarn broker. “There simply is not enough capacity in the United States and the western hemisphere to fill current demand.”

Spinners agreed. “Ring spun continues to be strong,” said one spinner. “We have a healthy backlog of orders and are running a full schedule.” Added a yarn broker: “With the difficulty in getting positions in ring-spun yarns, there is an opportunity for some customers, especially smaller ones that are not going to order 50,000 pounds at one to time, to move to open-end yarns, man-mades and blends. Since ring-spun began getting tight several years ago, we have noticed a definite uptick in demand for blends.”

Spinners are generally optimistic about the remainder of the year. “We have been in a period where business has been good for a long time. We have to look back almost three years to remember times when we had to really scramble for orders. The U.S. economy, at least for now, continues to improve, more people are working and wages, finally, are beginning to show some growth again. Unless there is an unexpected derailment in the economy, I expect the rest of the year to be really good.”

TPP Continues To Cause Concern
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) continues to be a cause for concern for many in the industry. “A real problem is that we just don’t know right now exactly what is in it,” said one industry insider. “No one does. The central issue for the U.S. industry is the desire by Vietnam to join the partnership without a yarn forward rule. This would open up a floodgate of yarn from China and could, ultimate, decimate the textile industry in the United States.”

Another executive agreed. “The TPP without a yarn-forward rule would wipe away in a heartbeat all of the progress the U.S. industry has made in the past decade. But, even with the yarn forward rule, TPP is a bad idea for U.S. manufacturing. It is just a way to ship business and jobs out of this country. Ultimately, the government will be doing what it always has — throwing the textile industry under the bus.”

Added another industry insider: “The only problem for yarn spinners with the TPP is Vietnam, which is the second largest apparel manufacturer in the world. We have relationships with almost every other country involved. Vietnam wants to get into TPP because of textiles, but only wants to be a part of the partnership under ‘single transformation,’ which means the yarn in Vietnamese fabric and apparel can come from anywhere in Asia, and that means predominantly China.”

Cotton Prices Stable
Cotton prices in the U.S. market continue to hover in the low 60-cent range, as has been the case for more than year. Average spot cotton quotations the base quality of cotton (color 41, leaf 4, staple 34, mike 35-36 and 43-49, strength 27.0-28.9, uniformity 81.0-81.9) in the seven designated markets measured by the USDA averaged 60.94 cents per pound for the week ended, August 13, 2015. The weekly average was down from 61.25 cents last week, and 63.88 cents reported the corresponding period a year ago. Daily average quotations ranged from a low of 59.36 cents Tuesday, August 11, to a high of 63.61 cents Thursday, August 13. The ICE October settlement prices ended the week at 67.15 cents, compared to 63.50 cents the previous week.

August 18, 2015

Messe Frankfurt’s New Event Captures The Growing Chinese Nonwovens Market

HONG KONG — August 17, 2015 — Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd. is launching a new initiative this year to facilitate nonwovens fabric suppliers’ expansion into China, where imports of such products jumped 128 percent from 2000 to 2013. The German exhibition company’s Asia Pacific branch will launch the China International Nonwovens Expo & Forum (CINE – supported by Techtextil) from October 14-16, adding one more event to its comprehensive textile portfolio, and complementing the biennial Cinte Techtextil China trade fair.
 
The three-day event, which will be held in Shanghai Mart, combines a trade expo and industry forum. Commenting on the new event, Wendy Wen, senior general manager, Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd., said: “We are very optimistic about the continuing potential in China’s nonwovens market as imports grew from 61,400 to 140,000 tons between 2000 and 2013, and we can see this momentum continuing in the coming years.”

Nearly 100 nonwovens suppliers have already confirmed their participation in the debut edition this October.

“Many nonwovens exhibitors are confident that, by participating in this event, they will be able to expand their business in China, where imports of such products have high demand,” Ms Wen continued.
 
According to statistics compiled by the China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association, the unit price of imported nonwovens reached USD 6.1 per ton in 2013, which was 35-percent higher than in 2007. Meanwhile, the current import price is 1.7 times higher than the export price, indicating high-end nonwovens from overseas still have a lot of room to expand their market share in the country.
 
Concurrent forum covers from A to Z of the global nonwovens industry
 
Other than providing sourcing options to buyers, the concurrent forum will be an ideal platform for show participants to learn about all-round information of the worldwide nonwovens market. Topics that will be covered include:
 

  • Global nonwovens trade and opportunities in China
  • The development and forecast of high temperature flue gas filtration materials
  • The application of nonwovens in automotives
  • The market and technology developments of PET nonwovens
  • The technical process of flushable nonwovens
  • New developments in nonwovens finishing technology
  • The green development of China’s nonwovens industry

 
China International Nonwovens Expo & Forum (CINE – supported by Techtextil) is organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd.; the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; the China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association (CNITA); and the Cary, N.C.-based Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry (INDA).
 
Posted August 18, 2015

Source: Messe Frankfurt
 

Microban Sees Success With ZPTech™ Wide-spectrum Antimicrobial With Adaptation By 60 Brand Partners

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — August 18, 2015 — Microban® International (MBI), a leader in antimicrobial solutions, is seeing strong success with its ZPTech™ technology, with growth in sales of more than 130 percent in the last five years and the addition of more than 60 brand partners. ZPTech is a wide-spectrum antimicrobial, effective against not just bacteria, but also, the growth of fungi including mold, mildew and algae. It is designed for a wide variety of products in the home including kitchen gadgets, flooring, building insulation, and textiles, in addition to public spaces including restrooms, airports, subways, restaurants, hotels and gyms. Consumer brands California Innovations, InterMetro, Koala Kare, Rubbermaid and Venture Products use ZPTech in products such as coolers, diaper changing stations, kitchen and bath storage products and yoga mats respectively.

“ZPTech is very effective against bacteria, mold and mildew and is more cost effective than copper technologies,” said Kevin Parrish, vice president of business development at Microban. “In addition, it is extremely durable with a long history of safety, which is appealing to manufacturers, especially as consumers are more sensitive to the ingredients in products they use every day.

Microban’s engineers develop customized formulations of ZPTech for each end product. The formulations are tested with each manufacturers’ own polymers both for antimicrobial effectiveness and to ensure that ZPTech will not degrade the aesthetics or function of the product.

“The average American spends $42 per month on household cleaning supplies,” said Carolina Gomez, brand manager, Rubbermaid®. “This is more than they spend on cable TV, cell phones, personal care or even pets trying to eliminate bacteria and fungi from their environments. Microban worked with us to make ZPTech integration as simple and seamless as possible without disruption to our existing manufacturing processes. The result is a durable, effective product that gives consumers the confidence they are demanding.”

“By adding Microban, Venture Products was able to gain a competitive advantage,” said Steven Fischer, partner at Venture Products. “By joining forces with Microban, we were able to gain shelf space and increase distribution for our yoga mats in an increasingly price competitive category by prominently featuring Microban antimicrobial protection as a compelling point of difference.”     

Microban is continuing to develop new technologies for polymers at its  state-of-the art microbiology lab. One of the industry’s leading bacteria and mold testing labs, the microbiologists at Microban test over 40,000 samples annually using industry standard testing methods designed for a wide range of product substrates and antimicrobial technologies.

“As the world’s most recognized brand of baby changing stations and commercial childcare products, antimicrobial protection is of the utmost importance,” said Bonnie Yatkeman, marketing category manager at Koala Kare Products. “With Microban’s assistance, we were the first to introduce a commercial baby changing station with antimicrobial product protection to the market, addressing important cleanliness concerns. Microban technology works continuously to keep Koala Kare changing stations and booster chairs protected between cleanings.”

Posted August 18, 2015

Source: Microban International
 

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