Albis Plastic, William Barnet & Son Launch Joint Venture In The United States

HAMBURG, Germany — September 1, 2016 — Together with William Barnet & Son LLC — a producer, recycler and trader of fibers, yarn and polymers — Albis Plastic GmbH founded a joint venture on September 1, 2016 — Albis Barnet Polymers LLC — with Albis Plastic as the majority shareholder. The headquarters of this joint venture will be located in Duncan, S.C.

Albis Barnet Polymers LLC will recycle, repelletize, and market post- industrial raw materials, as well as use them in the compounding of ALTECH® ECO products. This move sees both Albis and Barnet investing heavily in recycling technology and the product offering of sustainable compounds in near- to-prime quality. “The joint venture unites the strengths of both partner companies: A direct market access point to post-industrial raw material qualities, repelletizing expertise, as well as compounding and product development competence. This concept will give us a competitive edge that we will implement and take advantage of globally to serve our customers even better in the future,” explained Philip O. Krahn, Chief Executive Officer at Albis Plastic.

Albis will also be constructing a production facility for engineering compounds at the joint venture site, which can initially handle a capacity of 15,000 tons per year. Completion is planned for the second quarter of 2017.

South Carolina is a hub of the U.S. automobile industry, making the site an ideal point of access to an important target market.

Albis Plastic will also be taking over Barnet Europe’s existing polymer business, including in particular the production sites in Obernburg (Germany) and Humenné (Slovakia).

Through these investments, ALBIS will increase its global production capacity (compounding and repelletization) by 60,000 tons per year. The acquisitions in Europe will add 15,000 tons per year. In North America, the joint venture will add 30,000 tons per year with an additional 15,000 tons coming from investments at the manufacturing site in Duncan.

Posted September 14, 2016

Source: Albis Plastic GmbH 

National Science Foundation Supports Stony Creek Colors And Danforth Center Collaboration For Bio-Based Indigo Business Project

ST. LOUIS — September 14, 2016 — Stony Creek Colors — a manufacturer of biobased textile dyes — and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center — a not-for-profit research institute with a mission to improve the human condition through plant science — announced they have received a one-year grant of $224,676 from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnership (IIP) to improve the available genetic resources for plant-based indigo dye production to help make the manufacturing of blue jeans more sustainable. The collaborators will use a portion of the research funds to create a high-throughput handheld assay device capable of rapid measurements of the naturally occurring chemicals for indigo which is formed in the plant leaves.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, nearly 100 percent of the indigo dye used to dye yarns for denim jeans globally has been chemically synthesized from petroleum derivatives and hazardous, toxic chemicals. The Danforth Center will improve the understanding of the genetics of the existing indigo plant stocks through DNA analysis of specific high-yielding plant varieties. This research will enable Stony Creek Colors to produce an improved bio-based specialty chemical derived from the renewable, abundant plant-material of the indigo crop, Persicaria tinctoria.

“Our bio-based dyes improve profitability and ecosystem health for farmers, while empowering designers, brands, and mills with greater transparency and traceability,” said Sarah Bellos, CEO and founder, Stony Creek Colors. “This allows us to innovate and scale-up natural dyes that clean up the fashion industry, tout full integrity, and contribute to a thriving future. Stony Creek Colors’ research collaboration with the Danforth Center funded by this NSF grant is a critical next step in the evolution of this plant-derived chemical. Higher yielding and more consistent indigo crops will allow our bio-based colors to reach deeper into the industrial marketplace, ultimately replacing more of the petroleum based-chemicals currently imported by the textile industry with a domestically grown, plant-derived solution.”

The Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) project will map existing genetic resources while developing a unique approach for plant indican (indigo precursor) analysis which will enable non-destructive analysis of plant leaves in breeding lines.

“Genomics and non-destructive, high-throughput phenotyping are cornerstones of our research at the Danforth Center, and it’s exciting to have the opportunity to use the methods we have developed to directly accelerate improvements in a sustainable indigo feedstock,” said Noah Fahlgren, Ph.D. director, Bioinformatics Core, Danforth Plant Science Center, co-principal Investigator on the project. “Currently, the measurement of indigo yield is done by harvesting plants or by chemical analysis of precursors, both of which are time-consuming and difficult to do on large populations, so the ability to use non-destructive techniques to measure or estimate indigo yield will be particularly important to enable rapid screening of breeding materials.”

These improvements will be commercialized through higher indigotin yielding breeders seed stock, with a goal of reaching 26,000 acres of cropland in the Southeast U.S. within six years. This will allow plant-derived indigo to be more cost-competitive with synthetic indigo dye and to meet the immediate market demand for U.S. bio-based indigo by denim mills.

Stony Creek Colors estimates by 2021, indigo will be growing on more than 26,000 acres and the demand for their natural indigo solution from denim companies like Tellason, 3×1, and Taylor Stitch, with whom they currently partner, will continue to grow as customers shop for more sustainable and natural fashion.

Posted September 14, 2016

Source: The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

EVS Wins Orders Of About $1 Million From China

CAESAREA, Israel — September 12, 2016 — Elbit Vision Systems Ltd., a producer of camera-based automatic vision inspection for textile fabrics and technical webs, announced today that it has received orders totaling about $1 million from China.

These orders are a cumulative total from multiple Chinese manufacturers. The first was from a new customer for seven nonwoven inspection systems in which EVS won in a highly competitive bid. There is also a potential for additional orders at a later stage with this customer.

The other was a significant order for IQ-TEX4 automatic inspection systems in conjunction with Shade Variation Analyzers. This was a repeat order from an important customer, who made their initial investment last year.  After seeing the benefits of automatic vision technology, they have made the decision to expand their automation by using EVS’ products.

Sam Cohen, CEO of EVS, commented, “These orders represent real success in our strategy to further penetrate the important textile manufacturing market of China.  We are pleased with both of these orders for different reasons. Our nonwoven inspection system win demonstrates the technical leadership of our systems in how we are able to meet our customers’ demands and exceed our competition’s abilities while developing a new partnership with potential for follow-on orders. Our second order is a solid demonstration of how the initial sales of systems do indeed lead to a long-term relationship and ongoing repeat business.”

Posted September 14, 2016

Source: Elbit Vision Systems Ltd.

Cotton Incorporated & Archroma Redefine “100-Percent Cotton”

CARY, N.C. — September 12, 2016 — Cotton Incorporated and Archroma have collaborated to present what they believe is the first ever dye derived from cotton plant residues. Cotton Incorporated approached Archroma and challenged them to develop a dye option that may represent the first opportunity in modern textile history to create and color a fabric using a single plant source. EarthColors is Archroma’s innovative method of creating dyes in warm, ternary shades from nature.

The patented technology addresses two key concerns of the textile industry: sustainability and traceability. These sulfur-based dyes are designed for use on cellulosic fibers, such as cotton. While most dyes in the textile industry are synthetic, using petrochemicals (oil) as a base, EarthColors is a biosynthetic alternative that utilizes natural waste from the agricultural or herbal industry.

“As soon as we heard about the EarthColors technology, we wanted to explore the possibilities of cotton as a natural dye source,” says Mary Ankeny, Senior Director Textile Chemistry Research at Cotton Incorporated, who led the project from the Cotton Incorporated side. “Byproducts of cotton harvesting and ginning have been utilized within the food and construction industries for decades, but we were intrigued by the idea of using cotton biomass to dye cotton fiber.”

There is an ample supply of cotton biomass. The global volume of cotton harvesting and ginning byproducts — which includes burs, stems, immature bolls, lint, sticks, and leaves — can be as much as three million tons per year. One 480-pound bale of cotton, for example, can produce 150-200 pounds of usable byproducts. Archroma’s EarthColors application on cotton byproducts marks the first time the cotton plant has been used to actually dye cotton fabrics.

Dyeing a natural fiber with dye processed with natural ingredients has appeal for many environmentally-conscious brands, a niche Archroma aimed to fill with the launch of the line in 2014.

“We are grateful to Cotton Incorporated to have brought us this challenge. Archroma strives to challenge the status quo, and our EarthColors technology demonstrates our dedication to support and inspire sustainable fashion with warm colors that can be traced from the field to the shop,” says Nuria Estape, , Head of Textile Specialties Global Marketing & Promotion, at Archroma.

Indeed, each batch of EarthColors dye offers a high level of traceability in the form of a hangtag with a Near Field Communication chip. Data on the chip, which can be accessed by Archroma customers and even consumers through a smart phone, explains the manufacturing process of the dye and where the natural materials were sourced.

Similarly, every bale of cotton grown in the United States receives a bale identification tag.  The tag allows cotton businesses to trace the journey of the bale as far back as the facility where the cotton was ginned. The tag also includes information on the fiber characteristics for the cotton contained in the bale, which allows for efficient inventory management by merchants and mills.

Cotton Incorporated will be presenting fabric samples dyed with the EarthColors cotton-derived dye at the Premiere Vision trade fair taking place in Paris, France September 12 through 14. The knit and woven constructions, produced at Cotton Incorporated’s laboratories and at the Cone White Oak facility, demonstrate the range of brown hues that be achieved using 100-percent cotton biomass as the source.

Posted September 14, 2016

Source: Cotton Incorporated

DuPont Advanced Printing Launches Dye Sublimation Ink

WILMINGTON, Del.— September 14, 2016 — DuPont Advanced Printing today announced the launch of DuPont™ Artistri® Xite S1500 dye sublimation ink. Backed by more than 25 years of digital inkjet manufacturing and technical support, the innovative ink is now available for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and printers. Artistri Xite S1500 offers superior product consistency, jetting reliability and color print performance.

“We are excited to add Artistri Xite S1500 to our family of inks. This is an ink that delivers what our customers expect from DuPont — exceptional color saturation, printing efficiency and innovation. This is the next step as we continue to build our portfolio and meet the growing needs of the digital textile market,” said Eric Beyeler, global marketing manager – Digital Inks, DuPont Advanced Printing.

Artistri Xite S1500 ink is a new digital ink offering for printing on polyester textile substrates. Designed to work with coated dye sublimation papers, the ink meets the needs of quality conscious textile printers in multiple areas including garment decoration, fast fashion/couture, point of purchase signage and trade booth construction.

“Artistri Xite S1500 achieves exceptional color standards with deep, rich blacks and outstanding color saturation. It also offers excellent jetting characteristics, which means less cleaning and ink waste, lower down time on press and a more trouble-free workflow. The quality control and manufacturing expertise from DuPont ensures that the ink the user purchases will be consistent and predictable batch-to-batch,” said Ken Hogrefe, technical marketing manager – DuPont Advanced Printing.

Earlier this year, DuPont Digital Inks announced the launch of new and improved DuPont Artistri inks that will deliver brighter colors, shorter production cycles and higher production throughput for direct-to-garment and roll-to-roll digital printing.

DuPont Advanced Printing brings together leading technologies and products for the printing and package printing industries. DuPont Cyrel® is one of the world’s leading flexographic plate-making systems in digital and conventional formats, including the new Cyrel EASY photopolymer plates and Cyrel FAST plates and processing equipment. DuPont Izon provides anti-counterfeit solutions and document security systems to corporate and government entities. DuPont Artistri offers high-quality inks for consumer, commercial, office inkjet and textile printing applications.

Posted September 14, 2016

Source: DuPont Advanced Printing

Delta Apparel Completes Sale Of Maiden, North Carolina Textile Facility

GREENVILLE, S.C. — September 13, 2016 — Delta Apparel Inc. today reported that it has completed the sale of its Maiden, N.C., textile facility and certain assets used in those operations. The closure of this facility in July 2016 was part of the company’s previously announced manufacturing realignment aimed at maximizing production at its lower cost facilities, eliminating duplicative fixed costs, and leveraging the latest dyeing and finishing technology available. The realignment is expected to significantly lower production costs, improve gross margins and ultimately boost operating earnings by an estimated $8 million annually, or approximately $0.70 per diluted share.

More than half of the expense associated with the manufacturing realignment was recorded in the company’s fiscal 2016 third quarter earnings, and the remainder, approximately $0.12 per diluted share, will be recorded in the company’s fiscal 2016 fourth fiscal quarter. Cash flow realized from the sale of the Maiden assets was approximately $1.7 million, which will be used to lower debt levels.

Robert W. Humphreys, Delta Apparel’s Chairman and CEO, commented: “While it was a difficult decision to close the Maiden facility, we are pleased that the new owner plans to continue using it as a wet-processing facility that will provide continued employment opportunities in the Maiden community. We have successfully partnered with established domestic textile producers to source fabric for our made-in-the-USA products previously produced at this plant, and will continue to sew the fabric into garments at our Rowland, N.C., apparel facility.”

“In addition, we are efficiently sourcing in-country fabric to use in our Mexico sew and screen print facilities, which now serve as a quick-turn operation to support continued growth in our full-package catalog programs. We began increasing fabric production in our Honduran textile facility in June, and have successfully increased output in that facility on schedule, and should be at full production levels by the end of calendar 2016.”

Posted September 14, 2016

Source: Delta Apparel

ITMA Asia + CITME 2016 Exhibitor Preview: Picanol

IEPER, Belgium — September 2016 — As one of the world’s leading weaving machine manufacturers, Picanol has always had a very close relationship with the Chinese textile industry. This relationship is not a matter of chance or coincidental developments: on the contrary, it is the result of long-term, strategic planning by the Picanol management.

In this firm belief, Picanol sent its first pioneers to explore the possibilities in the Far East, already in the early 1950s. Picanol took part in one of the first international exhibitions held in Beijing. This was the period when Picanol salesmanagers, still based in Ieper, criss-crossed the Orient to promote its weaving machines at exhibitions and technical seminars.

The growing installed base of Picanol machines in China, as well as the increasing demand for a higher level of service & support resulted in the establishment of the Picanol Service Centre, which was set up in Shanghai in 1987. A network of local service engineers was also established to serve the other South-Asian countries.

The next step in the history of Picanol in China was the set-up of PST, Picanol Suzhou Textile Machinery Works, thus starting its career as a Chinese textile machinery manufacturer. This set-up took place in 1994 and we celebrate this year the 22 years existence of Picanol Suzhou Textile Machinery Works.

PST was Picanol’s first production line outside Belgium, and the technology and organisation were based entirely on the assembly concept employed at the company’s headquarters in Ieper. Today PST houses a complete production unit with 3 assembly lines for 3 product types (GT-Max, GTMax-i with rapier technology and the OMNIplus-X with airjet technology), a mechatronics division, a sales, service and spare parts organization. The majority of the Chinese management, engineers and technicians have been trained in Belgium.

Machines produced in PST aim at the top layer of the mid segment and are besides in China, also quite succesful in the new emerging textile regions outside China. The Belgium produced machines are built for the top segment.

Posted September 14, 2016

Source: Picanol

TM Capital Advises Berkshire Blanket In Sale To SUMEC Group

ATLANTA — September 13, 2016 — TM Capital — a middle market investment banking firm with offices in New York, Boston and Atlanta — served as exclusive financial advisor to Berkshire Blanket Inc., a portfolio company of CSW Private Equity LLC, in its sale to SUMEC Textile Light Industry Co. Ltd., a subsidiary company of The SUMEC Group.

Berkshire Blanket, based in Ware, Mass., with its primary showroom in New York City, is the leading designer, importer and marketer of blankets, throws and soft home goods in the United States. Since its inception 23 years ago, Berkshire has created new, innovative, industry-leading fabrics, technologies, styles, designs, patterns, textures and colors suitable for all ages, seasons and occasions. These products are sold under the Company’s brands in addition to private label and licenses through a “who’s who” roster of specialty, wholesale club, department store, mass merchant, and internet and TV retailers, including: Bed Bath & Beyond, TJX, QVC, Costco, Ross, Target and Macy’s.

New York–based CSW acquired a majority interest in Berkshire in 2006.  During its ownership, CSW pursued a series of initiatives designed to improve the Company’s performance and support accelerated growth. As a result, Berkshire more than doubled revenue while engineering transformative change in its product mix. A business which had previously derived 91 percent of revenues from blankets is, today, a diversified soft home goods resource generating nearly 50 percent of revenue from non-blanket offerings.  Enhancements included strengthening design and strategic sourcing resources, leadership upgrades and significant investment in ERP systems. These initiatives positioned Berkshire Blanket to both weather the Great Recession and expand its product breadth and key account relationships.

CSW partner and Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Holdings Michael Smart commented:  “Berkshire has been established and built into an authentic brand with an enviable market position and attractive opportunities to expand into adjacent home goods categories. We are gratified that SUMEC recognized this value, and we wish them continued success.”

TM Capital worked closely with CSW and Berkshire’s management team to craft an investment thesis highlighting the Company’s value as a platform for growth. TM Capital Managing Director and partner David Felts stated: “Our collaboration with CSW has spanned many years, and we’re thrilled to have been selected to represent CSW in this important transaction.  Leveraging almost three decades of experience and relationships in the soft home goods industry, we were able to coordinate a robust, global marketing process that ultimately resulted in completing an attractive transaction with SUMEC.  This transaction reflects a continuing wave of cross-border interest in companies with established brands and strong relationships with the largest U.S. retailers.”

Mr. Smart added: “We were impressed with TM’s nuanced understanding of the Company, sector and the universe of potential buyers. We knew the highest value would likely come from a buyer with strategic synergies and an ability to further leverage the platform we built. The TM team did a great job crafting that thesis and then accessing a global buyer universe with individually-tailored messaging.”

Baker Hostetler LLP acted as counsel to Berkshire Blanket and CSW. Reed Smith LLP advised SUMEC.

Posted September 14, 2016

Source: TM Capital Corp.

Teijin To Acquire Continental Structural Plastics

TOKYO — September 13, 2016 — Teijin Ltd. announced today that it has agreed to acquire Continental Structural Plastics Holdings Corp. (CSP), an automotive composite supplier in North America, for $825 million. CSP will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Teijin. Through this acquisition, Teijin intends to establish the foundations of an automotive composite products business in North America, and to accelerate its expansion as a tier 1 supplier of high-performance composites to the global automotive market.

The shares of CSP will be purchased by Teijin Holdings USA Inc., the Teijin Group’s holding company in the United States. The acquisition is scheduled to be completed in December 2016 after satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval.

CSP is a leading manufacturer of thermoset composites in the automotive industry and is the world’s largest sheet molding compound (SMC) manufacturer for automakers. Since its establishment in 1969, CSP has provided leading-edge technologies in lightweight materials and composite solutions such as glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) for the automotive industry. Headquartered in Auburn Hills, Mich., CSP provides full-service engineering support, and holds more than 50 patents covering materials development and manufacturing processes in composite materials formulation and design. Its Class A surfaces produced by its SMC technology have been adopted by various automakers in the US, Europe and Japan.The company has 14 facilities in the US, Mexico, France and China and approximately 3,200 employees. It posted consolidated sales of over USD 634 million in the fiscal year ending December 31, 2015.

Teijin will benefit from CSP’s established sales channels in the North American automotive market, which will enable the combined business to provide a broader range of solutions that meet automakers’ demands for weight reduction and durability, utilizing the company’s thermoplastic composite technologies.

The integration of CSP’s technical expertise in thermoset composites and Teijin’s leadership in complementary thermoplastics creates significant synergies for comprehensive multi-material applications to meet diversified demands from the automotive industry. Through this transaction, Teijin aims to become an automotive solution provider by expanding its offerings beyond carbon fiber and glass fiber materials, in collaboration with other materials manufacturers. Teijin intends to expand its product portfolio from materials to component design, implement a global supply chain and help achieve vehicle weight reductions in order to comply with tighter environmental regulations being introduced after 2020.

The combination of CSP’s thermoset capabilities, especially its GFRP technology, and Teijin’s high-performance composites such as carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP), will help reduce weight and component count in finished products. This will in turn improve recycling efficiency and offer automakers value-added solutions that meet their requirements for more environmentally friendly components at lower cost. Teijin will also utilize CSP’s European Center for Advanced Technology in France and Teijin’s own composite production facilities to enhance its global development capabilities, allowing the combined business to better address the requirements of European, Japanese and Asian automakers. The automotive composite products business of the Teijin Group is targeting annual sales of USD 2.0 billion by 2030.

Jun Suzuki, President and CEO of Teijin Ltd., commented: “Since being appointed as Teijin’s president in January 2014, I have pursued business models that help provide value-added solutions by combining and integrating our own materials, healthcare and IT technologies. We are confident that the platform for automotive composite products business we will gain through the acquisition of CSP’s complementary technical expertise in thermoset composites and GFRP know-how will trigger further development of our integrated high-performance materials business, one of our key strategic fields.”

Suzuki added: “Utilizing such synergy effects, and as outlined in our 2014 Transformation and Growth Strategies in Revised Medium-Term Management Plan, Teijin aims to provide consistent upstream-to-downstream solutions and realize one of the company’s growth concepts, which is high-performance materials technologies that create new value. The Teijin Group will continue to evolve, aiming to become a company that supports future society leveraging our core strengths in integrated high-performance materials and healthcare.”

Teijin is implementing a solutions-oriented business model as part of its long-term management vision, with development of composite applications for mass-produced automotive components one of its priorities in the field of high-performance fibers. Environmental concerns such as CO2 emission reductions and improvements in fuel efficiency are now global issues; accelerated development of tough and lightweight eco-friendly composite components is therefore a pressing task in the automotive industry. Teijin is now focused on establishing a platform for business development in automotive composite products, aiming to provide a wider range of solutions for automakers.

Teijin established its Teijin Composites Innovation Center in 2008 and has focused on developing leading-edge composite product technologies and applications. In 2011 the company developed the world’s first mass-production technology for CFRTP, with a production interval time — or “takt-time” — of just one minute. Teijin subsequently established a technical facility in the US and a pilot plant for the fully integrated production of CFRTP in Japan. In 2012 it branded the world’s first CFRTP product — Sereebo™ — and has been preparing this for commercial use via high-volume production methods in collaboration with domestic and international enterprises. Meanwhile, Toho Tenax Co., Ltd., the core company of the group’s carbon fibers and composites business, has developed an integrated production system for carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) using its Tenax® Part via Preform (PvP) technology that considerably reduces carbon-fiber waste compared to conventional preform production methods. Furthermore, Teijin obtained ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation for its evaluation capabilities in 2015 and ISO/TS 16949 accreditation for automotive production and relevant service part organizations in 2016.

Posted September 13, 2016

Source: Teijin Ltd.

Vibram USA Celebrates 100 Years Of Manufacturing In Massachusetts

CONCORD, Mass. — September 13, 2016 — Vibram®, a producer of high-performance soles and the creator of the Vibram FiveFingers® articulated toe shoe, today announced its centennial anniversary of manufacturing in the United States. The milestone celebration is set for Friday, Sept. 16, at its Quabaug Vibram Innovation (QVI) manufacturing facility in North Brookfield, Mass.

“Vibram USA’s ‘Centennial Event for the Future’ is as much about celebrating our future as it is our past,” said Mike Gionfriddo, president & CEO of Vibram USA. “This milestone represents Vibram’s commitment to innovating and manufacturing performance-oriented products here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

With the completion of the acquisition of the Quabaug Corp. last year, 2016 marks the beginning of Vibram USA committing to a five-year, multi-million dollar campaign, with investments in staff and machinery to support innovation for the next one hundred years. As such, it is upgrading QVI’s capabilities, manufacturing machines, inaugurating a two-year workforce education program, expanding its domestic supply chain and strengthening its product development and innovation processes in an effort to dominate more global markets.

“Massachusetts is home to so many great manufacturing companies and Vibram is a great example. Here in North Brookfield, Vibram supports good jobs and continues the proud tradition of high-quality products made in America,” commented Congressman Jim McGovern (MA-02). “A manufacturer of essential products used by our military and men and women in uniform, Vibram is also helping to keep our country safe. I am proud to join so many in North Brookfield in congratulating Vibram on 100 years of manufacturing right here in Central Massachusetts.”

In 2016 alone, Vibram has invested $6 million for new machinery and machine upgrades to ensure modern capabilities, innovation and institutional knowledge remain in the United States. That effort includes replacing 30-year-old machines with new, more technologically advanced presses, which allow for current materials to be produced with better efficiency, quality and faster response times to meet customers’ demands. Additionally, Vibram plans to make a significant investment in Vibram USA’s materials testing and validation center to better understand the chemistry of its materials as it relates to consumer-oriented performance attributes.

In terms of a commitment to its staff, Vibram’s plans include:

  • Continue hiring for all aspects of the business, including sales, marketing, human resources, manufacturing and finance, with a focus on recruitment related to innovation of talented designers, engineers, developers and chemists. That includes both electrical and mechanical engineers.
  • A new partnership with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to provide education to all 300+ Vibram USA employees, with a focus on topics such as plant layout, Lean Education Academic Network (LEAN) initiatives and quality management.
  • Provide outside educational growth programs, in partnership with the Worcester Polytechnic Institute for project management, University of Massachusetts Lowell for materials science and Massachusetts Institute of Technology for innovation management.

Gionfriddo continues, “We continue to rely upon new, young talent, who bring technical degrees from top universities with majors ranging from engineering to chemistry and physics to drive Vibram’s global innovation projects in the U.S.”

“The Governor and I want to congratulate Vibram USA on 100 years of business here in the Commonwealth,” says Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito. “Vibram is a key component of the Massachusetts manufacturing economy and an important source of high-quality products for members of our military and individual customers around the globe.”

Vibram USA’s centennial celebration, which is open to the public, is scheduled for 10 a.m.-1 p.m., this Friday, Sept. 16, at 18 School St., North Brookfield, Mass. Scheduled dignitaries attending include Rep. Jim McGovern, State Sen. Anne Gobi and State Rep. Donnie Berthiaume. The celebration will incorporate an anniversary commemoration, factory tours and hors’ d’oeuvres. In support of the celebration, guests are asked to please bring a pair of extra shoes to donate, as Quabaug Vibram International is gathering and donating shoes to Veterans Inc. of Worcester to help support veterans in need.

Posted September 13, 2016

Source: Vibram USA

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