Germany-based Oskar Dilo Maschinenfabrik KG has sold two DI-LOOM PMF Hyperpunch machines to Albany
International, Albany, N.Y. The company will use the machines one 13.6 meters wide and one 12
meters wide to produce papermachine felts.
February 2004
Avecia Ltd., England, has supplied its Purista antimicrobial finish to the Ankur Textiles Division
of India-based Arvind Products Ltd. for use in a new line of 100-percent cotton voile blouse
fabric. Purista provides improved freshness properties to fabrics, according to Avecia. Ankur
Textiles first introduced the fabric line to retail stores in Southeastern India, and plans to
begin national distribution this month.
February 2004
One hopeful sign comes from a new Institute for Supply Management survey, which shows some
edging up in new textile orders, backlogs and production. Just-released government data on mill
output confirms this encouraging trend. It shows production beginning to flatten out after the
sharp declines of last year – with even some fractional increases from last fall’s lows.
Inventories are considerably lower than they were last spring. For primary mills, the
bellwether stock/sales ratio is down to a 1.51-months’ supply, compared to the 1.62 reading of last
May. A similar trend is seen for mill products – 1.68 now versus 1.79 then. If nothing else, these
declines suggest incoming orders will increasingly be met from new production rather than inventory
drawdowns.
A Stronger Economy Should Help
Today’s improving overall business outlook also provides hope for somewhat better days
ahead. Virtually all economic analysts now agree that further business gains are a pretty sure
thing.
One new Business Week survey of 60 leading economists suggests gross domestic product by
year end will be running close to 4 percent ahead of late-2003 levels. This should result in some
meaningful employment increases.
Other economic positives these days include still very low interest rates, the absence of
inflationary pressures, a buoyant stock market and current tax refunds, which should run as high as
30 percent above those mailed last year.
Consumer confidence is again on the rise – with current readings already considerably above
last year’s lows. It’s a scenario that, other things being equal, will eventually translate into
bigger purchases of textiles, apparel and home furnishings.
A New ATMI Appraisal
The American Textile Manufacturers Institute’s (ATMI’s) recent year-end annual report, while
far from upbeat, also seems to confirm that textiles are still a viable industry. True, the new
review finds industry employment dropped another 10 percent in 2003. And nearly 200 additional
mills were shuttered as Chinese imports continued to flood in.
On the other hand, ATMI also notes a few positives. Textile mill product shipments –
carpets, tire cord and industrial products – and textile exports both managed to eke out small
gains over the past year. More importantly, with the industry now in stronger hands, combined mill
and mill product net profits actually managed to rise a bit – from $400 million in 2002 to $700
million (1.5 percent of sales) in 2003.
Summing up, ATMI President James W. Chesnutt notes that the industry, while in a tough
fight, now is organized, energized and united – ready and able to press for an effective and
comprehensive trade agreement with China.
A Closer Look At Imports
Such a Far Eastern pact is now virtually a must if the industry is to survive and prosper in
today’s increasingly free-trade business climate – especially when the time frame is extended to
2005 and beyond. The biggest question mark is what happens to imports next year when all quotas are
lifted on Chinese shipments?
Taking off on this, ATMI feels that 650,000 US textile and apparel jobs, along with more
than 30 million textile jobs around the world, will be lost if China is not held under some kind of
quota control.
Also worrying the industry is the proposed new Central American Free Trade Agreement
(CAFTA). Covering Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras – and maybe even Costa Rica and
the Dominican Republic – this will bear close watching.
In any case, Chesnutt and many other textile executives are calling for its rejection when
it comes up for congressional approval. Proponents of the measure, on the other hand, say CAFTA
will offer some protection to US mills because Central American clothing manufacturers would have
to use fabrics from the region or from a North American Free Trade Agreement country.
February 2004
In accordance with Italian Civil Code, two members of Italy-based Finlane Group, Cognetex S.p.A.
and SantAndrea Novara S.p.A., have merged. The incorporating company, SantAndrea Novara, will
assume all rights and duties of the merged company, Cognetex. In conjunction with the merger,
SantAndrea Novara has changed its name to Finlane S.p.A.
February 2004
Produced by Germany-based Messe Frankfurt, TTNA will afford visitors and exhibitors an
opportunity to see the latest developments in high-performance textile manufacturing including:
fibers and yarns; woven fabrics, laid webs, braiding and knitted fabrics; nonwovens; composites;
adhesives/bonding; coated/laminated textiles and canvas products; research, development, planning
and consultation; and technology, machinery and accessories, among others.
Three hundred exhibitors are expected to show their products and services to 5,000 visitors
from the United States, Canada, Europe, South America and Asia in approximately 144,000 square feet
of exhibition space.
Hightex: It’s Our Future
According to Messe Frankfurt, the North American technical textiles market is the largest in
the world, making this year’s TTNA a must-attend event for those in the industry who wish not only
to sustain, but also to expand this high-performance sector.
The Techtextil slogan – “Hightex: It’s Our Future” – reflects projections of continued growth
and the increasing importance of high-performance textiles in a wide range of applications.
According to Daniel McKinnon, director, Messe Frankfurt’s Atlanta office, the slogan stands “not
only for modified, innovative and/or new products/ applications, but also [signals] that, for a lot
of companies, these kinds of textiles will be the only way to survive.”
One-Stop Shopping
Visitors to TTNA will have the chance to see the entire material supply chain at work, from
research and development to raw materials and production processes to conversion, treatment and
recycling.
Exhibitors will fall into the following categories:
• research, development, planning and consultation including international
institutions, national research institutes, universities and polytechnics, industrial research
centers, and planning and consulting companies;
• technology, machinery and accessories including production processes,
processing technology, machines and equipment, control and monitoring methods, purification and
regeneration technology, technical accessories, laboratory and measuring equipment, and quality
assurance;
• fibers and yarns;
• woven fabrics, laid webs, braiding and knitted fabrics including
tapes, strings, cords, belts, ropes, cordage and nets;
• nonwovens;
• coated/laminated textiles and canvas marine-related products
including coated textiles, laminated textiles, tent fabrics, packaging materials, tarpaulin
fabrics, awning materials, end-product manufacturing, and accessories;
• composites including reinforcing textiles, composite textiles, prepregs;
structural components and moldings; fiber-reinforced materials; membrane systems; films and
sheeting; textile-reinforced plastics for concrete components, pipes and containers; and textile
sheet products for laminators with metal plastic or glass solids;
• adhesives/bonding including finishing; adhesive, sealing and molding
materials; laminating and coating materials; raw materials and additives; application processing;
material pretreatment; plastics and other hardening masses; adhesive mixing and application
equipment, and robot technology; surface treatment technology; plasma treatments; and foaming;
• associations; and
• publications including
Textile World
,
Textile World Asia
and
Textiles Panamericanos.
Product applications have been broken down into 12 areas
(See Table 1). The exhibitor listings in the TTNA show catalog will indicate each
exhibitor’s area of application.
Some exhibitors will participate in national pavilions set up by their home countries.
Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Taiwan are among the countries that will offer
them.
Triple-Track Techtextil Symposium
This year’s edition of the Techtextil Symposium North America (TTSNA) – an educational forum
devoted to high-level technical textiles – will feature a triple track of three concurrent
sessions, scheduled to allow attendees ample time to view the exhibits and attend symposium
sessions.
TTSNA session topics will include fiber developments, high-performance composites, medical
textiles, and new and emerging technologies, as well as many others.
The Spring House, Pa.-based National Textile Center will present one of the most popular
TTSNA sessions, devoted to the presentation of technical textile research and development projects.
The Raleigh, N.C.-based Nonwovens Cooperative Research Center at North Carolina State University’s
College of Textiles will present Engineering With Fibers, a session in which various speakers will
discuss such developments as new membrane material for fabric structures, engineering of
surgical structures to combat infection, the use of monofilament yarns in braided vascular
prostheses, and engineering of 3-D woven fabrics for impact damage control.
A new area of interest that will be offered at this year’s symposium is
intelligent/interactive textiles. Session topics will deal not only with woven-in sensors, but also
with intelligent textiles that react to outside stimuli. Maurice Larrivee, materials team leader of
the individual protection directorate at the US Army Soldier Center, Natick, Mass.-based US Army
Soldier Systems Center, will moderate two symposium sessions covering developments in this area.
“Work is in progress to provide textile materials with the capability to alter insulation
capacities to compensate for changes in temperature,” Larrivee said. “Work is also in progress to
incorporate low-voltage battery power into textile materials to eliminate the need to carry
batteries. Some of these areas and more will be presented at the Techtextil Symposium.”
James C. Leonard III, deputy assistant secretary for textiles, apparel and consumer goods
industries, US Department of Commerce, Office of Textiles and Apparel, will address textile trade
issues in his keynote speech.
First-track session topics at the symposium will include a general session on the state of
the industry, research and development related to technical textiles, medical textiles, automotive
textiles, developments in high-performance fibers, and fibers in engineering.
Second-track session topics are to include intelligent/interactive textiles,
high-performance composites, new and emerging technologies, and nonwovens in technical
applications.
Third-track session topics will include technical textile participation, technical solutions
for new flammability regulations, and the mechanical rubber goods industry.
Future Techtextil Events
Cinte Techtextil China is scheduled to take place Sept. 1-3 in Shanghai. The nineteenth
edition of Techtextil will take place in Frankfurt June 7-9, 2005. Techtextil Rossija will take
place in Russia in September 2005. Techtextil South America will be held in Brazil Nov. 22-24,
2005.
February 2004
Fi-Tech Inc., Richmond, Va., now has responsibility in the United States for sales, spare parts and
after-sales service coordination for Germany-based Fleissner GmbH. Fi-Tech will not represent
Fleissner Inc., Charlotte, which was not included in the recent acquisition of Fleissner GmbH by
Fi-Tech’s principal, Zimmer AG, Frankfurt.
Don Gillespie, former Fleissner Inc. vice president, has joined Fi-Tech with responsibility
for the Fleissner product lines.
February 2004
Montreal-based Gildan Activewear Inc. and Frontier Spinning Mills Inc., Sanford, N.C., have formed
a 50/50 joint venture company to buy the assets of a yarn spinning facility located in Cedartown,
Ga. The purchase price for the Cedartown plant, which houses state-of-the-art technology, was
approximately $12.5 million.
It is anticipated that all yarn produced at Cedartown will be consumed by Gildan’s integrated
fabric manufacturing operations.
February 2004
Old Hickory, Tenn.-based BBA Materials Technology Group’s filtration business is changing its name
to BBA Fiberweb Filtration, keeping in line with its parent company’s name change to BBA Fiberweb.
In conjunction with the name change, BBA Fiberweb is relocating from West Chester, Ohio, to an
existing company location in Old Hickory. Both the move and name change should be complete in early
2004.
“The consolidation and name change represent a restructuring of BBA Fiberweb’s operations
into regional and international markets under a new global strategy,” said Mike Cox, business
director.
In other company news, BBA Fiberweb Filtration has developed DiamondWeb spunbond polyester
filtration media. DiamondWeb fabrics are available in area or pattern bond technologies in a range
of weights and colors.
February 2004
WestPoint Stevens Inc., West Point, Ga., will close four plants and convert production at another
in an effort to improve production efficiency.
Citing consolidation within its Bath Products business, the company will close two older,
multi-level towel plants LaGrange, Ga.-based Dixie and Fairfax Greige, Valley, Ala., and move some
production equipment from these plants to its more efficient single-level Lanier-Carter complex in
Valley. Carter Plant was converted from sheeting to towel production in 2002, and WestPoint Stevens
now will convert Lanier Plant from sheeting to towel production also.
Dunson Plant, another older, multi-level facility in LaGrange, will be closed and production
moved to other, more modern Bed Products plants.In the Basic Bedding Division, Coushatta Plant,
Coushatta, La., will be closed. The company cited as reasons for the closing increased
manufacturing efficiencies at other Basic Bedding plants and the better geographic locations of
these other plants for its distribution system.
Approximately 975 associates will be laid off as a result of the realignment. However, the
changes also will create a limited number of new jobs at Carter Plant. The company will attempt to
place affected associates at other company facilities as well.
February 2004
Germany-based DyStar has signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire Charlotte-based Yorkshire
Americas Inc.’s textile dyes business in North, Central and South America. The acquisition, which
is expected to be completed by the end of this month, is subject to shareholder and government
regulatory approval.
February 2004
