Driven to innovate and exceed customers’ expectations, A.B. Carter recently celebrated its centennial.

TW Special Report

Anniversaries are always special, but a 100-year anniversary is a significant milestone especially worth celebrating. Through innovation, quality production and exceptional customer service — all performed with a global outlook — A.B. Carter Inc., Gastonia, N.C., has reached that centennial. Established in 1922, the company has weathered the ups and downs of the U.S. textile industry and finds itself in a great position today and is ready to take on the next 100 years.

A.B. Carter bills itself as a company grounded in American heritage, yet driven to innovate. It aims to meet and exceed its customers’ expectations, and is committed to excellence in products and service.

History

A.B. Carter was founded in 1922 by Arthur Bynum Carter. A self-educated fellow, Carter began his career as a ring traveler sales representative working with spinning mills. It was during this time that Carter was introduced to the Boyce Weavers Knotter. Finding the technology interesting, Carter bought the patent and struck out on his own. He began manufacturing the knotter, modifying and tweaking the design until it was the finest weaver’s knotter sold all over the world — loved, in part, because of its simplicity.

Carter then began to expand his offerings and using his interest and prior expertise in ring spinning and ring travelers, began manufacturing metal travelers. Carter Traveler Co. soon began to supply high-quality ring travelers to customers in the United States and beyond. The company later added yarn spinning rings and nylon travelers to its portfolio.

“Our steel and nylon travelers have grown and evolved to be the global standard in all types of spinning and twisting applications,” said Henderson Wise, president and CEO, A.B. Carter.

“Mr. Carter worked his way up the ladder of success by the sweat of his brow,” Wise noted. “His passion and fortitude for the textile industry laid the foundation for our company.”

Product Portfolio, Vertical Production

Today, in addition to its travelers and rings the company’s diverse product portfolio includes bobbins, belts and accessories, splicing and knotting equipment, lab testing equipment, and some accessories for carpet yarn production.

The diversity of the business has been a positive for the company as the industry has changed over the years. “Through acquisitions and partnerships, we have added lines to complement our knowledge and work in all types of spinning and twisting applications,” Wise said. “We must continue to innovate as we move forward in this ever-changing industry.”

A.B. Carter operates a vertical manufacturing structure to ensure high-quality products with flexibility and customization in mind. The company maintains complete control over the manufacturing process for its steel travelers. The Carter Wire Co., a division of A.B. Carter, produces the highest-quality wire that is drawn to size, annealed and shaped. The formed travelers then are heat treated and finished to exact customer specifications. Quality is assured by the company’s advanced metallurgical lab and innovation center staff who conduct extensive tests on the company’s products.

Customer-Oriented Innovation

A company’s longevity and continued success is determined by many other factors, but long-standing relationships with valued customers undoubtedly plays a significant role.

“Mr. Carter believed then, as we still believe today, that our customers are our partners, and we should always go above and beyond to serve them,” Wise said.

Customers depend on A.B. Carter’s technical assistance in the spinning process. “Our technical engineers have many years of experience to help optimize the spinning process along with our rings and ring travelers in all types of applications,” Wise said. “We value this relationship as we work to make our customers successful.”

A.B. Carter also relies on its customers to be partners in innovation. “We have stuck to our roots with continued innovation,” Wise offered. “Our research and development and engineering teams have worked diligently as the demands of spinning mills increase. Innovations are paramount as we partner with our customers to optimize the spinning process, and our partnerships are valuable because they propel us to improve and innovate.” The company currently is excited about a new traveler series that is showing excellent improvements in traveler life and yarn quality parameters in production conditions.

Team Atmosphere

A company’s success surely also is aided by a team of knowledgeable and loyal employees. Henderson says one of A.B. Carter’s greatest strengths and assets is its employees. “Many of our employees have been here for many years,” Wise said. “We have always had an open-door policy as this extended communication and genuine interest in all our employees makes everyone feel like they are an important member of the team.”

Global Reach

Spinning is a global enterprise, and in order to grow and remain successful, A.B. Carter is committed to doing business on the international stage, keeping up what Mr. Carter started all those years ago. “Spinning optimization is critical to mill profitability, and spinning mills today compete in a global market,” Wise said.

To support the company’s positive and growing global demand, in 2006, A.B. Carter opened a subsidiary in India — A.B. Carter India Pvt. Ltd. — to supply travelers and ring products to customers in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. “The team at A.B. Carter India does a great job in covering the markets in India and Bangladesh,” Wise said. “The spinning mills in those areas are very technical and run some of the highest spindle speeds worldwide. We have seen our market share increase there as recent innovations have allowed our customers to improve their processes and yarn quality.”

The company’s full global network also includes employees and offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Istanbul, Turkey; as well as 45 agents located throughout the world.

Celebrating The Milestone Anniversary

A.B. Carter recently held a company-wide celebration at its Gastonia headquarters that included employees past and present, the board of directors, shareholders, and friends. “A.B. Carter Inc. has a long and storied past and a great future as a global supplier in the textile industry,” Wise remarked. “I am extremely proud of our company and all our employees for achieving this great accomplishment.

“Our customer service and continued innovation are commitments that began 100 years ago with Mr. Carter’s drive and passion,” Wise continued. “We look forward to continuing our next chapter as we move forward in the ever-changing textile industry.”

September/October 2022

From its beginnings as the TYAA in 1972, SYFA has adapted to weather downturns in the industry and is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

By Alasdair Carmichael

The Synthetic Yarn & Fabric Association (SYFA) and its predecessor organization the Textured Yarn Association of America (TYAA) is celebrating 50 years of operation in 2022. The TYAA was first formed in 1971 and held its inaugural meeting in 1972.

This time period was the dawn of draw texturing and the commercial arrival of polyester textile filament as a feed yarn for draw texturing. Prior to the beginning of the 70s, nylon was the main textured fiber using fully drawn yarn as the supply.

Polyester was developed in the 1940s, and the initial focus was on producing a staple fiber to either complement cotton in blended yarn or to compete with cotton. Filament polyester remained a smaller volume than polyester staple globally until 1993, but by 2020 had grown to be more than double the size of staple.

The growth of texturing and particularly polyester brought a number of new producers into the U.S. market and resulted in industry leaders, led by Norman Cohen of Goulston Technologies Inc., Monroe, N.C., deciding that the sector was large enough, and unique enough, to warrant its own technical trade association. The author of this article joined the U.S. texturing industry in spring 1972 and had the privilege to attend the second full meeting of the TYAA in summer 1973.

The Growth Of Texturing

A major driver of the growth in texturing in the United States and elsewhere was the development of draw texturing which took four process steps and combined them into two steps, as well as increasing productivity and producing a larger, better package of yarn for direct knitting or weaving.

There was no shortage of technical developments to be discussed at the TYAA conferences!

In the mid to late 1970s, there were approximately 115 companies in the United States with texturing or draw texturing machines. At this time, the structure of the industry was driven by growth. There were a number of large fabric companies that diversified their production to include texturing. Additionally, some of the large polyester fiber producers also invested in texturing. There also were many specialized yarn companies with texturing operations. The double knit industry provided an apparently insatiable appetite for more and more textured polyester, until the inevitable happened and demand collapsed.

Figure 1 shows data from the American Fiber Manufacturing Association (AFMA) publication Fiber Organon. Polyester textile filament capacity in the United States grew from 316 million pounds in 1970 to 1.7 billion pounds by 1979, with the growth driven mainly by demand for textured polyester. The 1979 peak was the highest level the U.S. industry ever achieved. The 1980s were a time of consolidation and closures within the industry, as well as a time for product development and production technology improvements which resulted in a good recovery in the 1990s.

However, the good times for the domestic industry came to an end as the calendar turned into the 21st century and global supply chains became the prevalent business model. Many sectors of the textile industry were hit very hard by global sourcing and the textured yarn industry was no exception. The chart tracks the downturn very clearly.

The TYAA was faced with a rapidly declining pool of membership. From approximately 115 companies with texturing machines in the late 1970s, by 2006 there were only 17 companies remaining.

The association faced three options:

• Close down completely;
• Merge with another group; or
• Increase the scope of membership by rebranding and appeal to a wider range of membership.

Following tough discussions, the board decided to take the most difficult of the alternatives and rebranded in 2006 as the Synthetic Yarn and Fiber Association (SYFA), a name that was later changed to Synthetic Yarn and Fabric Association.

The rebranding has been a success with both membership and attendance at conferences seeing significant growth in the years following the decision.

Two association milestones stand out. The first is an awareness of the importance of sustainability to the industry and, from the beginning of the association’s rebranding process, it has made a conscious effort to include presentations on sustainability at all its meetings. The most successful meeting in association history was the 2008 Winter Conference when the entire program was devoted to sustainability under the theme “Sustainable is Attainable.” That meeting saw a record attendance of more than 300 people.

The second milestone is more recent, and that was the ability to come through the COVID-19 pandemic and be in position to look ahead to a bright future.

The association is celebrating 34 years as TYAA and 16 years as SYFA for a total of 50 years of serving the U.S. synthetic textiles industry. Please join SYFA in celebrating this milestone at the fall conference to be held November 3-4, 2022, in Charlotte, N.C. For more information about this special event, please see, “50 Years Of SYFA,” TW, this issue.

Editor’s Note: Alasdair Carmichael is vice president of the Synthetic Yarn
and Fabrics Association (SYFA)

September/October 2022