Gildan Awarded Silver Class Distinction in The Sustainability Yearbook 2021

MONTREAL — February 15, 2021 — Gildan Activewear Inc. has reinforced its position as a sustainable leader in apparel manufacturing with a ninth-consecutive recognition in The Sustainability Yearbook, an award that distinguishes the world’s highest performing sustainable companies. This year, Gildan was awarded a Silver Class distinction, which recognizes that the company’s ESG score is within 1 to 5 percent of the industry’s highest performing companies. Gildan scored particularly high in categories related to climate strategy, operational eco-efficiency, occupational health and safety, and risk and crisis management. Once again, Gildan was the only North American company to be recognized as a sustainability leader in the Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods industry.

The Sustainability Yearbook, by S&P Global, is one of the world’s most comprehensive publications providing in-depth analysis on corporate sustainability. This annual ranking showcases the sustainability performance of the world’s largest companies and rewards the top 15 percent with class distinctions. This year, a record number of companies across 61 industries were assessed with the goal of identifying those which exemplify leading corporate sustainability practices and a focus on long-term growth drivers.

“We are proud to be part of The Sustainability Yearbook once again, even more so this year as the number of companies assessed increased by close to 50 percent,” said Claudia Sandoval, vice president of Corporate Citizenship at Gildan. “This recognition is the result of our commitment towards continuously identifying risks, measuring impacts, and disclosing transparent results.”

“We congratulate Gildan on its Silver Award in The Sustainability Yearbook 2021, which showcases the best performing companies among industry peers and in terms of financially material ESG metrics. With over 7,000 companies assessed, an inclusion in the yearbook is a true statement of corporate sustainability excellence,” said Manjit Jus, global head of ESG Research at S&P Global.

Posted February 15, 2021

Source: Gildan Activewear Inc.

Avery Dennison To Acquire JDC Solutions

GLENDALE, Calif.  — February 15, 2021 — Avery Dennison said today it has agreed to acquire JDC Solutions Inc., a privately owned manufacturer of pressure-sensitive specialty tapes headquartered in Mount Juliet, Tenn., for the purchase price of $24 million. JDC employs approximately 75 employees located at its headquarters and manufacturing site in Tennessee, with approximately $30 million in annual revenue.

JDC manufactures specialty tapes for use in a variety of high-value industrial applications, and has longstanding relationships with U.S. converters serving the automotive, consumer appliance, and building and construction industries, among others. Upon completion of the acquisition, JDC’s manufacturing operations, workforce and product portfolio will become part of Avery Dennison’s Performance Tapes North America business.

The acquisition is expected to close in Q1, subject to customary conditions and approvals.

Posted February 15, 2021

Source: Avery Dennison

From New Materials To Antiviral Coating And A Upcoming Nordic Recycling Hub, Finland Offers New Solutions To Textile Industry Challenges

HELSINKI — February 15, 2021 — The textile industry has a huge impact on the environment and new sustainable solutions are needed for each stage of a textile’s life cycle. Available raw materials are not meeting growing needs for textile fibers and at the same time, millions of tons of textile waste are burned or end up in landfills. Finland is leading the revolution towards sustainable materials and business models in the international textile business.

The production and consumption of textiles causes significant environmental, climate and social impacts due to the vast amounts of water, land, pesticides and chemicals used as well as the emission of greenhouse gases and pollutants caused by the industry. The currently available raw materials cannot meet the constantly growing demand for fibers and textiles. At the same time, on a global scale, an estimated 92 million tons of textile waste is produced every year of which 75 to 85 percent is either burned or ends up in landfills.*

Finland offers groundbreaking solutions and knowhow at every level of the sustainable textile ecosystem from textile waste handling, treatment, B2B & B2C sales and usage, collection and recycling to identification and back to waste handling.

Leading Finnish experts are Rester, NordShield®, Emmy, Spinnova and Infinited Fiber Co. which offer Finnish innovations across the textile ecosystem.

“By replacing primary raw materials with recycled components or using, for example, wood-based textile fiber, and by keeping already existing materials in the economy as long as possible, we have the opportunity to impact the huge global system and value chains,” said Marika Ollaranta, Head of the Bio and Circular Finland program from Business Finland, Finland’s trade, investment and travel promotion and innovation funding organization. “Finnish innovations offer revolutionary solutions that cover the whole life cycle of a textile. Governments, consumers and the industry itself are waking up to the challenges of a very single-use oriented industry, but more work is needed to build awareness and change mindsets and behaviour to make the cycle more sustainable, while also maintaining the level of quality and reasonable costs.”

Rester collaborates closely with Southwest Finland’s municipal waste management company LSJH in a project that brings together the private and public sectors in textile waste handling.

From waste handling to a textile’s physical features, NordShield®’s patented technology enables natural antimicrobial treatment of textiles, free of heavy metals.

Spinnova and Infinited Fiber Co. have come up with innovative ways of making fiber out of wood pulp and discarded textiles, while Emmy Clothing Co. has created a transparent resale-as-a-service for clothes, which makes it possible for all actors in the ecosystem to participate in prolonging a textile’s life cycle.

Waste management & recycling: The Nordics’ first large-scale end-of-life textile refinement plant opens in Finland this summer

Responding to the growing issues of textile waste, new textile recycling regulations will come into force in the EU in 2025. However, Finland aims to start the process already by 2023.

Rester, together with LSJH, is opening a textile refinement plant in Paimio, Finland, that will refine end-of-life textiles into raw material fiber that can be used in new products. The plant could become one of the biggest textile refinement plants in Northern Europe, making Finland one of the Nordics’ recycling hubs. The plant’s two production lines will process post-consumer textiles from households and pre-consumer textiles from the B2B sector. At its launch, the plant will process 12,000 tonnes of end-of-life textiles annually. The plan is to scale up the volume in the future to double the capacity.

“There has been a lot of interest towards the new plant and we are very excited to be the forerunner in the systemic change of the textile industry. Our goal is to guarantee the quality of the recycled fiber, optimize the material to meet the customers’ needs and ensure the best possible product performance by further development of the fiber. Our vision is to build an eco-community, Green Field Hub, in Paimio, and create a closed loop system that enables the reuse and recycling of textiles at scale, together with the other actors in the ecosystem,” said Outi Luukko, CEO of Rester.

New materials to meet growing demand for textiles: New fibers that are recyclable to begin with

Finland-based textile company Spinnova makes fiber directly from wood pulp or pulp made of side streams without dissolving and the use of harmful chemicals. The manufacture of sustainable textile fiber made with Spinnova’s method creates 0-percent waste or side streams, 0-percent microplastics and has minimal CO2 emissions and water use.

“We want to help fill the textile industry’s sustainability deficit by making cellulose-based materials cost-efficient, environmentally friendly and preferred option for brands. Replacing cotton with the patented SPINNOVA® fiber could have a significant impact on the whole value chain by reducing the emissions and use of water,” says Spinnova’s Head of Communications Emmi Berlin. Spinnova’s collaboration with iconic design house Marimekko has been recognized in the Sustainability category in Fast Company’s 2020 Innovation by Design Awards.

Finland-based biotechnology company Infinited Fiber is known for technology that can turn discarded textiles into a premium regenerated textile fiber, called Infinna™. Infinna has the soft and natural look and feel of cotton and it offers a circular alternative to less sustainable conventional textile fibers that rely on virgin raw materials. The company was recently listed on the 2021 Global Cleantech 100 list.

“Infinited Fiber’s technology is not dependent on a single raw material but offers a way to create value out of multiple waste streams while reducing pressure on natural resources, land and water. The technology can be fed with a range of cellulose-rich raw materials to create unique textile fibers with the natural look and feel of cotton and superior properties. The created fibers have natural antimicrobial properties, they are biodegradable, contain no microplastics, and can be recycled together with other textile waste,” said Petri Alava, cofounder and CEO of Infinited Fiber.

Infinited Fiber is also leading the E.U.-funded New Cotton Project, a consortium of brands, manufacturers, suppliers, innovators and research institutes that is breaking new ground by demonstrating an entirely circular model for commercial garment production. This is a world first in the fashion industry. Over a three-year period, textile waste will be collected, sorted and regenerated into Infinited Fiber’s unique, cellulose-based textile fibers which will be used to create different types of fabrics for clothing designed, manufactured and sold by global brand Adidas and companies in the H&M Group.

A physical armor against COVID-19?

Finland-based biotechnology company NordShield® has created natural-based antimicrobial technology that works against bacteria, fungi and viruses (including human corona viruses). It is free of heavy metals and instead harnesses the ancient power of Nordic forests. In its various forms, the technology can be applied to textiles and fibers as well as medical devices, plastics and even skin.

“The power of nature is the power of NordShield. We want to eliminate the usage of non-sustainable, non-renewable and toxic ingredients in antimicrobial protection. By offering a superior alternative to the existing antimicrobial products, we are making a positive impact on the world and making the new normal as safe as possible. Our technology minimizes the chemical load on the environment and is also cost-competitive,” said NordShield®’s CEO Kristoffer Ekman.

The recently launched NordShield BioLayr is a durable antibacterial solution for making consumer textiles antimicrobial. The revolutionary NordShield Brilliant technology can be applied to a variety of products, such as for sanitizing hands, feet, surfaces and even community face masks. Tests conducted in December 2020 and January 2021 confirm NordShield Brilliant’s long-lasting efficacy for up to five weeks. Before the market entry of NordShield Brilliant products, disinfectants have used alcohol as the active substance to eliminate microbes and germs. However, the effect of alcohol is short-lived; after it has evaporated, typically in a matter of seconds, the treated surface or skin is exposed to contamination again. NordShield Brilliant products contain alcohol for the immediate kill effect, but the long-lasting efficacy is derived from its disruptive technology that is based on a unique layer that does not evaporate but forms a physical, armor-like barrier on the treated surface. The technology is available for wholesalers throughout the E.U./EEA and in Switzerland.

Less waste: Getting more wear out of our clothes

Emmy Clothing is a Nordic online marketplace for pre-owned premium clothing. The webstore enables consumers, apparel retailers and fashion brands to easily and efficiently resell, discover and buy high-quality fashion, with complete transparency regarding quality, availability and delivery options. With a focus on quality, all the items are hand-inspected and authenticity-checked. Emmy also provides consumers and partners a fully transparent service toward textile reuse, and valuable information on apparel quality as well as the apparel’s impact on the environment.

“Extending the clothing lifecycle is our mission. The most sustainable way is to use the clothing in its original form. We want to offer our customers a fun, effortless and rewarding way to recycle clothes,” said Emmy’s CMO Taru Marjamaa.

*Pulse of Fashion industry 2017

Posted February 15, 2021

Source: Business Finland

Hexcel’s HexPly® XF Surface Technology Revolutionizes The Blade Surface Finishing Process

STAMFORD, Conn. — February 15, 2021 — Hexcel is pleased to announce its latest HexPly® XF surface technology that significantly reduces shell manufacturing time within the wind blade surface finishing process. HexPly XF increases overall blade manufacturing efficiency by reducing time in the mold by up to two hours and by banishing surface defects that require rework before painting.

As the surge in wind energy continues, wind turbine manufacturers are under increasing pressure to reduce costs, increase quality, and optimize productivity. Hexcel’s HexPly XF surface technology has been formulated to address the limitations of current blade shell surfacing techniques whereby pinholes and other surface defects have to be repaired by hand to achieve the perfectly smooth surface required for painting.

HexPly XF surface technology satisfies the most challenging surface quality requirements by introducing a new material format as the surface finishing layer, eliminating the need for a traditional in-mold gel coating process. HexPly XF for infused rotor blades, is a lightweight non-woven semi-preg construction, comprising an epoxy resin matrix, that co-cures with standard epoxy infusion systems. The product has a successful track record in prepreg blades and has now been adapted for infusion processes.

Easy to handle and supplied in a ready to use roll form, HexPly XF can be quickly applied by hand or with semi-automated layup equipment. It features one self-adhesive, surface finishing side — indicated by a removable protective foil. This side of the prepreg is placed against a release agent treated mold surface. Once the material has been positioned, the lay-up of the blade shell structure can start immediately, and the laminate can be infused. After curing, the blade is de-molded with the manufacturer benefiting from a pinhole-free surface that needs minimal preparation before painting.

HexPly XF material is less than half the weight of a typical gel coat per square meter, reducing the overall weight of the blade. Additionally, the consistent areal weight and thickness of the prepreg film provide a completely uniform surface coating, ensuring blade weight distribution and balance are maintained, which is critical as rotor diameters continue to increase. With no need to handle or mix liquid chemicals as in the gel coat process, HexPly XF also improves the health and safety working conditions on the shop floor.

The material has a shelf life of six weeks at ambient temperature, which also minimizes cold storage requirements and helps to reduce scrap.

Posted February 15, 2021

Source: Hexcel Corporation

Carrington Textiles Secures Joint Venture In Asia And Announces Growth In Europe

ADLINGTON, England  — February 15, 2021 — Carrington Textiles and Sapphire Textile Mills have announced a joint venture in Pakistan under the name of Carrington Textiles International, with new textile dyeing and finishing operations that will provide up to 20 million meters a year of dyed and white fabric to its global customer base.

This new partnership between the two textile giants has been developed after a solid relationship of more than 20 years and offers customers the widest range of woven workwear fabrics, including cotton rich, polyester/cotton, stretch and new sustainable fabrics, all manufactured to the highest industrially launderable standards.

Both companies will combine their strengths in manufacturing, marketing, research, and development to bring value to the market. A new production facility, now in operation, has some of the most modern European dyeing and finishing plant and machinery, including a double width dye range for greater efficiency. This will further enhance the capabilities of the joint venture.

With the closeness to Sapphire’s existing spinning and weaving operations, as well as to other existing local suppliers, this adds to the ability of Carrington Textiles International to provide a vertically integrated manufacturing solution, reducing lead times and further enhancing service to customers.  Finished stock will be warehoused in Lahore, Asia and the South African port of Durban, ensuring the best possible service to all major markets.

Carrington Textiles’ CEO, John Vareldzis, said: “Following years of working closely with Sapphire as one of our strategic loomstate suppliers, we have made the next logical step together and invested in a new state of the art dyeing and finishing factory in Lahore. This not only gives us our own European engineered manufacturing plant in Asia, but it also provides access to a vertical operation, from spinning through to weaving, dyeing and finishing. All of the dyeing and finishing machinery has been specified by our technical experts to meet the exacting standards of the workwear market and we are confident this integration of our supply chains will help to give our customers the best chance to succeed in a challenging and exciting market”.

Nabeel Abdullah, Sapphire’s COO, said: ‘Carrington Textiles International is an excellent project we are excited to be part of, and we are pleased our longstanding relationship with Carrington Textiles has developed into this joint venture.’

Strong European growth

The RTS Group, parent company of Carrington Textiles and Pincroft Dyeing & Printing in the United Kingdom, Melchior Textil GmbH in Germany, MGC in Portugal and Adventum Technologies in Russia, announced a range of strategic investments to support the continuing development of their global footprint, from a solid manufacturing base and with a strong local presence in key markets.

Vareldzis explained: “Following the U.K.’s departure from the E.U., and despite any real warning of what the shape of Brexit would look like, we are pleased that all of our hard work, planning and preparation has meant that we have been able to continue to supply all of our customers. Having put our investment plans on hold until we had greater clarity, we are now ready to start investing in two of our manufacturing sites, Pincroft and MGC”.

In the United Kingdom, Pincroft Dyeing & Printing will benefit from significant capital investment in a new combined heat and power plant, aimed at further reducing CO2 emissions and improving the facility’s carbon footprint, sustainably lowering energy consumption and costs.  A five year CapEx plan to modernize the factory will be put in place to ensure the factory is ready for the changing demands and product trends of the workwear market with details being released later in the year. This investment will ensure that the United Kingdom retains its competitive position for the future and has solid platform from which it can continue to build.

MGC in Portugal will also see a 5 year modernization plan, with the installation of a new color dispenser, automatic inspection and rolling machines. Completion of the E.U.-U.K. trade deal has given clarity to the group’s ability to continue providing fabrics that are fully compliant with E.U. rules of origin, clearing the way for further investment in plant and machinery in this key region.

In Germany, Melchior Textil GmbH continues to boost its customer focus with the recruitment of new senior management and sales leadership for the DACH region, whilst Adventum Technologies in Russia continue to focus upon innovation and product development in both flame retardant and workwear, as both markets remain of key strategic importance for the RTS group.

With Pincroft Dyeing and Printing, MGC and the additional volumes from Carrington Textiles International, Melchior and Adventum, the group production capacity increases to 130 million square meters of fabric a year.

Posted February 15, 2021

Source: Carrington Textiles, Ltd.

Lubrizol Advanced Material Science Brings Modern Performance And Innovation To The New Premiere Series By Footjoy

CLEVELAND  — February 15, 2021 — Designed with the needs of experienced and professional players in mind, The Premiere Series by FootJoy features ESTANE® TRX TPU polymers from Lubrizol offering superior traction on wet and dry surfaces. ESTANE TRX TPU’s design flexibility helps ensure the successful molding of FootJoy’s (FJ) patented revolutionary anti-channeling tread pattern VersaTrax+, engineered to provide total traction coverage for any angle, reducing slippage.

The innovative VersaTrax+ outsole technology, first introduced in FJ Stratos™ spikeless golf shoe in the fall of 2020, utilizes multiple ESTANE TPU compounds to grip any surface — a harder TPU for better on-course grip and a softer TPU for traction on hard surfaces. VersaTrax+ provides the Premiere Series modern performance innovation, while staying true to its timeless design.

“The VersaTrax+ outsole in the Premiere Series, made with innovative Lubrizol ESTANE TPU solutions, is a premiere technology using our premiere material for a premiere line of shoes,” said Kenneth Kim, Footwear Market Development manager, Lubrizol. “This new line is a nod to traditional golf designs blended with innovative technology to deliver performance and style for the experienced golfer.”

“We saw a terrific opportunity to completely reinvent the classically inspired golf shoe from the ground up,” said Chris Tobias, vice president, FJ Footwear. “And to accomplish that, we leveraged every ounce of innovation, as well as direct input from the world’s best players, to deliver next-level performance with a distinctly modern take on classic design.”

Lubrizol invented thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) polymers more than 60 years ago and continues to be a world leader in TPU, delivering high performance solutions to a wide range of industries from performance footwear and apparel to surface protection, consumer electronics, transportation, industrial specialties, bonding solutions and more. The customizable properties of TPU allow manufacturers to Create Smarter, helping reduce waste in manufacturing and providing durable, long-lasting, recyclable* solutions that can help differentiate their products from others in the market.

The Tarlow, The Packard and The Flint shoes in the Premiere Series by FootJoy will be available to purchase on March 1, 2021.

Posted February 15, 2021

Source: The Lubrizol Corp.

Revolutionary Machine Returns To Monforts After More Than A Century

Fred Vohsdahl (left) and Walter Dresen with the103-year-old Monforts machine.

MÖNCHENGLADBACH, Germany — February 15, 2021 — A 36-roller raising machine manufactured in the year 1918 has recently been delivered to its final retirement home — as a historic showpiece at the Monforts Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) in Mönchengladbach, Germany.

The machine remained in operation at a plant in Poland up until early 2000 and has now been handed back in full working condition to its manufacturer.

Monforts veterans Walter Dresen and Fred Vohdahl — both of whom each worked for the company for more than 50 years and are themselves now retired — ensured the smooth landing of the machine as it was unloaded from its delivery truck.

The raising machine was introduced by Monforts at the end of the 19th century and represented a game-changer at that time, due to the use of low friction ball bearings for its raising rollers. This greatly reduced the wear and maintenance of the raising rollers and was a first for the market.

An 1927 advertisement for Monforts with the raising machine depicted bottom left.

Spirit of innovation

“We are proud to have such an old-timer now on display at our ATC,” said Monforts Marketing Manager Nicole Croonenbroek. “It demonstrates the spirit of innovation that has been a part of Monforts since the company was founded in 1884 and is now in our genes.

“Our two former collleagues, Walter Dresen, our head of Service for many years, and Fred Vohsdahl, who was the manager of the ATC until his recent retirement, took charge of the rebuild and restoration work. They have been able to find and replace the leather transmission belts which were the crucial drive element between what would originally have been a steam engine and the raising machine in the textile mill.

“Visitors will be interested to see this example of Monforts Industry 1.0 engineering and can compare it to the latest Industry 4.0 features of our latest finishing lines at the ATC.”

Illustration of the raising machine from the 1920s.

Despite any current travel restrictions, the Monforts Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) is fully operational for industrial-scale trials which go beyond lab or pilot plant testing, to be run by highly experienced staff on behalf of customers.

Since its opening in 2013, more than 3 million euros have been invested in equipment at the ATC, which over an area of 1,200 square meters, houses two full finishing lines, engineered to accommodate an extremely diverse range of processes based around the industry-leading Montex tenter, in addition to a Thermex range for continuous fabric dyeing and the newly developed CYD process for yarn dyeing.

Posted February 15, 2021

Source: A. Monforts Textilmaschinen GmbH & Co. KG

Reino Linen Service Achieves Renewals For Hygienically Clean Healthcare

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — February 12, 2021 — Reino Linen Service, a second generation, family-owned and operated company serving the textile needs of hospitals and healthcare facilities throughout Ohio and Michigan, recently qualified for renewal of the Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification for their locations in Brownstown, Mich., and Gibsonburg, Ohio. The renewals of this certification reflects its continued commitment to best management practices (BMPs) in laundering as verified by on-site inspection and its capability to produce hygienically clean textiles as quantified by ongoing microbial testing. The Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification confirms the organization’s continuing dedication to infection prevention, compliance with recognized industry standards and processing healthcare textiles using BMPs as described in its quality assurance documentation, a focal point for Hygienically Clean inspectors’ evaluation. The independent, third-party inspection must also confirm essential evidence that:

  • Employees are properly trained and protected;
  • Managers understand regulatory requirements;
  • OSHA-compliant; and
  • Physical plant operates effectively.

To achieve certification initially, laundries pass three rounds of outcome-based microbial testing, indicating that their processes are producing Hygienically Clean Healthcare textiles and diminished presence of yeast, mold and harmful bacteria. They also must pass a facility inspection. To maintain their certification, they must pass quarterly testing to ensure that as laundry conditions change, such as water quality, textile fabric composition and wash chemistry, laundered product quality is consistently maintained. Re-inspection occurs every two to three years.

This process eliminates subjectivity by focusing on outcomes and results that verify textiles cleaned in these facilities meet appropriate hygienically clean standards and BMPs for hospitals, surgery centers, medical offices, nursing homes and other medical facilities.

Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification acknowledges laundries’ effectiveness in protecting healthcare operations by verifying quality control procedures in linen, uniform and facility services operations related to the handling of textiles containing blood and other potentially infectious materials.

Certified laundries use processes, chemicals and BMPs acknowledged by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, American National Standards Institute and others. Introduced in 2012, Hygienically Clean Healthcare brought to North America the international cleanliness standards for healthcare linens and garments used worldwide by the Certification Association for Professional Textile Services and the European Committee for Standardization.

Objective experts in epidemiology, infection control, nursing and other healthcare professions work with Hygienically Clean launderers to ensure the certification continues to enforce the highest standards for producing clean healthcare textiles.

“Congratulations to Reino Linen Service on their recertifications,” said Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. “This achievement proves their commitment to infection prevention and that their laundry takes every step possible to prevent human illness.” The company has also earned TRSA’s Clean Green certification, which recognizes their efforts in environmental stewardship.

Posted February 13, 2021

Source: TRSA

Continental Structural Plastics’ CEO Steve Rooney Named General Manager, Composites Business Unit For Teijin

Rooney

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — February 11, 2021 — Continental Structural Plastics (CSP), a Teijin Group company, today announced that Steve Rooney, CEO, has been promoted to general manager of the Composites Business Unit of Teijin Ltd.

In this expanded role, Rooney will report directly to Akimoto Uchikawa, who has been named president of the Materials Business. Rooney will continue to be a Teijin Group corporate officer, while Uchikawa becomes a Teijin Group executive officer.

As general manager of the Composites Business Unit, Rooney will now be responsible for all composites operations in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. This will include Japanese composites operations in Matsuyama and Ibigawa; and the operations of Inapal Plásticos, Benet Automotive and Teijin Automotive Center Europe, in addition to CSP’s existing operations in Pouancé, France. It also includes the operations of CSP Victall. In January, CSP Victall, originally a 50/50 joint venture with Victall Qingdao Railway Ltd., became a wholly owned subsidiary of Teijin via a share transfer. This transfer took place to allow Victall to focus on its core rail business, while CSP Victall continues to expand the use of advanced composites among Chinese automotive OEMs.

“This organizational change is an important step in allowing us to unify Teijin’s composites operations around the world,” Rooney said. “We will be able to standardize operations and systems across all facilities globally, enabling us to provide our customers with seamless service and access to leading-edge composite technologies, regardless of where they are located.”

“I am convinced Steve will strengthen our capabilities across our composites operations. The composites footprint we now have further enables us to meet our customers’ needs for lightweight but strong automotive components,” Uchikawa said. “As we integrate these global operations, we are committed to embarking on a robust life cycle assessment process, including a complete analysis of the total amount of carbon dioxide we emit during our production process.”

Specifically, Teijin’s Composites Business Unit is comprised of manufacturing operations in the United States (CSP); Mexico (CSP); Czech Republic (Benet Automotive); France (CSP); Portugal (Inapal Plásticos); China (CSP Victall); and Japan (Teijin). It also includes research and development facilities located in Auburn Hills, Michigan; Pouancé, France; Wuppertal, Germany; Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic; Tangshan, China; and Matsuyama, Japan. Today, these advanced glass and carbon fiber composites operations provide lightweight, high-strength automotive components ranging from electric vehicle battery covers and enclosures to pickup boxes, roof systems and Class A body panels. CSP is among the largest compounders of composite materials in world, while Teijin is the world’s third largest producer of carbon fiber.

These management changes will become effective April 1, 2021.

Posted February 12, 2021

Source: Continental Structural Plastics, a Teijin Group company

Dr. Farshid Guilak Named Kappa Delta Elizabeth Winston Lanier Award Recipient For Research In Functional Cartilage Engineering For Total Joint Resurfacing

Dr. Farshid Guilak

ROSEMONT, Ill. — February 12, 2021 — The 2021 Kappa Delta Elizabeth Winston Lanier Award was presented to Dr. Farshid Guilak and his co-authors Dr. Bradley T. Estes and Dr. Franklin T. Moutos for their research and development of technology to grow bioartificial cartilage using a patient’s own donor cells and seeding them on a novel scaffold that can be molded to match the shape of a patient’s joint. Following a successful preclinical trial on canines with hip osteoarthritis (OA), the research is soon expected to begin a Phase I clinical trial. Additionally, Dr. Guilak’s work in gene therapy to protect against joint inflammation has the potential to advance the treatment of patients with arthritis and some orthopaedic conditions. The Kappa Delta Awards recognize research in musculoskeletal disease or injury with great potential to advance patient care.

OA is a debilitating and costly disease affecting more than 32 million Americans and totaling approximately $65 billion in direct medical fees annually in the United States.i It occurs when the articular cartilage (smooth white tissue that covers the end of bones where they meet to form joints) gradually degenerates, contributing to the degeneration of the joint. Approximately 2.8 million patients with OA are between the ages of 40-65 and seek medical treatment for hip OA.ii iii Of these, 840,000 (about 30%) suffer from activity limiting hip OA, and these patients are typically recommended for hip replacement surgery.

“Due to injuries sustained from increased athletic activity and, conversely, a high prevalence of obese patients, we’re seeing more hip osteoarthritis in younger patients,” said Dr. Guilak, lead author, Mildred Simon Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Washington University and director of Research at Shriners Hospitals in St. Louis.

A hip replacement is an ideal surgery for patients in their 70s and 80s to relieve pain and restore function. However, a younger patient who receives a hip replacement will likely need a revision surgery since the life span of the prosthesis is typically 15-20 years.

“This is not ideal,” Dr. Guilak said. “It is traumatic to tear out an old prosthesis and the risk of infection and complications increase tremendously. We wanted to find a way to restore hip joint function in the short term (5-10 years) until the time was right for a hip replacement.”

Drs. Guilak, Estes, and Moutos, along with numerous collaborators and colleagues, spent more than 15 years developing a scientific approach for extracting cells from the patient’s fat or bone marrow, combining them with a biomaterial scaffold and establishing an optimal environment for the cells to multiply and form a living joint replacement. “Our goal from the beginning has been to help patients afflicted with debilitating arthritic disease. We have progressed to the point that we are now on the verge of bringing a product into the clinic. We are excited about that,” said Dr. Estes, who is currently the president and COO at Cytex Inc.

While there had been progress in tissue engineering to repair focal defects, there was nothing available to biologically replace an entire joint surface. The challenge, however, was developing an anatomically sized and functional cartilage, and ensuring that the inflammatory environment within an arthritic joint didn’t stymie the continued growth of the cartilage once implanted.

“It is easier to fill a pothole rather than repave an entire road,” Dr. Guilak said. “With a background in bioengineering, we knew success was contingent upon a biomaterial scaffold that could not only hold cells but have the strength and durability to withstand joint loading after covering the entire joint surface.”

Over the years, the team tried hydrogels and nonwoven fabrics (mesh of fine materials) as the base for the scaffold. However, the weak mechanical properties of these substances didn’t withstand the joint loading, which can often be 10 times a person’s body weight.

“At this point, we theorized that if we wove our own fabric using individual fibers of a material that was safe and resorbable, such as a dissolvable suture, we could create a scaffold that was porous enough to seed the stem cells directly into the fabric, but strong enough to withstand loading compression.”

After initial studies demonstrated the exciting potential of this new approach, Drs. Guilak, Estes, and Moutos formed a startup company, Cytex Therapeutics so that this promising technology could ultimately be translated to the clinic to treat young patients with joint disease.

Dr. Moutos, who is now the vice president of Technology Development at Cytex Therapeutics Inc. in Durham, N.C., previously worked in the textile industry and understood the intricacies of textile construction. His expertise was instrumental in developing a loom that could weave 600 sutures into a 3-D pattern, entwining multiple fiber layers in three orthogonal directions to form a one-piece scaffold structure with regular, interconnected pores that could be molded into the shape of a patient’s joint. Tuning and perfecting this process took nearly two years.

To develop the cartilage, Dr. Estes worked to create optimal conditions to isolate the stem cells from either fat or bone marrow and then treat them with a cocktail of growth factors and supplements that allowed them to form into bone or cartilage-forming cells on the scaffold.

The result is a living joint replacement that can restore the function of an osteoarthritic hip joint. By implanting regrown cartilage started in a laboratory into the body to resurface a damaged joint, the stem cells continue to grow on a tough yet flexible scaffold which will eventually disintegrate once the cartilage is fully developed.

This approach was tested in dogs with hip OA and the implants showed success in all measured outcomes. The dogs who received the engineered implant returned to normal gait, activity levels and behavior by six months, whereas the control cohort did not return to these levels by the end of the study. The study demonstrated that the engineered implant restored the contour and functional properties of the femoral head to its native condition, providing the needed large animal data to advance this technology to the clinic.  As a result, the team expects to begin a Phase I clinical trial for use in humans in the near future.

Dr. Guilak and his team continue to study the complexities of optimal cellular growth to advance the next generation of tissue engineering. They are currently conducting laboratory research utilizing gene editing and gene therapy to change the genetic makeup of the cell and program them to fight off inflammation that can inhibit cartilage growth. This includes:

  • The development of a virus to create an anti-inflammatory drug that will rewrite a cell’s DNA by inserting a gene into the stem cells. This virus is coated on the scaffold, so it doesn’t go anywhere else in the body. When the stem cells are added to the scaffold, they take on that viral construct. In inflamed joints, inflammatory cytokines (signaling molecules) such as TNF and Interleukin-1 cause inflammation and arthritis. The virus was developed to make biologic inhibitors (similar to those used in rheumatoid arthritis drugs) and the gene can be turned on and off simply by adding or removing a harmless compound to the cells in the laboratory or to the diet of the animals undergoing testing.
  • Utilizing the same genetic program that will turn on an anti-inflammatory drug, the team created self-regulating SMART cells (Stem Cells Modified for Autonomous Regenerative Therapy) by using CRISPR-Cas9 (removing, editing or altering sections of the DNA sequence). They edited the cells to cut out the signaling pathway in the cytokine that breaks down the cartilage, and in its place, inserted the biologic drug to shut off inflammation. Instead of remotely adding or removing inhibitors, these cells can turn on the drug when it senses inflammation and turn on and turn off when the inflammation stops. This approach is currently being tested in mouse models with rheumatoid arthritis.

“We’re hopeful that as we work through this next chapter in our research, we can increase the efficacy of the joint replacement, so eventually it has a longer life span and one day could provide permanent regeneration and replacement option,” said Dr. Guilak.

Dr. Guilak previously received the Kappa Delta Young Investigator Award in 1998 for “The Biomechanics of the Chondrocyte in Articular Cartilage” and was part of the team who received the 2015 Kappa Delta Ann Doner Vaughn Award for “Early Inhibition of Proinflammatory Cytokines Prevents Post-Traumatic Arthritis: Insights from the Natural History of Arthritis Developing after Intra-Articular Fracture.”

iUnited States Bone and Joint Initiative. The Burden of Musculoskeletal Diseases in the United States (BMUS). In: In. Fourth ed. Rosemont, IL. 2018: Available at https://www.boneandjointburden.org/fourth-edition. Accessed June 12, 2019.

ii Gunther KP, Puhl W, Brenner H, et al. 2002. [Clinical epidemiology of hip and knee joint arthroses: an overview of the results of the “Ulm Osteoarthrosis Study”]. Z Rheumatol 61:244-249.

iii Gunther KP, Sturmer T, Sauerland S, et al. 1998. Prevalence of generalised osteoarthritis in patients with advanced hip and knee osteoarthritis: the Ulm Osteoarthritis Study. Ann Rheum Dis 57:717-723.

Posted February 12, 2021

Source: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons

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