01.01.04
Location: Dallas, TX
Sales: $925 MILLION
Description: Nonwoven Fabrics Headquarters
Roswell, GA 30076
Telephone: 770-587-8000
Key Personnel
Thomas Falk, chairman and CEO; Dudley Lehman, group president, Business to Business Sector; Rosalind Brewer, president, Global Nonwovens Operations and Technology; Mark Foreste, vice president, Nonwoven Fabrics Business
Plants
Corinth, MS; Balfour, NC; Lexington, NC; LaGrange, GA; Neenah, WI
ISO Status
Certification achieved in Lexington, NC and LaGrange, GA; other facilities in progress
Processes
Spunbond, meltblown, SMS, BCW, hydroentangled and Coform
Brand Names
Accord fabrics, Blockit protective fabric, Breeze facemask media, Cyclean filtration media, Dustop protective fabric, Evolution 4 protective fabric, Fathom filtration media, Intrepid filtration media, Matrix protective fabric, Noah protective fabric, Powerloft filtration media and QuieTech acoustic media,
Major Markets
Filtration, acoustics, furniture, hygiene, industrial, medical, packaging, protective, sorbents, textile linings and wet wipes
2003 was described as a good year for Kimberly-Clark’s external roll goods business. The Roswell, GA-based division achieved double-digit growth, according to executives who cited market recovery as well as geographical expansion as main growth drivers. “Business has been excellent, particularly in nonwovens,” said J.C. Sneyd, director of marketing and sales for the nonwovens division. “All of our markets have done well for us.”
Among the markets K-C targets are filtration, delivery systems, or wipes, protective products, sorbents and acoustics. Sales to these areas comprise about 15% of its nonwovens capacity. The rest fuels the Dallas-based company’s large consumer products business including Huggies disposable diapers and training pants, Depend adult incontinence items and Kotex feminine hygiene products. While the company is well known for its consumer goods, which also includes a large tissue business, its nonwovens business has not been ignored. In fact, the company is well known in the nonwovens industry as an innovator.
“We are not interested in participating in commodity businesses competing solely on offering the lowest-priced product,” Mr. Sneyd explained. “This has allowed us to grow on the strength of our unique and patented products across the board.”
One of K-C’s larger roll goods businesses is filtration, where K-C has carved out a strong performance segment based on its patent estate surrounding barrier materials. K-C’s filtration brand names include Intrepid on the air side; Fathom and Powerloft in liquid.
Filtration is currently one of the largest growth markets for nonwovens in the U.S. but, aware that the U.S. is not the world, K-C has already initiated international sales networks globally.
“We will always continue to enhance the technology and provide the attributes needed,” Mr. Sneyd said. “The biggest need, of course, is for better performance without incurring extra costs.”
Another large segment is K-C’s delivery systems business, which largely serves the consumer wipes market. K-C participates here as both a contract manufacturer and a seller of roll goods, attacking markets that do not compete directly with its consumer products. Nonwoven wipes continue to grow on the heels of new market proliferation with new applications for wipes being developed daily. While the success of the wipes market has attracted a significant amount of new capacity, both existing and planned, K-C has been able to differentiate itself with a proprietary hydroentanglement process. This technology provides attributes superior to the commodity-grade wipes in the market, according to Mr. Sneyd.
A market in which K-C has been involved for 20 years, sorbents, continues to grow from a strong base of loyal customers that are also growing. K-C purposely has not expanded its customer base in this segment, enjoying the excellent growth rates of its existing customers with well established brands.
A more recent interest, acoustics has benefited from K-C’s efforts to engineer products that can filter specific sounds at certain wave lengths. In a market that is often dominated by unsophisticated, shoddy materials, K-C’s technology has allowed it to offer innovative materials to both building and transportation customers.
K-C’s external nonwovens business is a part of its Business to Business division, which also includes the K-C Professional, Healthcare, Neenah Paper and Technical Paper businesses and comprises nearly 25% of total sales. Last month, K-C finalized plans to spin off several of these businesses as part of an effort to strengthen its focus on health and hygiene. The spin-off of Neenah Paper, Technical Paper and pulp and timber operations in Canada is scheduled to occur by the end of this year. After the deal, K-C will become one of the new company’s largest customers through a long-term pulp supply agreement.
Other changes at the company include the appointment of Dudley Lehman, formerly the head of infant care for North America, who was tapped to lead the B2B segment in January as part of corporate-wide organizational and management changes. At that time, former B2B head Robert Abernathy was chosen to lead the newly created Developing and Emerging Markets business unit. This unit was established as part of a new organizational structure designed to increase the company’s speed in translating consumer and customer insights into innovative products, streamline its decision making and deliver cost reductions on a sustainable basis. Under the new organization, K-C’s North American and European Personal Care groups as well as its Consumer Tissue businesses were combined under North Atlantic management teams. A Developing and Emerging Markets business unit was formed to grow these businesses in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
These organizational changes are another step in the company’s global business plan announced in July 2003. The company is striving for annual sales growth of 3-5%. To achieve this, K-C is centering investments on faster-growing products such as training pants and wipes.
Key to this plan is brand building. At its annual meeting in April, chairman and CEO Thomas Falk discussed at length the emotional connection certain consumers have with certain brands. In fact, Mr. Falk said, an emotional connection between parents and Huggies diapers was a key factor in making it the number one U.S. diaper brand in just three decades.
Some of this success, however can also be attributed to product advancements; K-C is constantly announcing improvements to all of its products lines. In April 2004, this meant the addition of gender-specific designs, a gender-specific absorbent structure, compressed packaging to GoodNites disposable underpants and the addition of Disney designs to Pull-Ups training pants and Little Swimmers swim pants. Around this time, K-C also added a second size to its Huggies Convertibles Diaper Pants, an infant care product that can be put on like pants or used like a traditional diaper. This product, a first-of-its-kind innovation, has already captured nearly a one point share of the $4 billion U.S. diaper market. Huggies Convertibles were originally available in a single size for babies weighing more than 27 pounds but are now available to babies over 22 pounds. Turning toward K-C’s more traditional diaper products, recent improvements include the incorporation of Triple Leak Protection in all of its mainline diapers and upgrades to leg cuffs in Huggies Supreme diapers for a softer snugger fit.
These improvements and others like them have contributed to K-C’s lead in the diaper category. For the most recent quarter ended June 30, 2004, personal care sales rose more than 4% on improved performance of Pull-Ups, Little Swimmers and a 3% increase in shipments of Huggies. "
Sales: $925 MILLION
Description: Nonwoven Fabrics Headquarters
Roswell, GA 30076
Telephone: 770-587-8000
Key Personnel
Thomas Falk, chairman and CEO; Dudley Lehman, group president, Business to Business Sector; Rosalind Brewer, president, Global Nonwovens Operations and Technology; Mark Foreste, vice president, Nonwoven Fabrics Business
Plants
Corinth, MS; Balfour, NC; Lexington, NC; LaGrange, GA; Neenah, WI
ISO Status
Certification achieved in Lexington, NC and LaGrange, GA; other facilities in progress
Processes
Spunbond, meltblown, SMS, BCW, hydroentangled and Coform
Brand Names
Accord fabrics, Blockit protective fabric, Breeze facemask media, Cyclean filtration media, Dustop protective fabric, Evolution 4 protective fabric, Fathom filtration media, Intrepid filtration media, Matrix protective fabric, Noah protective fabric, Powerloft filtration media and QuieTech acoustic media,
Major Markets
Filtration, acoustics, furniture, hygiene, industrial, medical, packaging, protective, sorbents, textile linings and wet wipes
2003 was described as a good year for Kimberly-Clark’s external roll goods business. The Roswell, GA-based division achieved double-digit growth, according to executives who cited market recovery as well as geographical expansion as main growth drivers. “Business has been excellent, particularly in nonwovens,” said J.C. Sneyd, director of marketing and sales for the nonwovens division. “All of our markets have done well for us.”
Among the markets K-C targets are filtration, delivery systems, or wipes, protective products, sorbents and acoustics. Sales to these areas comprise about 15% of its nonwovens capacity. The rest fuels the Dallas-based company’s large consumer products business including Huggies disposable diapers and training pants, Depend adult incontinence items and Kotex feminine hygiene products. While the company is well known for its consumer goods, which also includes a large tissue business, its nonwovens business has not been ignored. In fact, the company is well known in the nonwovens industry as an innovator.
“We are not interested in participating in commodity businesses competing solely on offering the lowest-priced product,” Mr. Sneyd explained. “This has allowed us to grow on the strength of our unique and patented products across the board.”
One of K-C’s larger roll goods businesses is filtration, where K-C has carved out a strong performance segment based on its patent estate surrounding barrier materials. K-C’s filtration brand names include Intrepid on the air side; Fathom and Powerloft in liquid.
Filtration is currently one of the largest growth markets for nonwovens in the U.S. but, aware that the U.S. is not the world, K-C has already initiated international sales networks globally.
“We will always continue to enhance the technology and provide the attributes needed,” Mr. Sneyd said. “The biggest need, of course, is for better performance without incurring extra costs.”
Another large segment is K-C’s delivery systems business, which largely serves the consumer wipes market. K-C participates here as both a contract manufacturer and a seller of roll goods, attacking markets that do not compete directly with its consumer products. Nonwoven wipes continue to grow on the heels of new market proliferation with new applications for wipes being developed daily. While the success of the wipes market has attracted a significant amount of new capacity, both existing and planned, K-C has been able to differentiate itself with a proprietary hydroentanglement process. This technology provides attributes superior to the commodity-grade wipes in the market, according to Mr. Sneyd.
A market in which K-C has been involved for 20 years, sorbents, continues to grow from a strong base of loyal customers that are also growing. K-C purposely has not expanded its customer base in this segment, enjoying the excellent growth rates of its existing customers with well established brands.
A more recent interest, acoustics has benefited from K-C’s efforts to engineer products that can filter specific sounds at certain wave lengths. In a market that is often dominated by unsophisticated, shoddy materials, K-C’s technology has allowed it to offer innovative materials to both building and transportation customers.
K-C’s external nonwovens business is a part of its Business to Business division, which also includes the K-C Professional, Healthcare, Neenah Paper and Technical Paper businesses and comprises nearly 25% of total sales. Last month, K-C finalized plans to spin off several of these businesses as part of an effort to strengthen its focus on health and hygiene. The spin-off of Neenah Paper, Technical Paper and pulp and timber operations in Canada is scheduled to occur by the end of this year. After the deal, K-C will become one of the new company’s largest customers through a long-term pulp supply agreement.
Other changes at the company include the appointment of Dudley Lehman, formerly the head of infant care for North America, who was tapped to lead the B2B segment in January as part of corporate-wide organizational and management changes. At that time, former B2B head Robert Abernathy was chosen to lead the newly created Developing and Emerging Markets business unit. This unit was established as part of a new organizational structure designed to increase the company’s speed in translating consumer and customer insights into innovative products, streamline its decision making and deliver cost reductions on a sustainable basis. Under the new organization, K-C’s North American and European Personal Care groups as well as its Consumer Tissue businesses were combined under North Atlantic management teams. A Developing and Emerging Markets business unit was formed to grow these businesses in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
These organizational changes are another step in the company’s global business plan announced in July 2003. The company is striving for annual sales growth of 3-5%. To achieve this, K-C is centering investments on faster-growing products such as training pants and wipes.
Key to this plan is brand building. At its annual meeting in April, chairman and CEO Thomas Falk discussed at length the emotional connection certain consumers have with certain brands. In fact, Mr. Falk said, an emotional connection between parents and Huggies diapers was a key factor in making it the number one U.S. diaper brand in just three decades.
Some of this success, however can also be attributed to product advancements; K-C is constantly announcing improvements to all of its products lines. In April 2004, this meant the addition of gender-specific designs, a gender-specific absorbent structure, compressed packaging to GoodNites disposable underpants and the addition of Disney designs to Pull-Ups training pants and Little Swimmers swim pants. Around this time, K-C also added a second size to its Huggies Convertibles Diaper Pants, an infant care product that can be put on like pants or used like a traditional diaper. This product, a first-of-its-kind innovation, has already captured nearly a one point share of the $4 billion U.S. diaper market. Huggies Convertibles were originally available in a single size for babies weighing more than 27 pounds but are now available to babies over 22 pounds. Turning toward K-C’s more traditional diaper products, recent improvements include the incorporation of Triple Leak Protection in all of its mainline diapers and upgrades to leg cuffs in Huggies Supreme diapers for a softer snugger fit.
These improvements and others like them have contributed to K-C’s lead in the diaper category. For the most recent quarter ended June 30, 2004, personal care sales rose more than 4% on improved performance of Pull-Ups, Little Swimmers and a 3% increase in shipments of Huggies. "