01.01.04
Location: Taipei, Taiwan
Sales: $55 Million
Description: Key Personnel
J.C. Tai, president and owner; Kirk Hwang, vice president corporate planning and international operations; George Wong, hygiene business director; Herman Tai, industrial specialties business director; Alvin Hu, technical vice president
Plants
Taipei, Taiwan; Shanghai, China
ISO Status
ISO 9001 certified
Processes
Air through bonding, thermal bonding, meltblown, airlaid, needlepunching
Brand Names
Carnation brand used for hygiene; Co-Fiber for industrial specialty products
Major Markets
Hygiene, industrial, agriculture, geotextiles
KNH’s efforts to diversify into non-commodity markets while offering a new spin on products in its existing commodity segments have led to several investments for the Taipei, Taiwan-based company. Recently, the company brought a new laminating machine onstream, tailored existing filtration products to better filter liquids and reduced weights across many of its major product lines.
Executives hope that these and other initiatives will pay off, allowing KNH to increase sales and prepare itself for future changes in the industry. “You can’t sell a pure nonwoven anymore,” said company president J.C. Tai. “The only way to address or overcome the stresses in the market is to add function to your products.”
In early 2004, KNH’s new film/nonwovens line began operation, producing polyethylene/nonwoven laminates for hygiene applications. Among the features of this new line, which improves cost efficiency, is a print release coating option. This gives customers more product choices.
Other efforts within the hygiene segment include decreased weights in KNH’s carded nonwovens. The result has been lower costs, which have helped KNH defend itself against pricing pressures. The company has engineered its materials to provide the same sponginess at 25 gsm weights as it did at 30 gsm. This trend is also ongoing in the airlaid market, another market in which KNH participates that has been characterized by pricing pressures in recent years. The company has been fine-tuning its two-in-one airlaid product, sold in the feminine hygiene market under the Carnation brand, to increase performance while decreasing basis weights. Executives feel that this practice will continue as prices trend even lower in upcoming years.
Meanwhile, KNH’s other core markets, such as agriculture and geotextiles, have remained flat, largely due to weakened economies and downsized civil engineering budgets. Highlights in these businesses include a sun/moisture control web for agricultural applications in Japan as well as increased funding of civil engineering projects within Asia.
One market gaining ground for KNH is heavy-duty drainage and wastewater treatment products. The company entered this market in Australia in 2001 through an agreement with Spill Station Alliance, Sydney, Australia. Vice present of corporate planning Kirk Hwang said Australia is a good region in which to launch this business because it has historically been a benchmark for the rest of the Asia-Pacific region when it comes to environmental efforts.
In recent years, water filtration has emerged as a big market for KNH as advancements in the company’s meltblown nonwovens have opened up doors in waste water management. This is particularly an important market in China as more consumers and agencies become more aware of the importance of water quality. Mr. Tai said he expects similar trends in air quality control to follow. “We are seeing more and more environmental specialty companies in China,” he explained. “This is definitely a market that we are watching closely.”
On the new product front, KNH has created a meltblown/needlepunch/spunbond composite membrane for wastewater treatment applications. The material forms the filtration media in products that use bacteria to convert debris in wastewater to carbon dioxide and H2O.
Sales: $55 Million
Description: Key Personnel
J.C. Tai, president and owner; Kirk Hwang, vice president corporate planning and international operations; George Wong, hygiene business director; Herman Tai, industrial specialties business director; Alvin Hu, technical vice president
Plants
Taipei, Taiwan; Shanghai, China
ISO Status
ISO 9001 certified
Processes
Air through bonding, thermal bonding, meltblown, airlaid, needlepunching
Brand Names
Carnation brand used for hygiene; Co-Fiber for industrial specialty products
Major Markets
Hygiene, industrial, agriculture, geotextiles
KNH’s efforts to diversify into non-commodity markets while offering a new spin on products in its existing commodity segments have led to several investments for the Taipei, Taiwan-based company. Recently, the company brought a new laminating machine onstream, tailored existing filtration products to better filter liquids and reduced weights across many of its major product lines.
Executives hope that these and other initiatives will pay off, allowing KNH to increase sales and prepare itself for future changes in the industry. “You can’t sell a pure nonwoven anymore,” said company president J.C. Tai. “The only way to address or overcome the stresses in the market is to add function to your products.”
In early 2004, KNH’s new film/nonwovens line began operation, producing polyethylene/nonwoven laminates for hygiene applications. Among the features of this new line, which improves cost efficiency, is a print release coating option. This gives customers more product choices.
Other efforts within the hygiene segment include decreased weights in KNH’s carded nonwovens. The result has been lower costs, which have helped KNH defend itself against pricing pressures. The company has engineered its materials to provide the same sponginess at 25 gsm weights as it did at 30 gsm. This trend is also ongoing in the airlaid market, another market in which KNH participates that has been characterized by pricing pressures in recent years. The company has been fine-tuning its two-in-one airlaid product, sold in the feminine hygiene market under the Carnation brand, to increase performance while decreasing basis weights. Executives feel that this practice will continue as prices trend even lower in upcoming years.
Meanwhile, KNH’s other core markets, such as agriculture and geotextiles, have remained flat, largely due to weakened economies and downsized civil engineering budgets. Highlights in these businesses include a sun/moisture control web for agricultural applications in Japan as well as increased funding of civil engineering projects within Asia.
One market gaining ground for KNH is heavy-duty drainage and wastewater treatment products. The company entered this market in Australia in 2001 through an agreement with Spill Station Alliance, Sydney, Australia. Vice present of corporate planning Kirk Hwang said Australia is a good region in which to launch this business because it has historically been a benchmark for the rest of the Asia-Pacific region when it comes to environmental efforts.
In recent years, water filtration has emerged as a big market for KNH as advancements in the company’s meltblown nonwovens have opened up doors in waste water management. This is particularly an important market in China as more consumers and agencies become more aware of the importance of water quality. Mr. Tai said he expects similar trends in air quality control to follow. “We are seeing more and more environmental specialty companies in China,” he explained. “This is definitely a market that we are watching closely.”
On the new product front, KNH has created a meltblown/needlepunch/spunbond composite membrane for wastewater treatment applications. The material forms the filtration media in products that use bacteria to convert debris in wastewater to carbon dioxide and H2O.