01.01.10
Location: Denver, CO
Sales: $670 million
Description: Key Personnel
Bob Wamboldt, vice president and general manager, Engineered Products North America (EPNA), Enno Henze, vice president and general manager Engineered Products Europe/Asia (EPEA); Ken Forden, director of sales and marketing EPNA; Stefan Mohr, commercial leader nonwovens (EPEA); Martin Kleinebrecht, marketing leader nonwovens (EPEA)
Plants
Waterville, OH; Defiance, OH; Richland, MS, Spartanburg, SC, Etowah, TN; Bobingen, Berlin, Wertheim, Karlstein and Steinach, Germany; Shanghai and Louyang, China; Trnava, Slovakia
Brand Names
US-Brands: Dura-Glass, DuraBase, Delta-Aire, DynaWick, DynaWeb, DynaTech, Micro-Aire, MicroLith
EU Nonwoven brands: microlith, ForTex, Illuma, StabilStrand,ecoMat, DuraGlass, DuraSpun, SpunFil, CombiFil, ComforTex, StableGrip; UniTex, MicroAire
EU Fibers brands: ThermoFlow, DuraCore, KY-Tex
As it adapts to its new regional structure, roll goods producer and roofing and construction specialist Johns Manville has defended itself against slowdowns in many of its core markets by keeping costs under control. The Denver, CO-based company, which is also a part of Berkshire Hathaway Group, is organized into four regional segments—Insulations Systems, Roofing Systems and Engineered Products North America (EPNA) and Engineered Products Europe/Asia (EPEA), a restructuring that allows the company to increase its decision-making speed.
“During the economic downturn, Johns Manville has successfully repositioned itself for sustainable growth and we have further increased our commitment to focused innovation,” said Enno Henze, vice president and general manager, EPEA. “Constant product and market development as well as our proprietary technology support us to enter new markets traditionally not yet served by polyester spunbond and glass fiber nonwovens.”
Among the markets JM is focusing on are laminate flooring, air filtration, wall coverings and landscaping in addition to its more traditional areas including residential and commercial construction and geotextiles.
The company currently makes glass mat nonwovens in Waterville, OH and Etowah, TN. In Ohio, a line upgrade has increased capacity and efficiency of the operation while in Tennessee the facility is described as extremely cost-efficient, running 24 hours per day/seven days a week.
Meanwhile, in Europe, JM makes glass fiber nonwovens in Karlstein, Steinach and Wertheim, Germany as well as polyester spunbond in Berlin and Bobingen, Germany. A recent highlight for the German operation is a Top 100 seal by the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. For the second year in a row, JM was ranked among the top 100 most innovative mid-sized companies in Germany. “Being again a part of the top 100 innovators makes us very proud but that will not stop us from constantly increasing our focus on structured and focused innovation throughout our company,” Mr. Henze said. “The strong innovation culture within JM has constantly opened the doors to new markets and has resulted in incremental but also step change improvements over the years and will do so in the future.”
JM also operates two plants in China—one in Shanghai and the other in Louyang—where it continues to service roofing specialty and geotextiles markets in Asia and the Middle East from state-of-the-art spunbond lines.
In terms of product development, JM is going after the laminate flooring panel market with the use of StabilStrand, an innovative glass fiber nonwoven impregnated with a semi-cured resin system. Especially in the case of floor coverings, which are subjected to daily stress over many years, impact resistance and impact strength play an important role. StabilStrand EW 160 C/A, used as underlay reinforces of laminate flooring panels manufactured in DPL-process, increases the impact strength and the edge stability of HDF panels. StabilStrand enables users to meet the new performance requirements for the flooring class 34.
Meanwhile, JM is entering an entirely different field of application that can be entered with CombiFil GS, which is a brand-new polyester spunbond air filtration media with improved filtration efficiency and lower pressure drop leading to expanded filter lifetime and lower energy consumption. “This helps our customers to save costs and protect the environment by using fewer resources,” Mr. Henze explained.
Another new product, EasyShine, a nonwoven glass fiber product, has recently been incorporated into JM’s already strong portfolio of innovative and decorative wall covering products for both commercial and residential markets. EasyShine is pre-coated to provide both a time and cost-efficient alternative. Paint consumption is considerably lower compared to other similar products. The pre-coating also acts as a stabilizing factor which enables faster and more accurate edge-to-edge installation.
Within the landscape market, JM has introduced DuraSpun Type 014, which has been specially designed to meet the market demand as protection layer to stabilize sloped landscapes of all kinds. The Polyester Nonwoven DuraSpun Type 014 provides excellent chemical stability and outstanding technical values. "The surface treatment applied to the fabric in combination with the UV resistance enables JM customers to offer an outstanding product for downstream applications,“ explained Martin Kleinebrecht, marketing leader nonwovens (EPEA).
“Due to its unique product characteristics DuraSpun Type 014 offers adequate space for vegetation to grow through the product providing a remarkable water and soil conservation feature while at the same time maintaining moisture and preventing the loss of important nutrients.”
Sales: $670 million
Description: Key Personnel
Bob Wamboldt, vice president and general manager, Engineered Products North America (EPNA), Enno Henze, vice president and general manager Engineered Products Europe/Asia (EPEA); Ken Forden, director of sales and marketing EPNA; Stefan Mohr, commercial leader nonwovens (EPEA); Martin Kleinebrecht, marketing leader nonwovens (EPEA)
Plants
Waterville, OH; Defiance, OH; Richland, MS, Spartanburg, SC, Etowah, TN; Bobingen, Berlin, Wertheim, Karlstein and Steinach, Germany; Shanghai and Louyang, China; Trnava, Slovakia
Brand Names
US-Brands: Dura-Glass, DuraBase, Delta-Aire, DynaWick, DynaWeb, DynaTech, Micro-Aire, MicroLith
EU Nonwoven brands: microlith, ForTex, Illuma, StabilStrand,ecoMat, DuraGlass, DuraSpun, SpunFil, CombiFil, ComforTex, StableGrip; UniTex, MicroAire
EU Fibers brands: ThermoFlow, DuraCore, KY-Tex
As it adapts to its new regional structure, roll goods producer and roofing and construction specialist Johns Manville has defended itself against slowdowns in many of its core markets by keeping costs under control. The Denver, CO-based company, which is also a part of Berkshire Hathaway Group, is organized into four regional segments—Insulations Systems, Roofing Systems and Engineered Products North America (EPNA) and Engineered Products Europe/Asia (EPEA), a restructuring that allows the company to increase its decision-making speed.
“During the economic downturn, Johns Manville has successfully repositioned itself for sustainable growth and we have further increased our commitment to focused innovation,” said Enno Henze, vice president and general manager, EPEA. “Constant product and market development as well as our proprietary technology support us to enter new markets traditionally not yet served by polyester spunbond and glass fiber nonwovens.”
Among the markets JM is focusing on are laminate flooring, air filtration, wall coverings and landscaping in addition to its more traditional areas including residential and commercial construction and geotextiles.
The company currently makes glass mat nonwovens in Waterville, OH and Etowah, TN. In Ohio, a line upgrade has increased capacity and efficiency of the operation while in Tennessee the facility is described as extremely cost-efficient, running 24 hours per day/seven days a week.
Meanwhile, in Europe, JM makes glass fiber nonwovens in Karlstein, Steinach and Wertheim, Germany as well as polyester spunbond in Berlin and Bobingen, Germany. A recent highlight for the German operation is a Top 100 seal by the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. For the second year in a row, JM was ranked among the top 100 most innovative mid-sized companies in Germany. “Being again a part of the top 100 innovators makes us very proud but that will not stop us from constantly increasing our focus on structured and focused innovation throughout our company,” Mr. Henze said. “The strong innovation culture within JM has constantly opened the doors to new markets and has resulted in incremental but also step change improvements over the years and will do so in the future.”
JM also operates two plants in China—one in Shanghai and the other in Louyang—where it continues to service roofing specialty and geotextiles markets in Asia and the Middle East from state-of-the-art spunbond lines.
In terms of product development, JM is going after the laminate flooring panel market with the use of StabilStrand, an innovative glass fiber nonwoven impregnated with a semi-cured resin system. Especially in the case of floor coverings, which are subjected to daily stress over many years, impact resistance and impact strength play an important role. StabilStrand EW 160 C/A, used as underlay reinforces of laminate flooring panels manufactured in DPL-process, increases the impact strength and the edge stability of HDF panels. StabilStrand enables users to meet the new performance requirements for the flooring class 34.
Meanwhile, JM is entering an entirely different field of application that can be entered with CombiFil GS, which is a brand-new polyester spunbond air filtration media with improved filtration efficiency and lower pressure drop leading to expanded filter lifetime and lower energy consumption. “This helps our customers to save costs and protect the environment by using fewer resources,” Mr. Henze explained.
Another new product, EasyShine, a nonwoven glass fiber product, has recently been incorporated into JM’s already strong portfolio of innovative and decorative wall covering products for both commercial and residential markets. EasyShine is pre-coated to provide both a time and cost-efficient alternative. Paint consumption is considerably lower compared to other similar products. The pre-coating also acts as a stabilizing factor which enables faster and more accurate edge-to-edge installation.
Within the landscape market, JM has introduced DuraSpun Type 014, which has been specially designed to meet the market demand as protection layer to stabilize sloped landscapes of all kinds. The Polyester Nonwoven DuraSpun Type 014 provides excellent chemical stability and outstanding technical values. "The surface treatment applied to the fabric in combination with the UV resistance enables JM customers to offer an outstanding product for downstream applications,“ explained Martin Kleinebrecht, marketing leader nonwovens (EPEA).
“Due to its unique product characteristics DuraSpun Type 014 offers adequate space for vegetation to grow through the product providing a remarkable water and soil conservation feature while at the same time maintaining moisture and preventing the loss of important nutrients.”