01.01.02
Location: Wilmington, DE
Sales: $1.2 Billion
Description: Key Personnel
Keith McLoughlin, vice president and general manager; Mark Vergnano, global business director—Tyvek/Typar; Carl Lukach, global business director—Sontara/Cambrelle
Plants
Richmond, VA (Tyvek); Old Hickory, TN (Sontara); Luxembourg (Tyvek, Typar); Asturias, Spain (Sontara); Shenzhen, China (Tyvek and Sontara converting facility); Workington, U.K. (Cambrelle)
ISO Status
All plants ISO 9002 certified; Luxembourg facility also 9001 certified; DuPont’s Asturias, Spain facility is the company’s first nonwovens production facility to be certified with the 2000 version of the ISO 9001 quality standard, which is aimed at increasing customer satisfaction.
Processes
Flashspun (Tyvek), spunbond (Typar), spunlaced (Sontara)
Brand Names
Tyvek, Sontara, Comformax, Typar (worldwide except North, Central and South America), Cambrelle
Major Markets
Medical, protective apparel, industrial, construction, absorbents, home furnishings, packaging and envelopes, geotextiles, graphics, footwear
DuPont Nonwovens, Wilmington, DE, has a lot to celebrate this year. Not only is DuPont celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2002, but the nonwovens division was able to achieve a 3% increase in sales last year despite a troublesome economic climate.
To combat the weakened global economy, DuPont has relied on these core strengths—diversification in market segments and applications, innovation and productivity.
“We are fortunate to be a part of a company with core values and ethics that have kept us strong for 200 years,” explained Keith McLoughlin, vice president/general manager for DuPont Nonwovens. “Economic conditions may not be perfect right now, but we have the strongest balance sheet we’ve had in 25 years.”
Fortunately for DuPont, it is not reliant on many of the markets for nonwovens being affected by economic factors. This has allowed the company to avoid some of the problems experienced by other nonwovens manufacturers. Still, it was not a completely easy year, according to Mr. McLoughlin.
“The global nonwovens industry is slowly recovering from a global manufacturing recession, and we are hoping for a gradual ramp up over the course of the next year,” he explained. “As nonwovens continue to displace other materials such as wovens and paper, we need to be smart as an industry, particularly in terms of innovation.”
In addition to focusing on innovation, DuPont has been expanding its international business to continue its growth levels. Currently, the majority, 60%, of DuPont Nonwovens sales are conducted in the Americas, while 25% are achieved in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Asian sales represent the remaining 15% of the overall business.
One of Mr. McLoughlin’s key initiatives when he took over the post of VP/GM in March 2001 was a reorganization of the business from an asset-oriented structure into a market-focused business. DuPont Nonwovens now centers its operations around 13 key business segments, including construction, packaging and envelopes, protective apparel, medical fabrics, contamination control and critical cleaning.
Speaking of reorganization, the entire DuPont company was realigned into five market- and technology-focused growth platforms in February. Intended to enable faster execution and improved capabilities for all DuPont businesses, the five platforms include DuPont Electronic & Communication Technologies; DuPont Performance Materials; DuPont Coatings & Color Technologies; DuPont Safety & Protection and DuPont Agriculture & Nutrition. The DuPont Nonwovens businesses as well as the Advanced Fiber Systems group, DuPont Chemical Solutions, the Safety Resources business and Solid Surfaces business, including the Corian brand, are positioned under the Safety & Protection platform, which is led by Ellen Kullman.
“They’ve taken what was previously 22 business units, which were based on products but not a lot of synergies, and organized them into platforms around a given market or around a given value the company can bring to the marketplace,” Mr. McLoughlin said. “They are meant to provide a critical marketplace for our customers.”
Already the new structure has opened up options that previously were not visible. More specifically for DuPont Nonwovens, the Safety & Protection platform is in sync with many main markets for Tyvek and Sontara. “The whole concept of safety and protection is right up our alley,” Mr. McLoughlin said. “It’s 90% of what we do—it’s the heart of our business.”
In addition to realigning its business, DuPont has plans to spin off its textiles and interiors unit, which includes such brands as Lycra and Stainmaster, into a separate company sometime in 2003. While the nonwovens division does have some alliances with the textiles and interiors unit, the split does not directly impact the day-to-day operations of the nonwovens division. It does, however, create the largest polymer fiber company in the world with $6.5 billion in annual sales and 20,000 employees.
Speaking of DuPont Lycra, the nonwovens division has ended its joint venture with the brand. Named Neotis Studio, the collaboration was intended to bring innovation into durable consumer markets such as clothing. While apparel created through Neotis Studio was reportedly well received at fashion shows in Europe, it was called off because the technology needed to penetrate a large portion of clothing applications was not fully in place. “With the current technology, the clothing developed with nonwovens targets a very small segment of the market,” Mr. McLoughlin explained. “The whole notion of nonwovens penetrating durable apparel won’t work until an unresolved piece of the technology puzzle is revealed.”
While Mr. McLoughlin would not specify what the missing link is, he did admit that DuPont scientists are close to finding a cost-effective way of developing this technology. This solution is just one of many that DuPont is working on to bring value and innovation to its customers.
“At the end of the day, we will be successful depending on how we bring relevant solutions to our customers’ needs,” Mr. McLoughlin predicted. “The ‘how’ for us is bringing innovation through technology, marketing, operations, products and services.”
Tyvek/Typar
A key focus for DuPont’s Tyvek business continues to be brand promotion. As both a roll good and a branded end use product, Tyvek flashspun nonwovens are well known in a number of key markets such as protective apparel and construction, but the brand’s reach extends far beyond these markets and DuPont executives want to make sure end users know it. “We’ve been getting more sophisticated in how we create awareness for the brand,” explained Mark Vergnano, global business director of Tyvek/Typar.
Beyond protective apparel and construction, Tyvek is also used in medical packaging, envelopes, consumer packaging and graphics, while Typar is used in carpet backing and the gardening markets. One key branding initiative for Tyvek is in the packaging and envelopes segment. DuPont is currently working out agreements with expedited delivery services including the U.S. Postal Service and FedEx to co-brand their packages and envelopes. In essence, the DuPont Tyvek name will soon appear on their packaging.
The presence of Tyvek in the envelope and packaging market has also benefited from an agreement between DuPont and Jilson & Roberts, Santa Ana, CA. Originally established in June 2001, the agreement called for Jilson & Roberts to supply decorative packaging, made with Tyvek, in more than 70 designs, to gift and stationery retailers nationwide. To date, this agreement is reportedly meeting expectations of boosting the presence of Tyvek in this market.
Of new interest for the nonwovens business unit is the garden products market. Much of the company’s sales in this area, which comprise products such as landscape fabric, deer netting and pond liners, are conducted in do-it-yourself stores such as Lowe’s under the DuPont Garden Products brand. “By collaborating with retailers, we are able to understand what the consumer wants. It allows us to learn a lot about how to promote at retail,” Mr. Vergnano said.
Despite this focus on new markets, more established areas for Tyvek are not being ignored. In the home construction market, Tyvek has benefited by a surge in U.S. housing starts, which are currently at an all-time high. DuPont is trying to take advantage of these boom times by being more creative in how it looks at applications. Traditionally used as a housewrap, Tyvek is now available in the form of a roof barrier and window and door flashing. “We’re trying to look at uses for Tyvek more broadly instead of just as housewrap,” Mr. Vergnano explained. “We see the exterior structure of a house as a huge envelope that Tyvek products can completely cover and protect.”
One of the results of this philosophy is Tyvek FlexWrap, which is used to wrap more difficult areas of the house such as doors and windows, according to Mr. Vergnano. “In the construction market, every year there are $5 billion in litigation costs and 80% of these are moisture-related,” he explained. “Half of this involves the doors and windows.”
DuPont has identified the need for better moisture management tools as well as other unmet requirements in the construction market by working directly with architects, builders and other construction personnel as a direct supplier of building materials.
“We bring innovation to builders and architects. To do this, you have to be there. You can’t guess what the need is from the research and development lab,” Mr. Vergnano explained.
Another area where DuPont Tyvek functions as both a roll goods producer and an end use manufacturer is protective apparel. In this segment, the company has more recently been focusing on improving the material’s performance options for varying grades of hazardous situations. Particularly after the events of September 11, both individuals and agencies alike have paid a great deal of attention to protective apparel.
In May, New York City firefighters and police officers attended the Winston Cup auto race in Dover, DE to present a Tyvek garment signed by the forces in appreciation of the role these protective Tyvek garments played in the search and recovery efforts at ground zero.
As with the construction market, the Tyvek organization has remained successful in the protective apparel market by working closely with the people and agencies that use these products daily. Because DuPont does not simply sell a roll good that will later be converted into a protective garment but instead converts the material in-house, it is able to accurately gauge the state of this market. “We make the full product so we are in direct contact with the end user,” Mr. Vergnano said. “We can fully understand what the needs of this market are and ensure we are developing the products that the marketplace needs.”
Looking more toward the bigger picture, Tyvek’s distinct mission is growth in all of its target markets. “Especially as we redefine the market spaces that we participate in, we will find new target market areas for Tyvek,” Mr. Vergnano said. “We will do this through a linked combination of innovation and marketing.”
To handle some of this growth, Tyvek is in the process of adding a new flash spinning line in its Luxembourg facility. While no capacity figures or time schedules were released, Mr. Vergnano did reveal that the new line would feature unique technology and its materials would target the global marketplace—not just Europe. “Our goal is to be unique and to serve a truly global market from all of our facilities,” he added.
Sontara
While overcapacity continues to pose a problem in the spunlaced market, DuPont has continued to be successful by creating innovative, customer-driven products with its Sontara brand of spunlaced nonwovens. These products keep DuPont from relying on commodity-type markets. “Our new products tend to be tailored for specific applications,” explained Carl Lukach, global business director of Sontara/Cambrelle. “For instance, we have recently developed an impervious fabric for medical gowns that is doing very well.”
While medical applications continue to be the core business segment for Sontara, the business is divided into five segments—medical fabrics, critical cleaning, contamination control, consumer and home furnishings. “Medical is clearly a very core, important market—not just for the nonwovens division but for DuPont as a whole—and we continue to invest heavily to meet the needs of the medical community,” Mr. Lukach explained. “In parallel, we continue to increase our resourcing for fast growing industrial and consumer applications where the particular fabric characteristics of Sontara are the best choice for the end user.”
The explosive growth of the disposable wipes segment has meant big things for the role of nonwovens in consumer markets recently. While DuPont has not been overly active in this segment in the past, it now is enthusiastic about working with leading global consumer companies to develop differentiated fabrics, unique conversion techniques and packaging that lower its customer’s costs and increase the performance of the fabric at the end user level, according to Mr. Lukach. “We must enable our customer to differentiate their product offering with our knowledge of fabric composition, conversion technique or container design,” he said.
In the critical cleaning segment, DuPont introduced a static-control wipe into the automotive aftermarket that is used in the last step of car refinishing prior to painting. Made from Sontara fabric, premoistened with isopropyl alcohol and deionized water, this wipe reduces levels of paint defects in automobiles by eliminating residual static. In the aerospace industry, DuPont offers a production and maintenance wipe that replaces and outperforms cheesecloth in aerospace applications. “We are targeting specialized end uses,” Mr. Lukach explained. “We focus on delivering performance, value and convenience to the ultimate end user of the product.”
In the home furnishings market, Sontara continues to focus on new applications for nonwovens. While such applications tend to be small, some grow into long lasting value generators. One such area is window shades where Sontara has been used for years in certain window treatments. Additionally, the contamination control segment is evolving into a broader market for DuPont, despite economic difficulties in the electronics industry. The company offers garments, wipes and other products for the global electronic cleanroom market and is especially well suited to provide high quality service and fabric throughout the Asia Pacific region.
Turning to the global picture, much of Sontara’s growth occurred in areas outside of the U.S. during the past several years. During the first quarter of 2001, Sontara inaugurated a new manufacturing facility in Asturias, Spain, and this facility has enabled DuPont to better target markets in Eastern and Western Europe and the Asia Pacific region while supporting its business in the Americas. In March, this facility became the company’s first nonwovens production facility to be certified with the 2000 version of the ISO 9001 quality standard, which is aimed at increasing customer satisfaction. The next step for the facility will reportedly be to meet the standards of the 1996 version of ISO 4001, which sets standards for environmental management. The DuPont Sontara site in Asturias Spain is a landmark site for DuPont environmental management and has won numerous awards in Europe as a leader in this field. This can be attributed to the particular spunlace process DuPont designed for Asturias. European customers in particular recognize and appreciate the outstanding environmental accomplishments of the DuPont Sontara site in Asturias, according to executives.
In the U.S, DuPont is currently expanding its Sontara production facility in Old Hickory, TN. The project is on track to be completed by the end of this year. While DuPont has not released capacity figures on the new investment or described the particular nonwovens process, executives did say that the new line features state-of-the-art proprietary technology that will provide new flexibility to the manufacture of nonwovens that will translate into increased value to customers.
In South America, a DuPont joint venture with synthetic leather manufacturer Brazilian Cipatex, named DuPont Cipatex, is slated to be commercial during the third quarter of 2002. DuPont reportedly chose the joint venture because of Brazil’s growing importance in the footwear industry as well as Cipatex’s dominance in the footwear and upholstery segments in South America. As part of the agreement, DuPont constructed a new production line.
A continued focus on expanding into new global markets, coupled with a commitment to innovation will add up to success for Sontara in the future. This will lead not only to the expansion of Sontara in its existing markets but to completely new areas for the material. “There are plenty of new applications opportunities out there. In the future, we will continue to aim our scientific capability at bringing uniqueness and differentiation to our customers so that they win in the market,” Mr. Lukach explained. “It’s our passion and our 200- year-old culture across all of the DuPont businesses especially Sontara.”
Sales: $1.2 Billion
Description: Key Personnel
Keith McLoughlin, vice president and general manager; Mark Vergnano, global business director—Tyvek/Typar; Carl Lukach, global business director—Sontara/Cambrelle
Plants
Richmond, VA (Tyvek); Old Hickory, TN (Sontara); Luxembourg (Tyvek, Typar); Asturias, Spain (Sontara); Shenzhen, China (Tyvek and Sontara converting facility); Workington, U.K. (Cambrelle)
ISO Status
All plants ISO 9002 certified; Luxembourg facility also 9001 certified; DuPont’s Asturias, Spain facility is the company’s first nonwovens production facility to be certified with the 2000 version of the ISO 9001 quality standard, which is aimed at increasing customer satisfaction.
Processes
Flashspun (Tyvek), spunbond (Typar), spunlaced (Sontara)
Brand Names
Tyvek, Sontara, Comformax, Typar (worldwide except North, Central and South America), Cambrelle
Major Markets
Medical, protective apparel, industrial, construction, absorbents, home furnishings, packaging and envelopes, geotextiles, graphics, footwear
DuPont Nonwovens, Wilmington, DE, has a lot to celebrate this year. Not only is DuPont celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2002, but the nonwovens division was able to achieve a 3% increase in sales last year despite a troublesome economic climate.
To combat the weakened global economy, DuPont has relied on these core strengths—diversification in market segments and applications, innovation and productivity.
“We are fortunate to be a part of a company with core values and ethics that have kept us strong for 200 years,” explained Keith McLoughlin, vice president/general manager for DuPont Nonwovens. “Economic conditions may not be perfect right now, but we have the strongest balance sheet we’ve had in 25 years.”
Fortunately for DuPont, it is not reliant on many of the markets for nonwovens being affected by economic factors. This has allowed the company to avoid some of the problems experienced by other nonwovens manufacturers. Still, it was not a completely easy year, according to Mr. McLoughlin.
“The global nonwovens industry is slowly recovering from a global manufacturing recession, and we are hoping for a gradual ramp up over the course of the next year,” he explained. “As nonwovens continue to displace other materials such as wovens and paper, we need to be smart as an industry, particularly in terms of innovation.”
In addition to focusing on innovation, DuPont has been expanding its international business to continue its growth levels. Currently, the majority, 60%, of DuPont Nonwovens sales are conducted in the Americas, while 25% are achieved in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Asian sales represent the remaining 15% of the overall business.
One of Mr. McLoughlin’s key initiatives when he took over the post of VP/GM in March 2001 was a reorganization of the business from an asset-oriented structure into a market-focused business. DuPont Nonwovens now centers its operations around 13 key business segments, including construction, packaging and envelopes, protective apparel, medical fabrics, contamination control and critical cleaning.
Speaking of reorganization, the entire DuPont company was realigned into five market- and technology-focused growth platforms in February. Intended to enable faster execution and improved capabilities for all DuPont businesses, the five platforms include DuPont Electronic & Communication Technologies; DuPont Performance Materials; DuPont Coatings & Color Technologies; DuPont Safety & Protection and DuPont Agriculture & Nutrition. The DuPont Nonwovens businesses as well as the Advanced Fiber Systems group, DuPont Chemical Solutions, the Safety Resources business and Solid Surfaces business, including the Corian brand, are positioned under the Safety & Protection platform, which is led by Ellen Kullman.
“They’ve taken what was previously 22 business units, which were based on products but not a lot of synergies, and organized them into platforms around a given market or around a given value the company can bring to the marketplace,” Mr. McLoughlin said. “They are meant to provide a critical marketplace for our customers.”
Already the new structure has opened up options that previously were not visible. More specifically for DuPont Nonwovens, the Safety & Protection platform is in sync with many main markets for Tyvek and Sontara. “The whole concept of safety and protection is right up our alley,” Mr. McLoughlin said. “It’s 90% of what we do—it’s the heart of our business.”
In addition to realigning its business, DuPont has plans to spin off its textiles and interiors unit, which includes such brands as Lycra and Stainmaster, into a separate company sometime in 2003. While the nonwovens division does have some alliances with the textiles and interiors unit, the split does not directly impact the day-to-day operations of the nonwovens division. It does, however, create the largest polymer fiber company in the world with $6.5 billion in annual sales and 20,000 employees.
Speaking of DuPont Lycra, the nonwovens division has ended its joint venture with the brand. Named Neotis Studio, the collaboration was intended to bring innovation into durable consumer markets such as clothing. While apparel created through Neotis Studio was reportedly well received at fashion shows in Europe, it was called off because the technology needed to penetrate a large portion of clothing applications was not fully in place. “With the current technology, the clothing developed with nonwovens targets a very small segment of the market,” Mr. McLoughlin explained. “The whole notion of nonwovens penetrating durable apparel won’t work until an unresolved piece of the technology puzzle is revealed.”
While Mr. McLoughlin would not specify what the missing link is, he did admit that DuPont scientists are close to finding a cost-effective way of developing this technology. This solution is just one of many that DuPont is working on to bring value and innovation to its customers.
“At the end of the day, we will be successful depending on how we bring relevant solutions to our customers’ needs,” Mr. McLoughlin predicted. “The ‘how’ for us is bringing innovation through technology, marketing, operations, products and services.”
Tyvek/Typar
A key focus for DuPont’s Tyvek business continues to be brand promotion. As both a roll good and a branded end use product, Tyvek flashspun nonwovens are well known in a number of key markets such as protective apparel and construction, but the brand’s reach extends far beyond these markets and DuPont executives want to make sure end users know it. “We’ve been getting more sophisticated in how we create awareness for the brand,” explained Mark Vergnano, global business director of Tyvek/Typar.
Beyond protective apparel and construction, Tyvek is also used in medical packaging, envelopes, consumer packaging and graphics, while Typar is used in carpet backing and the gardening markets. One key branding initiative for Tyvek is in the packaging and envelopes segment. DuPont is currently working out agreements with expedited delivery services including the U.S. Postal Service and FedEx to co-brand their packages and envelopes. In essence, the DuPont Tyvek name will soon appear on their packaging.
The presence of Tyvek in the envelope and packaging market has also benefited from an agreement between DuPont and Jilson & Roberts, Santa Ana, CA. Originally established in June 2001, the agreement called for Jilson & Roberts to supply decorative packaging, made with Tyvek, in more than 70 designs, to gift and stationery retailers nationwide. To date, this agreement is reportedly meeting expectations of boosting the presence of Tyvek in this market.
Of new interest for the nonwovens business unit is the garden products market. Much of the company’s sales in this area, which comprise products such as landscape fabric, deer netting and pond liners, are conducted in do-it-yourself stores such as Lowe’s under the DuPont Garden Products brand. “By collaborating with retailers, we are able to understand what the consumer wants. It allows us to learn a lot about how to promote at retail,” Mr. Vergnano said.
Despite this focus on new markets, more established areas for Tyvek are not being ignored. In the home construction market, Tyvek has benefited by a surge in U.S. housing starts, which are currently at an all-time high. DuPont is trying to take advantage of these boom times by being more creative in how it looks at applications. Traditionally used as a housewrap, Tyvek is now available in the form of a roof barrier and window and door flashing. “We’re trying to look at uses for Tyvek more broadly instead of just as housewrap,” Mr. Vergnano explained. “We see the exterior structure of a house as a huge envelope that Tyvek products can completely cover and protect.”
One of the results of this philosophy is Tyvek FlexWrap, which is used to wrap more difficult areas of the house such as doors and windows, according to Mr. Vergnano. “In the construction market, every year there are $5 billion in litigation costs and 80% of these are moisture-related,” he explained. “Half of this involves the doors and windows.”
DuPont has identified the need for better moisture management tools as well as other unmet requirements in the construction market by working directly with architects, builders and other construction personnel as a direct supplier of building materials.
“We bring innovation to builders and architects. To do this, you have to be there. You can’t guess what the need is from the research and development lab,” Mr. Vergnano explained.
Another area where DuPont Tyvek functions as both a roll goods producer and an end use manufacturer is protective apparel. In this segment, the company has more recently been focusing on improving the material’s performance options for varying grades of hazardous situations. Particularly after the events of September 11, both individuals and agencies alike have paid a great deal of attention to protective apparel.
In May, New York City firefighters and police officers attended the Winston Cup auto race in Dover, DE to present a Tyvek garment signed by the forces in appreciation of the role these protective Tyvek garments played in the search and recovery efforts at ground zero.
As with the construction market, the Tyvek organization has remained successful in the protective apparel market by working closely with the people and agencies that use these products daily. Because DuPont does not simply sell a roll good that will later be converted into a protective garment but instead converts the material in-house, it is able to accurately gauge the state of this market. “We make the full product so we are in direct contact with the end user,” Mr. Vergnano said. “We can fully understand what the needs of this market are and ensure we are developing the products that the marketplace needs.”
Looking more toward the bigger picture, Tyvek’s distinct mission is growth in all of its target markets. “Especially as we redefine the market spaces that we participate in, we will find new target market areas for Tyvek,” Mr. Vergnano said. “We will do this through a linked combination of innovation and marketing.”
To handle some of this growth, Tyvek is in the process of adding a new flash spinning line in its Luxembourg facility. While no capacity figures or time schedules were released, Mr. Vergnano did reveal that the new line would feature unique technology and its materials would target the global marketplace—not just Europe. “Our goal is to be unique and to serve a truly global market from all of our facilities,” he added.
Sontara
While overcapacity continues to pose a problem in the spunlaced market, DuPont has continued to be successful by creating innovative, customer-driven products with its Sontara brand of spunlaced nonwovens. These products keep DuPont from relying on commodity-type markets. “Our new products tend to be tailored for specific applications,” explained Carl Lukach, global business director of Sontara/Cambrelle. “For instance, we have recently developed an impervious fabric for medical gowns that is doing very well.”
While medical applications continue to be the core business segment for Sontara, the business is divided into five segments—medical fabrics, critical cleaning, contamination control, consumer and home furnishings. “Medical is clearly a very core, important market—not just for the nonwovens division but for DuPont as a whole—and we continue to invest heavily to meet the needs of the medical community,” Mr. Lukach explained. “In parallel, we continue to increase our resourcing for fast growing industrial and consumer applications where the particular fabric characteristics of Sontara are the best choice for the end user.”
The explosive growth of the disposable wipes segment has meant big things for the role of nonwovens in consumer markets recently. While DuPont has not been overly active in this segment in the past, it now is enthusiastic about working with leading global consumer companies to develop differentiated fabrics, unique conversion techniques and packaging that lower its customer’s costs and increase the performance of the fabric at the end user level, according to Mr. Lukach. “We must enable our customer to differentiate their product offering with our knowledge of fabric composition, conversion technique or container design,” he said.
In the critical cleaning segment, DuPont introduced a static-control wipe into the automotive aftermarket that is used in the last step of car refinishing prior to painting. Made from Sontara fabric, premoistened with isopropyl alcohol and deionized water, this wipe reduces levels of paint defects in automobiles by eliminating residual static. In the aerospace industry, DuPont offers a production and maintenance wipe that replaces and outperforms cheesecloth in aerospace applications. “We are targeting specialized end uses,” Mr. Lukach explained. “We focus on delivering performance, value and convenience to the ultimate end user of the product.”
In the home furnishings market, Sontara continues to focus on new applications for nonwovens. While such applications tend to be small, some grow into long lasting value generators. One such area is window shades where Sontara has been used for years in certain window treatments. Additionally, the contamination control segment is evolving into a broader market for DuPont, despite economic difficulties in the electronics industry. The company offers garments, wipes and other products for the global electronic cleanroom market and is especially well suited to provide high quality service and fabric throughout the Asia Pacific region.
Turning to the global picture, much of Sontara’s growth occurred in areas outside of the U.S. during the past several years. During the first quarter of 2001, Sontara inaugurated a new manufacturing facility in Asturias, Spain, and this facility has enabled DuPont to better target markets in Eastern and Western Europe and the Asia Pacific region while supporting its business in the Americas. In March, this facility became the company’s first nonwovens production facility to be certified with the 2000 version of the ISO 9001 quality standard, which is aimed at increasing customer satisfaction. The next step for the facility will reportedly be to meet the standards of the 1996 version of ISO 4001, which sets standards for environmental management. The DuPont Sontara site in Asturias Spain is a landmark site for DuPont environmental management and has won numerous awards in Europe as a leader in this field. This can be attributed to the particular spunlace process DuPont designed for Asturias. European customers in particular recognize and appreciate the outstanding environmental accomplishments of the DuPont Sontara site in Asturias, according to executives.
In the U.S, DuPont is currently expanding its Sontara production facility in Old Hickory, TN. The project is on track to be completed by the end of this year. While DuPont has not released capacity figures on the new investment or described the particular nonwovens process, executives did say that the new line features state-of-the-art proprietary technology that will provide new flexibility to the manufacture of nonwovens that will translate into increased value to customers.
In South America, a DuPont joint venture with synthetic leather manufacturer Brazilian Cipatex, named DuPont Cipatex, is slated to be commercial during the third quarter of 2002. DuPont reportedly chose the joint venture because of Brazil’s growing importance in the footwear industry as well as Cipatex’s dominance in the footwear and upholstery segments in South America. As part of the agreement, DuPont constructed a new production line.
A continued focus on expanding into new global markets, coupled with a commitment to innovation will add up to success for Sontara in the future. This will lead not only to the expansion of Sontara in its existing markets but to completely new areas for the material. “There are plenty of new applications opportunities out there. In the future, we will continue to aim our scientific capability at bringing uniqueness and differentiation to our customers so that they win in the market,” Mr. Lukach explained. “It’s our passion and our 200- year-old culture across all of the DuPont businesses especially Sontara.”
