01.01.02
Location: The Netherlands
Sales: $43 million
Description: Key Personnel
Nico Boot, managing director; Albert Feyts, finance director, Paul Verwoerd, sales and marketing director, Jan Sikkenga, production director
ISO Status
ISO 9001 certified since 1993
Processes
Dry laid web forming, chemical and thermal bonding, lamination, coating, impregnation, calendering, slitting, spooling
Brand Names
CondenStop, Coremat, Finishmat, Soric
Major Markets
Cable, fibre reinforced plastics/composites, construction/building, packaging, automotive, label systems
Lantor GmbH
Zum Stadion 6, PO Box 1155, 63802 Haibach, Germany
Telephone: 49-6021-6490; Fax: 49-6021-64912
E-mail: albert@lantor.de; Web: www.lantor.de
Key Personnel
Walter Albert, business manager automotive and industry; Rainer Zapf, business manager label systems
After a good start, business at Lantor BV, Veenendaal, The Netherlands, during the second half of 2001 was affected by weakening economic conditions, the collapse of the ICT industry and the September 11th tragedy. These factors particularly affected sales of telecom cable tapes and composites for the boating sector. Lower sales in these areas as well as the disposal of some unprofitable businesses in the construction and filtration areas caused Lantor’s sales to decrease to E46 million compared to E50 million last year.
In the cable segment, decreased sales of telecom tapes, caused by the collapse of the ICT industry, were offset by increased energy tape sales. This resulted in better than expected sales in 2001 and, to date, 2002 is above expectations, according Paul Verwoerd, sales and marketing director. “The new range of Direct Swelling Tapes, new applications in Energy cables and short delivery times are the important drivers for this success,” he explained.
Since January 2002, Lantor BV has cooperated with a U.S.-based partner for the conversion and distribution of its cable tapes in North America. “Lantor’s quality products combined with their flexible converting facilities offer true value to the cable manufacturers in North America,” Mr. Verwoerd added. “Together with the appointment of a local distribution partner in South America, now Lantor supplies the Americas directly out of the Veenendaal plant. The good balance between geographies and the telecom and energy segments provides the stability needed to justify further investments.”
In the composites segment, sales remained at a reasonable level in Europe and Asia but considerably decreased in the U.S. The company’s core material, Coremat, which is designed to replace glass, save on resin and increase stiffness of open mold GRP laminates, is widely used in the boating industry, which, like other luxury good segments, was sharply affected by economic conditions and the September 11th tragedy. Fortunately, boat building has begun to recover in 2002.
Setbacks in the Coremat brand were partly offset by the success of Finishmat surfacing veils for surface enhancement, bonding and chemical resistance. Volume grew 20% last year and executives expect further growth for the material in 2002.
On the new product front, Lantor introduced Soric, a dimensionally stable nonwoven core material, at the JEC Exhibition in Paris, France. Soric is specifically designed for closed molding systems including vacuum molding. “These technologies will continue to grow at the expense of traditional hand lay-up and spray-up methods for environmental and economic reasons,” Mr. Verwoerd predicted. “Soric facilitates impressive mass reduction, which is a key issue in the automotives, transportation and civil engineering industries. So, in addition to using Soric in existing full glass composites, there will be substantial benefits to replacing traditional materials like steel, wood and concrete by composites made with Soric,” according to Mr. Verwoerd.
Sales in the construction business were reportedly affected by changes in manufacturing processes at some of Lantor’s key customers, but executives expect this business to benefit from improvements to CondenStop, its nonwoven material designed to control condensation and prevent water drips in noninsulated metal buildings. “We spent quite some time modifying CondenStop, but the outcome is very satisfying. And, given the large number of new customers and the potential in other corners of the world, we look forward to the future with great confidence”, Mr. Verwoerd explained.
In the packaging segment, Lantor continues to develop applications that offer valued added solutions over existing products. “In our opinion, nonwovens for packaging offer huge potential,” Mr. Verwoerd explained.
Sales: $43 million
Description: Key Personnel
Nico Boot, managing director; Albert Feyts, finance director, Paul Verwoerd, sales and marketing director, Jan Sikkenga, production director
ISO Status
ISO 9001 certified since 1993
Processes
Dry laid web forming, chemical and thermal bonding, lamination, coating, impregnation, calendering, slitting, spooling
Brand Names
CondenStop, Coremat, Finishmat, Soric
Major Markets
Cable, fibre reinforced plastics/composites, construction/building, packaging, automotive, label systems
Lantor GmbH
Zum Stadion 6, PO Box 1155, 63802 Haibach, Germany
Telephone: 49-6021-6490; Fax: 49-6021-64912
E-mail: albert@lantor.de; Web: www.lantor.de
Key Personnel
Walter Albert, business manager automotive and industry; Rainer Zapf, business manager label systems
After a good start, business at Lantor BV, Veenendaal, The Netherlands, during the second half of 2001 was affected by weakening economic conditions, the collapse of the ICT industry and the September 11th tragedy. These factors particularly affected sales of telecom cable tapes and composites for the boating sector. Lower sales in these areas as well as the disposal of some unprofitable businesses in the construction and filtration areas caused Lantor’s sales to decrease to E46 million compared to E50 million last year.
In the cable segment, decreased sales of telecom tapes, caused by the collapse of the ICT industry, were offset by increased energy tape sales. This resulted in better than expected sales in 2001 and, to date, 2002 is above expectations, according Paul Verwoerd, sales and marketing director. “The new range of Direct Swelling Tapes, new applications in Energy cables and short delivery times are the important drivers for this success,” he explained.
Since January 2002, Lantor BV has cooperated with a U.S.-based partner for the conversion and distribution of its cable tapes in North America. “Lantor’s quality products combined with their flexible converting facilities offer true value to the cable manufacturers in North America,” Mr. Verwoerd added. “Together with the appointment of a local distribution partner in South America, now Lantor supplies the Americas directly out of the Veenendaal plant. The good balance between geographies and the telecom and energy segments provides the stability needed to justify further investments.”
In the composites segment, sales remained at a reasonable level in Europe and Asia but considerably decreased in the U.S. The company’s core material, Coremat, which is designed to replace glass, save on resin and increase stiffness of open mold GRP laminates, is widely used in the boating industry, which, like other luxury good segments, was sharply affected by economic conditions and the September 11th tragedy. Fortunately, boat building has begun to recover in 2002.
Setbacks in the Coremat brand were partly offset by the success of Finishmat surfacing veils for surface enhancement, bonding and chemical resistance. Volume grew 20% last year and executives expect further growth for the material in 2002.
On the new product front, Lantor introduced Soric, a dimensionally stable nonwoven core material, at the JEC Exhibition in Paris, France. Soric is specifically designed for closed molding systems including vacuum molding. “These technologies will continue to grow at the expense of traditional hand lay-up and spray-up methods for environmental and economic reasons,” Mr. Verwoerd predicted. “Soric facilitates impressive mass reduction, which is a key issue in the automotives, transportation and civil engineering industries. So, in addition to using Soric in existing full glass composites, there will be substantial benefits to replacing traditional materials like steel, wood and concrete by composites made with Soric,” according to Mr. Verwoerd.
Sales in the construction business were reportedly affected by changes in manufacturing processes at some of Lantor’s key customers, but executives expect this business to benefit from improvements to CondenStop, its nonwoven material designed to control condensation and prevent water drips in noninsulated metal buildings. “We spent quite some time modifying CondenStop, but the outcome is very satisfying. And, given the large number of new customers and the potential in other corners of the world, we look forward to the future with great confidence”, Mr. Verwoerd explained.
In the packaging segment, Lantor continues to develop applications that offer valued added solutions over existing products. “In our opinion, nonwovens for packaging offer huge potential,” Mr. Verwoerd explained.