01.01.04
Location: Wilmington, DE
Sales: $1.2 BILLION
Description: Key Personnel
Mark Vergnano, vice president and general manager DuPont Nonwovens; Tom Schuler, global business director—Tyvek/Typar; Carl Lukach, global business director—Sontara
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
Processes
Flash spun (Tyvek), spunbond (Typar), spunlaced (Sontara, Softesse), bicomponent meltspun (Suprel)
Brand Names
Tyvek, Sontara, Softesse, Suprel, ComforMax, Typar (worldwide except North, Latin America), Cambrelle
Major Markets
Healthcare, general and protective apparel, industrial, construction, absorbents, home furnishings, envelopes, geotextiles, graphics, packaging, footwear
With sales of approximately $1.2 billion, DuPont Nonwovens, Wilmington, DE, continues to garner success by focusing on brands, technology and added value. The company is targeting three major markets where it plans to grow through innovation and added value—health, construction and safety. Other areas of interest include cleaning and disinfecting and packaging. “We have found that these markets are not only looking for innovation, they are willing to reward innovation,” said Mark Vergnano, vice president and general manager of DuPont Nonwovens.
In construction, the biggest competitors for DuPont are builders that don’t use a weather membrane of any kind; while in health care and safety (worker protection), innovative web forming technology and barrier protection technology are poised to grow these businesses, helping DuPont expand its share.
By region, about half of DuPont Nonwovens’ sales are in North America; Europe represents 35% of sales, Latin America contributes 5% and Asia represents 10%. This breakdown has not changed significantly in recent years but executives expect Asia to emerge as a larger market for nonwovens as infrastructure and other improvements drive growth.
DuPont has been honing its strategy and its product offerings for developing economies. “You can’t take products for developed areas and expect to sell them in developing regions,” Mr. Vergnano explained. “Not only are there affordability issues, there are also market requirements driven by climate, custom and consumer preferences.”
Supporting this globalization strategy, are several manufacturing and marketing joint venture agreements between DuPont and foreign partners. In China, DuPont operates a Tyvek facility in Beijing. While in Brazil, DuPont operates a spunlace line with partner Cipatex that largely targets footwear markets. In Japan, DuPont and roll goods producer Asahi Kasei have forged a marketing joint venture that provides improved access to Japan for nonwoven products.
Beyond Asia and Latin America, Eastern Europe is also a prime area for growth. This area has always been a focus but in the past three or four years considerable growth has occurred. This is expected to accelerate as many of this region’s countries take advantage of their recent European Union member status.
“Our global business processes are working,” Mr. Vergnano said. “A big benefit for us is being part of a strong global company. We don’t have to enter a country as DuPont Nonwovens but can enter as part of DuPont. This has helped us target and enter developing countries that will be key to our growth in the future.”
New technology has always been a cornerstone of the DuPont business strategy, relying largely on its own technological capabilities. In the past few years, however, DuPont has expanded this strategy to include technology partnerships with innovative companies to speed the introduction of new technologies to the market. Executives would not be specific on this strategy.
Developed areas such as North America and Europe continue to offer strong growth prospects in all DuPont core markets. DuPont plans to support this continued growth with increasing reliance on its competencies in polymer science and engineering. This area’s first new major technology platform, called Advanced Composite Technology (ACT), was introduced in spring 2003. It combines multiple polymers and product layers to provide greater flexibility. This technology will initially target the healthcare segment under the brand name DuPont Suprel but the far-reaching flexibility of ACT will allow penetration of a wide range of markets.
Executives have indicated that ACT is only the first of several nonwovens technologies that will use polymer science and engineering to develop new markets for nonwovens. “During the next eight years, we will be introducing multiple new technologies that bring new flexibility, properties and functionality to nonwovens,” said Mr. Vergnano. “These will be unique products to meet new needs of the market.
Mr. Vergnano estimated that the next technology platform would be introduced within the next six months.
The effort to enhance sheet structure performance with polymer science and engineering, which has been headquartered at the DuPont Old Hickory, TN facility reaffirms the status of DuPont as a technology leader in nonwovens. Past innovations include Tyvek flash spinning technology, which more than three decades after its development, continues to be a one-of-its-kind technology in nonwovens, and Sontara spunlaced technology. These technologies continue to be improved and remain an important part of the DuPont nonwovens strategy. However, the importance of polymer science and engineering was firmly evident in the recent appointment of David Flitman, a former polymer scientist, to head the DuPont Sontara business, which also includes ACT, after former head Carl Lukach was named vice president of investor relations for the corporation.
On the corporate front, DuPont continues to take steps to ensure future profitability. In April, the company announced that it would cut its global workforce by 6%, in total 3500 positions, as part of a $900 million cost improvement plan first announced in December 2003. This plan mainly impacted jobs in North America and Western Europe; the measure’s impact on the nonwovens business was not clear.
This downsizing did not include the DuPont sale of Invista, the company’s textile unit which includes such brand names as Lycra and Stainmaster. DuPont sold this division for a reported $4.2 billion to a subsidiary of Koch Industries.
Tyvek
One of the keys to the success of the Tyvek business has been the technological ability to balance seemingly conflicting properties to achieve unique performance in use. DuPont is constantly honing this flash spinning technology to fit the changing needs of the market as well as to meet the specific demands of different regions. “As the needs of your customers change, you have to change your product,” explained Tom Schuler, global business manager of Tyvek. DuPont offers several grades of Tyvek to allow it to uniquely balance the properties required for its core end use markets—protective apparel, construction, medical packaging, envelopes, packaging and graphics. “Flash spinning is not easy,” Mr. Schuler said. “It is a very difficult science and technology that takes many different disciplines to master.”
One of the fastest growing markets for DuPont Nonwovens, construction has profited from Tyvek functionality, particularly in the housewrap and roof underlayment markets. Here, the challenge for DuPont has been to educate users on the advantages of using such products and developing new end-use areas where nonwovens can provide value. Trends in this market vary significantly by region. For instance, in Europe, where there is little woodframe construction, most of the business falls in the roofing category and no one is using house wrap whereas in the U.S. housewrap is widely used and the challenge is to expand into window flashing and roofing accessories. Either way, DuPont is focusing on increasing the use of these products, not taking away share from its competition. “When you are growing through penetration rather than share gain, it allows you to be less sensitive to market fluctuations,” Mr. Schuler said.
In some cases, this has allowed DuPont to grow despite difficult economic conditions. Last year, the German construction market decreased 25% but DuPont grew there. This was also the case in Japan, where construction sales dropped 30% but DuPont business grew.
Protective apparel, another important market for Tyvek has benefited from the creation of DuPont Personal Protection, a division that has consolidated all of the DuPont products in the personal protective equipment arena. In addition to Tyvek nonwovens for dry particulate hazards, DuPont Personal Protection includes DuPont Nomex for thermal hazards, DuPont Tychem for liquid and gas chemical hazards, DuPont ProShield for general-purpose applications and DuPont Kevlar for cut-and-abrasion protection. Bringing these products into one business gives DuPont customers one place to go for all of their needs. Growth in the personal protection realm is driven largely by worker safety, not large-scale catastrophe. “Negative events just reinforce our business,” Mr. Schuler said. “The market does, to some extent, rely on our ability to be ready for emergencies but it’s the everyday business that is important in terms of growth.”
Another protective area, cleanrooms has been targeted through the acquisition of White Knight Engineered Products in July 2003. The Charlotte, NC-based producer of reusable and disposable textile products enhances the DuPont protective garment business. Products include a full line of cleanroom and controlled environment apparel including headgear, shoe covers, lab coats, frocks, coveralls and face masks. The business is being controlled by the DuPont Contamination Control segment of DuPont Nonwovens.
In envelopes and medical packaging, key efforts for the Tyvek business have focused on improved printability and convertibility. “We spend a lot of time downstream working with converters to make their jobs easier,” said Mr. Schuler.
Envelopes have benefited in recent years from emphasis on brand building. Customers including the U.S. Postal Service, Federal Express and the French Post Office now bear the Tyvek logo on their envelopes.
Down the road, Tyvek will grow in all of its end markets, which are all performing well in terms of sales and earnings, according to Mr. Schuler. “There is really not one market that is notable,” he said. “Many attractive areas are reaping returns.”
Sontara/Suprel
The big news in the DuPont Sontara business is the change in leadership. This summer, current business leader Mr. Lukach, moved to the corporate side of the business as vice president of investor relations. Mr. Flitman, formerly a part of DuPont Engineering Polymers business has been named his replacement. The appointment of someone well schooled in polymer science reflects the degree of importance DuPont is placing on this type of technology for the future of nonwovens. The company’s Suprel nonwovens, which combine the softness of polypropylene with the strength of polyester to achieve enhanced barrier protection in surgical garments has already received tremendous feedback from operating room nurses. Of more than 5000 surveys, the vast majority of these professionals said that garments using Suprel are much more comfortable than the gowns they’re currently using.
In 2004, DuPont Medical Fabrics’ initial launch partner in Suprel is Medline. “This really plays to the core of what DuPont is all about,” Mr. Lukach said. “We are really opening up the box on what polymer science is all about and we are really playing with polymer chemistry to see what we can develop.”
DuPont is focusing Advanced Composite Technology on 25 functioning end use qualities that it can achieve through this process. This high functionality will allow DuPont to pursue a number of end use categories beyond healthcare in upcoming months.
A key benefit of ACT is its ability to add functionality to fabrics increasing costs. Because it is the production process that adds the functionality, not the addition of raw materials or multiple layers, the flexibility comes from engineering know-how.
The flexibility benefits of ACT have been leveraged through the new DuPont design-your-own technology where customers choose a variety of parameters—thickness, strength, softness, durability, etc.—and a computer program recommends a possible fabric solution to meet these parameters.
Beyond Suprel, other medical fabrics offered by DuPont include Softesse and Acturel. Softesse, formerly branded Sontara, is the traditional spunlaced material made by DuPont; Acturel is made with film laminates and offers a high level of protection but less comfort. “What is used really depends on the healthcare worker’s preferences,” Mr. Lukach said. “Some prefer the traditional Softesse that they’ve used for decades; some are very interested in trying something new.”
Outside of the healthcare market, the DuPont spunlaced business continues under the Sontara brand name. Overall, demand for this material is healthy, growing 5-6% While a global overcapacity situation currently is threatening spunlace, unlike the majority of spunlaced output, which is 100% synthetic, DuPont combines wood pulp with polyester.”
This type of material is preferred by some wipe manufacturers for its strength, purity, absorptive properties and barrier characteristics. While DuPont continues to work on the consumer side of the wipes business, its innovation is highly valued by industrial markets including automotive, general manufacturing, printing and food service.
DuPont Nonwovens’ interest in footwear has benefited from a joint venture agreement with Brazilian footwear leader Cipatex. Operating a line under this joint venture, the business focuses on coated substrates for footwear and other end-use market. It combines DuPont’s nonwovens expertise with Cipatex’s strong knowledge of the South American footwear business. “It’s really about our two businesses creating higher performing materials for end uses like footwear,” Mr. Lukach said.
Whether through joint ventures, new product development or market penetration, DuPont will continue to find success in nonwovens thanks to its three-tiered strategy—unique technology, a brand-oriented business plan and alignment with partners in the value chain. “In a branded business, it is all about living up to your brand promise. You are only as good as your products and offerings in the end-use markets,” Mr. Vergnano said. “We are invested and will continue to invest in downstream markets; we have to make sure we adjust our technology and products accordingly to meet the needs of these markets.
Sales: $1.2 BILLION
Description: Key Personnel
Mark Vergnano, vice president and general manager DuPont Nonwovens; Tom Schuler, global business director—Tyvek/Typar; Carl Lukach, global business director—Sontara
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
Processes
Flash spun (Tyvek), spunbond (Typar), spunlaced (Sontara, Softesse), bicomponent meltspun (Suprel)
Brand Names
Tyvek, Sontara, Softesse, Suprel, ComforMax, Typar (worldwide except North, Latin America), Cambrelle
Major Markets
Healthcare, general and protective apparel, industrial, construction, absorbents, home furnishings, envelopes, geotextiles, graphics, packaging, footwear
With sales of approximately $1.2 billion, DuPont Nonwovens, Wilmington, DE, continues to garner success by focusing on brands, technology and added value. The company is targeting three major markets where it plans to grow through innovation and added value—health, construction and safety. Other areas of interest include cleaning and disinfecting and packaging. “We have found that these markets are not only looking for innovation, they are willing to reward innovation,” said Mark Vergnano, vice president and general manager of DuPont Nonwovens.
In construction, the biggest competitors for DuPont are builders that don’t use a weather membrane of any kind; while in health care and safety (worker protection), innovative web forming technology and barrier protection technology are poised to grow these businesses, helping DuPont expand its share.
By region, about half of DuPont Nonwovens’ sales are in North America; Europe represents 35% of sales, Latin America contributes 5% and Asia represents 10%. This breakdown has not changed significantly in recent years but executives expect Asia to emerge as a larger market for nonwovens as infrastructure and other improvements drive growth.
DuPont has been honing its strategy and its product offerings for developing economies. “You can’t take products for developed areas and expect to sell them in developing regions,” Mr. Vergnano explained. “Not only are there affordability issues, there are also market requirements driven by climate, custom and consumer preferences.”
Supporting this globalization strategy, are several manufacturing and marketing joint venture agreements between DuPont and foreign partners. In China, DuPont operates a Tyvek facility in Beijing. While in Brazil, DuPont operates a spunlace line with partner Cipatex that largely targets footwear markets. In Japan, DuPont and roll goods producer Asahi Kasei have forged a marketing joint venture that provides improved access to Japan for nonwoven products.
Beyond Asia and Latin America, Eastern Europe is also a prime area for growth. This area has always been a focus but in the past three or four years considerable growth has occurred. This is expected to accelerate as many of this region’s countries take advantage of their recent European Union member status.
“Our global business processes are working,” Mr. Vergnano said. “A big benefit for us is being part of a strong global company. We don’t have to enter a country as DuPont Nonwovens but can enter as part of DuPont. This has helped us target and enter developing countries that will be key to our growth in the future.”
New technology has always been a cornerstone of the DuPont business strategy, relying largely on its own technological capabilities. In the past few years, however, DuPont has expanded this strategy to include technology partnerships with innovative companies to speed the introduction of new technologies to the market. Executives would not be specific on this strategy.
Developed areas such as North America and Europe continue to offer strong growth prospects in all DuPont core markets. DuPont plans to support this continued growth with increasing reliance on its competencies in polymer science and engineering. This area’s first new major technology platform, called Advanced Composite Technology (ACT), was introduced in spring 2003. It combines multiple polymers and product layers to provide greater flexibility. This technology will initially target the healthcare segment under the brand name DuPont Suprel but the far-reaching flexibility of ACT will allow penetration of a wide range of markets.
Executives have indicated that ACT is only the first of several nonwovens technologies that will use polymer science and engineering to develop new markets for nonwovens. “During the next eight years, we will be introducing multiple new technologies that bring new flexibility, properties and functionality to nonwovens,” said Mr. Vergnano. “These will be unique products to meet new needs of the market.
Mr. Vergnano estimated that the next technology platform would be introduced within the next six months.
The effort to enhance sheet structure performance with polymer science and engineering, which has been headquartered at the DuPont Old Hickory, TN facility reaffirms the status of DuPont as a technology leader in nonwovens. Past innovations include Tyvek flash spinning technology, which more than three decades after its development, continues to be a one-of-its-kind technology in nonwovens, and Sontara spunlaced technology. These technologies continue to be improved and remain an important part of the DuPont nonwovens strategy. However, the importance of polymer science and engineering was firmly evident in the recent appointment of David Flitman, a former polymer scientist, to head the DuPont Sontara business, which also includes ACT, after former head Carl Lukach was named vice president of investor relations for the corporation.
On the corporate front, DuPont continues to take steps to ensure future profitability. In April, the company announced that it would cut its global workforce by 6%, in total 3500 positions, as part of a $900 million cost improvement plan first announced in December 2003. This plan mainly impacted jobs in North America and Western Europe; the measure’s impact on the nonwovens business was not clear.
This downsizing did not include the DuPont sale of Invista, the company’s textile unit which includes such brand names as Lycra and Stainmaster. DuPont sold this division for a reported $4.2 billion to a subsidiary of Koch Industries.
Tyvek
One of the keys to the success of the Tyvek business has been the technological ability to balance seemingly conflicting properties to achieve unique performance in use. DuPont is constantly honing this flash spinning technology to fit the changing needs of the market as well as to meet the specific demands of different regions. “As the needs of your customers change, you have to change your product,” explained Tom Schuler, global business manager of Tyvek. DuPont offers several grades of Tyvek to allow it to uniquely balance the properties required for its core end use markets—protective apparel, construction, medical packaging, envelopes, packaging and graphics. “Flash spinning is not easy,” Mr. Schuler said. “It is a very difficult science and technology that takes many different disciplines to master.”
One of the fastest growing markets for DuPont Nonwovens, construction has profited from Tyvek functionality, particularly in the housewrap and roof underlayment markets. Here, the challenge for DuPont has been to educate users on the advantages of using such products and developing new end-use areas where nonwovens can provide value. Trends in this market vary significantly by region. For instance, in Europe, where there is little woodframe construction, most of the business falls in the roofing category and no one is using house wrap whereas in the U.S. housewrap is widely used and the challenge is to expand into window flashing and roofing accessories. Either way, DuPont is focusing on increasing the use of these products, not taking away share from its competition. “When you are growing through penetration rather than share gain, it allows you to be less sensitive to market fluctuations,” Mr. Schuler said.
In some cases, this has allowed DuPont to grow despite difficult economic conditions. Last year, the German construction market decreased 25% but DuPont grew there. This was also the case in Japan, where construction sales dropped 30% but DuPont business grew.
Protective apparel, another important market for Tyvek has benefited from the creation of DuPont Personal Protection, a division that has consolidated all of the DuPont products in the personal protective equipment arena. In addition to Tyvek nonwovens for dry particulate hazards, DuPont Personal Protection includes DuPont Nomex for thermal hazards, DuPont Tychem for liquid and gas chemical hazards, DuPont ProShield for general-purpose applications and DuPont Kevlar for cut-and-abrasion protection. Bringing these products into one business gives DuPont customers one place to go for all of their needs. Growth in the personal protection realm is driven largely by worker safety, not large-scale catastrophe. “Negative events just reinforce our business,” Mr. Schuler said. “The market does, to some extent, rely on our ability to be ready for emergencies but it’s the everyday business that is important in terms of growth.”
Another protective area, cleanrooms has been targeted through the acquisition of White Knight Engineered Products in July 2003. The Charlotte, NC-based producer of reusable and disposable textile products enhances the DuPont protective garment business. Products include a full line of cleanroom and controlled environment apparel including headgear, shoe covers, lab coats, frocks, coveralls and face masks. The business is being controlled by the DuPont Contamination Control segment of DuPont Nonwovens.
In envelopes and medical packaging, key efforts for the Tyvek business have focused on improved printability and convertibility. “We spend a lot of time downstream working with converters to make their jobs easier,” said Mr. Schuler.
Envelopes have benefited in recent years from emphasis on brand building. Customers including the U.S. Postal Service, Federal Express and the French Post Office now bear the Tyvek logo on their envelopes.
Down the road, Tyvek will grow in all of its end markets, which are all performing well in terms of sales and earnings, according to Mr. Schuler. “There is really not one market that is notable,” he said. “Many attractive areas are reaping returns.”
Sontara/Suprel
The big news in the DuPont Sontara business is the change in leadership. This summer, current business leader Mr. Lukach, moved to the corporate side of the business as vice president of investor relations. Mr. Flitman, formerly a part of DuPont Engineering Polymers business has been named his replacement. The appointment of someone well schooled in polymer science reflects the degree of importance DuPont is placing on this type of technology for the future of nonwovens. The company’s Suprel nonwovens, which combine the softness of polypropylene with the strength of polyester to achieve enhanced barrier protection in surgical garments has already received tremendous feedback from operating room nurses. Of more than 5000 surveys, the vast majority of these professionals said that garments using Suprel are much more comfortable than the gowns they’re currently using.
In 2004, DuPont Medical Fabrics’ initial launch partner in Suprel is Medline. “This really plays to the core of what DuPont is all about,” Mr. Lukach said. “We are really opening up the box on what polymer science is all about and we are really playing with polymer chemistry to see what we can develop.”
DuPont is focusing Advanced Composite Technology on 25 functioning end use qualities that it can achieve through this process. This high functionality will allow DuPont to pursue a number of end use categories beyond healthcare in upcoming months.
A key benefit of ACT is its ability to add functionality to fabrics increasing costs. Because it is the production process that adds the functionality, not the addition of raw materials or multiple layers, the flexibility comes from engineering know-how.
The flexibility benefits of ACT have been leveraged through the new DuPont design-your-own technology where customers choose a variety of parameters—thickness, strength, softness, durability, etc.—and a computer program recommends a possible fabric solution to meet these parameters.
Beyond Suprel, other medical fabrics offered by DuPont include Softesse and Acturel. Softesse, formerly branded Sontara, is the traditional spunlaced material made by DuPont; Acturel is made with film laminates and offers a high level of protection but less comfort. “What is used really depends on the healthcare worker’s preferences,” Mr. Lukach said. “Some prefer the traditional Softesse that they’ve used for decades; some are very interested in trying something new.”
Outside of the healthcare market, the DuPont spunlaced business continues under the Sontara brand name. Overall, demand for this material is healthy, growing 5-6% While a global overcapacity situation currently is threatening spunlace, unlike the majority of spunlaced output, which is 100% synthetic, DuPont combines wood pulp with polyester.”
This type of material is preferred by some wipe manufacturers for its strength, purity, absorptive properties and barrier characteristics. While DuPont continues to work on the consumer side of the wipes business, its innovation is highly valued by industrial markets including automotive, general manufacturing, printing and food service.
DuPont Nonwovens’ interest in footwear has benefited from a joint venture agreement with Brazilian footwear leader Cipatex. Operating a line under this joint venture, the business focuses on coated substrates for footwear and other end-use market. It combines DuPont’s nonwovens expertise with Cipatex’s strong knowledge of the South American footwear business. “It’s really about our two businesses creating higher performing materials for end uses like footwear,” Mr. Lukach said.
Whether through joint ventures, new product development or market penetration, DuPont will continue to find success in nonwovens thanks to its three-tiered strategy—unique technology, a brand-oriented business plan and alignment with partners in the value chain. “In a branded business, it is all about living up to your brand promise. You are only as good as your products and offerings in the end-use markets,” Mr. Vergnano said. “We are invested and will continue to invest in downstream markets; we have to make sure we adjust our technology and products accordingly to meet the needs of these markets.