01.01.07
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Sales: $1.01 billion
Description: Personnel
Jukka Moisio, president and CEO; Randal Davis, senior vice president, filtration; Claudio Ermondi, senior vice president, nonwovens; Tommi Bjormann, senior vice president, glass nonwovens; Paul Marold, VP/GM medical nonwovens; Jean-Marie Becker, VP/GM industrial nonwovens; Martin Davis, VP/GM wipes nonwovens; Michael Black, VP/GM food nonwovens; Francesca Camerano, communications director, nonwovens; Jerome Barrillon, director of marketing, filtration
Processes
Needlepunch, resin bonded, spunlaced, nanofiber, spunmelt/spunbond, wetlaid, wetlaid/Hydraspun, wetlaid/spunlace composite, composite nonwovens, wetlaid/Trinitex, process enhancements, SPC
Plant Locations
Turin, Italy; Milan, Italy; Malmedy, Belgium; Brignoud, France; Stalldallen Sweden; Alicante, Spain; Green Bay, WI; Windsor Locks, CT; Bethune, SC; Louveira, Brazil; Seoul, Korea
Continuing its aggressive growth strategy is Ahlstrom, a nonwovens producer who has spent the last half decade making capital investments and acquisitions to pose itself among the top three nonwovens producers in the world in the near term. And, all of this effort is paying off. In 2006, the company reported sales of €808 million, making it number six of the world’s leading nonwovens producers and its ranking is expected to climb higher once new acquisitions, notably Fiberweb’s consumer wipes business and Orlandi’s spunlace operation, are rolled into its corporate sales.
“Ahlstrom has made several investments in the nonwovens market, more specifically in the wipes market,” said Claudio Ermondi, senior vice president and general manager of nonwovens. “These include acquisitions and investments in new production assets. We have not made these investments randomly but based on both current and future strategic needs for the wipes market and the other market segments where we are active. This, together with innovation, helped the growth.”
Ahlstrom has made its commitment to growing its consumer wipes business during the past 12 months through both acquisition and capital investment. With two large spunlace lines already in operation in Green Bay, WI as well as a large spunlace composite machine running in Windsor Locks, CT, Ahlstrom announced in October it would add a new wiping production line using spunlace technology in Brazil, making it that country’s first maker of wipe substrates and increasing its presence in Latin America.
Then, in February, Ahlstrom demonstrated its commitment to Europe’s wipe market through the acquisition of Orlandi’s Italian spunlace operation, adding two plants with four production lines in Cressa and Gallarate, Italy and an estimated €65 million in annualized net sales to its business. In addition to increasing Ahlstrom’s spunlace capacity and its presence in Europe, the Orlandi acquisition will allow it to make pulp-containing wiping fabrics.
One month later, in March, Ahlstrom announced the acquisition of the consumer wipes business of Fiberweb plc. The purchase includes two plants in Italy, one in Spain and one in Bethune, SC and will add €110 million in sales and 400 employees to Ahlstrom’s existing business. Fiberweb’s consumer wipes business mainly targets personal care, baby care and household applications.
Mr. Ermondi said the acquired businesses will not only increase Ahlstrom’s output in the wipes market, it will broaden its product offerings, allowing it to create more options for its customers. “Differentiation has become a key for consumer and private label companies who want to offer a value-added product. Therefore, in order to compete in the wipes market in the future, nonwoven material manufacturers must provide differentiated products. Ahlstrom is positioned well to compete, as we have developed new equipment and processes that allow us to deliver innovative and exciting materials.”
In addition to wipes, filtration has been the focus of a great deal of activity for Ahlstrom in recent months including acquisitions and new line announcements, intended to broaden the company’s role in a number of filtration segments. A long-time leader in the supply of wetlaid media for the automotive filtration markets, Ahlstrom has more recently been eyeing growth in a number of sophisticated filtration markets across wet and dry applications, according to Jerome Barillon, marketing director, filtration.
“We have been adding pieces of the puzzle by acquiring businesses and adding them to existing businesses in a number of markets,” he said. “Ahlstrom has made it clear it wants to be a leader in the filtration market and with the assets we have in place we are definitely positioned to achieve this.”
Ahlstrom’s ambition in filtration first surfaced in 2004 with a number of acquisitions including Hollinee LLC, which provided access to the $500 million HVAC market; Lantor, adding needlepunching capabilities for the air and automotive filtration markets as well as high temperature dust filtration media; and FiberMark’s absorbent materials business and HRS Textiles to enhance its place in air filtration.
More recently, in February 2007, Ahlstrom acquired Sassoferrato, Italy-based Fabriano Filter Media, a maker of microglass filter media, increasing its exposure to the high efficiency air filtration markets. “This was really a great acquisition for us,” Mr. Barrillon said. “It gives us access to the high efficiency air filtration markets and allows us to compete in new areas.”
Acquisition hasn’t been Ahlstrom’s only strategy for growth in filtration. The company has announced a string of new investments designed to enhance current offerings. In May Ahlstrom said it would invest €8 million in a new needlepunch line in Darlington, SC. The new line will help expand Ahlstrom’s role in the North American dust filtration market. The targeted completion date is slated for early 2008, and the new line will manufacture a full range of needlepunched fabrics, mainly for the high-temperature dust filtration industry.
The investment follows one announced in February when Ahlstrom said it would invest €5 million in a new drylaid nonwoven line to serve the North American air filtration market. The new line, located at Ahlstrom's Groesbeck, TX facility, is expected to start at the beginning of 2008. The Groesbeck site currently operates six drylaid and needlepunch nonwovens lines dedicated to producing filter media. The new line will incorporate the latest advances in drylaid nonwovens equipment and provide Ahlstrom with an additional fast and modern asset to better serve the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) filter media market in North America, according to executives. The line will be particularly well-suited to manufacture products for the medium efficiency range and offer solutions to the growing demand for unsupported filter media.
And, in October, Ahlstrom said it would add a new needlepunch line to its Wuxi facility located close to Shanghai, China to serve the growing dust filtration market in Asia. The investment, valued at approximately $5 million (€4 million), will be completed in the third quarter of 2007. The new line will manufacture a variety of needlepunch nonwoven media targeted mainly at high temperature applications for the dust filtration market. By adding these capabilities, Ahlstrom will increase its participation in this very dynamic segment of the filtration industry.
The line will more than double the capacity of Ahlstrom's Wuxi facility in China, acquired less than two years ago, where it currently operates one line serving this market segment.
Amidst all of this investment has come some restructuring as well for Ahlstrom. In June, the company announced plans to close its Bellingham, MA facility—acquired in 2005 from Lantor—and consolidate these operations in Darlington, SC. This move was mainly driven by the need to be more cost competitive, and it will also allow Ahlstrom to locate its dust filtration business closer to many of its customers. The relocation will affect approximately 80 jobs in Bellingham and the transition will take up to one year to complete. Ahlstrom estimates that the cost related to the closure and the consolidation of assets will be approximately €2 million.
Also benefiting Ahlstrom’s place in filtration is an exclusive licensing agreement with the Argonide Corporation to manufacture and commercialize their patented electropositive nano fiber filter media. The new Ahlstrom product—called Disruptor—is based on Argonide technology developed through basic research over the last five years. The development was partially funded by NASA, aimed at purifying recycled water in advanced space vehicles, used on the moon and beyond. Disruptor is a wetlaid technology that is designed to be used in pleated, spiral wound, disc or flat sheet media formats. The key to the effectiveness of Disruptor is the grafting of alumina nanofibers onto microglass fiber. The microglass fiber acts as a platform for the nanoalumina while also enhancing flow rates through the creation of pore space and providing mechanical retention for large or uncharged particles.
According to Ahlstrom, Disruptor is an excellent choice as an alternative filter media to membranes for many applications. These include: Point Of Entry and Point Of Use potable water, pharmaceutical make up water, boiler feed water, chiller water, metals removal from waste water; filtration of gelatin, inks, starch, carbon, paint pigments and many other industrial and pharmaceutical processes.
Another key market for Ahlstrom, medical nonwovens continues to benefit from a strong technology base, namely a large-scale spunbond composite line in Windsor Locks, CT. “Growth is really being driven by regulations and customer demand,” said Paul Marold, vice president and general manager of medical. “Globally we are seeing a conversion to disposables move west to east.”
Interestingly, however, developing areas such as the Asia-Pacific region are leapfrogging less sophisticated disposable products as they make this conversion and moving right into sophisticated, barrier protective products, according to executives.
Meanwhile, Ahlstrom’s industrial business, spanning a number of end use segments, continues to perform well. “Our strength here is that we have access to a lot of technologies and the ability to use a lot of different fibers,” said Jean-Marie Becker, vice president and general manager of industrial nonwovens. “This helps us be involved in a lot of different businesses.
One segment of growth is Wall coverings where Ahlstrom’s wetlaid materials offer great printing capabilities. To help it grow in these markets, a new needlepunch line will begin operation in Brignoud at the end of 2007. Executives said the beauty of industrial segments—including agriculture, construction protective apparel and automotives—is there are so many different areas that there is always a potential for growth in a number of new and exciting areas.
For instance, Ahlstrom’s food products market is set to receive a boost from a €27 million investment, announced in December 2006, to add a new spunmelt nonwovens line in Chirnside, Scotland. The new line utilizing spunmelt technology will primarily serve the growing infusion products market with next generation spunmelt products. The infusion products market in general is anticipated to grow at 5% annually and is becoming a strong market for spunmelt nonwovens, according to Mr. Ermondi. It is market areas like this that Ahlstrom will look to for future growth when determining its future investment strategy.
“Nonwovens market as a whole is growing at a quite significant rate globally,” Mr. Ermondi said. “Ahlstrom has been active in some segments for many years and then decided to play a bigger role in the business. Our strong position in the papermaking technology and know-how was a good starting point to enter nonwovens, then we approached other technologies to broaden our offerings to customers. Growth will be in all our core business: wipes, wallcover, infusion, filtration and medical. Innovation and a strong manufacturing platform will support our expansion even in the future.”"
Sales: $1.01 billion
Description: Personnel
Jukka Moisio, president and CEO; Randal Davis, senior vice president, filtration; Claudio Ermondi, senior vice president, nonwovens; Tommi Bjormann, senior vice president, glass nonwovens; Paul Marold, VP/GM medical nonwovens; Jean-Marie Becker, VP/GM industrial nonwovens; Martin Davis, VP/GM wipes nonwovens; Michael Black, VP/GM food nonwovens; Francesca Camerano, communications director, nonwovens; Jerome Barrillon, director of marketing, filtration
Processes
Needlepunch, resin bonded, spunlaced, nanofiber, spunmelt/spunbond, wetlaid, wetlaid/Hydraspun, wetlaid/spunlace composite, composite nonwovens, wetlaid/Trinitex, process enhancements, SPC
Plant Locations
Turin, Italy; Milan, Italy; Malmedy, Belgium; Brignoud, France; Stalldallen Sweden; Alicante, Spain; Green Bay, WI; Windsor Locks, CT; Bethune, SC; Louveira, Brazil; Seoul, Korea
Continuing its aggressive growth strategy is Ahlstrom, a nonwovens producer who has spent the last half decade making capital investments and acquisitions to pose itself among the top three nonwovens producers in the world in the near term. And, all of this effort is paying off. In 2006, the company reported sales of €808 million, making it number six of the world’s leading nonwovens producers and its ranking is expected to climb higher once new acquisitions, notably Fiberweb’s consumer wipes business and Orlandi’s spunlace operation, are rolled into its corporate sales.
“Ahlstrom has made several investments in the nonwovens market, more specifically in the wipes market,” said Claudio Ermondi, senior vice president and general manager of nonwovens. “These include acquisitions and investments in new production assets. We have not made these investments randomly but based on both current and future strategic needs for the wipes market and the other market segments where we are active. This, together with innovation, helped the growth.”
Ahlstrom has made its commitment to growing its consumer wipes business during the past 12 months through both acquisition and capital investment. With two large spunlace lines already in operation in Green Bay, WI as well as a large spunlace composite machine running in Windsor Locks, CT, Ahlstrom announced in October it would add a new wiping production line using spunlace technology in Brazil, making it that country’s first maker of wipe substrates and increasing its presence in Latin America.
Then, in February, Ahlstrom demonstrated its commitment to Europe’s wipe market through the acquisition of Orlandi’s Italian spunlace operation, adding two plants with four production lines in Cressa and Gallarate, Italy and an estimated €65 million in annualized net sales to its business. In addition to increasing Ahlstrom’s spunlace capacity and its presence in Europe, the Orlandi acquisition will allow it to make pulp-containing wiping fabrics.
One month later, in March, Ahlstrom announced the acquisition of the consumer wipes business of Fiberweb plc. The purchase includes two plants in Italy, one in Spain and one in Bethune, SC and will add €110 million in sales and 400 employees to Ahlstrom’s existing business. Fiberweb’s consumer wipes business mainly targets personal care, baby care and household applications.
Mr. Ermondi said the acquired businesses will not only increase Ahlstrom’s output in the wipes market, it will broaden its product offerings, allowing it to create more options for its customers. “Differentiation has become a key for consumer and private label companies who want to offer a value-added product. Therefore, in order to compete in the wipes market in the future, nonwoven material manufacturers must provide differentiated products. Ahlstrom is positioned well to compete, as we have developed new equipment and processes that allow us to deliver innovative and exciting materials.”
In addition to wipes, filtration has been the focus of a great deal of activity for Ahlstrom in recent months including acquisitions and new line announcements, intended to broaden the company’s role in a number of filtration segments. A long-time leader in the supply of wetlaid media for the automotive filtration markets, Ahlstrom has more recently been eyeing growth in a number of sophisticated filtration markets across wet and dry applications, according to Jerome Barillon, marketing director, filtration.
“We have been adding pieces of the puzzle by acquiring businesses and adding them to existing businesses in a number of markets,” he said. “Ahlstrom has made it clear it wants to be a leader in the filtration market and with the assets we have in place we are definitely positioned to achieve this.”
Ahlstrom’s ambition in filtration first surfaced in 2004 with a number of acquisitions including Hollinee LLC, which provided access to the $500 million HVAC market; Lantor, adding needlepunching capabilities for the air and automotive filtration markets as well as high temperature dust filtration media; and FiberMark’s absorbent materials business and HRS Textiles to enhance its place in air filtration.
More recently, in February 2007, Ahlstrom acquired Sassoferrato, Italy-based Fabriano Filter Media, a maker of microglass filter media, increasing its exposure to the high efficiency air filtration markets. “This was really a great acquisition for us,” Mr. Barrillon said. “It gives us access to the high efficiency air filtration markets and allows us to compete in new areas.”
Acquisition hasn’t been Ahlstrom’s only strategy for growth in filtration. The company has announced a string of new investments designed to enhance current offerings. In May Ahlstrom said it would invest €8 million in a new needlepunch line in Darlington, SC. The new line will help expand Ahlstrom’s role in the North American dust filtration market. The targeted completion date is slated for early 2008, and the new line will manufacture a full range of needlepunched fabrics, mainly for the high-temperature dust filtration industry.
The investment follows one announced in February when Ahlstrom said it would invest €5 million in a new drylaid nonwoven line to serve the North American air filtration market. The new line, located at Ahlstrom's Groesbeck, TX facility, is expected to start at the beginning of 2008. The Groesbeck site currently operates six drylaid and needlepunch nonwovens lines dedicated to producing filter media. The new line will incorporate the latest advances in drylaid nonwovens equipment and provide Ahlstrom with an additional fast and modern asset to better serve the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) filter media market in North America, according to executives. The line will be particularly well-suited to manufacture products for the medium efficiency range and offer solutions to the growing demand for unsupported filter media.
And, in October, Ahlstrom said it would add a new needlepunch line to its Wuxi facility located close to Shanghai, China to serve the growing dust filtration market in Asia. The investment, valued at approximately $5 million (€4 million), will be completed in the third quarter of 2007. The new line will manufacture a variety of needlepunch nonwoven media targeted mainly at high temperature applications for the dust filtration market. By adding these capabilities, Ahlstrom will increase its participation in this very dynamic segment of the filtration industry.
The line will more than double the capacity of Ahlstrom's Wuxi facility in China, acquired less than two years ago, where it currently operates one line serving this market segment.
Amidst all of this investment has come some restructuring as well for Ahlstrom. In June, the company announced plans to close its Bellingham, MA facility—acquired in 2005 from Lantor—and consolidate these operations in Darlington, SC. This move was mainly driven by the need to be more cost competitive, and it will also allow Ahlstrom to locate its dust filtration business closer to many of its customers. The relocation will affect approximately 80 jobs in Bellingham and the transition will take up to one year to complete. Ahlstrom estimates that the cost related to the closure and the consolidation of assets will be approximately €2 million.
Also benefiting Ahlstrom’s place in filtration is an exclusive licensing agreement with the Argonide Corporation to manufacture and commercialize their patented electropositive nano fiber filter media. The new Ahlstrom product—called Disruptor—is based on Argonide technology developed through basic research over the last five years. The development was partially funded by NASA, aimed at purifying recycled water in advanced space vehicles, used on the moon and beyond. Disruptor is a wetlaid technology that is designed to be used in pleated, spiral wound, disc or flat sheet media formats. The key to the effectiveness of Disruptor is the grafting of alumina nanofibers onto microglass fiber. The microglass fiber acts as a platform for the nanoalumina while also enhancing flow rates through the creation of pore space and providing mechanical retention for large or uncharged particles.
According to Ahlstrom, Disruptor is an excellent choice as an alternative filter media to membranes for many applications. These include: Point Of Entry and Point Of Use potable water, pharmaceutical make up water, boiler feed water, chiller water, metals removal from waste water; filtration of gelatin, inks, starch, carbon, paint pigments and many other industrial and pharmaceutical processes.
Another key market for Ahlstrom, medical nonwovens continues to benefit from a strong technology base, namely a large-scale spunbond composite line in Windsor Locks, CT. “Growth is really being driven by regulations and customer demand,” said Paul Marold, vice president and general manager of medical. “Globally we are seeing a conversion to disposables move west to east.”
Interestingly, however, developing areas such as the Asia-Pacific region are leapfrogging less sophisticated disposable products as they make this conversion and moving right into sophisticated, barrier protective products, according to executives.
Meanwhile, Ahlstrom’s industrial business, spanning a number of end use segments, continues to perform well. “Our strength here is that we have access to a lot of technologies and the ability to use a lot of different fibers,” said Jean-Marie Becker, vice president and general manager of industrial nonwovens. “This helps us be involved in a lot of different businesses.
One segment of growth is Wall coverings where Ahlstrom’s wetlaid materials offer great printing capabilities. To help it grow in these markets, a new needlepunch line will begin operation in Brignoud at the end of 2007. Executives said the beauty of industrial segments—including agriculture, construction protective apparel and automotives—is there are so many different areas that there is always a potential for growth in a number of new and exciting areas.
For instance, Ahlstrom’s food products market is set to receive a boost from a €27 million investment, announced in December 2006, to add a new spunmelt nonwovens line in Chirnside, Scotland. The new line utilizing spunmelt technology will primarily serve the growing infusion products market with next generation spunmelt products. The infusion products market in general is anticipated to grow at 5% annually and is becoming a strong market for spunmelt nonwovens, according to Mr. Ermondi. It is market areas like this that Ahlstrom will look to for future growth when determining its future investment strategy.
“Nonwovens market as a whole is growing at a quite significant rate globally,” Mr. Ermondi said. “Ahlstrom has been active in some segments for many years and then decided to play a bigger role in the business. Our strong position in the papermaking technology and know-how was a good starting point to enter nonwovens, then we approached other technologies to broaden our offerings to customers. Growth will be in all our core business: wipes, wallcover, infusion, filtration and medical. Innovation and a strong manufacturing platform will support our expansion even in the future.”"
