01.01.07
Location: Charlotte, NC
Sales: $1.02 billion
Description: Key Personnel
Veronica Hagen, chief executive officer; Willis (Billy) Moore, III, chief financial officer; Mike Hale, chief operating officer; Bob Dale, vice president of research and development; Fernando Espinosa, senior vice president and general manager, Europe; Rolando Dominguez, vice president, general manager, Latin America; Bill Spencer, vice president, general manager, Canada; Greg Crawford, vice president, general manager, U.S.; Rick Ferencz, vice president, engineering; Dennis Norman, vice president, strategic planning and communication
Plants
Landisville, NJ; Benson, NC; North Little Rock, AR; Mooresville, NC; Waynesboro, VA; Clackamas, Oregan; Clearfield, Utah; Guntown, Mississippi; Kingman, Kansas; Magog, Quebec; North Bay, Ontario; Cuijk, The Netherlands; San Luis Potosi, Mexico; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Bailleul, France; Nanhai, China; Suzhou, China; Cali, Colombia
ISO Status
Landisville, NJ; Benson, NC; North Little Rock, AR; Mooresville, NC; Waynesboro, VA; Nanhai, China; Buenos Aires, Argentina; San Luis Potosi, Mexico; and Cuijk, The Netherlands are ISO 9002 certified
Processes
Spunbonded, meltblown, SMS, composites, through air bonded, adhesive bonded, resin bonded, thermal bonded, spunlaced, airlaid, apertured film, film laminates, sonic laminated, extruded polyolefins, thermal laminated, Apex, Spinlace, other proprietary fabric forming, surfacing and binding systems
Brand Names
Apex, Agriban, Agribon, Amira, Aquapex, Bonlinn, Bonsec, Chicopee, Chicopee Cares, Chix, Chux, Comfortlace, Comfortsilk, Duralace, Durapex, Dura-Tex, Freeswell, Isolite, Keybak, Kiara, Masslin, Matline, Medisoft, Medisoft Ultra, Multi-Strike, Poly-Breathe, Poly-Safe, Quat-Safe, Provira, Reticulon, Reforel, Softlin, Soft-Touch, SuperSoft, TopSwell, Thermoform, Thermospost Ultra Dryloft, Titan, Ultra-Ply, Xiora
Sales topped the $1 billion mark for the first time for Polymer Group Inc. in 2006 as the company felt the benefits of several new capacity expansions throughout the world. Key highlights of the year include the start up of new spunbond lines in Cali, Colombia; Mooresville, NC; and Suzhou, China, as well as a new chemical bonding line in Nanhai, China; the relocation of corporate headquarters from North Charleston, SC to Charlotte, NC; and the finalization of plans to add a new spunbond line in Argentina.
And, PGI has continued strong into 2007 with new CEO Veronica Hagen firmly in place, a North American restructuring plan underway and a brand new nonwovens technology set to increase its role in the wipes market.
“PGI is a growth corporation with a global footprint,” said Ms. Hagen. “The company is already culturally innovative in itself so there is a really good platform on which to grow. PGI is doing an extremely good job of being in the right places with the right technologies.”
Ms. Hagen joined PGI in April, six months after former CEO James Schaeffer was asked to resign as a result of an internal investigation by the company’s audit committee. Since 2004, Ms. Hagen had held the position of president and chief executive officer of Sappi Fine Paper North America, a $1.4 billion division of the South African-based global leader in the pulp and paper industry, Sappi Limited. “As the nominating committee began its search for a new CEO, our primary goal was to identify candidates with a high level of stature and leadership. Flowing from that criterion was the desire for someone with a record of success, strong industrial experience in a global marketplace and a strong focus on the customer,” said William Hewitt, PGI’s chairman who served as interim CEO during the search process.
“Ronee Hagen meets all of those qualifications and joins PGI with an outstanding record of performance and expertise in capital-intensive industrial markets. She has demonstrated the ability to grow profitability in some very tough businesses and has done so with a customer-centric focus. We are confident these characteristics make her the perfect person to lead PGI into its next phase of growth, profitability and success,” Mr. Hewitt continued.
Ms. Hagen’s chief goal is to keep PGI on the same path of growth and innovation it has been on for the past five years. “We will optimize our current footprint and look at new areas to move into,” she said.
In other organizational changes, PGI named two veteran executives to the newly created global positions of chief operating officer and vice president of research and development in July. Mike Hale, who has been with the company for 35 years, has been named COO, managing operations for all of PGI's regional businesses in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, Canada and Asia. He most recently was vice president and general manager for U.S. and Europe. Bob Dale, with PGI for 16 years, has been tapped as vice president of research and development and is leading the company's R&D activities and customer-focused innovation strategies taking place around the world. He previously was vice president of sales and marketing for U.S. Nonwovens. The company also established a new position of vice president of global marketing, with responsibility for global coordination of the company's marketing initiatives, and PGI is actively in the process of filling this executive leadership role. Additionally, PGI named company veteran Fernando Espinosa to the position of senior vice president and general manager, Europe reporting to the COO.
The new organizational structure is expected to help prepare PGI for future growth. Part of this growth is expected to occur through the introduction of its new Spinlace nonwovens, launching a new category of fabrics that deliver high performance at best value pricing and represent the first in a new generation of nonwovens technologies that will be the cornerstone for future product development, according to executives. Spinlace is made on an efficient manufacturing process that incorporates continuous filament technology with hydroentanglement to eliminate the carding step necessary in traditional spunlace production, according to executives. Spinlace also uses PGI’s proprietary Apex imaging technology to impart unique three-dimensional images directly on the fabric.
In announcing the new technology at the IDEA07 trade exhibition, Mr. Hale called Spinlace a first step in developing a more efficient and dynamic method of incorporating continuous filament materials to achieve a variety of product attributes by looking to change the way nonwovens are made. “We consider our current commercial initiatives to produce Spinlace materials as only the beginning of our efforts to develop a more efficient and dynamic method of incorporating continuous filament materials to achieve a variety of product attributes including softness, strength, elasticity, bulk and more.”
During phase one of Spinlace’s commercialization, PGI will mainly target the North American wipes market where it will compete against standard spunlace installations. Phase two will focus on commercialization in the global wipes market as well as into new market areas. Beyond that, attention will be paid to new raw materials.
Spinlace fabrics, and the process used to make them, can result in stronger, more absorbent materials than comparable materials at lower weights and with a better value proposition than traditional manufacturing methods. PGI has invested in the upgrade of a commercial line, as well as a pilot line, for continuous research and development efforts. The first line will be located in Benson, NC and is expected to be commercial during the second half of 2007.
Amidst this major launch, PGI continues to remain committed to traditional nonwovens technologies, particularly spunmelt nonwovens. In fact, the company secured its place as a major global supplier of the material last month when it said it would add a 15,000-ton spunmelt line in North America to serve hygiene customers in the U.S. and Mexico. Also under construction is a new Reifenhauser Reicofil line at its DNS facility near Buenos Aires, Argentina. This wide-width, multi-beam line will more than double the capacity of the Argentina location responding to customers’ needs for PGI’s products in the South American region. The new line is expected to come onstream in late 2007.
These lines are the latest in a string of several new spunmelt lines added by PGI since 2005. Other installations include a fourth spunmelt line in Mooresville, NC, which came onstream in early 2006 to help meet demand for products in North America. Also new to PGI’s business is a new spunmelt line in Suzhou, China, which began contributing to the topline growth during the fourth quarter of 2006. Located near Shanghai, this new line targets medical and hygiene applications as well as a finishing line capable of making related medical fabrics. And, in the fourth quarter of 2005, PGI added a second spunmelt line to its facility in Cali, Colombia, more than doubling this plant’s output.
According to Dennis Norman, vice president, strategic planning and communication, these new lines contributed to 2006’s growth and are expected to help continue this growth pattern for 2007.
These gains were able to recoup softness felt in PGI’s Canadian division during 2006 caused by foreign competition in the housewrap business, brought on largely by increased polyethylene prices following Hurricane Katrina in late 2005. However, the company feels this market is now back on track to grow—albeit from a smaller base—on the heels of new product introductions.
New product introductions are also boosting PGI’s involvement in the automotive market. This spring, the company introduced new substrates for moldable automotive components made from recyclable materials that improve acoustics in vehicles. Used in trunk and wheel well liners, the substrates made from recyclable polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate provide a barrier to absorb sound and reduce noise in the interior compartment of a vehicle by 25-30%. PGI developed a unique one-step manufacturing process that combines the recycled materials with a top virgin-facing material, integrating both through layering and needlepunching. This one-step process, combined with the use of recyclable materials, produces a more cost-effective product.
Also new to PGI’s product lineup is MediSoft Ultra, an advanced high-performance fabric for medical garments and other single-use apparel. New capabilities at PGI’s recently opened state-of-the-art plant in Suzhou, China and proprietary advances in PGI’s spunmelt manufacturing process enable the company to achieve the higher barrier protection, greater comfort and enhanced softness that the market is seeking.
Also expected to boost PGI’s business is the new Consumer Product Safety Commission mattress flammability standards, which went into effect July 1.
PGI has developed a high-performance, antiflammable fabric and has partnered with Hanes Industries, a leading distributor to the home furnishings industry, to distribute this fabric as a facing material on the bottom of no-flip mattresses under Hanes’ brand name, Stratus. Stratus fabric acts as a FR facing material so an additional fabric layer is not needed in the mattress construction. It is made with PGI’s proprietary Apex technology that produces stronger and heavier fabrics with enhanced tear and abrasion resistance when compared to traditional alternative materials. This technology also allows three-dimensional images to be imparted directly into the fabric for improved performance.
“With more than 22 million mattresses sold nationwide, the new federal bed safety standards have created a tremendous opportunity for the nonwovens industry unlike any other we’ve seen in the past,” said Rick Pearce, senior director of PGI. “We are offering a high-performance FR product that assures quality and helps mattress manufacturers of all sizes meet the new regulations. Through our supply chain partnership with Hanes, we are able to deliver FR fabrics to the market in the quickest and most efficient manner, meeting this real-time need.”
Sales: $1.02 billion
Description: Key Personnel
Veronica Hagen, chief executive officer; Willis (Billy) Moore, III, chief financial officer; Mike Hale, chief operating officer; Bob Dale, vice president of research and development; Fernando Espinosa, senior vice president and general manager, Europe; Rolando Dominguez, vice president, general manager, Latin America; Bill Spencer, vice president, general manager, Canada; Greg Crawford, vice president, general manager, U.S.; Rick Ferencz, vice president, engineering; Dennis Norman, vice president, strategic planning and communication
Plants
Landisville, NJ; Benson, NC; North Little Rock, AR; Mooresville, NC; Waynesboro, VA; Clackamas, Oregan; Clearfield, Utah; Guntown, Mississippi; Kingman, Kansas; Magog, Quebec; North Bay, Ontario; Cuijk, The Netherlands; San Luis Potosi, Mexico; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Bailleul, France; Nanhai, China; Suzhou, China; Cali, Colombia
ISO Status
Landisville, NJ; Benson, NC; North Little Rock, AR; Mooresville, NC; Waynesboro, VA; Nanhai, China; Buenos Aires, Argentina; San Luis Potosi, Mexico; and Cuijk, The Netherlands are ISO 9002 certified
Processes
Spunbonded, meltblown, SMS, composites, through air bonded, adhesive bonded, resin bonded, thermal bonded, spunlaced, airlaid, apertured film, film laminates, sonic laminated, extruded polyolefins, thermal laminated, Apex, Spinlace, other proprietary fabric forming, surfacing and binding systems
Brand Names
Apex, Agriban, Agribon, Amira, Aquapex, Bonlinn, Bonsec, Chicopee, Chicopee Cares, Chix, Chux, Comfortlace, Comfortsilk, Duralace, Durapex, Dura-Tex, Freeswell, Isolite, Keybak, Kiara, Masslin, Matline, Medisoft, Medisoft Ultra, Multi-Strike, Poly-Breathe, Poly-Safe, Quat-Safe, Provira, Reticulon, Reforel, Softlin, Soft-Touch, SuperSoft, TopSwell, Thermoform, Thermospost Ultra Dryloft, Titan, Ultra-Ply, Xiora
Sales topped the $1 billion mark for the first time for Polymer Group Inc. in 2006 as the company felt the benefits of several new capacity expansions throughout the world. Key highlights of the year include the start up of new spunbond lines in Cali, Colombia; Mooresville, NC; and Suzhou, China, as well as a new chemical bonding line in Nanhai, China; the relocation of corporate headquarters from North Charleston, SC to Charlotte, NC; and the finalization of plans to add a new spunbond line in Argentina.
And, PGI has continued strong into 2007 with new CEO Veronica Hagen firmly in place, a North American restructuring plan underway and a brand new nonwovens technology set to increase its role in the wipes market.
“PGI is a growth corporation with a global footprint,” said Ms. Hagen. “The company is already culturally innovative in itself so there is a really good platform on which to grow. PGI is doing an extremely good job of being in the right places with the right technologies.”
Ms. Hagen joined PGI in April, six months after former CEO James Schaeffer was asked to resign as a result of an internal investigation by the company’s audit committee. Since 2004, Ms. Hagen had held the position of president and chief executive officer of Sappi Fine Paper North America, a $1.4 billion division of the South African-based global leader in the pulp and paper industry, Sappi Limited. “As the nominating committee began its search for a new CEO, our primary goal was to identify candidates with a high level of stature and leadership. Flowing from that criterion was the desire for someone with a record of success, strong industrial experience in a global marketplace and a strong focus on the customer,” said William Hewitt, PGI’s chairman who served as interim CEO during the search process.
“Ronee Hagen meets all of those qualifications and joins PGI with an outstanding record of performance and expertise in capital-intensive industrial markets. She has demonstrated the ability to grow profitability in some very tough businesses and has done so with a customer-centric focus. We are confident these characteristics make her the perfect person to lead PGI into its next phase of growth, profitability and success,” Mr. Hewitt continued.
Ms. Hagen’s chief goal is to keep PGI on the same path of growth and innovation it has been on for the past five years. “We will optimize our current footprint and look at new areas to move into,” she said.
In other organizational changes, PGI named two veteran executives to the newly created global positions of chief operating officer and vice president of research and development in July. Mike Hale, who has been with the company for 35 years, has been named COO, managing operations for all of PGI's regional businesses in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, Canada and Asia. He most recently was vice president and general manager for U.S. and Europe. Bob Dale, with PGI for 16 years, has been tapped as vice president of research and development and is leading the company's R&D activities and customer-focused innovation strategies taking place around the world. He previously was vice president of sales and marketing for U.S. Nonwovens. The company also established a new position of vice president of global marketing, with responsibility for global coordination of the company's marketing initiatives, and PGI is actively in the process of filling this executive leadership role. Additionally, PGI named company veteran Fernando Espinosa to the position of senior vice president and general manager, Europe reporting to the COO.
The new organizational structure is expected to help prepare PGI for future growth. Part of this growth is expected to occur through the introduction of its new Spinlace nonwovens, launching a new category of fabrics that deliver high performance at best value pricing and represent the first in a new generation of nonwovens technologies that will be the cornerstone for future product development, according to executives. Spinlace is made on an efficient manufacturing process that incorporates continuous filament technology with hydroentanglement to eliminate the carding step necessary in traditional spunlace production, according to executives. Spinlace also uses PGI’s proprietary Apex imaging technology to impart unique three-dimensional images directly on the fabric.
In announcing the new technology at the IDEA07 trade exhibition, Mr. Hale called Spinlace a first step in developing a more efficient and dynamic method of incorporating continuous filament materials to achieve a variety of product attributes by looking to change the way nonwovens are made. “We consider our current commercial initiatives to produce Spinlace materials as only the beginning of our efforts to develop a more efficient and dynamic method of incorporating continuous filament materials to achieve a variety of product attributes including softness, strength, elasticity, bulk and more.”
During phase one of Spinlace’s commercialization, PGI will mainly target the North American wipes market where it will compete against standard spunlace installations. Phase two will focus on commercialization in the global wipes market as well as into new market areas. Beyond that, attention will be paid to new raw materials.
Spinlace fabrics, and the process used to make them, can result in stronger, more absorbent materials than comparable materials at lower weights and with a better value proposition than traditional manufacturing methods. PGI has invested in the upgrade of a commercial line, as well as a pilot line, for continuous research and development efforts. The first line will be located in Benson, NC and is expected to be commercial during the second half of 2007.
Amidst this major launch, PGI continues to remain committed to traditional nonwovens technologies, particularly spunmelt nonwovens. In fact, the company secured its place as a major global supplier of the material last month when it said it would add a 15,000-ton spunmelt line in North America to serve hygiene customers in the U.S. and Mexico. Also under construction is a new Reifenhauser Reicofil line at its DNS facility near Buenos Aires, Argentina. This wide-width, multi-beam line will more than double the capacity of the Argentina location responding to customers’ needs for PGI’s products in the South American region. The new line is expected to come onstream in late 2007.
These lines are the latest in a string of several new spunmelt lines added by PGI since 2005. Other installations include a fourth spunmelt line in Mooresville, NC, which came onstream in early 2006 to help meet demand for products in North America. Also new to PGI’s business is a new spunmelt line in Suzhou, China, which began contributing to the topline growth during the fourth quarter of 2006. Located near Shanghai, this new line targets medical and hygiene applications as well as a finishing line capable of making related medical fabrics. And, in the fourth quarter of 2005, PGI added a second spunmelt line to its facility in Cali, Colombia, more than doubling this plant’s output.
According to Dennis Norman, vice president, strategic planning and communication, these new lines contributed to 2006’s growth and are expected to help continue this growth pattern for 2007.
These gains were able to recoup softness felt in PGI’s Canadian division during 2006 caused by foreign competition in the housewrap business, brought on largely by increased polyethylene prices following Hurricane Katrina in late 2005. However, the company feels this market is now back on track to grow—albeit from a smaller base—on the heels of new product introductions.
New product introductions are also boosting PGI’s involvement in the automotive market. This spring, the company introduced new substrates for moldable automotive components made from recyclable materials that improve acoustics in vehicles. Used in trunk and wheel well liners, the substrates made from recyclable polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate provide a barrier to absorb sound and reduce noise in the interior compartment of a vehicle by 25-30%. PGI developed a unique one-step manufacturing process that combines the recycled materials with a top virgin-facing material, integrating both through layering and needlepunching. This one-step process, combined with the use of recyclable materials, produces a more cost-effective product.
Also new to PGI’s product lineup is MediSoft Ultra, an advanced high-performance fabric for medical garments and other single-use apparel. New capabilities at PGI’s recently opened state-of-the-art plant in Suzhou, China and proprietary advances in PGI’s spunmelt manufacturing process enable the company to achieve the higher barrier protection, greater comfort and enhanced softness that the market is seeking.
Also expected to boost PGI’s business is the new Consumer Product Safety Commission mattress flammability standards, which went into effect July 1.
PGI has developed a high-performance, antiflammable fabric and has partnered with Hanes Industries, a leading distributor to the home furnishings industry, to distribute this fabric as a facing material on the bottom of no-flip mattresses under Hanes’ brand name, Stratus. Stratus fabric acts as a FR facing material so an additional fabric layer is not needed in the mattress construction. It is made with PGI’s proprietary Apex technology that produces stronger and heavier fabrics with enhanced tear and abrasion resistance when compared to traditional alternative materials. This technology also allows three-dimensional images to be imparted directly into the fabric for improved performance.
“With more than 22 million mattresses sold nationwide, the new federal bed safety standards have created a tremendous opportunity for the nonwovens industry unlike any other we’ve seen in the past,” said Rick Pearce, senior director of PGI. “We are offering a high-performance FR product that assures quality and helps mattress manufacturers of all sizes meet the new regulations. Through our supply chain partnership with Hanes, we are able to deliver FR fabrics to the market in the quickest and most efficient manner, meeting this real-time need.”