01.01.10
Location: Manchester, CT
Sales: $98 million
Description: Key Personnel
W. Leslie Duffy, chairman of the board; Dale Barnhart, president and CEO; Thomas Smith, vice president, CFO and Treasurer; Mona Estey, vice president—Human Resources; Mary Tremblay, vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary; Peter Kurto, vice president—business development; Kevin Longe, president, Performance Materials; Joseph Wilsted, president, automotive; Peter Ferris, president, Charter Medical, Ltd.
Plants
Rochester, NH; Saint Rivalain, France; Winston-Salem, NC; Hamptonville, NC; Green Island, NY; Ossipee, NH; Meinerzhagen, Germany; Saint-Nazaire, France; Maastricht, The Netherlands
Major Markets
Thermal and acoustical shields and insulation, high-efficiency air and liquid filtration media, bioprocessing and specialty blood and cell therapy products
Major Brand Names
Arioso, Biotherm, Capraton, CELL-FREEZE, Clear-PakT, CRS Wrap, Cryo-Lite dBLyte, Freeze-PakT, LydAir MG, LydAir MB, LydAir SC, LyPore Defender LyPore MB, LyPore SC, LyPore XL, Lytherm, ManniGlas, Solupor Membrane, ZeroClearance, ZeroClearance In-Tack
With many of its key customers reporting year-over-year revenues down 20-25% between 2008 and 2009, Lydall Performance Materials certainly was not immune to the global recession. In 2009, the Manchester, CT-based company reported sales fell 12% from $111 million to $98 million.
Despite these challenges, Lydall was able to remain profitable. “We have differentiated technologies which the market continues to demand even in difficult economic conditions,” said CEO Dale Barnhardt. “That, coupled with the fact that over half of our sales is replacement business, gave us the volume we needed to remain profitable throughout the downturn.”
So far, 2010 has been all about recovery. For the first quarter, sales increased 21% to $27.2 million. This was largely brought on by an increase in order backlog from $34 million in December 2008 to $56 million in March 2010. “Time will tell if this is long-term recovery or an inventory correction,” Mr. Barnhardt said. “Our businesses are not recession proof, but as we continue to develop differentiated technologies in attractive markets, we will be best positioned to weather economic downturns.”
Lydall’s Performance Materials segment served diverse markets including filtration media solutions for air, fluid power, industrial and life science applications and industrial thermal insulation solutions for building products, appliances and energy and industrial markets.
A key focus of its business—which has profited greatly from diversity—is new product development. In fact, much of the company’s organic growth has been fueled by a combination of product extensions, along with applying new materials and process technologies as a vehicle to bring innovative new products to currently served markets.
A good example of this is Arioso composite media, which provides many additional features that allow us to explore markets and applications outside those traditionally served by Lydall. In power generation, air pollution control and dust collection, this new media technology is gaining acceptance for applications including gas turbine air intake, dust collection cartridges and bag filters.
Lydall to some extent obtained the means necessary to develop this product through the launch of microporous membrane technology, which was acquired from DSM Solutech B.V. Since the acquisition in late 2008, Lydall has focused on expanding the company’s Solupor specialty microporous membranes into new markets, which resulted in the Arioso launch, Mr. Barnhardt said.
Another recent filtration-related launch, LyPore Defender-C microglass filtration media series designed to achieve maximum filtration performance while eliminating static discharge in hydraulic, lube oil and fuel systems filtration processes. LyPore Defender-C is an extension of the Lypore Defender filter media series introduced in 2008, which is known for its superior dirt holding capacity and longer filter life.
Additionally, the company has developed biosoluble high temperature fiber products to expand Lydall’s high temperature technology portfolio and supplements the Lytherm product brand, traditionally utilized in the industrial market for kilns and furnaces used in metal processing.
“Our current Lydall Performance Material business model is to supply technically advanced products to global markets from our four manufacturing sites in the U.S., France and the Netherlands,” said Mr. Barnhardt. “We have increased our global reach through the deployment of regional sales forces, distributors and agents as appropriate. Lydall continues to review various strategic and business opportunities to grow the business in developing regions.”
Noting that the segment has no plan to expand its manufacturing footprint currently, Mr. Barnhardt said that such a move would be considered down the road.
Last year, Lydall was in expansion mode, however, when it added a new needled fiber operation to is Green Island, NY facility, a move that has allowed it to expand its range of high temperatures, insulation products. Among the products made on the line are appLY Mat needled fiberglass products and Manniglas thin nonwoven fiberglass products, which together allow Lydall to be a full-service insulation partner to industry OEMs. Lydall has also been addressing the expansion of appLY mat product portfolio with the incorporation of different fiber types, further expanding the product’s scope in new and existing market segments.
In other investment news, Lydall has been busy upgrading the quality and capability of its flagship wetlaid nonwovens line in Green Island, NY. This line will be increasingly focused on serving the filtration market with both microglass and synthetic fiber grades in addition to supporting new thermal insulation grades.
Speaking of thermal insulation products, this business was also negatively impacted in 2009 by the economic downturn, but here market diversity was also beneficial. “The government stimulus packages for new energy efficient appliances and tax credits for first time home buyers definitely helped to create the demand for new appliance production, hence the need for high temperature insulation,” Mr. Barnhardt said. “The demand for commercial building materials continues to lag; however, OEM product diversity has worked out well for us.”
In addition to diversity, Lydall remains on the cutting edge of technology in all of its markets by staying extremely close to its customers, understanding their processes and evolving application requirements all focused on setting the highest standard for products, services and support.
In filtration, Lydall believes that growth will be driven by demand for higher efficiency and lower pressure drop filtration systems. “Increasingly, we see escalating efficiency requirements for existing applications as well as the adoption of higher performing filtration systems in new applications, particularly those related to ‘quality of life,’” Mr. Barndhardt concluded. “We believe that worldwide increasing demand on energy supply will spur the development of increasingly lower pressure drop filtration technologies.”
Sales: $98 million
Description: Key Personnel
W. Leslie Duffy, chairman of the board; Dale Barnhart, president and CEO; Thomas Smith, vice president, CFO and Treasurer; Mona Estey, vice president—Human Resources; Mary Tremblay, vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary; Peter Kurto, vice president—business development; Kevin Longe, president, Performance Materials; Joseph Wilsted, president, automotive; Peter Ferris, president, Charter Medical, Ltd.
Plants
Rochester, NH; Saint Rivalain, France; Winston-Salem, NC; Hamptonville, NC; Green Island, NY; Ossipee, NH; Meinerzhagen, Germany; Saint-Nazaire, France; Maastricht, The Netherlands
Major Markets
Thermal and acoustical shields and insulation, high-efficiency air and liquid filtration media, bioprocessing and specialty blood and cell therapy products
Major Brand Names
Arioso, Biotherm, Capraton, CELL-FREEZE, Clear-PakT, CRS Wrap, Cryo-Lite dBLyte, Freeze-PakT, LydAir MG, LydAir MB, LydAir SC, LyPore Defender LyPore MB, LyPore SC, LyPore XL, Lytherm, ManniGlas, Solupor Membrane, ZeroClearance, ZeroClearance In-Tack
With many of its key customers reporting year-over-year revenues down 20-25% between 2008 and 2009, Lydall Performance Materials certainly was not immune to the global recession. In 2009, the Manchester, CT-based company reported sales fell 12% from $111 million to $98 million.
Despite these challenges, Lydall was able to remain profitable. “We have differentiated technologies which the market continues to demand even in difficult economic conditions,” said CEO Dale Barnhardt. “That, coupled with the fact that over half of our sales is replacement business, gave us the volume we needed to remain profitable throughout the downturn.”
So far, 2010 has been all about recovery. For the first quarter, sales increased 21% to $27.2 million. This was largely brought on by an increase in order backlog from $34 million in December 2008 to $56 million in March 2010. “Time will tell if this is long-term recovery or an inventory correction,” Mr. Barnhardt said. “Our businesses are not recession proof, but as we continue to develop differentiated technologies in attractive markets, we will be best positioned to weather economic downturns.”
Lydall’s Performance Materials segment served diverse markets including filtration media solutions for air, fluid power, industrial and life science applications and industrial thermal insulation solutions for building products, appliances and energy and industrial markets.
A key focus of its business—which has profited greatly from diversity—is new product development. In fact, much of the company’s organic growth has been fueled by a combination of product extensions, along with applying new materials and process technologies as a vehicle to bring innovative new products to currently served markets.
A good example of this is Arioso composite media, which provides many additional features that allow us to explore markets and applications outside those traditionally served by Lydall. In power generation, air pollution control and dust collection, this new media technology is gaining acceptance for applications including gas turbine air intake, dust collection cartridges and bag filters.
Lydall to some extent obtained the means necessary to develop this product through the launch of microporous membrane technology, which was acquired from DSM Solutech B.V. Since the acquisition in late 2008, Lydall has focused on expanding the company’s Solupor specialty microporous membranes into new markets, which resulted in the Arioso launch, Mr. Barnhardt said.
Another recent filtration-related launch, LyPore Defender-C microglass filtration media series designed to achieve maximum filtration performance while eliminating static discharge in hydraulic, lube oil and fuel systems filtration processes. LyPore Defender-C is an extension of the Lypore Defender filter media series introduced in 2008, which is known for its superior dirt holding capacity and longer filter life.
Additionally, the company has developed biosoluble high temperature fiber products to expand Lydall’s high temperature technology portfolio and supplements the Lytherm product brand, traditionally utilized in the industrial market for kilns and furnaces used in metal processing.
“Our current Lydall Performance Material business model is to supply technically advanced products to global markets from our four manufacturing sites in the U.S., France and the Netherlands,” said Mr. Barnhardt. “We have increased our global reach through the deployment of regional sales forces, distributors and agents as appropriate. Lydall continues to review various strategic and business opportunities to grow the business in developing regions.”
Noting that the segment has no plan to expand its manufacturing footprint currently, Mr. Barnhardt said that such a move would be considered down the road.
Last year, Lydall was in expansion mode, however, when it added a new needled fiber operation to is Green Island, NY facility, a move that has allowed it to expand its range of high temperatures, insulation products. Among the products made on the line are appLY Mat needled fiberglass products and Manniglas thin nonwoven fiberglass products, which together allow Lydall to be a full-service insulation partner to industry OEMs. Lydall has also been addressing the expansion of appLY mat product portfolio with the incorporation of different fiber types, further expanding the product’s scope in new and existing market segments.
In other investment news, Lydall has been busy upgrading the quality and capability of its flagship wetlaid nonwovens line in Green Island, NY. This line will be increasingly focused on serving the filtration market with both microglass and synthetic fiber grades in addition to supporting new thermal insulation grades.
Speaking of thermal insulation products, this business was also negatively impacted in 2009 by the economic downturn, but here market diversity was also beneficial. “The government stimulus packages for new energy efficient appliances and tax credits for first time home buyers definitely helped to create the demand for new appliance production, hence the need for high temperature insulation,” Mr. Barnhardt said. “The demand for commercial building materials continues to lag; however, OEM product diversity has worked out well for us.”
In addition to diversity, Lydall remains on the cutting edge of technology in all of its markets by staying extremely close to its customers, understanding their processes and evolving application requirements all focused on setting the highest standard for products, services and support.
In filtration, Lydall believes that growth will be driven by demand for higher efficiency and lower pressure drop filtration systems. “Increasingly, we see escalating efficiency requirements for existing applications as well as the adoption of higher performing filtration systems in new applications, particularly those related to ‘quality of life,’” Mr. Barndhardt concluded. “We believe that worldwide increasing demand on energy supply will spur the development of increasingly lower pressure drop filtration technologies.”