09.01.11
(formerly Colbond)
Arnhem, The Netherlands
www.colbond.com
2011 Nonwovens Sales: $210 million
Key Personnel: Orwig Speltdoorn, managing director; Bart Austin, deputy managing director; Mike Holt, interim CFO; Marc Krauth, global business director, Floor Coverings and Building & Industry; Steven van Herreweghe, director sales and marketing, Civil Engineering; Joop Klaasse, director human resources; Paul Desmet, director HSE
Plants: Emmen and Arnhem, the Netherlands; Obernburg, Germany; Asheville, NC
Processes: Extruded, spunbond, thermal bonded and specialties
Brands: Colback, Enkamat, Enkadrain, Colbonddrain, Enkagrid, Enka-Spacer, Enka-Channel, EnkaRetain & Drain
Major Markets: Flooring, automotive, filtration, roofing, civil engineering, building and various industrial applications
While Colbond executives do not release their annual nonwovens sales, they would say that 2011 sales showed healthy double digit growth compared to 2010. This was particularly true during the first half of the year when demand was at a high level across virtually all its key markets. In the second half, Colbond witnessed some slow-down, but shipments and sales were still at a very satisfactory level—a trend that has continued this year, according to managing director Orwig Speltdoorn. “We are facing a number of macroeconomic challenges in Europe, but benefit from the recovery of the North American housing market,” he says. “Also, strong demand in Asia-Pacific, especially during the first months of 2012, has contributed to Colbond’s sales growth.”
Also contributing to this sales growth are product leadership as well as innovation in processes, services and products, which add value to existing and new customers, Speltdoorn continues. Sales growth came from new products like Colback Green, which reached full commercial scale last year, as well as Colbond’s ability to tailor products to suit specific process requirements.
Moving forward, Colbond’s merger with Bonar Technical Fabrics, another company owned by Low & Bonar, is expected to influence earnings positively by exploiting synergies existing in both businesses. The new company will create a more global organization with the scale and capabilities required to grow in emerging markets and reinforce the group’s positions in Europe and North America. “Synergies in our organization and approach to market will create opportunities to react even quicker on changing market demands,” Speltdoorn says. “In the short run, our sales are expected to take advantage of cross-selling potential. Also, our new business development programs will benefit from the enriched technology base and expertise available in the joint business.”
Announced in March, the merger has not impacted the day-to-day operation of Colbond’s industrial nonwovens business in existing markets. However, examples of expected synergies have already been seen. In civil engineering, Colbond has already started to take advantage of one sales and customer support network, offering a full package of high performance geotechnical products. Meanwhile, in industrial markets, the wider global reach has provided the company with a stronger platform for the generation of market knowledge to prepare the next phase of the global expansion of the group.
Getting back to Colbond’s existing business, the strongest growth was seen in flooring and building, where the company has been able to exploit the benefits of its product leadership position, particularly in carpet tiles, which continue to be the strongest growing segment.
Launched at Domotex 2011, Colback Green has completed its full commercial year and executives report that demand for this backing, which is made of 100% recycled content, has stabilized at a high level. “Colback Green has become a strategically important product for an increasing part of our customer base. Building on the success of Colback Green, environmental sustainability has remained a key driver in our innovation programs in North America and Europe,” Speltdoorn says.
Colbond is hoping to build on this success with Colback Profloor, a new backing that delivers benefits during carpet manufacture and service life alike. Based on a new polymer composition, Colback Profloor facilitates softer tufting, improved stitch holding and optimum dimensional stability of the finished carpet. After extensive testing by several key customers, the product was introduced for the first time to a wider public at Domotex this last January and is now running on full commercial scale. Colbond is already planning its next flooring innovation to be launched at next year’s Domotex show.
Colbond’s North American flooring buisnes is also benefitting from additional yarn spinning capacity in Asheville, NC, which was completed as planned in the first quarter of 2012. According to Speltdoorn, the investment not only increased capacity but also created new manufacturing capabilities, including the processing of new polymers and recycled raw materials.
Speltdoorn describes growth in automotives as satisfactory, but he admits this growth has slowed somewhat due to the shift of demand for car brands in Asia. In North America, Colbond was able to benefit from the recovery of the local automotive market while business has remained stable in Europe.
According to Speltdoorn, Colback offers many benefits to automotive makers when it comes to maximizing product performance. Colback Pro is a backing for molded tufted car carpet designed to facilitate the manufacture of complex geometries at minimal molding cycles and still delivers excellent stability for the finished carpet. As a lightweight, yet high performance carrier it contributes to a reduction of the total cost and delivers environmental benefits.
Also strong has been demand for Colback and Colfors in roofing, underpinning product leadership value proposition. Here, Colbond supplies high performance reinforcements for waterproof bituminous roofing membranes, which has benefited most from the new capacity that has come on-stream in the Netherlands in the first quarter of last year.
Colbond’s civil engineering business has grown despite the somewhat sluggish European construction market. According to executives, soil reinforcement and consolidation businesses have developed satisfactorily, especially in structural drainage. In North America, the company was able to secure major erosion control projects with reinforced variants of its Enkamat erosion prevention mat.
The most important activity in Colbond’s building segment recently was the acquisition of the Germany-based Xeroflor International in March 2012. The company, which will continue its operation as Xeroflor Green Solutions, is a pioneer in the development of pre-vegetated green roof systems, which are distributed through a network of exclusive license holders. “By bringing together the product development and technology expertise of Xeroflor with the organizational resources and worldwide sales network of Colbond, Xeroflor Green Solutions is expected to grow substantially during the coming years,” Speltdoorn says. “Key drivers will be product differentiation and diversification targeted at new market segments as well as geographic expansion.”
The Colback filtration business has also developed steadily as leading filter media manufacturers confirm the specific properties of Colback make it particularly suitable for use as a filter medium support layer and pre-filter. “In close cooperation with a number of key customers we have optimized our product and service offering for this market. The share of Colback in the filtration market is growing underpinning the success of these efforts,” Speltdoorn explains.
Arnhem, The Netherlands
www.colbond.com
2011 Nonwovens Sales: $210 million
Key Personnel: Orwig Speltdoorn, managing director; Bart Austin, deputy managing director; Mike Holt, interim CFO; Marc Krauth, global business director, Floor Coverings and Building & Industry; Steven van Herreweghe, director sales and marketing, Civil Engineering; Joop Klaasse, director human resources; Paul Desmet, director HSE
Plants: Emmen and Arnhem, the Netherlands; Obernburg, Germany; Asheville, NC
Processes: Extruded, spunbond, thermal bonded and specialties
Brands: Colback, Enkamat, Enkadrain, Colbonddrain, Enkagrid, Enka-Spacer, Enka-Channel, EnkaRetain & Drain
Major Markets: Flooring, automotive, filtration, roofing, civil engineering, building and various industrial applications
While Colbond executives do not release their annual nonwovens sales, they would say that 2011 sales showed healthy double digit growth compared to 2010. This was particularly true during the first half of the year when demand was at a high level across virtually all its key markets. In the second half, Colbond witnessed some slow-down, but shipments and sales were still at a very satisfactory level—a trend that has continued this year, according to managing director Orwig Speltdoorn. “We are facing a number of macroeconomic challenges in Europe, but benefit from the recovery of the North American housing market,” he says. “Also, strong demand in Asia-Pacific, especially during the first months of 2012, has contributed to Colbond’s sales growth.”
Also contributing to this sales growth are product leadership as well as innovation in processes, services and products, which add value to existing and new customers, Speltdoorn continues. Sales growth came from new products like Colback Green, which reached full commercial scale last year, as well as Colbond’s ability to tailor products to suit specific process requirements.
Moving forward, Colbond’s merger with Bonar Technical Fabrics, another company owned by Low & Bonar, is expected to influence earnings positively by exploiting synergies existing in both businesses. The new company will create a more global organization with the scale and capabilities required to grow in emerging markets and reinforce the group’s positions in Europe and North America. “Synergies in our organization and approach to market will create opportunities to react even quicker on changing market demands,” Speltdoorn says. “In the short run, our sales are expected to take advantage of cross-selling potential. Also, our new business development programs will benefit from the enriched technology base and expertise available in the joint business.”
Announced in March, the merger has not impacted the day-to-day operation of Colbond’s industrial nonwovens business in existing markets. However, examples of expected synergies have already been seen. In civil engineering, Colbond has already started to take advantage of one sales and customer support network, offering a full package of high performance geotechnical products. Meanwhile, in industrial markets, the wider global reach has provided the company with a stronger platform for the generation of market knowledge to prepare the next phase of the global expansion of the group.
Getting back to Colbond’s existing business, the strongest growth was seen in flooring and building, where the company has been able to exploit the benefits of its product leadership position, particularly in carpet tiles, which continue to be the strongest growing segment.
Launched at Domotex 2011, Colback Green has completed its full commercial year and executives report that demand for this backing, which is made of 100% recycled content, has stabilized at a high level. “Colback Green has become a strategically important product for an increasing part of our customer base. Building on the success of Colback Green, environmental sustainability has remained a key driver in our innovation programs in North America and Europe,” Speltdoorn says.
Colbond is hoping to build on this success with Colback Profloor, a new backing that delivers benefits during carpet manufacture and service life alike. Based on a new polymer composition, Colback Profloor facilitates softer tufting, improved stitch holding and optimum dimensional stability of the finished carpet. After extensive testing by several key customers, the product was introduced for the first time to a wider public at Domotex this last January and is now running on full commercial scale. Colbond is already planning its next flooring innovation to be launched at next year’s Domotex show.
Colbond’s North American flooring buisnes is also benefitting from additional yarn spinning capacity in Asheville, NC, which was completed as planned in the first quarter of 2012. According to Speltdoorn, the investment not only increased capacity but also created new manufacturing capabilities, including the processing of new polymers and recycled raw materials.
Speltdoorn describes growth in automotives as satisfactory, but he admits this growth has slowed somewhat due to the shift of demand for car brands in Asia. In North America, Colbond was able to benefit from the recovery of the local automotive market while business has remained stable in Europe.
According to Speltdoorn, Colback offers many benefits to automotive makers when it comes to maximizing product performance. Colback Pro is a backing for molded tufted car carpet designed to facilitate the manufacture of complex geometries at minimal molding cycles and still delivers excellent stability for the finished carpet. As a lightweight, yet high performance carrier it contributes to a reduction of the total cost and delivers environmental benefits.
Also strong has been demand for Colback and Colfors in roofing, underpinning product leadership value proposition. Here, Colbond supplies high performance reinforcements for waterproof bituminous roofing membranes, which has benefited most from the new capacity that has come on-stream in the Netherlands in the first quarter of last year.
Colbond’s civil engineering business has grown despite the somewhat sluggish European construction market. According to executives, soil reinforcement and consolidation businesses have developed satisfactorily, especially in structural drainage. In North America, the company was able to secure major erosion control projects with reinforced variants of its Enkamat erosion prevention mat.
The most important activity in Colbond’s building segment recently was the acquisition of the Germany-based Xeroflor International in March 2012. The company, which will continue its operation as Xeroflor Green Solutions, is a pioneer in the development of pre-vegetated green roof systems, which are distributed through a network of exclusive license holders. “By bringing together the product development and technology expertise of Xeroflor with the organizational resources and worldwide sales network of Colbond, Xeroflor Green Solutions is expected to grow substantially during the coming years,” Speltdoorn says. “Key drivers will be product differentiation and diversification targeted at new market segments as well as geographic expansion.”
The Colback filtration business has also developed steadily as leading filter media manufacturers confirm the specific properties of Colback make it particularly suitable for use as a filter medium support layer and pre-filter. “In close cooperation with a number of key customers we have optimized our product and service offering for this market. The share of Colback in the filtration market is growing underpinning the success of these efforts,” Speltdoorn explains.