09.08.22
Porto Alegre, Brazil
www.fitesa.com
2021 Nonwovens Sales: $1.5 billion
Key Personnel
Silverio Baranzano, CEO; Hal Singley, CFO
Plants
Gravataí, Brazil; Cosmópolis, Brazil; Lima, Peru; San Jose Iturbide, Mexico; High Point, USA/NC; Simpsonville, USA/SC; Green Bay, USA/WI; Washougal, USA/WA; Norrkoping, Sweden; Peine, Germany; Trezzano Rosa, Italy; Sulmona, Italy; Rétság, Hungary; Kerkrade, Netherlands; Tianjin, China; Ras Al-Khaimah, UAE; Pune, India; Rayong, Thailand
Processes
Spunbond, SMS, bicomponent, meltblown, carded (chemical bonded, thermal bonded, air through bonded), airlaid, films, elastics, laminates and composites
Several key factors have made a positive impact on sales and performance at Fitesa, the Brazilian nonwovens producer with plants in the U.S., South America, Europe and Southeast Asia. In 2020, the company made the strategic decision to ramp up five global meltblown lines to support the respiratory protection market and to debottleneck several of its existing spunmelt lines in Sweden, Italy and the U.S. These efforts, as well as acquisitions including Fiber Dynamics and Tredegar Personal Care, drove sales upward to $1.5 billion for the year, and sales are poised to continue to grow as additional investment projects come onstream in coming months.
Next year, Fitesa plans to start production on two high-capacity, state-of-the-art Reicofil 5 lines—one in Simpsonville, SC, and another at an unnamed location in Europe.
“The investments are part of Fitesa’s strategy of increasing capacity for softer and more sustainable materials for the global hygiene market,” says Mariana Mynarski, corporate marketing. “They are also a clear effort in the direction of a circular low carbon economy in the nonwovens industry.”
Both machines will be equipped to produce full high loft and standard spunmelt products, using a variety of biobased and circular raw materials, primarily for hygiene and medical applications. “In 2021, Fitesa formalized Environmental Sustainability as one of its key strategic directions, but this is not a new journey for Fitesa,” Mynarski says. “In the early 2010s, we pioneered the commercialization of biobased spunlaid nonwovens, a project that had started years before. In 2013 we started publishing sustainability reports voluntarily, and since then we received and were nominated for a number of awards in this area. Not to mention the operational excellence of our facilities, which contribute significantly to the continuous reduction of our CO2 footprint.”
Back to nonwovens investment, Fitesa is preparing an initial foray into spunlaced nonwovens with a new line at its site in Jacarei, Brazil, which will target the baby wipes market. Fitesa acquired the site from Freudenberg Performance Materials in 2019. “This will be our first step in the baby wipes segment, completing our product portfolio with one of the few hygiene nonwoven components that we do not currently supply.”
These investments are the continuation of a transformation journey that started many years ago and part of a long-term plan targeting business longevity at Fitesa. “The fact that we are a private company and the close relationship we maintain with our board and shareholders are key to our ability to approve new projects quickly,” Mynarski says. “This was proven during the pandemic, when we were able to install five new meltblown machines while performing two important acquisitions (Tredegar Personal Care and Fiber Dynamics).”
The acquisition of Tredegar Personal Care in 2020 expanded Fitesa’s role in the films and elastics business, which it first entered in 2017 with the purchase of Pantex International. The investment significantly expanded Fitesa’s manufacturing footprint, enabling it to offer these solutions in other regions where the company already had spunlaid operations but lacked specialties like elastic laminates. These are the company’s first manufacturing sites in India, Hungary and in the Netherlands.
Fiber Dynamics, meanwhile, has allowed Fitesa to enter the wipes market, a very strong application in the U.S. that it did not serve before the acquisition but has synergies with its spunlaid operation. The High Point, NC-based manufacturer of meltblown and carded nonwovens and also serves the filtration, automotive and hygiene markets.
Throughout all of its sites and business, new product development continues to be a focus.
This focus has recently culiminated in a partnership with LifeSavers, a producers of wipes that tell if you are unwell, for the co-development of high-performance nonwovens capable of detecting irregular health markers. The two companies are collaborating to incorporate LifeSavers’ award-winning technology into Fitesa’s substrates, resulting in materials that would change color when in contact with abnormal indicators in body fluids such as urine.
“We are excited to collaborate with such an innovative start-up. This work has the potential to disrupt the hygiene market and deliver very tangible benefits for the consumers,” remarks Rene Ruschel, Fitesa’s VP of Technology and Engineering.
Fitesa and LifeSavers innovation teams have already started working on the development of the new line of enhanced nonwovens. The expected date for market release has not yet been announced.
For Fitesa's 2020 top company profile, click here.
www.fitesa.com
2021 Nonwovens Sales: $1.5 billion
Key Personnel
Silverio Baranzano, CEO; Hal Singley, CFO
Plants
Gravataí, Brazil; Cosmópolis, Brazil; Lima, Peru; San Jose Iturbide, Mexico; High Point, USA/NC; Simpsonville, USA/SC; Green Bay, USA/WI; Washougal, USA/WA; Norrkoping, Sweden; Peine, Germany; Trezzano Rosa, Italy; Sulmona, Italy; Rétság, Hungary; Kerkrade, Netherlands; Tianjin, China; Ras Al-Khaimah, UAE; Pune, India; Rayong, Thailand
Processes
Spunbond, SMS, bicomponent, meltblown, carded (chemical bonded, thermal bonded, air through bonded), airlaid, films, elastics, laminates and composites
Several key factors have made a positive impact on sales and performance at Fitesa, the Brazilian nonwovens producer with plants in the U.S., South America, Europe and Southeast Asia. In 2020, the company made the strategic decision to ramp up five global meltblown lines to support the respiratory protection market and to debottleneck several of its existing spunmelt lines in Sweden, Italy and the U.S. These efforts, as well as acquisitions including Fiber Dynamics and Tredegar Personal Care, drove sales upward to $1.5 billion for the year, and sales are poised to continue to grow as additional investment projects come onstream in coming months.
Next year, Fitesa plans to start production on two high-capacity, state-of-the-art Reicofil 5 lines—one in Simpsonville, SC, and another at an unnamed location in Europe.
“The investments are part of Fitesa’s strategy of increasing capacity for softer and more sustainable materials for the global hygiene market,” says Mariana Mynarski, corporate marketing. “They are also a clear effort in the direction of a circular low carbon economy in the nonwovens industry.”
Both machines will be equipped to produce full high loft and standard spunmelt products, using a variety of biobased and circular raw materials, primarily for hygiene and medical applications. “In 2021, Fitesa formalized Environmental Sustainability as one of its key strategic directions, but this is not a new journey for Fitesa,” Mynarski says. “In the early 2010s, we pioneered the commercialization of biobased spunlaid nonwovens, a project that had started years before. In 2013 we started publishing sustainability reports voluntarily, and since then we received and were nominated for a number of awards in this area. Not to mention the operational excellence of our facilities, which contribute significantly to the continuous reduction of our CO2 footprint.”
Back to nonwovens investment, Fitesa is preparing an initial foray into spunlaced nonwovens with a new line at its site in Jacarei, Brazil, which will target the baby wipes market. Fitesa acquired the site from Freudenberg Performance Materials in 2019. “This will be our first step in the baby wipes segment, completing our product portfolio with one of the few hygiene nonwoven components that we do not currently supply.”
These investments are the continuation of a transformation journey that started many years ago and part of a long-term plan targeting business longevity at Fitesa. “The fact that we are a private company and the close relationship we maintain with our board and shareholders are key to our ability to approve new projects quickly,” Mynarski says. “This was proven during the pandemic, when we were able to install five new meltblown machines while performing two important acquisitions (Tredegar Personal Care and Fiber Dynamics).”
The acquisition of Tredegar Personal Care in 2020 expanded Fitesa’s role in the films and elastics business, which it first entered in 2017 with the purchase of Pantex International. The investment significantly expanded Fitesa’s manufacturing footprint, enabling it to offer these solutions in other regions where the company already had spunlaid operations but lacked specialties like elastic laminates. These are the company’s first manufacturing sites in India, Hungary and in the Netherlands.
Fiber Dynamics, meanwhile, has allowed Fitesa to enter the wipes market, a very strong application in the U.S. that it did not serve before the acquisition but has synergies with its spunlaid operation. The High Point, NC-based manufacturer of meltblown and carded nonwovens and also serves the filtration, automotive and hygiene markets.
Throughout all of its sites and business, new product development continues to be a focus.
This focus has recently culiminated in a partnership with LifeSavers, a producers of wipes that tell if you are unwell, for the co-development of high-performance nonwovens capable of detecting irregular health markers. The two companies are collaborating to incorporate LifeSavers’ award-winning technology into Fitesa’s substrates, resulting in materials that would change color when in contact with abnormal indicators in body fluids such as urine.
“We are excited to collaborate with such an innovative start-up. This work has the potential to disrupt the hygiene market and deliver very tangible benefits for the consumers,” remarks Rene Ruschel, Fitesa’s VP of Technology and Engineering.
Fitesa and LifeSavers innovation teams have already started working on the development of the new line of enhanced nonwovens. The expected date for market release has not yet been announced.
For Fitesa's 2020 top company profile, click here.