01.01.10
Location: Taipei, Taiwan
Sales: $80 million
Description: Key Personnel
J.C. Tai, chairman and owner; Kirk Hwang, president; George Wang, general manager China operations; Alvin Hu, wasterwater business unit officer; Y.S. Chiu, technical vice president
Plants
Taipei, Taiwan, Shanghai, China
Processes
Air through bonding, thermal bonding, meltblown, airlaid, needlepunch, spunlace
Brand Names
Carnation brand for hygiene; Co-Fifbe for industrial specialty products
Major Markets
Hygiene, industrial, agriculture, geotextiles
While its converting operation was flat, roll goods sales increased about 8% at Taiwan’s KNH thanks to the successful completion of a second spunlace line. This trend is expected to continue as a third spunlace—largely dedicated to wipes—and a third production facility containing meltblown equipment comes are added.
“Most of our growth in 2009 was achieved because of demand for wipes so we are planning to add a third line right now,” said president Kirk Hwang. “It was a good year for wipes, growing fast in Asia and we don’t have enough material to supply the third line.”
This new line will be designed to handle wood pulp and possibly recycled materials to not only respond to environmental concerns but also to take advantage of government incentives promoting the use of recycled content in consumer products, Mr. Hwang added.
Other new areas of interest include the medical market, which has been well supported in Asia, particularly in wound care and blood filtration. Under development also is an operating room pad to absorb fluids underneath the patient.
KNH’s medical business will also benefit from the introduction of elastic nonwovens, which are being made through a collaboration with a major U.S. company.
In October, KNH added another factory in the western part of China. Currently, the operation is mainly a converting operation handling nonwovens sent from KNH’s Shanghai plant but KNH plans to add meltblown there next year which will be followed by airlaid and eventually air through bonded materials.
According to Mr. Hwang the driving force behind these investments is demand from China, Indonesia and India, which are all becoming major consumers of nonwovens as disposable diapers and wipes increase in usage. While there are a number of new lines being added in these areas, most of them are replacing older, less productive lines. “With modern, state-of-the-art equipment, one line can replace five or six old ones and help companies save on labor costs,” Mr. Hwang said. “In the old days, the labor and the line costs were so cheap, no one cared, but as they are getting more expensive they start caring more about this.”
Another key market for KNH continues to be filtration; however, the company has spun off the converting operation and focuses only on roll goods production. “By having a roll goods and a converting operation in the same company, we were basically distancing some of the potential buyers who saw us as their competition,” Mr. Hwang said.
With most of its sales in Asia and Australia, KNH’s operations are centered solely in Asia but that’s not to say a U.S. site isn’t a possibility. The development of a proven process of converting recycled materials into nonwovens would open the door into this market as the U.S government is strongly promoting this type of technology.
Beyond its roll goods business, KNH operates an end use business serving disposable markets such as baby diapers, feminine hygiene and, most recently adult incontinence. In 2009, this portion of the business suffered a big setback because of raw material price icnreases. “Our finished goods were flat last year because of the 30% increase in raw material now they are coming back,” Mr. Hwang said.
Sales: $80 million
Description: Key Personnel
J.C. Tai, chairman and owner; Kirk Hwang, president; George Wang, general manager China operations; Alvin Hu, wasterwater business unit officer; Y.S. Chiu, technical vice president
Plants
Taipei, Taiwan, Shanghai, China
Processes
Air through bonding, thermal bonding, meltblown, airlaid, needlepunch, spunlace
Brand Names
Carnation brand for hygiene; Co-Fifbe for industrial specialty products
Major Markets
Hygiene, industrial, agriculture, geotextiles
While its converting operation was flat, roll goods sales increased about 8% at Taiwan’s KNH thanks to the successful completion of a second spunlace line. This trend is expected to continue as a third spunlace—largely dedicated to wipes—and a third production facility containing meltblown equipment comes are added.
“Most of our growth in 2009 was achieved because of demand for wipes so we are planning to add a third line right now,” said president Kirk Hwang. “It was a good year for wipes, growing fast in Asia and we don’t have enough material to supply the third line.”
This new line will be designed to handle wood pulp and possibly recycled materials to not only respond to environmental concerns but also to take advantage of government incentives promoting the use of recycled content in consumer products, Mr. Hwang added.
Other new areas of interest include the medical market, which has been well supported in Asia, particularly in wound care and blood filtration. Under development also is an operating room pad to absorb fluids underneath the patient.
KNH’s medical business will also benefit from the introduction of elastic nonwovens, which are being made through a collaboration with a major U.S. company.
In October, KNH added another factory in the western part of China. Currently, the operation is mainly a converting operation handling nonwovens sent from KNH’s Shanghai plant but KNH plans to add meltblown there next year which will be followed by airlaid and eventually air through bonded materials.
According to Mr. Hwang the driving force behind these investments is demand from China, Indonesia and India, which are all becoming major consumers of nonwovens as disposable diapers and wipes increase in usage. While there are a number of new lines being added in these areas, most of them are replacing older, less productive lines. “With modern, state-of-the-art equipment, one line can replace five or six old ones and help companies save on labor costs,” Mr. Hwang said. “In the old days, the labor and the line costs were so cheap, no one cared, but as they are getting more expensive they start caring more about this.”
Another key market for KNH continues to be filtration; however, the company has spun off the converting operation and focuses only on roll goods production. “By having a roll goods and a converting operation in the same company, we were basically distancing some of the potential buyers who saw us as their competition,” Mr. Hwang said.
With most of its sales in Asia and Australia, KNH’s operations are centered solely in Asia but that’s not to say a U.S. site isn’t a possibility. The development of a proven process of converting recycled materials into nonwovens would open the door into this market as the U.S government is strongly promoting this type of technology.
Beyond its roll goods business, KNH operates an end use business serving disposable markets such as baby diapers, feminine hygiene and, most recently adult incontinence. In 2009, this portion of the business suffered a big setback because of raw material price icnreases. “Our finished goods were flat last year because of the 30% increase in raw material now they are coming back,” Mr. Hwang said.