01.07.13
Testori USA, Inc.
431 Ohio Pike, Suite 123 South
Cincinnati, OH 45255
513-528-0172
Testori USA, Inc. was founded on August 1, 2011 to promote the sale and support the distribution of Testori needle felt woven fabric and air slide material in the North American market. Its Italian parent company, Testori Group, has been in the filtration industry for 107 years, since 1905. Needle felts are the dominant product and have been produced by the parent company since the early 1970s. Testori Group is strong in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa and also the Middle East with recent business developments in the United Arab Emirates.
The founding of the U.S. operation began with the parent company’s innovative idea—to make its specialty filter media immediately accessible by stocking a warehouse in the U.S. Offering cost savings for bag manufacturers, the centrally located Ohio location eliminates many of the importing and shipping hassles typically encountered when ordering European fabrics. Filter bag manufacturers can now enjoy concept niche and specialty fabrics and felts in a range of quantities as LCL costs are minimized for small and mid-sized shipments.
“Testori’s business model is unique in that it offers European high quality, technically conceived felts at competitive prices with experienced local filtration support and it maintains a large, readily available inventory here in the U.S. for immediate distribution,” says Clinton B. Scoble Jr., president of Testori USA. “It allows clients to purchase special European style felts in smaller volumes without the hassle and cost of importing those items. This combination provides our client base with all of the products and support they need to run their operations profitably and efficiently.”
Testori USA is responsible for industrial filtration in North America. Heavyweight needle felt capacity is about 4.5 million square yards per year, according to Scoble. In addition to industrial filtration, primary end use applications include specifically dust collection and liquid filtration. Major filtration segments are metals (iron and steel), minerals (cement and lime), aluminum, food and pharma, power generation and chemical processing.
The Testori USA warehouse has increased its stock from the original eight fabrics to a current inventory of 18 specialty felts designed to address operating problems such as efficiency, poor cake release, blinding and potential explosion hazards. The stock includes polyester felts, homopolymer acrylic felts, the new polypropylene felt line plus white PTFE, all scrim supported but competitively priced and available in a variety of surfaces, coatings and treatments.
“Testori USA’s top selling products are more technically oriented felts as opposed to lower quality commodities,” says Scoble. These technical felts include dual density and microfiber felts, static dissipating media and special coatings or treatments. Chemical treatments such as PTFE, urethane and fluorocarbons provide assistance in handling difficult dusts or dealing with filtration problems.
“We are one of the smaller needled felt producers but are able to compete with larger firms using our flexible, quick response manufacturing, full line of European style technical products and a large inventory of finished felt warehoused here in the U.S.,” says Scoble.
Addressing the health of the markets it serves, Scoble says industrial markets are not as volatile as consumer markets. A few trends worth noting he says include reduced inventories by its clients and more pressure on media producers to deliver faster or maintain ready inventories in addition to normal production; Asian manufacturers penetrating its markets in every phase of industrial fiber, woven fabrics, needle felts and other nonwovens used in filtration; never ending downward pricing pressures; many new “developments” focus on cost reduction as opposed to technical improvements; consolidation and/or elimination of domestic US sources; and extensive use of microfibers and a gradual introduction of nanofibers.
In addition, increasing environmental pressures are positives for the filtration industry, according to Scoble. “Filtration faces ever-evolving challenges of tighter emission regulations for finer and more uniform particulate,” he says.
Moving forward, product development where nano particles are part of the dust mix present difficult separation requirements and the opportunity for new fiber technologies, according to Scoble.
“Asian nonwovens, particularly Chinese fiber and needle felts, threaten North American manufacturers’ pricing and business models while certain markets, such as power generation from coal, may be strong in developing economies but at the mercy of politics and politicians in the U.S.,” he says.
