Freudenberg Performance Materials

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Freudenberg Performance Materials

logo
legal form SE & Co. KG
founding January 1, 2015
Seat Weinheim , Germany
management Frank Heislitz ( CEO )
Thomas Herr ( CFO )
John McNabb ( CTO )
Alexander Rozmán ( CIO )
Number of employees 3993 (2019)
sales EUR 887.5 million (2019)
Branch Technical textiles , foams, nonwovens
Website http://www.freudenberg-pm.com/

The company Freudenberg Performance Materials is a global manufacturer of non-woven fabrics and other textiles for various markets and applications. The company was created in 2015 through the merger of the Freudenberg Business Groups Freudenberg Nonwovens and Freudenberg Politex Nonwovens and belongs to the Nonwovens and Filtration Business Unit within the Freudenberg Group . With around 4,000 employees and 23 production sites, the company generated sales of around 890 million euros in 2019 .

history

origin

The origins of Freudenberg Performance Materials go back to the first developments of the chemist Carl-Ludwig Nottebohm in the field of nonwovens. In April 1936 he offered the Freudenberg Group a process for the production of artificial leather . Freudenberg and Carl-Ludwig Nottebohm agreed on a collaboration and from May 1936, Nottebohm and a team of around 35 employees at Freudenberg developed an artificial leather. In 1937 Freudenberg applied for the first patents in this area. The synthetic latex artificial leather, consisting of nonwoven carrier materials that were bonded to the synthetic latex surface, was sold under the brand name Viledon as a replacement for leather in bags and suitcases.

Expansion after World War II

In 1948, production began of interlining materials for the textile industry under the brand name Vlieseline and the production of a window cleaning cloth nonwovens, Vileda . Vileda products are part of the Freudenberg Group's own household products division.

In 1950, Freudenberg entered the American market as the licensor for nonwovens for Downing Trading Corporation . In 1950 the company founded Pellon Corporation, the first overseas manufacturing company in Lowell, Massachusetts , for the manufacture of interlinings for the apparel industry . In 1960, Freudenberg founded jointly with the Kawamura group belonging Dainippon Ink & Chemical Co. and Toray Industries , the Japan Vilene Company as a joint venture in which Freudenberg as licensor held 33 percent. The company mainly produced nonwovens and synthetic leather for the Japanese textile and automotive industries. The aim of founding the joint venture was to open up the Japanese market, which otherwise remained largely closed to German companies due to strict Japanese import controls.

In 1965, Freudenberg developed the new spunbonded nonwoven process, which allowed synthetic fibers to be spun and combined into particularly strong nonwovens in a continuous production process . In 1970 Freudenberg built a new plant in Kaiserslautern for the manufacture of spunbonded nonwovens for the automotive, construction and carpet industries, among other things. In 1984 another US manufacturing facility was opened in Durham, North Carolina . In 1985 Freudenberg took over the Brazilian manufacturer of fiber nonwovens Intece , which later became Freudenberg Não Tecidos Ltda. was renamed.

Development since 1990

In 1990, Freudenberg acquired the Rhône-Poulenc spunbond nonwovens plant in Colmar , Alsace . In the same year, the production of spunbond nonwovens began in Taiwan . Together with the Japan Vilene Company , Freudenberg founded a joint venture in 1995 to manufacture interlining nonwovens for the clothing industry, based in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China . In 1997, Freudenberg and the Politex Group founded a joint venture for the production of polyester nonwovens from recycled PET bottles in Novedrate , Italy . The plant in Colmar, France, has been assigned to this joint venture. Later (2004) Freudenberg acquired the Politex Group's shares in this joint venture.

In 1999 the Freudenberg Nonwovens Business Group developed new types of microfilament textiles, known under the Evolon brand , which are manufactured from polymer granulate in a continuous process and are used, among other things, for applications in the automotive, cosmetics and health sectors. In August 2006 Freudenberg acquired Scimat Holdings , a manufacturer of battery separators founded in 1987 and based in Swindon , England . In 2014 Freudenberg took over the interlining division of Hänsel Textil .

Founded and developed since 2015

On January 1, 2015, the Freudenberg Business Groups Freudenberg Nonwovens and Freudenberg Politex Nonwovens merged to form today's Freudenberg Performance Materials Group. Freudenberg thus bundled its nonwovens activities in the newly established group. In the same month the company acquired the manufacturer of foam systems on polyurethane basis for the wound care Polymer Health Technology , based in Wales Ebbw Vale . Together with Toray Industries , the Freudenberg Group acquired all of the shares in Japan Vilene Company held by independent shareholders in 2015 . Since 2016, the Japan Vilene Company has been managed as an independent business unit and independently operating company within the Freudenberg Business Area Nonwovens and Filtration. In November 2019, Freudenberg Performance Materials announced the takeover of the Slovenian needle punched nonwovens manufacturer Filc with around 360 employees. The transaction was completed on December 31, 2019. In May 2020, Freudenberg Performance Materials completed the purchase of the 1903-based manufacturer of technical textiles Low and Bonar with headquarters in London and around 1,500 employees.

Products and Markets

Freudenberg Performance Materials manufactures various textiles for the automotive , construction and clothing industries as well as in the energy and hygiene sectors , interior design, medical products , shoes and leather goods, and special applications.

Automotive industry

In the automotive sector, the company manufactures nonwoven solutions for sound absorption, car roof linings, car carpets, luggage compartment partitions, underbody panels and wheel arch linings , as well as battery separators and fuel cells. Freudenberg Performance Materials also produces tufted carriers for shaped car carpets.

Construction industry

The company manufactures building materials such as geotextiles for vertical drainage , nonwovens for thermal and sound insulation, and carrier materials for bitumen membranes in roof construction.

clothing

The company sells nonwoven inserts for hobby tailors under the brand name Vlieseline . These include sewing, fabric and ironing inlays as well as ribbons . Freudenberg produces interlinings made of woven , knitted or nonwovens for the clothing industry . In addition, the company also produces clothing labels from microfilament textiles and sells thermal insulation for outdoor and sportswear under the brand name comfortemp , which is made from a fleece made of coherent fiber balls instead of individual loose fiber balls.

Energy sector

In the energy sector, Freudenberg Performance Materials produces separators for lithium-ion batteries made from polyester nonwovens, gas diffusion layers for fuel cells and electrodes for redox flow batteries . Nonwovens for the electrical and cable industry as well as for light distribution in LED lights are further areas of application.

Medical products

In the medical field, Freudenberg u. a. Nonwovens and polyurethane foams for bandages, wound dressings or ostomy containers and filters. The company also produces allergy-free bed linen from microfilament textiles.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, due to a lack of special nonwovens required for the production of respiratory masks , these could only be delivered to professional protective clothing manufacturers.

Interior work

For interior work, the company produces acoustic nonwovens, microfilaments for sun protection, and carrier materials for carpets and carpet tiles.

Footwear, leather goods and other applications

Freudenberg Performance Materials produces nonwovens, knitted fabrics and fabrics for shoes and leather goods. The company also produces technical textiles that are used in products such as artificial turf , packaging , as milling underlays or as covers for rollers .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Freudenberg Performance Materials: Imprint. Retrieved May 25, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b c Freudenberg Group: Annual Report 2019 (PDF; 5.76 MB) April 2020, p. 71 , accessed on May 25, 2020 .
  3. ↑ KGK Rubberpoint: Freudenberg increases sales by 6 percent to over 7 billion euros. April 24, 2015, accessed September 23, 2018 .
  4. ^ Joachim Scholtyseck : Freudenberg. A family company in the empire, democracy and dictatorship. CH Beck, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-406-68853-9 . P. 269
  5. ^ Joachim Scholtyseck: Freudenberg. A family company in the empire, democracy and dictatorship. CH Beck, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-406-68853-9 . P. 269ff
  6. ^ Joachim Scholtyseck: Freudenberg. A family company in the empire, democracy and dictatorship. CH Beck, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-406-68853-9 . P. 432
  7. ^ Christian Kleinschmidt: The productive view: Perception of American and Japanese management and production methods by German entrepreneurs 1950–1985. De Gruyter, Berlin 2002, ISBN 978-3-05-003657-1 . Reprint 2014, p. 153
  8. ^ Christian Kleinschmidt: The productive view: Perception of American and Japanese management and production methods by German entrepreneurs 1950–1985. De Gruyter, Berlin 2002, ISBN 978-3-05-003657-1 . Reprint 2014, p. 338
  9. ↑ Jochen Streb : State technology policy and cross-sector knowledge transfer: About the causes of the international innovation success of the German plastics industry in the 20th century. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-05-003873-X . P. 199f
  10. ^ A b Renate Schwärzel: German Economic Archives , Volume 1. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-515-06211-4 . Third edition, p. 90
  11. ↑ plasticker: Freudenberg: Nonwovens specialist with new test facility at the Kaiserslautern location - 3 million euros investment. September 18, 2015, accessed September 23, 2018 .
  12. ↑ a b c Freudenberg: From nonwovens pioneer to leading supplier of technical textiles. Historic milestones. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Bloomberg LP : Company Overview of Freudenberg & Vilene Nonwovens (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. September 23, 2018. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .
  14. ^ Freudenberg Group: The Development of the Freudenberg Group 1849–2016. June 2016, accessed September 23, 2018 . (PDF; 1.4 MB)
  15. ↑ Alexandra Hildebrandt : From bottle to bag: New ideas for a sustainable material cycle. The Huffington Post , March 18, 2018, accessed September 23, 2018 .
  16. ^ T. Karthik, Prabha Karan C., R. Rathinamoorthy: Nonwovens - Process, Structure, Properties and Applications. CRC Press, Boca Raton 2017, ISBN 978-1-315-34134-7 . P. 24
  17. ↑ Kunststoff Magazin: Freudenberg Group invests in Evolon. May 13, 2013, accessed September 23, 2018 .
  18. ↑ Bloomberg LP: Company Overview of SciMAT Holding Ltd. September 23, 2018. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .
  19. ↑ Ulrike Wollenschlaeger: Hänsel Textil: Freudenberg takes over the interlining division. TextilWirtschaft , July 31, 2014, accessed on September 23, 2018 .
  20. ↑ Pharma + Food: Record sales: Freudenberg continues to grow. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .
  21. ↑ goingpublic.de: Freudenberg Group invests in medical technology. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .
  22. ^ Nonwovens Industry: Freudenberg and Toray to Purchase Japan Vilene. October 8, 2015, accessed on September 23, 2018 .
  23. ↑ Freudenberg Group: Annual Report 2015 Freudenberg Group, p. 9. Accessed on September 23, 2018 . (PDF; 5.7 MB)
  24. ^ Maximiliane Reichhardt: Freudenberg takes over Filc. Automobil Industrie, November 28, 2019, accessed January 28, 2020 .
  25. ^ Freudenberg completes Filc acquisition. Innovation In Textiles, January 14, 2020, accessed on January 28, 2020 .
  26. ↑ Low & Bonar is now part of the Freudenberg Group. Automobil Industrie, May 13, 2020, accessed May 25, 2020 .
  27. ^ Avr Nonwovens & Technical Textiles: Freudenberg Performance Materials: Business with innovative roof liners is expanded. March 24, 2015, accessed September 23, 2018 .
  28. ↑ Springer Professional: New generations of nonwovens for car carpets. March 9, 2011, accessed September 23, 2018 .
  29. ↑ Freudenberg Performance Maetrials: More driving comfort, less fuel consumption. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .
  30. ↑ avr Nonwovens & Technical Textiles: Freudenberg: Safety Separator also supports electromobility in Asia. May 18, 2016, accessed September 23, 2018 .
  31. ↑ CHEManager : Weinheim-based Freudenberg Group produces in Russia. March 18, 2006, accessed September 23, 2018 .
  32. ↑ Freudenberg Performance Materials: More energy efficiency and more convenience. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .
  33. ↑ Freudenberg Performance Materials: Form, Function and Innovation in Clothing. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .
  34. ↑ Claudia Klingelhöfer: A new dimension in thermal insulation should offer unique performance as a substitute for down. ISPO , January 30, 2017, accessed on September 23, 2018 .
  35. ↑ Iris Schlomski: Techtextil 2017 - Freudenberg: Safety and Efficiency for Energy Storage. Textile Network , May 5, 2017, accessed September 23, 2018 .
  36. ↑ Freudenberg Performance Materials: High degree of efficiency and economy. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .
  37. ↑ avr Nonwovens & Technical Textiles: wound care, acoustic pads, electrodes made of nonwovens. March 15, 2018, accessed September 23, 2018 .
  38. ↑ Gabriele Koch-Weithofer: The new world of plasters. ACTIVE May 7, 2010, accessed September 23, 2018 .
  39. ↑ avr Nonwovens & Technical Textiles: Solutions made from antimicrobial PU foam and a new chitosan fleece. November 17, 2015, accessed September 23, 2018 .
  40. ↑ avr Nonwovens & Technical Textiles: Freudenberg Performance Materials has launched its Evolon site. January 3, 2017, accessed September 23, 2018 .
  41. ↑ Lack of fleece endangers mask production in Germany . Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  42. ↑ Freudenberg Performance Materials: Insulate sound, reduce energy costs, filter UV light. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .
  43. ↑ Mannheimer Morgen : Jump into the winter sports industry. March 4, 2015, accessed September 23, 2018 .
  44. ↑ Freudenberg Performance Materials: Optimal functionality and high quality. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .
  45. ↑ Freudenberg Performance Materials: As flexible as our customers' requirements. Retrieved September 23, 2018 .