Norafin Industries

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Norafin Industries
legal form GmbH
founding 1980
Seat Mildenau (Ore Mountains District)
management André Lang
Number of employees 170 (2016)
sales 30 million euros (2016)
Branch Textile industry
Website www.norafin.com

The Norafin Industries (Germany) GmbH is one of the main manufacturers of fleece liners for fire protective clothing. The medium-sized company has been manufacturing technical textiles in the Ore Mountains since the 1980s .

history

The Norafin brand has been established in the market since the 1980s. In the 1980s, the company developed the first water jet system in Europe in cooperation with the Research Institute for Textile Technology (FIFT), today's Saxon Textile Research Institute (STFI) in Chemnitz (see also the history of nonwovens production ).

As early as 1976, the development work on "nonwoven strengthening through fiber entanglement - FINORA" began at the research institute in Chemnitz. FINORA stands as an abbreviation for "Fift nonwoven rotare a aquae" and includes the name of the research facility as well as the English term for fleece and the Latin term for "rotating / rotating water". To ensure that the fleece is optimally solidified, parallel bonded fiber sections were wrapped with swirled fiber components.

Another production step consists in the material passing through several successive nozzle bars. In 1978 the first functional model with a nozzle bar width of 50 mm was developed, after which a self-made laboratory system was built in the FIFT in 1980. In 1983 a patent was finally filed for “nozzle bars on a device for hydrodynamic pulp swirling”.

In 1982 the planning and location search for a pilot and production plant began together with the combine for technical textiles Karl-Marx-Stadt . As a result, in 1983 the construction of the Finora production plant was tackled in the VEB Technotex plant in Wiesenbad , which went into operation in 1984 as the first water jet line in Europe. With a working width of 2200 mm, four consolidation drums and 16 nozzle bars, a production speed of 50 meters per minute was achieved. Due to trademark concerns, the project was renamed NORAFIN in the mid-1980s.

After the political change in 1989, VEB Technotex was wound up, whereupon the privatization of the company resulted in the establishment of Verband- und Vliesstoff GmbH in 1991. In 1995 the name was changed to Norafin Vliesstoff GmbH. In Wiesenbad , interlining nonwovens , layer substrates for the synthetic leather industry , nonwoven compresses made of viscose and nonwovens for the electrical industry for the insulation of motors were manufactured in Wiesenbad . In 1997 the construction of a new nonwovens factory in Mildenau began . In a first step, a needle punch machine was put into operation, and in 1998 the first water jet machine started here. In 2013 the second water jet line was inaugurated. The company increasingly concentrated on the manufacture of special technical nonwovens and is now established in the market as a supplier of high-quality technical textiles .

Today's company

Today the company produces technical nonwovens based on natural fibers or on the basis of chemical high-performance fibers and is active in the protective clothing sector , in filtration and in the composite industry . Using needle and water jet technology, nonwovens are made from viscose and polyester fibers as well as from high-performance fibers such as meta- and para- aramids , polyimides, polytetrafluoroethylene and natural fibers such as flax . Norafin Industries (Germany) GmbH is headquartered in Mildenau , has a branch in Baden-Württemberg and a sales office in Asheville, USA .

Awards

  • Winner of the Grand Prize for Medium-Sized Enterprises of the Oskar Patzelt Foundation 2015
  • Nomination for the Saxon State Prize for Innovation 2015
  • Award from the American Foundation for Technical Textiles IFF for the new product Norafin Komanda® (2014)
  • Award of the managing director as ambassador of the Ore Mountains in July 2013
  • Winner of the Interior Innovation Award 2012 ( German Design Council )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ RWB PrivateCapital Emissionshaus AG: Water against fire - Norafin's nonwovens protect life. In: Private Equity at Work. RWB's investor magazine. Issue 7, September 2013: p. 26f.
  2. ↑ Joachim Hendler; Margot Brodtka; Klaus Zöbisch: Nonwoven consolidation through fiber swirling - Norafin. In: textile technology. 38, 1988: pp. 430-434.
  3. ↑ Patent DD220060B1 : Nozzle bar on a device for hydrodynamic pulp swirling. Registered on August 30, 1983 , published on March 4, 1987 , Applicants: Hans Anke, Eberhart Berger, Joachim Hendler, Johannes Herdtler, Werner Jaentsch, Manfred Lasch, Klaus-Michael Schubert, Ingbert Viertel, inventors: Hans Anke, Eberhart Berger, Joachim Hendler, Johannes Herdtler, Werner Jaentsch, Manfred Lasch, Klaus-Michael Schubert, Ingbert Viertel. ‌
  4. ↑ Franz Böhm, Dietmar Rietz: Groundbreaking idea: Thousands of water jets 'weave' nonwovens. In: New Germany. February 21, 1987, p. 2.
  5. ↑ Chemnitz Chamber of Commerce and Industry : Hidden Champions. An exploration trip through the economic region of Chemnitz ( Memento from May 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) , January 2015, p. 37, accessed on April 21, 2015.
  6. ↑ Roland Fischer; Marc Jolly; André Lang; Christian Rosenkrantz; Eveline Salem: Innovative functional textile. For heat, flame and arc protection. In: Safety Engineer. The trade journal for operational safety management and prevention. 12, 2012, p. 51.
  7. ↑ Contact . Website of Norafin Industries GmbH. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
  8. ^ Oskar Patzelt Foundation : 2015 award winners from Saxony , September 5, 2015, accessed on October 14, 2015.
  9. ↑ FutureSAX : The nominees for the Saxon State Prize for Innovation , accessed on April 21, 2015.
  10. ↑ Industrial Fabrics Association International: Industrial Fabrics Foundation announces Innovation Award Recipient , November 13, 2014, accessed April 21, 2015.
  11. ^ Regional management of the Ore Mountains: André Lang. Ambassador of the Ore Mountains , accessed on April 21, 2015.
  12. ^ German Design Council : The winners in the textiles category ( Memento from June 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) , accessed on April 21, 2015.