Growing demand

The new production line represents an investment of around 32 million Euro and is part of a strategic plan to support the growing demand for high-end polyester filtration media. The new production line will utilise newly developed proprietary spinning technology and will increase the spunbond lightweight capacity at this location by more than 40%.

“This new investment clearly underscores Johns Manville’s commitment as a market leader to responsibly satisfy the long-term demand of our valued filtration customers,” said Dr Enno Henze, senior vice president & general manager, Engineered Products Europe/Asia. “This new line with a capacity in excess of 4,000 tons per year will be built with Johns Manville’s advanced Bi-Component (BiCo) spinning technology, which will enable step-change improvements in product properties and cost performance.”

Strong position

“JM’s leadership position as a provider of premium filter solutions will be significantly strengthened by this new investment,” explained Christian Hassmann, senior product & market manager and the project leader for this investment. “With the start of the new production line in 2015, a new generation of polyester spunbond filter media for cabin air, air pollution control and liquid filtration applications will expand the Evalith product range.”

According to the company, reduced area weight in combination with higher product performance, such as high efficiency at lower pressure drop, is one of the key value propositions of JM’s innovative BiCo technology. “Lower material cost with the same or even better performance will enable customers to compete long term in the market place. The new production line will utilise the latest technologies to preserve resources and significantly lower energy consumption,” concluded Hassmann.

Berlin production site

The Berlin site was founded in 1919 as Spinnstofffabrik Zehlendorf AG. In 1960 Hoechst acquired the factory and in 1967 changed the production from Perlon (artificial silk) to polyester spunbond and filaments.

In 1999 Johns Manville acquired the Berlin plant from Hoechst Trevira. Today, 66 employees and shop floor workers produce and market Evalith polyester spunbond nonwovens mainly for the filtration, roofing and geotextile industry. Following the start-up of the new production line, this number will increase by 20.

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