Fibertex Nonwovens, headquartered in Aalborg, Denmark, is embarking on a second stage of expansions with a further investment of DKK 300 million (US$48.7 million) at plants in the Czech Republic and Turkey.

In March the company announced a first investment of just over DKK 300 million in a capacity expansion of one of the company’s two plants in the USA.

“The demand for our nonwovens has increased significantly in recent years, particularly for the more specialised applications and high-performance materials for the healthcare sector, industrial products, specialist acoustic products for the automotive industry, nanofiltration for industrial purposes etc.,” said CEO Jørgen Bech Madsen. “Our business development and research activities over the past ten years have afforded us a leading position in both Europe and the USA, and this is the direct reason for the total investment of just over DKK 600 million in capacity expansions.”

He added that the coronavirus pandemic also led to an explosive demand for hygiene products, such as disinfectant wipes where the company’s ability to produce specialised products with unique properties at relatively low costs is increasingly being recognised.

Fibertex Nonwovens is increasingly using spunlace technology, where high-speed jets of water are used to entangle the fibres of the nonwovens. The company has years of positive experience with this technology and the lion’s share of the investment will be spent on a new spunlace production line at the company’s plant in Svitavy in the eastern Czech Republic:

“We’ve got a lean and high-tech production setup with clear focus on innovation, and the new production line is to serve the huge demand for disinfection wipes from the healthcare sector,” Bech Madsen continued. “This demand was rising even before the coronavirus pandemic, but we expect it to increase even further in the coming years. With this new investment, we will be able to offer new and sustainable product properties that will help meet the demands of the future in this field. At the same time, we are freeing up capacity at several of our other European plants, allowing us to explore new opportunities within the manufacture of acoustic products for the automotive industry and products for filtration.”

In 2015, Fibertex Nonwovens acquired the nonwovens operations of the Turkish manufacturer Ribatek. The plant is located in Cerkezkoy in western Turkey, nearly 100 kilometres northwest of Istanbul, and also specialises in spunlacing. Here, the company will invest in an expansion of the current production facilities as well as adding additional lines in finishing and coating with a view to manufacturing specialised nonwovens products.

Fibertex Nonwovens generated revenue of DKK 1.8 billion in 2020 and is expected to increase its top line to around DKK 2.5 billion over the next five years.

www.fibertex.com