Oct 6 2006
Polymer Group, Inc. today announced the opening of its newest manufacturing facility located in Suzhou, making the company China's largest producer of spunmelt fabrics and the country's only vertically integrated producer of medical fabrics.
The new plant houses a state-of-the-art, multi-beam Reifenhauser spunmelt line and a world-class finishing line to primarily serve the medical, industrial protective apparel and hygiene markets. Constructed as scheduled, the new lines are up and running providing customers with treated fabrics produced in a pristine environment that meet the highest quality standards.
Located in the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park near Shanghai, the site also is the company's Asian headquarters and brings administrative, leadership, finance, information technology, sales and marketing, and administrative support for the region under one roof. The location has 145 employees.
"As more of our customers move to this growing area, we are committed to delivering the highest quality product from this new state-of-the-art facility," said Jay Cheng, Vice President and General Manager, PGI Asia. "The strategic location and combination of our manufacturing and back office functions at the same location will enable us to better serve our customers in this region. We would like to thank the members of the Suzhou Industrial Park Administration Committee (SIPAC) for their support in making this a successful venture for PGI."
The new spunmelt line is now capable of producing ultra high-performance medical barrier fabrics, including PGI's MediSoft(TM) products. The finishing line in the new plant also enhances the company's ability to offer high- quality medical spunlace fabrics like Provia(TM) fabrics using proprietary processes and advanced treating systems.
"We continue to see strong demand for medical fabrics in Asia, especially for those that provide high barrier protection combined with softness," said Fernando Marin, Senior Director of PGI's medical business unit. "As the only vertically integrated producer of medical fabrics, we can better meet the needs of our customers in this region and deliver the highest quality, value- added fabrics."
PGI will hold ceremonies to officially open the new facility in early November with elected officials and customers in attendance.