The year 2013 saw growing volumes for many of the tailor-made solutions offered by the RadiciGroup PET YARN Business Unit: RADYARN UV STABILIZED (UV-stabilized yarn), RADYARN FR (flame-retardant yarn), r-RADYARN and CORNLEAF (eco-sustainable yarn lines), RADYARN BICO (two-component yarn) and RADYARN STRETCH (PBT stretch yarn).
Know-how, vertical integration and total production chain control from spinning to downstream processing. Taking advantage of these RadiciGroup strengths, the PET YARN Business Unit is continuing its research and development efforts centred on developing new types of continuous PET yarn and improving existing products in terms of performance and quality
RadiciGroup polyester yarn volume has been growing. With three production and processing sites located in Italy and Switzerland, RadiciGroup – a vertically integrated leading European producer of continuous PET yarn – closed the year 2013 with greater market share in many of its target polyester market sectors. Outstanding results were achieved in the outdoor furnishings, technical/industrial and automotive segments.
The year 2013 was a positive one for us,” said Paolo Radici, member of the RadiciGroup Board of Directors and CEO of the RadiciGroup PET Yarn Business Unit. “Despite the difficult economic situation in Europe, we managed to grow and gain a good share for our products in our chief target markets. All three of our companies achieved improvement: the two Italian sites in Chignolo d’Isola and Andalo Valtellino, and the Swiss facility in Stabio, with a combined total of 341 employees.”
Outdoor furnishings (fabric for tensile structures, solar protection, and garden furnishings) was one of the markets successfully targeted by RadiciGroup PET YARN.
“Outdoor furnishings – a market segment on the rise, particularly in Italy – has been one of the markets of great interest to us, not so much for the volume, but for the high quality and technological level that sets this market apart,” said Maurizio Vedovati, general manager of Noyfil SpA and sales manager of the RadiciGroup PET YARN Business Unit. ”In outdoor furnishings, the world of design generates attractive business opportunities in allied industries.
In the period from 2011 to 2013, our polyester yarn, notably our Radyarn UV stabilized line, registered an increase in sales volume of 60% in outdoor furnishings. The market prized the excellent performance of our products, not to mention our other strong points. Indeed, our production flexibility and capability to develop products tailored to specific requirements are of crucial importance to our customers.”
“Good results were also achieved by our Radyarn FR flame retardant yarn,” Mr. Vedovati continued. “These items meld flame retardant properties with custom tailoring options and cost efficiency.
For these products, we have specialists who provide our customers with full technical support, from yarn design to fabric design, processing, and testing and certification procedures. That is how we ensure a real competitive advantage. In our FR target markets, which include furnishings, contract and public transport, during the last three years volumes have grown by about 60%.”
Also positive were the results achieved in warp-knit fabric, especially in the apparel sector, by RADYARN STRETCH, PBT elastic yarn and RADYARN BICO two-component yarn. In the warp-knit segment, RadiciGroup polyester yarn recorded a 35% increase in volume.
Furthermore, RadiciGroup PET YARN is continuing to enhance its eco-sustainable r-RADYARN and CORNLEAF product lines.
“We have exciting projects underway,” Mr. Vedovati concluded. “Our hallmark vertically integrated production, from spinning to downstream yarn processing, enables us to work on enhancing process and product performance from the very beginning of the production chain, as well as on new additives, technologies and products, in order meet our customers’ needs more and more efficiently.”
DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IN THE FOREFRONT
New multi-functional products, yarns endowed with a combination of properties achieved through special additives. By way of example, for the indoor furnishings segment, RadiciGroup PET YARN, in collaboration with an important customer, is developing a solution-dyed 100% bio-degradable yarn featuring UV screening and excellent flame retardant properties.
