Personal Care to invest DKK 40 mn develop new products

30 Sep '09

3 min read

The Personal Care division of the Aalborg based nonwovens producer expands its capacity in Asia in an effort to match the continued demand in the growing market as well as to develop new products.

Driving the DKK 40 Million investment in the Malaysian plant is the wish to ensure continued ability to supplying high quality nonwovens products to the hygiene industry in the Asian market.

The investment in the expansion of one of the plant's two production lines with an extra beam will add more than 10% to the total production capacity in Malaysia:

"The capacity of the plant will be increased by approx. 4,000 tons per year when the new beam is fully operational - according to schedule in 2nd Quarter 2010", says Managing Director, Mikael Staal Axelsen of Fibertex Personal Care. He stresses that the investment will ensure continued growth in the Asian market while creating the opportunity to develop new products.

Fibertex, which is owned by the industrial conglomerate, Schouw & Co., supplies nonwovens products for the hygiene industry and is considered one of the world's leading and most innovative companies in its field. The product portfolio in Fibertex Personal Care includes a broad range of spunbond and spunmelt nonwovens products for applications in baby diapers, sanitary napkins, adult incontinence and various products for the medical industry.

Although the financial downturn has temporarily reduced the rate there is - opposite most other high income markets - still high growth in the Asian market and it is this growth Fibertex wishes to tap into with the investment:

"We will be able to meet the increasing demand and also be able to supply new products of high quality, says Mikael Staal Axelsen, who expects that further expansions will be required in the future - especially driven by increasing demand from consumers for softer, lighter and more decorative diapers.

Fibertex Personal Care established the plant in Malaysia in 2003 to be able to fully support the strong growth in the Asian region. Today Fibertex Personal Care is among the largest within its field in the South East Asian market and the largest non-Japanese supplier in Japan.

"One reason is that we have managed to develop products that meet the requirement for softer and better products - particularly in Japan. Here quality is considered the most important factor," says Mikael Staal Axelsen.

Managing Director, Jens Bjerg Sørensen of Schouw & Co. is pleased that Fibertex has achieved a strong foothold in the Asian market:

"The investment in Malaysia has been successful from the beginning and with this investment we ensure that the success - one of Fibertex' biggest both in terms of earnings and market coverage - is sustained in the years to come".

Fibertex has received awards for innovation and a very high level of customer service - a result of the high priority given to product development in close cooperation with customers to ensure continued improvement of products.

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