Displaying items by tag: lenzing

Lenzing – The Lenzing Group filed a first wave of patent applications for its new LENZING™ Web Technology with the World Intellectual Property Organization. The 25 applications focus on product, process and application inventions and are part of Lenzing’s intellectual property protection strategy.

• Twenty-five patent applications claiming product, process and application inventions published
• New technology platform starts with botanic wood pulp and creates a nonwoven fabric made of 100 percent continuous lyocell filament

The LENZING™ Web Technology is a nonwoven web formation process that starts with botanic wood pulp and produces a nonwoven fabric made of 100 percent continuous lyocell filament. The technology offers a unique self-bonding mechanism where filaments bond into a fabric during the laydown process. This self-bonding mechanism allows for a much wider variety of basis weight, surface textures, drapeability and dimensional stability than other nonwoven technologies.

“Lenzing’s corporate strategy sCore TEN is very focused on driving growth via sustainability focused innovation. The new LENZING™ Web Technology is one of the most exciting Research & Development projects. The 25 patent applications related to this new technology underline our commitment to the nonwoven industry. We will continue to support our partners in their business and help consumers with sustainable innovative solutions for their everyday needs”, says Stefan Doboczky, Chief Executive Officer of the Lenzing Group.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture grants its “biobased” certificate to the acetic acid, furfural and magnesium lignosulfonate produced by the Lenzing Group.

Lenzing – The biochemicals acetic acid, furfural and magnesium lignosulfonate manufactured in the biorefinery of the Lenzing Group were granted the Biobased Product Label by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This prominent certification is further official proof that the above-mentioned products of the Lenzing Group are derived 100% from the natural and renewable raw material wood.

“Lenzing stands for a responsible approach to nature. For this reason, we use 100% of the natural resource wood, from the core to the bark – as pulp, bioenergy and biochemicals such as acetic acid”, explains Lenzing CEO Stefan Doboczky. “That is why we are very pleased that our pioneering role with respect to the issue of sustainability has gained worldwide recognition”, Mr. Doboczky adds.

The Lenzing Group produces dissolving pulp at its sites in Lenzing, Austria and Paskov, Czech Republic. All the valuable raw materials are extracted from the wood within the framework of a cascading use. Acetic acid is derived from beech wood in the pulp production process, is recovered in several process steps and processed into high quality, food-grade acetic acid, for example for the food industry. Furfural is a product utilized as a solvent in the refining of lubrication oil, to name one example. Magnesium lignosulfonate is found in animal food or fertilizers.

On this basis of this award, Lenzing once again underlines its very high ecological standards. Just a few months ago, Lenzing Modal® fibers and Lenzing Viscose® fibers, including all product families, were also given the USDA Certified Biobased Product Label. The particularly environmentally compatible TENCEL® fibers have already been certified as biobased since the year 2011.

BioPreferred program
The certification of biobased products is part of the BioPreferred program implemented by the USDA. It is designed to motivate government institutions and companies to purchase biobased products or those which largely consist of biological materials.

The Lenzing Group

The Lenzing Group is a world market leader headquartered in Austria, which operates production sites in all major markets as well as a worldwide network of sales and marketing offices. Lenzing supplies the global textile and nonwovens industry with high-quality, botanic cellulose fibers. Its portfolio ranges from dissolving wood pulp to standard and specialty cellulose fibers.

Lenzing’s quality and innovative strength set global standards for cellulose fibers. With 79 years of experience in fiber production, the Lenzing Group is the only company in the world which is able to produce significant volumes of all three cellulose fiber generations – from the classic Lenzing Viscose® branded fibers to the Lenzing Modal® branded fibers and the TENCEL® lyocell fibers. In 2016 Lenzing introduced the RefibraTM branded recycling fiber, a product innovation based on recycled cotton scraps.

The Lenzing Group’s success is based on consistent customer orientation combined with innovation, technology and quality leadership. Lenzing is committed to the principles of sustainable management with very high environmental standards and can underscore this commitment with numerous international sustainability certifications for its business processes as the most sustainable company in the sector. In addition to fibers, which form the core business, the Lenzing Group is also active to a lesser extent in the field s of engineering and plant construction.

The Lenzing Group aims to increase the share of specialty fibers as a percentage of revenue to 50 percent by 2020. Following the previously announced expansion plans for Lenzing, Heiligenkreuz (Austria) and Grimsby (Great Britain), the Supervisory Board of Lenzing AG has just approved the investment for a TENCEL® fiber plant in the USA. Lenzing now plans to construct a state-of-the-art plant with a production capacity of 90,000 tons per year at its site in Mobile, Alabama. The new facility will be the largest TENCEL® fiber plant in the world, it will set a new milestone in the history of lyocell fibers. The investment volume will total USD 293 mn (EUR 275 mn). The new plant will utilize the latest technological standards and is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2019.

The Lenzing Group currently has a worldwide production capacity of 222,000 tons per year  of TENCEL® fibers. The new plant in Mobile plus the already announced debottlenecking projects at the other TENCEL® fiber sites will increase the total TENCEL® fiber capacity by more than 50 percent by 2019. The decision to build this plant in the US was supported by the good infrastructure at our Mobile site and attractive energy costs.

“This investment represents another major milestone in the implementation of our corporate strategy sCore TEN. It will bring us a big step further to reach our target of 50 percent revenue from specialty fibers by 2020“, explained Lenzing CEO Stefan Doboczky. “This expansion also underscores our commitment to all our TENCEL® fiber customers, who continue to make their products even more sustainable using TENCEL® fiber, the world’s most sustainable botanic fiber,“ added Doboczky.

The  disciplined  implementation  of  the  Lenzing’s  expansion  program  is  essential  for  driving  the Lenzing Group’s organic growth agenda. Therefore it was decided to create a new Management Board role, pooling together the key technical, operational and engineering responsibilities. The Supervisory Board of the company appointed today Heiko Arnold as the new Chief Technology Officer. In addition to a strong scientific and technical education, Arnold has gained many years of experience with BASF in the realization of major investment projects and continuous operational improvements as well as extensive know-how in Research & Development. He will be responsible for all technical departments in the Lenzing Group.

“We are pleased to welcome Heiko Arnold, a further expert with broad international experience, to Lenzing’s Management Board team“, commented Hanno Bästlein, Chairman of the Lenzing Supervisory Board. “Lenzing is on a successful, dynamic growth course with the development and implementation  of  the new  sCore  TEN  corporate  strategy,  and  that  makes  an  increase  in  the Management Board to four persons a reasonable step. His 15 years of experience in Asia, in the realization of major investment projects and in operational excellence make Arnold a perfect match for the challenges faced by Lenzing“, explained Bästlein.

The Lenzing Group

The Lenzing Group is a world market leader headquartered in Austria, with production sites in all major markets as well as a worldwide network of sales and marketing offices. Lenzing supplies the global textile and nonwovens industry with high-quality, botanic cellulose fibers. Its portfolio ranges from dissolving pulp to standard and specialty cellulose fibers.

Lenzing quality and innovative strength set global standards for cellulose fibers. With 78 years of experience in fiber production, the Lenzing Group is the only company worldwide combining the manufacturing of all three cellulose fiber generations on a large scale under one roof – from the classic viscose to modal and the lyocell fiber TENCEL®.

The success of the Lenzing Group is based on its consistent customer orientation together with its leadership in innovation, technology and quality. Lenzing is committed to the principles of sustainable management and very high environmental standards. In addition to its core business of fibers, the Lenzing Group also operates in the field of engineering and plant construction.

Lenzing - The Lenzing Group was rated number one globally with respect to the procurement of wood, the key raw material in cellulose fiber production. This was the conclusion of the latest global ranking compiled by the Canadian non-profit environmental organization Canopy Planet Society, who cooperates with 68 leading retail brands in the textile industry worldwide and is a driver in evaluating sustainable sourcing processes. Achieving the leading position in this ranking is another major recognition of Lenzing’s sustainability leadership that is documented by numerous prizes, labels and certifications.1  In its report2, Canopy assessed the performance on forest conservation and wood sourcing practices of the major players of the cellulose fiber industry. It also commended Lenzing for its new TENCEL® fiber, which uses cotton fabric waste as an alternative source of raw material.

“We are proud of this ranking, and see it as further evidence of the leadership role played by the Lenzing Group in the field of sustainability. The origin of the wood, the most important material, is the decisive factor for us at the beginning of the production process“, says Robert van de Kerkhof, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of the Lenzing Group, in commenting on the ranking. “Lenzing is continually striving to improve all its processes as well as its procurement guidelines. Lenzing will also continue to intensively provide support to the roadmap specified by Canopy as a means of preserving and protecting global forests. This is because sustainability is a core element of our business model”, he adds.

Responsible sourcing combined with environmentally compatible technologies

Lenzing has been focusing on optimizing the sourcing of the renewable raw material wood for more than 20 years in accordance with the principle of sustainability. The company mainly relies on the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) certification system whenever possible. In Europe with its strict forest regulations, Lenzing also makes use of the PEFC™ program as a means of demonstrating its sustainable procurement activities. Close to 100 percent of the wood and pulp used by the Lenzing Group is already certified by FSC® or PEFC™ or is controlled in line with these standards.3

The combination of high wood and pulp procurement standards with best practice process technologies reflects the sustainability leadership of the Lenzing Group.  Both the production of Lenzing Viscose® fibers and the wide range of specialties, such as the TENCEL® fiber and Lenzing Modal®, are produced using high environmental standards and highly resource-efficient closed loop processes.

Lenzing has been working steadily on the further improvement and environmental responsibility of its production processes. In this regard, Lenzing relies on the principle of closed loop production as well as the complete use of the raw material wood in its “biorefinery”. R&D expenditures of the Lenzing Group, which are already significantly higher than the industry average, were further increased in the current 2016 financial year to enable the company to press ahead with the development of new, ecologically-driven technologies.

Lenzing also a leader in alternative raw materials thanks to the new TENCEL® fiber from recycled cotton waste

Another criterion serving as the basis for Lenzing’s number one global ranking was its performance in the field of alternative raw material sources. Lenzing once again demonstrated its leadership in sustainable fiber industry innovations by developing the new TENCEL® fiber on the basis of cotton fabric waste. This groundbreaking  innovation links pioneering  work  in textile recycling  with the environmental award-winning closed loop fiber technology of TENCEL®.

With this innovation Lenzing underpins its core value sustainabilty as a key business driver. It paves the way to solutions for the textile industry’s pressing issue of more than 150 bn garments produced and partly disposed of every year.

1 http://www.lenzing.com/en/responsibility/awards.html
2 http://canopyplanet.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/The-Hot-Button-Issue-The-CanopyStyle-Report-2016.pdf
3 Lenzing reserves itself the right to use and investigate small amounts of raw material that is submitted to a due diligence procedure largely following FSC® guidelines but may not yet be fully certified.

The Lenzing Group will expand and modernize its existing dissolving wood pulp production at the sites in Lenzing/Austria and Paskov/Czech Republic. At a press meeting in Vienna, Lenzing CEO Stefan Doboczky announced a total investment program of EUR 100 mn, approximately EUR 60 mn of it in Lenzing and almost EUR 40 mn in Paskov. Additional new capacities of around 35,000 tons will be added over the next 2.5 years.

“With these investments, we are taking another step in the implementation of our new corporate strategy sCore TEN,” said Stefan Doboczky. “We aim to increase our own dissolving wood pulp production from currently 56% to 75% of the group’s requirements for the production of botanic cellulose fibers by the end of the decade. The modernization will lead to more efficiency of our plants. The upgrade and expansion of our bio-refinery setup will underline Lenzing’s leadership as the most sustainable fiber producer.”

Lenzing’s bio-refinery concept is based on using only certified wood from countries in Western and Central Europe. It is an essential part of Lenzing’s mission to turn CO2 and sunlight into high value fibers, as it ensures that 100% of the wood components are used to produce fibers, bio-chemicals and bio-energy. This investment is also an essential part of Lenzing’s quality strategy, as the high quality of our botanic fibers depends on the quality of the dissolving wood pulp.

In August 2016, Lenzing announced a capacity expansion for specialty fibers of 35,000 tons by mid-2018.  Roughly  EUR 70mn will be invested in the site in Heiligenkreuz/Burgenland  and approximately EUR 30 mn in Lenzing/Upper Austria as part of this project. The new pulp investment program will be implemented in addition to these investments.

These investments are yet another long-term commitment of the Lenzing Group to the Austrian production sites. In the next 2.5 years, Lenzing will therefore invest a total of EUR 160 mn in Austria. Lenzing is thus once again one of the leading industrial investors in Austria.

The Lenzing Group

The Lenzing group is a world market leader headquartered in Austria, with production sites in all major markets as well as a worldwide network of sales and marketing offices. Lenzing supplies the global textile and nonwovens industry with high-quality, botanic cellulose fibers. Its portfolio ranges from dissolving pulp to standard and specialty cellulose fibers.

Lenzing quality and innovative strength set global standards for cellulose fibers. With 78 years of experience in fiber production, the Lenzing Group is the only company worldwide combining the manufacturing of all three cellulose fiber generations on a large scale under one roof – from the classic viscose to modal and the lyocell fiber TENCEL®.

The success of the Lenzing Group is based on its consistent customer orientation together with its leadership in innovation, technology and quality. Lenzing is committed to the principles of sustainable management and very high environmental standards. In addition to its core business of fibers, the Lenzing Group also operates in the field of engineering and plant construction.

The Lenzing Group is presenting its business strategy for the coming years entitled “sCore TEN”. Accordingly, Lenzing’s main priorities are strengthening the company’s core business, intensifying cooperation with customers along the value chain, increasing the share of specialty fibers to 50% of total revenue by 2020, expanding its quality and technological leadership for man-made cellulose fibers and opening up new attractive business areas.

• Lenzing takes advantage of megatrends
• Sustainability as a key innovation and growth driver
• Share of revenue generated by specialty fibers targeted to rise to 50% by 2020
• EBITDA growth of approx. 10% p.a. until 2020
• Increase in ROCE to more than 10% by 2020

“Our objective is to safeguard and expand Lenzing’s leadership role on the dynamic growth market for man-made cellulose fibers“, says Lenzing’s Chief Executive Officer Stefan Doboczky. “To achieve this, we will focus more intensively on the most attractive segments in the specialty fiber business. Lenzing will put value before volume in the future. We aim at achieving volume growth.”

Lenzing expects demand for man-made cellulose fibers to increase by 5 to 6% p.a. until 2020, which is nearly twice as fast as the global fiber market. The primary factors driving demand are the continuing growth of the world’s population and rising prosperity in the emerging markets. Forecasts call for a rise in per capita textile consumption in the emerging markets by all in all 50% in the period 2010 to 2020. In the industrialized countries the nonwovens industry, an important sales market for Lenzing, will profit from the increased demand for hygiene products. The nonwovens segment is expected to expand twice as fast as the textile market.

The new Lenzing strategy entitled “sCore TEN” was designed to take account of the major megatrends. On the one hand, the name stands for a resolute performance orientation (scoring) and for a strengthening of Lenzing‘s core business operations (core) and on the other hand, the new strategy reflects the objective of generating sustainable growth with specialty fibers such as Lenzing Modal® or TENCEL® (TEN). Five strategic measures comprise the cornerstones of sCore TEN:

• Strengthen  the  core:  the  target  is  to  increase  Lenzing’s  pulp  position  through  backward integration by increasing the Group’s own pulp production volumes and/or expanding strategic co-operations.  Lenzing  will  strive  to  expand  upon  its  quality  and  technology  leadership.  A program aimed at strengthening commercial processes is designed to deliver a positive EBITDA contribution totaling EUR 50 mn by the year 2017. The reorganization of the technical service units will be concluded in 2016.
• Customer  intimacy:  Lenzing  plans  to  establish  regional  competence  centers  for  product innovations and will move greater decision-making powers to the regions. These steps will bring Lenzing closer to its customers.
• Specialization: Lenzing aims at generating 50% of total revenue from the business with eco- friendly specialty fibers such as TENCEL®, Lenzing Modal® and viscose fiber specialties by the year  2020.  Lenzing  will  further  increase  production  capacities  for  TENCEL®  depending  on market requirements.
• Forward solutions: Lenzing will selectively enhance its R&D activities along the value chain by new game-changing technologies.
• New business areas: Based on its core competencies, Lenzing will open up new business areas.

In the light of the increasing demand for textile fibers one of the major future challenges for the fiber industry is sustainability. Lenzing boasts a major competitive advantage in this respect. Its cellulose fibers originate in sustainably managed forests, are produced in an environmentally-friendly manner and are biodegradable. In particular, TENCEL® fibers are unrivalled on the marketplace when it comes to sustainability. Taking all parameters into account, TENCEL® is up to 17 times more environmentally compatible than other fibers. Lenzing fibers are outstanding as blending partners for cotton and polyester, and improve their sustainability.
 
“Compared to the previous year, we want to continually increase EBITDA by 10% annually and aim to increase the return on capital employed (ROCE) to more than 10% by 2020. At the same time, our objective is to keep net financial debt at a level which is less than 2.5 times EBITDA”, Doboczky explains in reference to the financial performance targets of sCore TEN. Lenzing plans to finance all necessary investments required  to implement  this  strategy from  its  own  capital  resources  and simultaneously strive for a dividend payout of up to 50% of the Group net profit.

The Lenzing Group

The Lenzing Group is a world market leader with headquarters in Austria, production sites in all major markets as well as a worldwide network of sales and marketing offices. Lenzing supplies the global textile and nonwovens industry with high-quality man-made cellulose fibers. The portfolio ranges from dissolving pulp, standard and specialty cellulose fibers to engineering services.

Lenzing quality and innovative strength set global standards for man-made cellulose fibers. With more than 75 years of experience in fiber production,  the  Lenzing  Group  is  the  only  company  worldwide  combining  the manufacturing  of  all  three  man-made  cellulose  fiber generations on a large industrial scale under one roof – from the classic viscose to modal and lyocell (TENCEL®®) fibers. The success of the Lenzing Group  results  from a unique combination of consistent customer orientation together  with its  leadership in innovation,
technology and quality.

Lenzing is committed to the principle of sustainable management and very high environmental standards. Lenzing's core business fibers is complemented by our activities in the business field engineering.
Key Figures Lenzing Group 2014:
Sales: EUR 1.86 bn
Export share: 92.3%
Fiber sales volumes: 960,000 tons
Staff: 6,356

TENCEL®, Lenzing Modal® and Lenzing Viscose® are registered trademarks of the Lenzing Aktiengesellschaft.

The Lenzing Group announces the sale of its fully owned German subsidiary Dolan GmbH, Kelheim and its 91.1% stake in European Carbon Fiber GmbH, Kelheim to WHEB Partners’ Growth Fund 2 of England and Jan Verdenhalven. The corresponding agreement was concluded on April 15, 2015. Both sides agreed to keep the purchase price confidential.

“The sale comprises part of Lenzing’s strategy to focus on its core business of man-made cellulose fibers. With WHEB and Jan Verdenhalven, Lenzing succeeded in finding financially strong, industryoriented new owners in which both companies will be able to develop more effectively in the future than up until now”, comments Lenzing’s Chief Financial Officer Thomas Riegler. “Moreover, it is important for European Carbon Fiber that WHEB and Jan Verdenhalven already have longstanding industrial experience in the carbon fiber business. The company now has interesting growth perspectives once again through a potential cooperation with other companies in the strategic investment portfolio of WHEB.”

Dolan manufactures high quality specialty fibers on an acrylic basis which are used for textiles, convertible car tops, as sunshades, for garden furniture and protective clothing. Dolan is one of the major suppliers of convertible car tops in Europe. The company employs a workforce of about 100 employees, generating revenue of EUR 57.5 mn in 2014.

European Carbon Fiber GmbH is a joint venture with Kelheim Fibres GmbH which manufactures precursors for the carbon fiber industry. The company achieved annual revenue of EUR 10.4 mn in 2014.

The Lenzing Group is a world market leader with headquarters in Austria, production sites in all major markets as well as a worldwide network of sales and marketing offices. Lenzing supplies the global textile and nonwovens industry with high-quality man-made cellulose fibers. The portfolio ranges from dissolving pulp, standard and specialty cellulose fibers to engineering services. Lenzing quality and innovative strength set global standards for man-made cellulose fibers. With more than 75 years of experience in fiber production, the Lenzing Group is the only company worldwide combining the manufacturing of all three man-made cellulose fiber generations on a large industrial scale under one roof – from the classic viscose to modal and lyocell (TENCEL®) fibers. The success of the Lenzing Group results from a unique combination of consistent customer orientation together with its leadership in innovation, technology and quality.

Lenzing is committed to the principle of sustainable management and very high environmental standards.

Lenzing's core business fibers is complemented by our activities in the business field engineering.

TENCEL® and Lenzing Modal® are registered trademarks of the Lenzing Group.

The Supervisory Board of Lenzing AG appointed Stefan Doboczky as the new Chairman of the Management Board (CEO) of Lenzing AG. Mr. Doboczky will assume his new function on June 1st 2015. He takes over from Peter Untersperger, who will step down from his function as CEO per 31 May 2015 at his own request prematurely.

Mr. Doboczky, Austrian, brings to Lenzing a broad international management experience and extensive expertise in Asia. Since 1998 he has worked in various management positions for the Dutch Life Science & Material Science group Royal DSM in Europe and Asia. In his current role as Member of the Managing Board he has been responsible for the successful strategic repositioning of the global pharmaceutical businesses, for Corporate Operations & Responsible Care, as well as for the corporation’s growth agenda in the Asian markets. Mr. Doboczky holds a PhD in chemistry from the TU Wien and a MBA from Swiss Business School IMD.

Hanno Bästlein, Chairman of the Nomination Committee of the Supervisory Board of Lenzing AG, said about the appointment of the new CEO: “With his international industrial expertise, his close to ten years of management experience in Asia and his strong technical background, Stefan Doboczky will strengthen the Management Board team and is ideally suited to lead the Lenzing Group towards further growth.”

Stefan Doboczky said about his joining the Management Board of Lenzing AG: “As an Austrian corporation of international caliber Lenzing AG stands for innovation and quality in the field of highquality, man-made cellulose fibers. It will be a highly responsible and challenging task for me to make use of the company’s outstanding potential to further expand its technological leadership.”

Supervisory Board thanks outgoing CEO Peter Untersperger
The outgoing Chairman of the Management Board, Peter Untersperger (55), has informed the Supervisory Board that hat he will not be available for an extension of his contract, which expires on 31 March 2016. He will step down from his function as CEO per 31 May 2015 at his own request prematurely. Mr. Untersperger has worked for the Lenzing Group for 30 years, as CFO since 1999 and as CEO since 2009.

"With the outstanding expertise and the broad experience of Peter Untersperger as CEO the Lenzing Group managed to successfully restructure the company despite the challenging international market, and to realize the state-of-the-art TENCEL® production plant in Lenzing”, Hanno Bästlein stated. Untersperger is leaving with a good performance. The operational result (EBITDA) rose in 2014 vs. 2013 by more than 24 percent to approx. EUR 240 million. Moreover, over the past 18 months, Mr. Untersperger has been responsible for the strategic repositioning of the Group, which he put well on track. With his team he implemented a comprehensive cost optimization project, which in 2014 led to savings of more than EUR 130 million, double the planned amount. Mr. Bästlein emphasized that Mr. Untersperger has earned the respect of employees, investors and clients in difficult times: “On behalf of the whole corporation we thank Peter Untersperger for his exceptional performance and extraordinary achievements in the last 30 years. He has shaped the development of the group decisively in his 15 years as Executive. We wish him all the best for the future, both professionally and personally.”

The new CEO Stefan Doboczky will be introduced to the company’s shareholders and to the public on the occasion of the coming Shareholders’ Meeting in Lenzing on 22 April 2015.

The track record of the new TENCEL® fiber production plant at the Lenzing site in Upper Austria during the initial six-month ramp-up phase has been a positive one.

Proud of the successful half-year track record of the new TENCEL® fiber plant in Lenzing: TENCEL® Plant Manager Franz Bauhofer, Board Member Robert van de Kerkhof (CCO) and Head of TENCEL® Operations Andrew Ronchetti.

“The plant has already successfully operated at full capacity and in a trouble-free manner for the past months, and the quality of the manufactured fibers fulfills our high expectations”, says Peter Untersperger, Chief Executive Officer of Lenzing AG. “Our new second generation TENCEL® fiber production facility is a technological milestone for lyocell technology, and proof that we are several years ahead of all our competitors.” It enables more than 67,000 tons of TENCEL® fibers to be manufactured p.a. by one jumbo production line. This significantly increases efficiency compared to the existing technology.

Lenzing is still the only company in the world with the capability of implementing the complex lyocell technology on an industrial scale and mastering safety requirements. “Over the past few years TENCEL® has secured a permanent place on the market for a whole range of attractive applications”, says Lenzing Management Board member and Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Robert van de Kerkhof. “TENCEL® can exploit its advantages in the apparel, home textile and innovative technical segments. The fiber offers good breathing properties, excellent wearing comfort, high fiber strength and above all its environmentally-compatible production on the basis of the natural raw material, wood. For these reasons TENCEL® is also the premium cellulose fiber of the future”, he adds.

Both CEO Untersperger and COO van de Kerkhof emphasize the fact that Lenzing will continue to fully concentrate on TENCEL® in the coming years. “We are continuously developing this market. Our technological know-how will also help us to open up new markets”, van de Kerkhof says. For this reason, TENCEL® is and will remain a top research and development priority at Lenzing. In the past five years, Lenzing spent around EUR 100 mn on research in lyocell technology. Lenzing has already been operating several pilot lyocell facilities at the Lenzing site for 25 years. If demand for TENCEL® fibers continues to develop as satisfactorily as expected, the Lenzing Group will likely construct an additional TENCEL® jumbo production plant based on this proven technology in the medium term.

As of the end of 2014, total annual TENCEL® production capacity of the Lenzing Group amounts to about 220,000 tons manufactured at the Austrian sites in Lenzing and Heiligenkreuz, in Mobile, Alabama in the USA and in Grimsby, Great Britain. Thanks to the new “jumbo production line” at the Lenzing site, investment costs could be maintained at a very competitive level of approximately EUR 150 mn (or about EUR 2,200 per ton of capacity). This gives Lenzing the opportunity to achieve a further competitive scaling of TENCEL® fibers as a universally deployable textile and nonwoven fiber.

Restructuring and Staff Reductions in the Corporate Business Areas Engineering, Maintenance and Lenzing Technik as well as Repositioning of Lenzing Technik

The Lenzing Group is resolutely and systematically counteracting the ongoing difficult market conditions in the global fiber industry on the basis of its cost optimization program as it reported on the occasion of publishing its business results for the first three quarters of 2014. The organizational optimization measures launched one year ago at all sites and in all business areas are having a positive impact. The results achieved up until now are encouraging but by far insufficient to offset the decline in viscose fiber selling prices on the international marketplace.

Lenzing continues to anticipate good volume demand for all man-made cellulose fibers. However, fiber selling prices on the global market are not expected to recover in upcoming quarters. This development is also attributable to the substantial decline in polyester fiber prices as a result of the massive oil price decrease, and the expected longer-lasting period of low or at least volatile cotton prices as a consequence of the surplus supply of Chinese cotton.

For these reasons, the Lenzing Group will not implement any major new projects at the Lenzing site or  abroad in the foreseeable future which are designed to expand its viscose fiber production capacities. The investment volume of the company will be adjusted to reflect the current market situation and will be significantly reduced in the subsequent years. This should contribute to improving the supply situation on the international viscose fiber market, which the company would like to sustainably profit from in its role as one of the world’s largest producers.

Due to the successful completion of the new TENCEL®  fiber plant in Lenzing and the reduced investment volume, technical planning and production capacities cannot be maintained at current levels, especially at the Lenzing site. This necessitates a reorganization of Lenzing’s internal engineering and maintenance business areas and its subsidiary Lenzing Technik GmbH. Organizational structures in these areas have to be adjusted to future requirements.

All in all, the restructuring measures will impact up to 250 jobs (including one-third temporary staff), mainly at the Lenzing site. The distribution of the job cuts among the various sites will be determined by the beginning of 2015 within the context of a project which is already under way. In this connection, Lenzing will try to avoid layoffs and strive to reach a mutually acceptable solution with the affected employees as it succeeded in doing within the context of the first cost optimization program. During initial talks on this issue held with the Lenzing Works Council, Lenzing agreed to extend the current redundancy program (social plan) and to offer the possibility for employees newly affected by the downsizing to transfer to the Lenzing Labor Foundation.

At the same time, Lenzing is working on a strategic reorientation of its subsidiary Lenzing Technik

GmbH to enable it to focus more strongly on the external market in the future.

The Lenzing Group

The Lenzing Group is a world market leader with headquarters in Austria, production sites in all major markets as well as a worldwide network of sales and marketing offices. Lenzing supplies the global textile and nonwovens industry with high-quality man-made cellulose fibers. The portfolio ranges from dissolving pulp, standard and specialty cellulose fibers to engineering services.

Lenzing quality and innovative strength set global standards for man-made cellulose fibers. With 75 years of experience in fiber production, the Lenzing Group is the only company worldwide combining the manufacturing of all three man-made cellulose fiber generations on a large industrial scale under one roof – from the classic viscose to modal and lyocell (TENCEL®) fibers. The success of the Lenzing Group results from a unique combination of consistent customer orientation together with its leadership in innovation, technology and quality.

Lenzing is committed to the principle of sustainable management and very high environmental standards.

Lenzing's core business fibers is complemented by our activities in the business field engineering.

Lenzing Technik GmbH

Lenzing Technik GmbH is a globally operating industrial partner with comprehensive expertise and specialized expert status in the fields of engineering and industrial plant design and construction.

Lenzing Technik offers engineering, production, automation and related services for various industries. The focus is on environmental technology, viscose, fiber, pulp, filtration, separation and surface technologies as well as robotics and mechatronics.

In 2013 Lenzing Technik, which has a workforce of about 600 employees and a temporary staff of 120 people, generated 40% of its total sales of approximately EUR 120 mn from external contracts.

Further information is available at:  http://www.lenzing-technik.com