SABIC INTRODUCES NEW NORYL ™ RESINS FEATURING ROBUST FLAME RETARDANCY AND IMPACT RESISTANCE FOR EV BATTERY MODULES

To support broader adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), SABIC is launching two new grades of NORYL ™ resin that support demand for lighter, thinner and more crash-resistant battery modules and housings. These new innovative materials – NORYL NHP6011 and NHP6012 resins – address key consumer requirements for EVs: improved safety, range and power. They deliver enhanced robust flame retardancy and impact strength to meet stringent industry-related safety standards, as well as thin-wall molding capability to reduce weight and accommodate more cells, helping to extend vehicle range and boost performance. These novel glass fiber- reinforced NORYL resins feature proprietary polyphenylene ether (PPE)-copolymer technology and are the latest additions to SABIC’s growing NHP family of materials for mobility applications.

“Optimization of batteries is crucial to expanding adoption of electric vehicles and realizing the full sustainability benefits of e-mobility,” said Darpan Parikh, global product management leader, Resins & Compounds, SABIC’s Specialties business. “By helping to enhance EV batteries through better safety, higher energy density and lower weight, our new NORYL resins can also help manufacturers increase the consumer appeal of their vehicles.”

Improved Properties Align with Evolving Battery Trends
Several trends are shaping the future of EV batteries. For example, stricter flame retardance requirements are now in force, driven primarily by concern about the safety of lithium-ion batteries. In Europe and Asia, battery module materials must meet the UL 94 V-0 standard. New NORYL NHP6011 and NHP6012 resins provide best-in-class, non-chlorinated/non-brominated flame retardancy that meets UL 94 V-0 requirements at 1.5 mm. In addition, they supply high stiffness and impact strength for crash protection. The two products differ in their glass fiber loadings to accommodate specific customer requirements for stiffness.

Another key trend in EV battery manufacturing is miniaturization. Battery manufacturers are striving to fit more cells in existing or smaller spaces to increase vehicle power and range. The dimensional stability and good flow properties of the NORYL grades enable thin-wall designs for cell frames, retainers and battery pack top covers. These properties help increase energy density while minimizing weight and space.

Furthermore, these materials provide excellent dielectric performance with a comparative tracking index (CTI)
of 2 to help avoid electrical shorts among tightly packed cells.

In addition to these outstanding mechanical properties, the new NORYL NHP6011 and NHP6012 resins provide excellent resistance to acid vs. polycarbonate (PC), better resistance to moisture compared to polyamide, and a low specific gravity.

“SABIC continues to advance the performance properties of our NORYL materials for e-mobility to keep pace with rapidly changing industry requirements, such as more robust flame retardancy,” said Luc Govaerts,

director, Formulation & Application Development, SABIC’s Specialties Business. “By developing these unique and proprietary high-performance PPE copolymer technologies, we are able to expand our formulation design space. This is key for us to offer customers new choices for the next generation of battery designs and enable them to meet stringent requirements.”

VDMA India Symposium on Electric Mobility – Disrupting Technology trends in the Transportation Industry

Indian automotive industry is the fifth largest in the world and is slated to be the third largest by 2030. Catering to this vast domestic market, reliance on the conventional modes of fuel intensive mobility will not be sustainable Hence by making the shift towards electric vehicles (EVs), India stands to benefit on many fronts. India has been astute about the increased utility of electric vehicles and the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid
and Electric Vehicles (FAME) I and II schemes, being a testament that are aimed at promoting the adoption of electric vehicles and creating a robust EV charging infrastructure.

In the light of this burgeoning potential, VDMA has creating a comprehensive awareness on the emerging Technology trends in Electric Mobility and its manufacturing competitiveness. VDMA India together with our esteemed partners, BENDER, CADFEM, FESTO, HARTING, INFINEON, SCHAEFFLER, WEISS and ZWICK ROELL conducted the “Electric Mobility – Disrupting Technology trends in the Transportation Industry” at Radisson Blu Plaza Delhi Airport in Delhi on 17-Nov 2021 and LE ROYAL MERIDIEN Chennai, on 19-Nov 2021 respectively.

At Delhi on 17 th Nov 2021, The event organized by VDMA India, started off by the traditional Lamp lighting by the chief guest Dr. Steffen Koch Head of Department for Economics & Global Affairs EMBASSY OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY and Guest of Honour B. B. Gupta President Strategy & Business Planning JBM GROUP in Delhi

In Chennai on 19 th Nov 2021, the event commenced lighting of the lamp by Chief Guest Ms. Karin Stoll, Consul General, German Consulate, Chennai and Mr.Kaniappan P, Managing Director, WABCO India Guest of Honor at the Chennai.

The welcome address at both the locations of Delhi and Chennai was given by Mr. Rajesh Nath, Managing Director, VDMA India presenting the importance of the EV industry in the coming future and he also gave a brief update on the policy side by the Indian and few state governments incentives programmes for EV. He gave an update on PLI and other Schemes by various government for the betterment of the EV Industry.

After that, in Delhi, we had the update on Indo-German Trade by Dr. Steffen Koch, Head of Department for Economics & Global Affairs, EMBASSY OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY, NEW DELHI. The speech by Guest of Honor, was given by Mr. Gupta, President – Strategy & Business Planning, JBM GROUP was regarding the Accelerated Growth of the Electric Mobility Technological Ecosystem in India.

In Chennai we had Ms. Stoll, Consul General, German Consulate, Chennai, explaining the current vaccination drives in Germany and on the current raising cases of Covid-19 in Germany. After this we had Mr. Kaniappan P, Managing Director, WABO India, speaking about the Accelerated Growth of the Electric Mobility Technological Ecosystem in India. The special address from the Guest of Honor, which set the stage for the speakers, and the participants to understand the present situation in the subcontinent on the E.-Mobility growth

The presentations from the partners were covered the on the vehicle and off the vehicle solutions like automations in the plant by the German Partners. In the two locations, we had divided the presentation into two sessions, Technical Session 1 before Lunch and Technical Session 2, after Lunch

In these Technical presentations, e BENDER presented on the topic Electrical Safety Solution for E-Mobility, which was explained by Mr Washim Ahamed, Senior Manager – Sales & Marketing in Delhi on the vast portfolio in the Battery Management System and Charging infrastructure and the same presentation was given by by Mr. Raghavendra Sajjan, Senior Manager – Sales & Marketing in Chennai.

After that we had a presentation from CADFEM Regarding the Simulation and Analysis in the EV’s which can reduce 50% of testing and modeling time in production and R&D cycle. The presentation on Computational modeling to step up e-mobility to realize efficient, reliable Power trains was presented by Mr Santhosh Manepally, Technology Specialist at both the locations that helped the audience to understand the uses and current upgrades in the simulation software’s in the EV Segment.

The presentation of Mr. Vijay Menon, Sr. Business Development Manager of Festo included the automation side in the manufacturing of the EV with the explanation of Opportunities for New Manufacturing Automation benchmarks. He spoke about the current and upcoming trends in the Automation comparing India to the global standards of the automation. He stated that the new technology in automation is to be integrated for the most effective process on the shop floor.

E Mobility who explained his presentation on Charging Infrastructure ecosystem for growing Electric Mobility. The connectivity solution being the one of the main drawback in India for more faster phase in the EV. He expressed his views that only when consumers see an extensive network of public charging stations will they consider EVs a feasible mobility solution. Thus, a reliable and accessible network of public chargers is imminent.

The Presentation on Trends & Developments in E-Mobility by Mr. Narendra Walvekar, Sr Manager – Automotive Sales in Delhi, and by Mr. Srinivasan Parthasarathy, Sr Manager – Automotive Sales of INFINEON in Chennai gave a chance to look up to the semiconductor and the electronics side of the EV game explaining the Microprocessor and the power electronics which goes into the vehicle. The upcoming technology from on the cooling and Silkicon Carbide that enables better power semiconductors had been the interesting development on the Battery management Systems for the coming future.

Followed by this we had the Presentation on Automation in Electric Mobility Ecosystem by Mr. Franz Oebels, Director Global Sales/Key Accounts, Market Segments & Technology, WEISS AUTOMATION explained the Subsystem for body parts assembly and the predictive maintaince application He also the presented the assembly line applications for th battery packs and the motor drives.

The presentation on Mechanical testing solutions for e-mobility by Mr. Ashim Jyoti Sharma, Associate General Manager in Delhi and by Mr. Girish Sharma, Automotive Industry Specialist in Chennai from ZWICK ROELL, introducing the testing solutions for the E.Mobility applications and explaining the importance of testing in Lion Battery, Fuel cell’s and different equipments that goes into the EV.

The above presentations by the Partner organizations were at both the cities of Delhi and Chennai on the Electric Mobility ecosystem.

The Presentation on Electrification Outlook for Indian Auto Industry was given by Mr. Sanjeev Saxena, President – Automotive, SCHAEFFLER in Delhi symposium. He explained the importance of the Hybrid & Electric Drive trains, and the future products that would be developed for the better transmission system in the upcoming models of the Electric Vehicles He also explained regarding the carbon neutrality and methods and process of achieving carbon neutrality. Mr. Saxena said that the IC engine and the EV market are going to have their own market spaces and he further explained that the IC/Combustion engine Market would not be significantly affected by the EV in Passenger Vehicles in the coming decade.

After the daylong presentations, participants spread across the different segments in the EV Ecosystem took their Question and answers session followed by the concluding remarks by Mr. Rajesh Nath in the Delhi, and by Mr.S.Manohar, Regional Head South, VDMA India in the Chennai symposium.

Nissei ASB Machine and Shibaura Machine Enter into Memorandum of Understanding for Business Partnership  

Selig Group Announces Acquisition of MGJ

Ascend to expand compound production to Latin America

HOUSTON – December 8, 2021 – Ascend Performance Materials has announced plans to purchase a compounding facility in San Jose Iturbide, Mexico, growing its global footprint and expanding production capacity for high-performance engineered materials.

The purchase agreement includes the assets of DM Color Mexicana, a joint venture between Dainichiseika and Mitsubishi Corp. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022.

“We continue to invest in and grow our engineered materials business with a focus on regional production,” said Phil McDivitt, Ascend’s president and CEO. “This acquisition establishes our footprint in Latin America and allows us to produce our world-class materials closer to our global customers.”

Ascend, a fully integrated producer of durable engineered materials, has grown its global production footprint with four acquisitions over the last three years.

“We remain committed to supporting our customers’ growth and innovation through continued investments in our global manufacturing footprint, the development of new materials and enhanced technical services and support,” said Isaac Khalil, Ascend’s senior vice president for polyamides.

Details of the deal were not disclosed.

FULL CIRCLE TEXTILES PROJECT FOCUSES ON SCALING POLYESTER RECYCLING

FASHION FOR GOOD LAUNCHES NEW PROJECT TO SCALE POLYESTER RECYCLING FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS OF CELLULOSIC CHEMICAL RECYCLING PROJECT

AMSTERDAM – Fashion for Good today launches the Full Circle Textiles Project – Polyester, with the ambition to validate and scale promising technologies in polyester chemical recycling and to encourage financing and offtake commitments in the fashion industry. Polyester claims 52% of the global fibre market. As the most common fibre in the world, it also represents a significant portion of the 73% of textiles that are landfilled or incinerated annually. A synthetic fibre derived from petroleum, polyester does not naturally break down in the environment, and the production of virgin fibres also perpetuates our reliance on fossil fuels. Chemical recycling is a key solution that promises to address the polyester textile waste challenge.

“Textile recycling is a key focus for Fashion for Good. With the success of the first Full Circle Textiles Project, and proof that a galvanised consortium of stakeholders from across the industry can truly shift the needle, we can now turn our attention to applying these learnings and steps to scale to another critical area; textile-to-textile polyester recycling.” – Katrin Ley – Managing Director, Fashion for Good

A STREAMLINED ECOSYSTEM FOR INNOVATION

The Full Circle Textiles Project – Polyester brings together a consortium of stakeholders including brands, innovators, supply chain partners and catalytic funders – a structure that has proven successful in driving and scaling disruptive innovation in the industry.

The project, initiated and managed by Fashion for Good is made possible by a large group of Fashion for Good partners, contributing their expertise, financial support and services. These include catalytic funder Laudes Foundation, brand partners adidas, BESTSELLER, C&A, PVH Corp., Target and Zalando, and affiliate partners Arvind Limited, Fabrics Division of W. L. Gore & Associates and Teijin Frontier, who have recently joined Fashion for Good.

“A future without fossil fuels in fashion will need us to scale disruptive innovations such as chemical recycling to replace polyester. We’re pleased to continue supporting the industry’s efforts through the Full Circles Textiles Project, with chemically recycled polyester. Our funding allows actors across the supply chain to come together and test these path-breaking solutions, and we eagerly await the results of this phase of the project.” – Anita Chester, Head of Materials at Laudes Foundation
VALIDATING AND SCALING PROMISING INNOVATIONS

To attain a clear idea of the innovations best positioned to address the challenges of recycling polyester textiles, Fashion for Good has enlisted promising innovators in polyester chemical recycling from around the world to participate in the project. These include CuRe Technology, Garbo, gr3n and PerPETual who over the course of the 18-month project will be producing chemically recycled polyester for eventual use in fabric and garment production from post-consumer textile waste. The innovator output will be assessed and validated by participating Fashion for Good brand and supply chain partners.

The project aims to validate the technologies and the scaling potential; prompting further implementation/offtake agreements to drive chemical recycling in the industry and mobilise more funding into the technology.

“Chemical recycling can make fibre-to-fibre recycling a reality and this is a critical step towards reaching BESTSELLER’s ultimate ambition of becoming circular by design. By limiting the use of virgin materials, recycled polyester will dramatically lower the environmental impact of polyester at the same time as we reduce our reliance on virgin petroleum as a raw material.” – Camilla Skjønning Jørgensen, Sustainable Materials & Innovation Manager at BESTSELLER
THE POTENTIAL OF CHEMICAL RECYCLING

Textile recycling is a crucial lever in driving the fashion industry towards closed-loop production and reducing the environmental impact of textile waste. It also has the potential to eliminate the industry’s dependence on virgin raw materials.

Chemical recycling can recycle textile waste into virgin-quality output and can address a wider range of textiles types, providing huge potential to close the loop on textile waste. A relatively nascent area of innovation, textile-to-textile chemical recycling faces significant barriers to scale; including a lack of financing for new technologies, limited brand offtake, and limited and expensive output that competes with cheaper, virgin options.

“At C&A, we see textile-to-textile recycling solutions such as chemically recycled polyester as a key enabler to closing the material loop and reducing virgin resource consumption. This project will help us all in understanding the barriers, impacts and opportunities in the chemical recycling of polyester and is an important foundation to C&A’s commitment to connect principles of circularity to 7 out of 10 of our products by 2028.” – Martha Willis, Senior Manager Sustainable Materials and Circular Innovation at C&A
BUILDING ON PAST SUCCESSES

The Full Circle Textiles Project – Polyester builds on the framework and lessons of the Full Circle Textiles Project, launched in September 2020, which focused on investigating economically viable and scalable solutions for cellulosic chemical recycling and to produce new man-made cellulosic fibres and eventual garments from cotton and cotton-blend textile waste. Having successfully accomplished this objective, the Full Circle Textiles Project further validates the benefit of the consortium structure in scaling disruptive innovation in the industry, and the capability of chemical recycling to accelerate circularity.

“At Zalando, our aim is to drive customer behaviour change towards circular products and experiences. Currently, only 1% of clothing material is looped back into clothing production. By learning the challenges with textile-to-textile polyester recycling and supporting the most promising solutions, we can help to close the loop by designing out waste and pollution” – Laura Coppen, Head of Circularity at Zalando
The four selected innovators, Circ, EVRNU, Infinited Fiber Company and Renewcell, were able to validate their disruptive technologies and produce garments for brand partners PVH Corp. and Kering Group to their quality specifications. The next phase of the project focuses on scaling these solutions and encourages brands, innovators and supply chain partners to collaborate in creating long-term partnerships, catalyse funding to enable scaling, and leverage industry expertise to further develop and implement these technologies.

“The demand for recycled yarns has been clearly rocketing. Especially these days, recycling is not enough, but we need technologies and stories to actually reduce the impact on the environment. This project aims to earnestly reuse textile waste from the apparel industry, not from the beverage industry, by innovative recycling technologies. We’re confident that this project will essentially reduce our environmental impact and give us a better responsibility for our planet.” – Yukihiro Shigemura, General Manager, Technology & Production Division at Teijin Frontier
To further support the development of the infrastructure necessary to scale textile recycling, Fashion for Good initiated the Sorting for Circularity Project and Sorting for Circularity India Project – industry-wide, precompetitive projects that aim to create a greater link between textile sorters and textile recyclers, stimulating a recycling market for unwanted textiles.

Read more about the Full Circle Textiles Project’s outcomes and learnings here.

“Like most brands in the industry, PET is a key fibre for our business, and we recognise the need to understand and invest in future recycling capabilities with a view to lowering resource consumption. For us, this project represents an opportunity to answer some key questions about the future of circularity – how can chemical recycling help us increase availability of rPET, what is the true footprint of those materials and what are the key constraints, all so that we can be sure we’re designing our products responsibly, with the total lifecycle impact in mind” – Craig Lindemann, Sustainability Technologist, Gore Fabrics Division

ARCHROMA UNDERPINS PRESENCE IN SWITZERLAND WITH NEW BASEL REGION
HEADQUARTERS AND A DEDICATED ‘TECH HUB’

Reinach, Switzerland, 9 December 2021 – Archroma, a global leader in specialty chemicals towards sustainable solutions, today announced the relocation of its headquarters to Pratteln, just outside Basel, and a customised R&D role for its existing Reinach site.

Archroma’s new Haus der Wirtschaft (HWD) headquarters is located in a business hub that hosts the Economic Chamber Baselland with other companies, as well as a fully serviced conference and event center. The new offices have been designed to support a smooth and efficient collaborative work and visitor experience.

The move comes after a decade of growth at Archroma’s TechCenter building in Reinach, also near Basel, which evolved from being a dedicated technical center to hosting a growing number of corporate services and teams. With the opening of the new HWD headquarters, the Reinach TechCenter, designed to accommodate laboratories and technical expert teams, will return to its roots with focus on the global R&D and application development, supporting those of the Archroma Competence Centers (CC) which are located in Switzerland: CC Textile Finishing; CC Textile Repellents; CC Paper Coloration; and CC Paper Whiteness.

“With our new HWD corporate headquarters we are joining a dynamic business hub,” comments Heike van de Kerkhof, CEO at Archroma. “We are excited to refocus our Reinach site as a true ‘tech hub’ to provide innovative, sustainable solutions and services to our customers to help them increase the value of their products. Our science and technology expertise, coupled with in depth market, customer and regulatory understanding, provide the platforms for the creation of safer, more sustainable chemicals and practices in the industries we serve. With this latest development we are strongly reaffirming our deep commitment to our Swiss roots and presence.”

The transition will take place in December 2021.

Materia Inc. to Join ExxonMobil Chemical Company as Wholly-Owned Subsidiary

Umicore and Volkswagen AG to create European EV battery materials Joint Venture 

Umicore and Volkswagen AG plan to establish a joint venture to build up precursor and cathode material production capacities in Europe to supply Volkswagen AG’s European battery cell production, making a considerable contribution to the region’s transition towards cleaner mobility.

This partnership will be the first of its kind in the European automotive market. It will help achieve the ambitions of the European Green Deal, including the establishment of a sustainable battery supply chain, and is a strong signal for the ongoing roll-out of innovative battery cell technologies and capabilities in the region.

The intention is to gradually ramp up the JV’s precursor and cathode material production capacity. This would start in 2025 with an initial annual production of 20 GWh for Volkswagen AG’s plant in Salzgitter, Germany, and should grow to an annual production capacity of up to 160 GWh by the end of the decade. This compares to an annual production capacity capable of powering about 2.2 million full electric vehicles (EVs).  

At the same time, next to the intended JV, Umicore will continue to steadfastly develop its technological and production capabilities to serve other customers and regions.

“As a leader in clean mobility materials, we are committed to support our automotive and battery-cell customers with their electrification strategies.

We are very pleased to partner with Volkswagen in this unique joint venture and will bring in our long-standing and proven expertise in battery materials, as well as our strong commitment and solutions to today’s sustainability challenges.

The complementarity of our extensive technology, innovation and industrial knowhow, and shared sustainability convictions will provide a strong framework for the JV and will give us a considerable first-mover advantage.” 

Mathias Miedreich, CEO of Umicore

Thomas Schmall, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Group for Technology and CEO of Volkswagen Group Components: “Volkswagen is implementing its battery strategy very consistently and at a high pace. The Volkswagen unified cell must be at the forefront of performance, costs and sustainability right from the start. Teaming up with Umicore enables us to establish a state-of-the-art supply chain in Europe as we share common values such as responsible sourcing of raw materials, as well as closed-loop thinking.” 

The partnership’s significant scale will provide secure and cost-competitive supplies of innovative, sustainably sourced and tailored high-performance cathode materials for Volkswagen AG’s ambitious unified cell strategy. It provides Umicore secured access to an important part of the European demand for EV cathode materials, which will unlock significant economies of scale and represents a major leap forward in the further roll-out of its strategy to be a global leader in clean mobility materials. 

In the context of the JV, Umicore and Volkswagen AG will furthermore collaborate on the sustainable and responsible sourcing of raw materials, which is a strong area of expertise of Umicore. Both parties aim to include at a later stage, elements of refining and battery recycling into the scope of the JV.

The planned JV is subject to final agreements and customary conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Short-term earnings in battery materials hampered by lower volumes in combination with higher fixed costs related to recent and ongoing expansions

The JV’s portfolio offering will cover next-generation technologies, including a very large portion of high-nickel chemistries. The latter have become faster than anticipated the car industry’s preferred solution to enable higher energy density and longer driving ranges and this is consequently significantly impacting demand for mid-nickel chemistries. Umicore successfully fast-tracked innovation on the next generation higher nickel product and process capabilities and now offers industry-leading high nickel cathode material technology, as also witnessed by today’s announcement. 

In the short-term, Umicore is still largely exposed to mid-nickel NMC platforms. Customer demand projections for certain of these qualified mid-nickel platforms are being scaled back to their minimum offtake commitments, resulting in lower volume forecasts for 2022 and 2023, beyond the negative volume impacts from semiconductor shortages. Consequently, Umicore now expects growth in its cathode material sales volumes in 2022 and 2023 to be less than previously anticipated and to be below the anticipated global market growth. These scaled-down short-term volume expectations, together with the need to increase fixed costs to prepare for the expected steep mid-term growth, such as higher R&D expenses and costs related to the recent and ongoing expansions, are likely to result in lower-than-expected earnings growth in Rechargeable Battery Materials in 2022 and 2023. Hence, assuming that Cobalt & Specialty Materials will not repeat the exceptionally strong 2021 performance, the earnings of the Energy & Surface Technologies segment are not expected to show a significant uplift over that period.

Strong mid-term earnings growth comforted

Umicore’s innovation pipeline and strong track record in cathode material technologies, alongside with its flexible production system have allowed to act with agility to the rapidly evolving customer voice. The intention to set up this JV with Volkswagen AG contributes further strength to the Group’s competitive positioning. Its strong technology roadmap, synced with customers’ requirements, puts Umicore in a unique position to disproportionally benefit in the mid-term from the extremely high anticipated growth in EV battery materials. This will significantly boost operating leverage through economies of scale and will allow Umicore to achieve attractive margins and returns in its fast-growing battery materials activity. 

https://www.umicore.com/

B.I.G. Yarns announces major investments in new yarn technology

Wielsbeke, Belgium – December 8, 2021 – Building a strong future. B.I.G. Yarns reveals significant investment in its next-generation Polyamide (PA) technology to help global carpet tile manufacturers meet the demands of the contract market. In addition to this key investment, the company also announces its decision to become a new producer of polyester (PET) yarns for the automotive industry.

The two announcements, made today, reinforce the business’ leadership in yarn innovation and commitment to being at the forefront of supporting changing end-market needs.

B.I.G Yarns is stepping up its focus on developing and producing one-step 3Ply PA yarns using next-generation technology to answer needs for flexibility and broader design options in the carpet tile segment. Total production capacity for one-step 3Ply yarns will increase by > 20% through new lines installed at the plant in France, creating higher output and greater supply security by serving customers from all three of its global plants.

The new lines use B.I.G. Yarns’ cutting-edge PA yarn technology which expands design, contrast and colour freedoms for carpet tile manufacturers, and increases flexibility in lot sizes. These advances enable customers to respond quickly to developments in the contract market. In addition, the new technology features a higher level of automation which improves ergonomics for B.I.G. Yarns’ employees. Importantly, it also optimizes energy use which contributes in energy savings at the French site specifically. The new production lines will be deployed from mid-2022.

To enhance support for a future of more sustainable automotive interiors, B.I.G. Yarns will enter into PET yarn production for the first time and offer a portfolio of PET yarns by the third quarter of 2022. These will be available for automotive applications alongside its EqoCycle ® recycled-based PA6 yarns.

Emmanuel Colchen, General Manager, B.I.G. Yarns, comments: “With the additional capacity in the best-in-class 1 step 3ply PA yarns technology and expanding our portfolio into a new direction with PET, B.I.G. Yarns is taking strategic steps to better serve the evolving needs of its customers. We are opening up exciting new opportunities with a continuous focus on innovation and sustainability. We will generate an important step that will support our goal of reducing our carbon footprint. We want to build a strong future path for our business and our customers, and these investments advance that commitment in full alignment with our vision. We also like to acknowledge and thank the support of the Hauts-de-France region and French “Relance Program” which supported our initiative strongly and selected our French production plant for the industrial investment acceleration fund. We are grateful for this encouragement and belief in the B.I.G. Yarns' endeavors.”

B.I.G. Yarns is proactive in developing new products that better serve customers’ needs in a sustainable way. Its sustainable solutions are at the forefront of industry product design, and it is fully committed to integrating the UN Sustainable Development Goals in its operations. Its 2 European plants have this year been granted a first Sustainable Business Charter 2021 and from July both sites ran on 100% on green electricity, reducing its CO 2 emissions for its electricity use by 35% in 2021, and with 75% in 2022.