Three years ago, the country’s high unemployment rate of over 10% made opportunity scarce. Now, however, things are quite different.
Poland is the only member of the European Union to have avoided going into recession and in 2009 it achieved the highest growth of any EU country. Its current growth forecast of 1.9% for 2010 is expected to be upgraded shortly.
Polish law is also very favourable to foreign investors, with its government offering very attractive forms of state aid.
This has doubtless contributed to the plans announced early this year for leading pulp producer Weyerhaeuser to build a new cellulose fibres processing plant in Gdansk, with Procter & Gamble as its primary customer.
The plant will supply P&G hygiene products operations in Poland and the surrounding regions, employing at least 45 people upon its expected completion in 2012. The facility will be Weyerhaeuser’s first cellulose fibres manufacturing plant outside North America.
In the medical sector too, big names have also been moving in. Mölnlycke Health Care, for example, acquired the Polish manufacturer of medical drapes, gowns and apparel JKT during 2009. JKT has a leading position in Poland and brings local knowledge of the market to Mölnlycke. It is based in Bialystok, with 110 employees and has an annual turnover of €5.5 million.
As a fully owned subsidiary of Mölnlycke, it is now an active platform for the development of the Mölnlycke Wound Care business in Poland.
Until only recently, Elana based at Toruń, has been the sole manufacturer of polyester fibres and bottle-grade polymers in Poland. This ended in 2008, however, with the start-up of SK Eurochem’s new €70 million plant near Warsaw. This company, which is majority owned by Korea’s SK Chemicals, has the capacity to produce around 130,000 tonnes of PET each year and is exporting around 60% of its polyester to neighbouring countries. The project marks the largest Asian investment in the Polish chemical industry to date.
Poland also has over 40 research and development centres and 4,500 researchers make the country the biggest research and development hub in Central and Eastern Europe. 3M is among the companies to have recently opened new research facilities in the country.
Shock therapy
With a population of 38.6 million, a “shock therapy” programme was necessary during the early 1990s to transform the country’s economy. It was the largest EU member to join in 2005, and if all goes to plan, will adopt the Euro in 2012.
This will contribute to what will be a landmark year, since Poland will also co-host the UEFA European Football Cup in 2012 – another opportunity for many infrastructure and construction projects involving nonwovens.
A buoyant economy has seen the emergence of several new nonwovens companies emerging to take advantage of the opportunities offered by nonwovens production, including Creative Web and Texton, both new spunbond manufacturers.
Of notable established nonwovens manufacturers and regular INDEX exhibitors, Lentex now operates two NSC Nonwovens spunlace lines dedicated to technical applications such as automotive and filtration.
The company has developed through the increase of added value via additional finishing, including sewing, laminating, impregnating, dyeing, cutting, packaging etc., as well as through entering new markets.
Iwloknitex-branded chemical bonded nonwovens and Termoniny thermobonded nonwovens are used as interlinings and in the shoe industry, as well as in disposable clothing and footwear, filtration and face masks
Watolex chemical-bonded and Termotexy thermobonded products are employed in the clothing industry as insulation, as filling for quilts, pillows mattresses, sleeping bags, inserts for tufting in furniture and as filtration inserts for HVAC applications.
Hydronin spunlace and Technitex needled materials go into clothing, furniture, footwear and insulation. They are also used in the automotive industry in both oil and air filters and in upholstery and in bandages and other medical products.
Other specialist products include:
- Geolex – used in civil engineering as reinforcing and stabilising geotextiles.
- Bentizol – water insulating bentonite mat used for sealing landfills, water reservoirs, etc.
- Lentex Geocomposite – shielding/drainage nonwovens for hydro-insulation layers used in the construction of landfills
- Biolentex – nonwovens made of flax fibres containing grass seeds used for greening, re-cultivating slag heaps and fills etc.
- Sorption Nonwovens – for the elimination of contamination of petroleum substances.
Another leading nonwovens manufacturer, Novita was established in 1974 as a state-owned company, initially manufacturing needled wall-to-wall carpets employing what was then the most modern machinery from NSC. At the beginning of the 80s, the company expanded into nonwovens for the footwear, clothes, furniture, automotive and geotechnical industries.
In 1994 Novita went public on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and also invested in new tufting technology which enabled the introduction of new floor coverings in a wider range of patterns and colours.
In 1998 it purchased its first spunlace line and in 2002, a second, which tripled production. The second spunlace line also allowed the company to enter new markets due to its 2.4 metre working width and advanced quality control system.
Now 60% of the company’s current annual turnover is achieved from the sale of spunlace products, exported to customers in many countries including the USA, UK, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, Finland and Malaysia.
In response to market demand, polyester manufacturer Elana is now producing its own polyester spunbond nonwovens under the Elbond brand. As a result of their dimensional stability, high tear, puncture and elongation resistance and very good affinity to bitumen, these products are now being extensively used in the Polish roofing membranes market.
As a leading European producer and supplier of medical and hygienic disposables, TZMO - based in Toruń - is quite unique in being owned since 1991 by its principals and employees, as well as by representatives from the Polish medical and academic communities.
Established in 1951, the company’s expansion has been rapid in recent years. TZMO Deutschland GmbH was created in 1999 to promote Seni and Seni Care brand products to German nursing homes, social centres, medical stores, chemists and even individual customers – with the Seni products delivered directly to the door.
The production of hygiene products then commenced in 2003 in Russia and Ukraine, and both hygienic and medical products are now produced at the company’s plant in India which was established in 2004.
The company’s key brand for the hygiene markets are Bella and Seni, with medical bandages marketed as Matopat.
Last year, Bella Baby Happy diapers were awarded the ‘Golden Laurel 2009’ from Poland’s biggest national consumer awards programme, indicating the strength of the brand in this market.
Among other manufacturers of finished and converted products in Poland are Warsaw’s Harper Hygienics which makes a wide range of wipes, swabs and pads for hygienic and cosmetics use, and Hygienika, which raised more than $5 million in its first public offering at the time of the country’s entry into the expanded EU.
It has subsequently used a significant portion of the funds raised for new equipment, particularly with the installation of new machines for ultra-thin napkins.
The company’s Bambino is the longest-existing diaper brand in Poland, and as the leader in the country’s personal care market currently also supplying to Lithuania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia and Belarus, it distributes more than 15 private label diaper brands and 12 makes of private label napkins and panty shields.
Hygienika closely collaborates with the Institute of Textile Industry in Łódź in research on parameters of raw materials and finished products.
